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200 LEVEL 9 Everything I Learned about <strong>Level</strong> Design, I Learned from <strong>Level</strong> 9 In early video games, players would refer to the levels as worlds; as in “ Fire World ” , “ Ice World ” , and so on. However, as the home market demanded longer play experiences and developers wisely learned to create multiple levels using the same texture sets and/or mechanics, worlds gained additional sequences — most famously seen in Super Mario Bros. ’ s World 1 - 1. However, World 1 - 1 is just the first of four levels of the first world 5 . There needed to be a term to define these separate sections of play, hence the term level. Because there have been so many game worlds over the years, some of them have become hoary clich é s. Most developers run screaming from these, but they still have their uses. I therefore present to you: The Top 10 Clich é Video Game Themes 1. Outer space. One can easily see how a black television screen may have served as inspiration to early game developers as the perfect stand - in for outer space. Brightly displayed vector- drawn stars looked great on those early CRT screens. Player- controlled spaceships meant no animations. Spaceships could be rendered in simple geometric shapes. Gameplay could be based primarily on physics: an important advantage to those early programmers during the days prior to game designers and artists. As the earliest game genre — the shooter — evolved, outer space continued to be a popular locale for video game battles to be waged. Outer space also allows for all the tropes of sci - fi : 5 World 1 - 1 is grassland, 1 - 2 is an underground cavern, 1 - 3 are mountain - like platforms, and 1 - 4 is the interior of a castle. These levels are all part of a world known as the Mushroom Kingdom. And now you know.
The Top 10 Cliché Video Game Themes 201 aliens, spaceships, computers, and futuristic weapons. All things beloved by the geeky game developer community. 2. Fire/ice. These levels swiftly became popular for three reasons: first, fire and ice levels created hazards that were easy to program — fl ames and low friction surfaces. These hazardous terrains created perfect timing puzzles that caused the players to “ break their rhythm ” , making the level more challenging. Secondly, fire and ice environments lent themselves towards a wide array of deadly inhabitants, from lava men and flame - breathing dragons to snowmen both of the abominable and frosty varieties. And third, fire and ice levels added color (red and blue) to the palette of gameplay worlds, especially important to distinguish screenshots on the back of home console boxes in those early 8 - bit days. Today, fire and ice levels are camouflaged as snow - bound train wrecks and lava - filled temples, but as long as the color, feel and mechanics are represented, they ’ ll always be fire and ice levels to me.
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Copyright Information Please note t
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This edition first published 2010
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Publisher’s Acknowledgments Some
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viii Contents Level 2 Ideas 23 Idea
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x Contents Level 8 Sign Language—
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xii Contents Level 15 Some Notes on
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About the Author After discovering
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xvi Press Start! You obviously don
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xviii Press Start! video games shou
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xx Press Start! to me. Why would yo
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T LeveI 1 Welcome, N00bs! This chap
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So, let ’ s ask this basic questi
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A Brief History of Video Games Earl
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A Brief History of Video Games A co
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Game Genres Game Genres Over the ye
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Game Genres 11 Puzzle: puzzle games
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Who Makes this Stuff? One programme
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Who Makes this Stuff? many, many sk
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Who Makes this Stuff? 17 problems (
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Writer Have You Thought about Publi
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Have You Thought about Publishing?
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T LeveI 2 Ideas Let ’ s talk abou
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Ideas: Where to Get Them and Where
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28 LEVEL 2 Ideas • Space Panic’
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30 LEVEL 2 Ideas them credit for. O
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32 LEVEL 2 Ideas 3. Something to wr
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34 LEVEL 2 Ideas Breaking Writer
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36 LEVEL 2 Ideas others are clear l
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38 LEVEL 3 Writing the Story 2. Our
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40 LEVEL 3 Writing the Story 6. An
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42 LEVEL 3 Writing the Story they s
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44 LEVEL 3 Writing the Story The Tr
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46 LEVEL 3 Writing the Story What d
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48 LEVEL 3 Writing the Story Howeve
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50 LEVEL 3 Writing the Story game.
