In the last year, I have been studying game development extensively but since I am in a MFA program, my classes have mostly introduced me on the overall process of game dev instead of learning each specific element of the game development process individually. I was originally introduced to level design when I was still working as a production coordinator at EA Vancouver, and after chatting to some level designers there, I became intrigued. I then came into my MFA program knowing that I want to focus on making games and identified level design as my potential research thesis topic. In March this year I was lucky to have been accepted as an ambassador to attend GDC with Different Games where I attended most of the talks that had to do with level design. Once classes ended for the summer, I decided to embark on a 12 week journey exploring level design independently with the guidance of my professor Emma Westecott. Instead of reflecting on my learning every week through writing, I decided to solely focus on putting my new knowledge into practice and really honing in on what I was learning through making. After 12 weeks of intensive studying and learning, I can say that I love level design and I will definitely pursue this field professionally. This 4 part blog is a condensation of what I learnt in the passed 12 weeks.
Level Design encompasses many tasks and responsibilities which is highly depended on the type of game you are working on. However, level design is generally understood as the discipline that designs and shapes the space of the game. There are many parallels to architecture, urban design and environmental design.
I consulted a wide variety of resources to guide my learning
Online courses, lectures:
GDC Vault - Level Design Talks - Various
Gamasutra - Level Design Articles - Various
80 Level - Level Design Articles - Various
World of Level Design - Alex Galuzin
CGMA - Level Design - Emilia Schatz (much of my notes are informed by what I learned in this online class)
Books:
Frederick, Matthew. 101 Things I learned in Architecture School. MIT Press, 2007 (this has been my go to reference and most helpful book during the last 12 weeks, sometimes you really just want some pictures and diagrams to look at instead of reading hundreds of words.)
Totten, Christopher. An Architectural Approach to Level Design. CRC Press, 2014
Foreword
I should state now that my exploration in level design was mostly directed through an interest in 3D AAA games that provide immersive environments with a narrative element. The games I studied during this time included The Last of Us, Breath of the Wild, Mass Effect and Uncharted. That isn't to say that indie and 2/2.5D games aren't relevant to study, in fact many examples of excellent level design come from indie studios such as Inside and Gone Home. However, I decided that 12 weeks is not enough time to study level design for all types games and so a narrowing process was necessary for me in order to get the most of out this period.
Another thing before I get going, I should also state what my goal and research question are for this independent study into level design for games.
Goal:
What is level design? What are its fundamental concepts and vocabulary and how to apply them?
Research Questions:
How can fundamental concepts in level design create tools to design queer spaces in video games?
I was driven to this research question through various means, but mostly via current academic conversations between scholars and designers in what queer spaces are and how one might go about queering space. What are the design methods that one might employ? What are the theories we draw upon? For Aaron Betsky, queering space is the "deformation of locations through temporary appropriation, making possible 'useless, amoral, and sensual space that live only in and for experience.' (1997, pp 5-7)." (Jacques, 2015) For others such as Christopher Reed, the queering of space is very much tied to the appropriation of heteronormative spaces for queer uses exemplified in "gay bars, lesbian archives, student groups, sex toy stores..." (Jacques, 2015)
My academic interest in level design lie in how to locate specific tools for queer game design and to develop a language to talk about what queer space in video games mean which is not dissimilar to scholars such as Jacques who are interested in what is and how to queer space in architecture and in urban design. So although I was genuinely interested in learning fundamental concepts of level design which is my stated goal, it was driven by my academic interest in queering space and video games.
Level Design
In the first three weeks, I mostly focused on getting introduced to the basics and defining a language of level design.
There are many definitions of what a game is, and not one is more correct than the other, but I have found this quote quite helpful.
"A game is a closed, formal system, that engages players in structured conflict, and resolves in an unequal outcome." Fullerton, Tracey (p. 46)
Understanding this, there are three basic components of a game, players, mechanics and stages. I want to say narrative is also a basic component because even games with no stories whatsoever have a loose narrative, but let's not get too distracted by that right now.
Level design primarily deals with setting the stage or space of the game. It is of course completely entangled with the players, mechanics and narrative of the game.
The stage of the game is then again set up by three major components:
- Boundaries, like a chess board or a tennis court, there are outer limits to the game space.
- Utility/Denial - this could be understood as the affordances or lack of affordances of game objects such as ladders, staircases, elevators...etc.
- Context, the framework or story, environmental storytelling, world-building.
So what is the purpose of level design? If you allow me to continue using "stage" as an analogy, one could understand this as the set design and scenography of the game. Level design uses shapes to create stories through its environment. It gives the players, NPCs and other objects its purpose and identity.
So what is shape? Shape is made up by two main components, void and mass. Void is the space of possibility, space for clarity and certainty while mass represents existence, it blocks movement and restraints possibilities; it creates boundaries and implies what is possible. There are also positive and negative space. Below is an diagram of positive and negative space, but the understanding of positive and negative space is heavily impacted by perspective. Humans and ants would experience space very differently.
Frederick, Matthew, 101 Things I learned in Architecture School
However, pure negative and true positive space only really exist in theory. In our every day chaotic world, positive spaces and negatives spaces often bleed into each other, and the boundaries between these two spaces are porous and not clearly defined.
In game space, level designers use shapes (void and mass) to guide players through its world. Mass creates boundaries and occlusion and generally pushes the players away while void draws the player towards; the push and pull of space creates paths.
This brings me to occlusion, simply put, occlusion is the denial of visibility.
Frederick, Matthew, 101 Things I learned in Architecture School
Occlusion creates a sense of depth, hide awards and show partial amount of an object to provoke intrigue and discovery. When used completely, it could hide away unwanted elements.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a great example of how occlusion is employed in level design.
The two articles explained how level designers at Nintendo used the triangle shape heavily the guide the player through its open world. Not only does the pyramid shape occlude objects behind it, its diagonal lines also reveal them slowly rather than all at once.
From talk at CEDEC 2017
And finally, breaking down shape further, we find that it is made up of a four elements.
- Points, a location in space
- Lines, boundary of two points
- Planes, defined by two points and a third point that is not in line with the two points, ie: triangle.
- Volumes, created by three points and a fourth point that is not in line with the three points, ie: pyramid.
Again, these are idealized geometry and do not exist in its pure form in the real world, but they form a vocabulary that allows us to understand and read our world.
Emilia Schatz described three types of planes:
- base plane (self)
- wall plane (society)
- overhead plane (sky)
Base plane, our ground, it is what hold us up, we trust this plane. Wall planes are used to define boundaries such as walls, can be both comforting (cozy home) and antagonistic (prison). Overhead plane is generally out of reach and not interacted with. Many sacred architecture such as religious buildings exaggerates the overhead plane to strike an emotional tone of godliness.
The usage of points, lines and planes to create volumes create player flow, intentionality, mood and emotion. Are the boundaries clearly defined? How is the space implied through the usage of points, lines and planes? Or are they ambiguous and bleed into each other? Do lines go into affinity that implies the sacred or do they stop right above us creating pressure? These are all questions that I continued to explore (with success and failure) in the next few weeks.
Works Cited
Betsky, Aaron. Queer Space. New York, William Morror, 1997.
Castiglia, Christopher, and Christopher Reed. If Memory Serves: Gay Men, AIDS, and the Promise of
the Queer Past. University of Minnesota Press, 2012.
Jacques, Carlos. “Struggle for Space: Queering Straight Space: Thinking towards a Queer Architecture.” Autonomies, 3 Oct. 2016, http://autonomies.org/2016/10/struggles-for-space-queering-straight-space-thinking-towards-a-queer-architecture-4/.
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