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By
Marc Saltzman, Compilation Editor
Gamasutra
July 23, 1999
This
article originally appeared as Chapter 6 in the book
Game Design: Secrets of the Sages (Macmillan, 1999). It
has been reprinted here with the permission of the editor, Marc
Saltzman
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 Features
The
Levelord, Ritual Entertainment
Much of
the excitement and anxiety experienced during bouts of Duke Nukem 3D,
Quake: Scourge of Armagon, and Sin can be directly linked to
The Levelord's miraculous touch. So what's his secret for keeping you
awake until 4 a.m.?
The Levelord's
three commandments may seem obvious, but according to him they're quite
often neglected or overlooked: the "fun factor," game action/player interaction,
and authenticity of setting.
The Levelord
has requested that we keep his written material the way it was submitted,
so this is the Lord speaking throughout. Hear ye! Hear ye!
The Fun
Factor
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| Puzzle-solving
is an intergral part of 3D level design, says The Levelord. This "heated"
scene is from Scourge of Armagon, the first official add-on
pack for Quake. (Used with permission by Ritual Entertainment) |
The first and
foremost question to be answered about any game, whether it's a shooter
or whatever, is "Is it fun?" This applies to the game itself, of course,
but it also has great bearing on each and every component of the game, including
level designing. As a game is developed, this question should be answered
many, many times. The
Fun Factor is often forsaken for cutting-edge flash, and much effort is
taken away from the game itself due to the ever-increasing computer performance
on which games are played. Nonetheless, it seems paradoxical that many games
simply are not fun; they look great, but they aren't worth playing. Cutting
edge is indeed fun when it adds cool weapon effects and faster game performance,
but it's not cool when a developer spends too much time with research and
development, only to forget the main purpose of a game: fun! The
Fun Factor is also frequently back-seated to realism. This is not to be
confused with a game being realistic or authentic, but is rather a seeming
side effect of the "reality" portion of our games' virtual reality. Too
often fun ideas and features are shelved because developers say things like
"Hey, you can't change momentum in mid-air in real life!" or "A real bullet
doesn't do that!" when the more important statement at hand was "That was
so much fun!" There
are no defined rules for fun and the only way to ensure the Fun Factor is
to play test. The easy part about adding the Fun Factor is that most all
of us have the same concept of fun; that is, if you the game developer think
it's fun, then the game audience is likely to think so, too. The Fun Factor
is not transient or ephemeral, either. It should survive countless trials
and tests and still be entertaining in the end. This is the only way to
ensure that a game is fun--to play test it over and over.
Game
Action and Player Interaction
First-person
shooters are no longer the simple "shoot, find the key, and shoot some
more" games that they were a few years ago. These games are now fully
interactive environments, and what used to be considered randomly placed
and sparse Easter Eggs are now the standard norm. If a level has a phone
or computer, they had better be functional, and the player had better
be able to blow them up. The
player must be able to destroy just about everything! As a level designer,
I spend a lot of my time making things destructible, but it's always worth
the while. Take the time to become a good demolitions expert, because
destroying things is not only good action, it is also never-ending fun.
Another
important aspect of the action in a first-person shooter is puzzle solving.
A good level should be a series of challenges and rewards. The challenge
can come before the reward, or after, but don't just haphazardly strew
goodies and bad guys through your level. The players should feel as though
they are being run through a gauntlet of contests and prizes.
All of
these forms should be as animated as possible to improve feel of action.
Make the player work for the rewards. Do whatever you can to make the
player say "Ah ha!" Make as many secret areas as possible, too, as discovering
secrets is one of the most fun puzzles in a game.
Authenticity
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| A
strong sense of authenticity is the groundwork of any killer level.
Remember the movie theater or football stadium in Duke Nukem 3D
or the opening bank sequence from Sin? Her's a look at Sin's
jungle level. (Used with permission by Ritual Entertainment) |
Related directly
to level designing, the third question to be answered is "Are you there?"
First-person shooters in particular rely on the sense of immersion. The
most important duty you have as a level designer is to ring the player "into"
your level. It's not until after this submersion that issues like action,
game play, and even the Fun Factor enter the game. The
more of your level to which the player can attach himself via familiarity,
the stronger the player's sense of "being there" will be. Real-world situations
usually make good levels because it's easier to capture the reality.
The closer
that the player can relate to your level, the deeper the player will be
submerged into the level. Continuity
is also an important factor of a level's immersion.
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Littering
your maps with secrets is also an important consideration in level
designing, deems The Levelord. Anyone find this in Duke Nukem
3D? (Used with permission by 3D Realms, Inc.)
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Continuity
is related to the level's main theme, and this theme must be maintained
throughout the entire level. Too often I see levels that are patchworks
of various themes. Your level must seem like a continuous place.
The almighty
Levelord has spoken, and deems these as the true foundations of any killer
level. "These seem apparent, but they can be the biggest burdens a game
designer, especially a level designer, can face...without them, most every
other aspect of a level will be missed or forgotten, and the game as a
whole will suffer."
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