I find a good example of a game that has very well thought out level design is “The Last Of Us” by Naughty Dog. This game is gorgeous on so many levels and I have yet got the experience it all (I still haven't completed the game, so I can only talk about what I’ve played thus far). But even now I still want to play through it again, because the level design is gorgeous. It works well with the surroundings such as fallen buildings, derelict cars and houses. With an area like this it is a never straight forward route. This makes it interesting. You need some variation, but it needs to be thought out. To be well placed in the playable area. There needs to be blockers on where you can and can't go. If there is a huge drop in the fallen road below from the bridge, you're not going to be able to jump down there (also common sense), but if there is a hole through some rubble then that's the only option you're going to have to take. It's through this that level design needs to be thought through. However you can have other branches leading off. For example this would be inside a office building and there are a variety of rooms you can walk in and scavenge for weapons and ammo etc, but the way you have to go as always there. You know you have to go through the building and it's only a matter of time before you've searched every room that you do end up progressing into the game, whether it's conscious or not. I find that with some games this does not happen. When I played the old Resident Evil games, I struggled to get along with it. Not because of the interaction or because it's an old game with horrible graphics for this gen's consoles, but because the navigation was simple horrible. It wasn't clear and I was running around shitting my pants because I was expecting pyramid head to suddenly appear. So I was panicking to the end of days, and found that I just gave up, because I was working myself up with anger, and that I felt I needed to go onto the internet and look up cats. It's the only way, to calm yourself down. Trust me, I’m a professional.
But to create an effective level you need to plan. So what's the best way? Here are few things that I would take into consideration when making a level.
So you grab your idea. Any idea that is. Zombies, robots, old country anything, whatever your idea is, grab it. But make sure you have others. You can never have too many ideas and the one you think doesn't seem that important, could be the next big hit. You never know. So the best way is to write it ALL down. Write everything down, where ever you are, out on a walk, in the shops, on the toilet make sure that when an idea pops into the mind, write it down. I can't stress that enough, because I need to do that same (shameful). The best thing to do is think about how excited I am to create the environment for the level and am I inspired? You need enthusiasm and excitement to get things rolling when creating a level, otherwise you'll just be dragging it out and wont do a very good job, and it will probably just turn out like shit. Sorry. If you are excited about you're idea, you are more than likely to want it to be seen going through all the stages, and into the final process where you can be proud of your work.
So what's next? Well what's the purpose of your idea. Why do you want to make this level? What are the reasons for this? Your purpose is your own, and it can be for anything. To create a portfolio piece, just for fun, to learn some new software, creating models efficiently and effectively etc. It could be anything. But make sure you know what the purpose is for you to pursue throughout the whole of making the game. You also need to think of things that make it unique, such as how will the environment stand out from the rest, what elements are you focusing on within the level, such as landmarks, housing, streets, cars, assets, characters, animals etc.
You then need to focus on the environment and setting. You can't put the empire state building in the middle of the ocean (well you can put a building in the middle of the ocean, like “BioShock” but there is a VERY good reason for that). You need to take into account whether its rural or urban? Interior or exterior? Past or present? And much much more. If it's within the city of London, then you need to find a good area to place it, or if it's in the middle of the countryside out in the backs of Wales, then you need to find a good replicate setting. You need to nail down the time, such as year is it in the early 1800s or is it in the year 3000 (no reference to Busted there). For example “The Last Of Us” was set in post-apocalyptic United States in the year 2033. From there they made a game that was based in a post-apocalyptic United States in the 2033.
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| Yeah Bioshock |
Then best of all, you need to travel that big wide world and grab every fricking photo reference there is on this planet. Everything is a reliable resource. Whether it be cars, people, animals, door handles, doors, windows, metal bars, broken windows, broken doors, trees, plants, insects, rubbish, poo anything. It will all be valuable whether for this level or the next. But the main priority is to take photo references of things that are relevant, and anything interesting that strikes your eye in the mean time, take a snapshot of it. Because if you're on holiday and you find something that may fit perfectly, take it, because it may be gone forever.
Then you need a story. Of course you need a damn story, otherwise it's going to be so boring, it'll just be pointless. Even games with storys but they stories are so crap you just get bored. So stories are very important. There are a few aspects to look at when making a story. One of them is the story of the level, of the environment.
“So what happened here”,“They bombed the hell out of the surrounding areas to the quarantine zones, hoping to kill as much of the infected as possible”. (Quote from “Last Of Us” between Tess and Ellie).
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| Woah! |
The other story is how did the player get into that environment, did they travel there to a long lost cave in search of rare item, or where they already there hit by infection. But also what are they doing in that environment, what's their end goal. This will help create a sense of purpose to the player and as to why they are playing your game. There is nothing worse than someone turning round and asking why they are playing this lump of shit.
You need objectives and obstacles within the game. Either wise I’d just be extremely boring! Objectives such as find the key so you can get the heck out of this place. Obstacles like, where the fuck is the ladder for you to get up this stupidly high edge. There could be many objectives and obstacles that the player has to overcome to get to the end, by this makes things a little more interesting. A good idea would be to create a mind-flow of the things that the player will have to go through. Such as exit the building, follow the path, stop at broken path, find route round, traverse deadly cliff, enter safe building. But there could be a branch, so stop at broken path, jump down into dark underground area, face enemies, exit underground area, enter safe building. So at least you have the player some freedom to choose as he pleases.
Another would be a birds eye view of the map. This is great for navigational purposes when planning. You'll be able to block out areas effectively when looking at a birds eye view. You'll also be able to add things or take away things to create the layout more effectively and making it more interesting. It will allow you to work out different routes, scales of buildings and assets that may be vital to the player or may cause hindrance to the player. You can also use a key to give points of ammo supply, weapons, doors, windows etc. It's great for mapping out in detail where you would like everything to be positioned.
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| Counterstrike Map - Birds Eye View |
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| Plan of a level |
Unlike in any environment I’ve played there is always a focal point. A visual landmark even. In “Skyrim” there are plenty of visual landmarks, and I mean there are a truck load of them. It's great, you know you want to get over there, but the first way you go might no be correct so you go round the whole mountainside until you find the right path that leads you there. It's also good because if you lose this landmark within the environment it's just pointless, because you feel like there is no way to get up there or you can't find you're way round and the player is more than likely to just give up. However the landmark could be just to make it look pretty and you may not actually be able to reach it. But it also creates a area to explore. So you head round to that ruin or that land mark and you find some crypts around that area. So it wasn't all wasted in the end.
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| College of Winterhold |
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| Dagons Statue |
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| Statue of Azure |
A good idea to make next is lists. Lots and lots of lists. They able you to see what you need, what you need to complete, what you could have, and what you haven't done. You can see what textures you need, what models you need, what some of the production processes look will be, and what audio needs to be in-putted.
You can also use the idea of white-boxing. This is creating simple shapes that represent that object, such as simple box chair for dining rooms chairs etc. This can be placed easily around the scene, to see what combination suits more. It will allow you to see what the scene looks like populated and for you to choose what you do and don't want in the scene. This is a very popular method amongst level design, and can give an accurate visual time representation.
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| Idea of what white-boxing is |
There are also other processes you can follow, but here is the basic outline of everything that is needed in level design.
http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/level_design_tutorials/how-to-plan-level-designs-game-environments-workflow.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_of_Us
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUZ3MKvUjx8
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