10 principles of good level design

Learning → play → challenge

This is the cycle that creates rhythm and tempo in the game, and something unexpected can break the routine at the end of the cycle.

Learning → play → challenge →… SURPRISE!!

5. Good level design surprises

Surprise is not about monsters jumping out of the closet. The classic principle of maintaining intense interest is an emotional rollercoaster. But in games, the constant repetition of this pattern can be addictive.

Break the paradigm

A surprise doesn’t have to be a big shock or plot twist. Surprise is a quick burst of uncertainty.

In terms of level design, an example of a surprise is a unique setting, a moment of applying a familiar mechanic in a new way, turning a corner with a beautiful view, or a radical change in pace.

In Dead Space 2, when Isaac returns to the Ishimura, he does not encounter Necromorphs for 15 minutes, although before that, monsters appeared constantly. This change of pace creates extreme tension. This excellent move is the result of a happy coincidence. The monster was too large and the level designers couldn’t use it until the player reached the central transport core, which was halfway through the level.

Take the risk

What looks good on paper doesn’t always work well in game. Conversely, ridiculous ideas sometimes fit well into the game. Do a gray box test as soon as possible so you don’t miss an idea.

When Dan Taylor was working on Medal of Honor, he and his team came up with puzzles that gave access to hidden areas of the level. But they proposed the idea late, it was poorly tested and eventually cut out of the game.

6. Good level design empowers the player

As Goethe said:

Real life (often) sucks. Video games are escapism. Don’t force the player to do a real life routine.

Comedian Dara O’Brien said that he had never been to the third island in GTA 4 just because he was forced to drag himself through traffic, drive carefully and even pay tolls across the bridge. Just like in real life.

Another thing is Red Faction Guerrilla, where you are a rebel who needs to destroy the bridge’s support posts with a nano-rifle that corrodes concrete. (On the forums, some brag that they managed with a sledgehammer)

Visible influence

Move the box, break the barrel, light the torch – this is the player’s ability to influence the “environment”.

In inFAMOUS, the player chooses whether to save civilians or blow them up to absorb their power. Depending on the player’s decisions, the inhabitants of the city will throw stones at him or at his enemy.

When Dan Taylor was working on Medal of Honor Heroes 2, his team designed the sub-objectives to influence the game through them. If in additional missions the player rescued hostages at hidden levels, then after they helped the player. Action → consequence. The player sees a direct connection.

Inspired by:

7. Good level design allows the player to control the difficulty

Designing a game’s difficulty setting is quite… difficult. The classic option, the player is offered to choose “easy / medium / hard”, only he must make a choice before he correlates his skills with the game. How can he know about his skill if he hasn’t passed the first level yet?

Rewards / risk

There is a systematic approach through dynamic difficulty, like in Fallout and Skyrim, where enemies become more powerful and treasures more valuable depending on the player’s experience.

Layering

A level designer can provide the player with a choice of difficulty levels by adding several options to the level. For example, there’s an intermediate level with the usual rewards, a harder option with obvious bonuses, and an easier path if the baseline gets too stuffy.

Electronic Arts created the shortest path in the Burnout Paradise races, which is also the most difficult, and marked with yellow barriers (a recurring motif). Experienced players may take a chance and take shortcuts or get a few boosts.

This principle is obvious for racing, but works for shooters and RPGs. There, a zone of high risk and reward is a powerful weapon in a hard-to-reach but visible place.

In Skyrim, the chest is clearly visible from the main path, but there is no direct path to it, players must use the dragon’s cry to jump over the gap and pick the lock if they want to take the treasure.

The multi-layer approach makes it possible to pass the level in different ways, i.e. makes it replayable. Which intersects with the next rule of good level design.

Good level design is effective

A video game has a limited amount of resources. This is about the hardware of developers / players, and about the number of people in the development team, and about the budget. It is the responsibility of the designer to use these resources as efficiently as possible.

Modularity

A smart designer will not design a level. He will develop a series of modules based on game mechanics from which the level can be assembled. And one more level. And one more thing… With the help of modules, a small team can generate a lot of content.

Modules can be used in such a way that the player modulo recognizes which mechanics he should use, but at the expense of small modifiers increase the difficulty (jumping on platforms → jumping on collapsing platforms).

