(of a given genre)

Methods and tools to engineer level design

Management tools

Our tools and methods can bring answers to problems commonly faced by design teams :

• Building a level consists of controlling the difficulty the player will have to face as well as managing the pace of the game and the renewal of his experience. How can a level designer properly distribute difficulties and pace-setting components in one very specific portion of a level without a global vision of all the levels ?

• When several level designers work on the same game project, how can we make sure that their work will be consistent ?

• How can a project a manger validate the work of a level designer ?

Level design rules

Level design is to game development what directing is to movie making. It is the fine art of orchestrating whatever gameplay resources and mechanisms are supplied by the game designer.

A good level design must meet 6 challenges:

1  Build the difficulty curve of the game

The level designer faces a double challenge: pit the player against a progressive difficulty curve, and carry that difficulty seamlessly between levels. The Game Design Studio employs specific level design tools that help rationalize level design at the "drawing-board" stage as well as during the tuning phase of the actual game

2  Control the game pace

This is one of the decisive elements that contribute to the joy of playing. It is also one of the defining traits of any given game style. The pace of a horror-survival game, for instance, should be chaotic enough to make action sequences even more stirring. On the other hand, a platform game should have a sustained and fairly uniform pace. Game pace is largely dictated by two parameters: density of action, and its intensity. Density deals with the distribution of actions to be performed (jumps, enemy encounters, etc.), while intensity considers the number of clicks required of the player to accomplish an action. Collecting a bonus requires fewer clicks than engaging in combat

3  Renew the player's experience throughout the levels

4  Stage awe-inspiring scenes at key moments in the game (such as the beginning)

5  Animate levels and give them life.

6  Make navigation in the level as intuitive as possible.