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52 LEVEL 3 Writing the Story Death
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54 LEVEL 3 Writing the Story Comedi
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56 LEVEL 3 Writing the Story great
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58 LEVEL 4 You Can Design a Game, B
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The Game Design Document (and the A
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The Beat Chart The Beat Chart 77 Th
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Above All, Don’t Be a Schmuck 79
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Level 4’s Universal Truths and Cl
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T LeveI 5 The Three Cs, Part 1 —
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Personality: Do We Really Need Anot
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Personality: Do We Really Need Anot
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Let’s Get Personal 89 an internat
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Let’s Get Personal While video ga
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Finally, We Talk about Gameplay 93
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Why Walk When You Can Run? 95 The t
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Why Walk When You Can Run? 97 with
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The Art of Doing Nothing 99 When yo
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Might as Well Jump 101 1. The playe
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Might as Well Jump 103 The target t
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What Goes Up, Must Fall Down 105 Jo
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What Goes Up, Must Fall Down 107
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Be Kind to Our Four-Legged Friends
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We Are Not Alone 111 player, who is
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We Are Not Alone 113 While companio
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We Are Not Alone 115 Scout Engineer
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Who Are the People in Your Neighbor
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Level 5’s Universal Truths and Cl
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122 LEVEL 6 The Three Cs, Part 2—
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Page 174 and 175: 150 LEVEL 6 The Three Cs, Part 2—
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Page 179 and 180: T Levei 7 The Three Cs, Part 3 —
Page 181 and 182: The Three Cs, Part 3—Controls 157
Page 183 and 184: Dance, Monkey, Dance 159 • While
Page 185 and 186: Dance, Monkey, Dance 161 • Clasp
Page 187 and 188: Dance, Monkey, Dance 163 Maximo ’
Page 189 and 190: Character or Camera Relative? 165 W
Page 191 and 192: Shake, Rattle and Roll 167 characte
Page 193: Level 7’s Universal Truths and Cl
Page 196 and 197: 172 LEVEL 8 Sign Language—HUD and
Page 205 and 206: Icon Has Cheezburger? 181 The first
Page 207 and 208: Don’t Get QTE 183 • Red cross:
Page 209 and 210: HUDs, and Where to Stick ‘Em 185
Page 211 and 212: There Are Other Screens Than the HU
Page 213 and 214: The Pause that Refreshes 189 • Th
Page 215 and 216: The Pause that Refreshes 191 screen
Page 217 and 218: The Pause that Refreshes 193 • Fi
Page 219 and 220: A Final Word on Fonts 195 out of th
Page 221 and 222: T LeveI 9 Everything I Learned Abou
Page 223: Everything I Learned about Level De
Page 227 and 228: The Top 10 Cliché Video Game Theme
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Page 231 and 232: The Name Game 207 While designing M
Page 233 and 234: Everything I Learned about Level De
Page 239 and 240: Relic Raider beat chart The Beat Ch
Page 241: The Gary Gygax Memorial Mapping Sec
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Page 267 and 268: T Levei 10 The Elements of Combat E
Page 269 and 270: 400 Quatloos on the Newcomer! 245
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400 Quatloos on the Newcomer! 251 Y
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400 Quatloos on the Newcomer! 253 W
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On Moving On Moving 255 If you take
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On Moving 257 Many games allow the
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On Guarding 259 to decide whether a
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State of the Art Bang Bang 261 does
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State of the Art Bang Bang 263 •
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The Best Gun for You 265 Here are a
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The Best Gun for You 267 • Automa
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Run and Gun 269 to a main gun and a
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Not Just Shooting 271 Rail shooter
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Not Just Shooting 273 Wherever ther
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Dammit Jones, Where Doesn’t It Hu
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Death: What is It Good For? 277 the
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Level 10’s Universal Truths and C
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T LeveI 11 They All Want You Dead V
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They All Want You Dead 283 All of t
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A shooter is an enemy that fires a
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They All Want You Dead 287 A telepo
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• A guard and a bomber. While the
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They All Want You Dead 291 Medium s
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They All Want You Dead 293 Let ’
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Bring on the Bad Guys 295 You are w
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Bring on the Bad Guys 297 like a ma
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Bring on the Bad Guys 299 They ’
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Bring on the Bad Guys 301 ricochet.
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Bring on the Bad Guys 303 Leech: th
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I Love Designing Enemies 305 A is f
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I Love Designing Enemies 307 I hate
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I Love Designing Enemies 309 M is f
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I Love Designing Enemies 311 Spaces
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I Love Designing Enemies 313 Behold
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I Hate You to Pieces 315 gets a goo
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Non-Enemy Enemies 317 comes dialogu
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Who’s the Boss? 319 At first glan
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Size Matters 321 father in order to
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Size Matters 323 safe for them to a
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Size Matters 325 When the player gi
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Why Not to Create the World’s Gre
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The Nuts and Bolts of Mechanics 333
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Holy Death Trap! 335 Cranks are lik
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Holy Death Trap! 337 I was designin
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Time to Die Time to Die 339 we are
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The Music of Mechanics 341 Gaming w
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The Music of Mechanics 343 characte
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A Nice Little Calm Spot 345 The whi
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Riddle Me This 347 While Mr. Kim ha
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Riddle Me This 349 another player s
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A Short Word on Minigames and Micro
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T LeveI 13 Now You ’ re Playing w
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Now You’re Playing with Power 357
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Now You’re Playing with Power 359
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“Love Thy Player” 361 Most powe
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“Love Thy Player” 363 the playe
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More Wealth Than You Can Imagine! 3
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382 LEVEL 14 Multiplayer—the More
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T LeveI 15 1 Some Notes on Music Wh
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Some Notes on Music 395 the rights
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Some Notes on Music 397 game? A tra
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Some Notes on Music 399 • Warning
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Sounds Like a Game to Me 401 • We
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Sounds Like a Game to Me 403 Be car
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408 LEVEL 16 Cutscenes, or No One
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418 LEVEL 17 And Now the Hard Part
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430 Continue?
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432 Bonus Level 1 The One-Sheet Sam
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436 Bonus Level 2 The Ten-Page Desi
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446 Bonus Level 3 Game Design Docum
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• Abandoned city • Air/clouds
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• Ship/boat deck/interior • Sky
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T Bonus Levei 7 Enemy Design Templa
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T Bonus Levei 8 Boss Design Templat
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Slide 1: Cover Page T Bonus Levei 9
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Slide 4: Game Story Slide 4: Game S
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Slide 6: Gameplay Summary Slide 6:
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Slide 7: Gameplay details Slide 7:
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Slide 9: Production Specs Slide 9:
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482 Achievement Unlocked: Exactly L
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484 Index boss battles, 319-329 bos
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486 Index Fat Princess, 422 F.E.A.R
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488 Index Little Red Riding Hood, 4
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490 Index resistances/vulnerabiliti
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492 Index walking, 25, 34, 94-97, 2
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