Bidirectional gameplay

Designers and artists spend dozens of hours to create levels that the player completes in seconds.

The obvious way to recoup these costs is to get the player to come back, but coming back is not cool. For returning to be cool, the gameplay of “returning” must be so different from the first playthrough that it creates a different experience from the game.

In Halo 1, at level 343 Guilty Spark, you start the mission as an exploration mission, but fight hard on the way back. In Halo 3, you’re traversing the desert with a rifle, then blasting back with a tank.

Nonlinearity

Non-obvious goals, which require intuition and research to achieve, encourage the game to be played non-linearly. Skulls in Halo 3, gears in Gears of War, feathers in Assassin’s Creed generate extra play time without additional production.

Relevance

Don’t generate gameplay for the sake of it. Let the non-linearity be relevant to the player. Players will complete additional tasks provided there is a long-term incentive to do so. For example, a different gaming experience or a cool reward (new bonuses, weapons, etc.).

Ideally, give the player context, like Astro Boy Omega Factor did. After completing the game on your first playthrough, you get a crumpled ending but are thrown back in time. You can use all the bonuses you have collected to replay old levels differently, access hidden levels and bonuses, and a real emotional ending.

From myself, I’ll add Braid as an example of replayability, where the player moves through the level “back in time”:

9. Good level design creates emotion.

In 2012, the US Supreme Court officially recognized games as art. All art is aimed at creating an emotional reaction.

A classic art form, somewhat similar to level design, is architecture. Architects have manipulated people’s emotions for centuries. For example, to evoke a sense of confinement, an architect may place windows above shoulder height. Or design a building with vaults, without corners, to create an atmosphere of intrauterine calm.

Level designers can steal these theories and use them to create “spatial empathy” in their levels:

Corners and sharp turns – limit the view – keep the player on their toes.

Winding like a labyrinth level – confusing – creates confusion and panic.

An explosion of the whole location – the player feels a large scale – a feeling of epic.

Attacks from the air – the player feels the verticality of space more.

High mountain or building – a feeling of dizziness.

Spatial empathy is used by the developers of Tomb Raider. Lara Croft goes through narrow caves (claustrophobia), through wide jungles (expansiveness), climbs mountains (vertigo). Each space is created to evoke a range of emotions.

Work backwards

The desired player emote for your level is the starting point for level design. Based on emotion, you choose means.

If you want to create a feeling of being chased, place an enemy artificial intelligence on the level that actively hunts the player.

Want to create a feeling of excitement, engage the player in a high-speed chase on an open road.

If you want to create a sense of urgency, give the players a time limit.

If you want to create a feeling of desperation, give an almost insurmountable goal and help only at the last moment.

In the final act of the mission Carentan (Company of Heroes), the player’s party is forced to retreat. The cornered player must hold off the Nazis until reinforcements arrive. What determines when it will happen? Timer? No. The number of remaining Nazis? No, the enemies are endless.

Reinforcements will appear only at the moment when only two living soldiers remain. It may be a little unfair… but it creates a sense of desperation in the face of insurmountable odds. And a huge relief when help arrives.

10. Good level design builds on game mechanics

Game levels are not just “context” for game mechanics. A level is a reality in which game mechanics exist, a delivery club for the gameplay system.

Architecture, goals, combat scenarios – this is what they show awesome gameplay through. And for this you need to know the gameplay before designing levels.

This is not always possible, often teams develop gameplay and levels at the same time, but the level designer should have an idea of what mechanics will be used in the game.

There are advantages to concurrent development. If a level designer comes up with a cool idea for a level, they can request the necessary gameplay for it.

In Deus Ex Human Revolution, you can use mechanical arms to punch through walls, or use power to move weights and open new paths through the level.

Batman Arkham City. The player encounters Riddler challenges throughout the open world and seeks out new ways to use their equipment. It forces the player to learn, it updates the game mechanics. It also creates intelligent gameplay that fuels the fantasy that you’re a tough detective and not just a dude in a cape who’s good at beating up people.

Interactivity is what separates video games from any other form of entertainment. If a game’s level design doesn’t showcase the game mechanics, players might as well watch a movie or read a book.

These principles are not final, I hope they will be constantly improved and refined, like the games themselves.

And instead of a conclusion, here is a picture with a summary of all of the above: