I wrote a guide on guidance methods in level design. It's free!

Hello, fellow GiantBombers!

I haven't exactly been frequently active on these boards, but I do visit the site daily. Occasionally, part of that daily visit involves lurking the forums, mostly when an interesting topic pops up on the front page.

I've noticed that there's been an interest in creating games as well on here, so I thought I'd share a little something that I wrote for a course in uni (I study game design, by the way.)

During this course, I observed and documented different methods for guiding the player in the level design. Of course, it doesn't contain every method out there (yet), but I hope to update it every now and then and add more to it.

I decided early on during the course that I'd share what results I got out of my studies, so without further ado, click this here sentence to download the Level Design Guidance Guide! Yes, I know the name's very literal, but it works!

Hopefully it'll be of use to some people who are interested in level design.

Tally-ho!

I just downloaded it, and at a quick glance, it looks like a neat little collection of level design guidance techniques, so I'll definitely give it a more thorough look when I have the time. I've recently become more and more interested in how games in particular teach and guide the player in meaningful and interesting ways that keeps the player engaged (specifically tutorials, since they're tricky little things to do right), and having guides like this that look at a particular feature and how various games do it is very handy. As someone also interested in eventually working for the industry in design/programming, I'd definitely be interested if you end up expanding this guide.

Nice read duder! I'm one of the ones working on the game project for GiantBomb. This may not be as much used to me since I'm part of the design team, (there's a level design team) But still I found it helpful and interesting.

@commonoutlier said:

I just downloaded it, and at a quick glance, it looks like a neat little collection of level design guidance techniques, so I'll definitely give it a more thorough look when I have the time.

I pretty much word for word agree with this guy. The only place we disagree is I would've gone with "nifty" instead of "neat". Of course, that minor difference in word choice, in my mind, means I'm far superior to this person. I may or may not be joking, as I'm honestly not sure if I am as of this moment.

Although in my quick glance I didn't see anything Bastion related, and I feel that game deserves mention in a discussion of this sort, so get on it!

Just downloaded it. Looking forward to having a chance to read through it later in the weekend. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I'm glad to hear that you may have some use of it.

I've recently become more and more interested in how games in particular teach and guide the player in meaningful and interesting ways that keeps the player engaged (specifically tutorials, since they're tricky little things to do right), and having guides like this that look at a particular feature and how various games do it is very handy.

@commonoutlier: Tutorials are very interesting when they're integrated into the game itself rather than taking place in shell levels made for the mere purpose of demonstrating features. I might look into tutorials a bit more, as there's probably plenty of useful stuff to gather. I especially liked how Dishonored snuck in its sneaking-tutorial by having you play hide-and-seek with Emily at the start. Egoraptor's sequelitis video on Mega Man and Mega Man X is very interesting. He makes a lot of good points as to how the level design motivates you to learn how to apply the skills you have.

Although in my quick glance I didn't see anything Bastion related, and I feel that game deserves mention in a discussion of this sort, so get on it!

@pyromagnestir: Hahah! You're right, there's probably plenty to learn from it, which is why I want to keep adding to the guide. I'm not sure that I have Bastion on PC though, which is pretty much the thing that dictates which games I use as sources (since I don't have any means of capturing footage/screenshots off my consoles.) I'll look into getting it for PC as well, though, because.. Well, it's effin' awesome!

I don't make games, but the methodology of those who do is endlessly fascinating to me, so I'll give this a read some time.

@pyromagnestir said:

I pretty much word for word agree with this guy. The only place we disagree is I would've gone with "nifty" instead of "neat". Of course, that minor difference in word choice, in my mind, means I'm far superior to this person. I may or may not be joking, as I'm honestly not sure if I am as of this moment.

Although in my quick glance I didn't see anything Bastion related, and I feel that game deserves mention in a discussion of this sort, so get on it!

Aw man, nifty truly is the more appropriate word, and that is something I actually do mean. I am quite jealous of your—pardon for my lesser choice of adjective—mad word skills. As a number person as oppose to one who is skilled with words, I concede the victory to you, sir.

(I also second the Bastion mention! I have Bastion for the PC, and I'm sure others do too if you want to recruit people for that—else I'm sure there are plenty of screenshots available on the web, too.)

@CoffeeBob said:

@commonoutlier: Tutorials are very interesting when they're integrated into the game itself rather than taking place in shell levels made for the mere purpose of demonstrating features. I might look into tutorials a bit more, as there's probably plenty of useful stuff to gather. I especially liked how Dishonored snuck in its sneaking-tutorial by having you play hide-and-seek with Emily at the start. Egoraptor's sequelitis video on Mega Man and Mega Man X is very interesting. He makes a lot of good points as to how the level design motivates you to learn how to apply the skills you have.

I totally agree that the best tutorials are not a separate entity, but part of the game itself. Further, I think the best tutorials are the ones you don't even realize you're playing through (or you stop caring that's what they are), which is why I think Portal—which is mostly tutorial, still stands as one of the best examples for that. I haven't played Dishonored yet, but it's currently at the top of my list to buy once I have the money and time for it. That reminds me a little of Fallout 3, which is another game with a great exposition. I'll also definitely check out that video, too, thanks! Sounds right up my alley.

@commonoutlier said:

I totally agree that the best tutorials are not a separate entity, but part of the game itself. Further, I think the best tutorials are the ones you don't even realize you're playing through (or you stop caring that's what they are), which is why I think Portal—which is mostly tutorial, still stands as one of the best examples for that. I haven't played Dishonored yet, but it's currently at the top of my list to buy once I have the money and time for it. That reminds me a little of Fallout 3, which is another game with a great exposition. I'll also definitely check out that video, too, thanks! Sounds right up my alley.

Exactly! Portal is a great example of how to teach the player by presenting elements and then letting you figure things out by yourself. Oh man, it's been ages since I last played Fallout 3. I really like how the character creation process is part of the tutorial too!

@CoffeeBob said:

Exactly! Portal is a great example of how to teach the player by presenting elements and then letting you figure things out by yourself. Oh man, it's been ages since I last played Fallout 3. I really like how the character creation process is part of the tutorial too!

Yeah, and not only that, but the character creation process is integrated very cleverly into the story/narrative as well as the tutorial. Haha, I now want to dig out Fallout 3 and start playing it again...if only I had the time for it...

Nice guide, thank you for sharing. It was funny in the Assassin's Creed Quick Look when the GB crew could not see the door highlighted by an exit sign. This is what shopping centres do, they adjust the brightness of lighting in certain areas. Organise items by colour to move you throughout the shop. They will even craft the smells of the shop to either draw you into the shop, or do something that will lead to you exchanging your money for their product. Clearly marked sales signs compel you to come into the shop. Sometimes products are put on sale (discounted) at a loss, because that store knows from researching their customer's behaviours that it will usually lead to additional purchases of items not discounted.

Some games are really bad at guiding the player, like Amnesia. I walked around for a reasonable amount of time and could not find where to go. In Amnesia's defence, I would say that not knowing where to go is the intention of a survival-horror game.

Just downloaded, will try to read through it soon. thanks for sharing! :)

@commonoutlier: Indeed it is! Hahah, you and me both! I'd love to play through both Fallout 3 and Skyrim again, but I don't really have the time for either of them..

@afrofools: Thank you! Hahah, I'll have to check that quick look out. It's really interesting how much these businesses are willing to invest just to sell their products, kind of frightening in a way too. I did not know about the smell-aspect! I guess that's one aspect we can't make use of in games, unless scratch-n-sniff's would suddenly become a thing again. Another thing I've heard and subsequently noticed is that it's common in grocery stores that they put vegetables and fruits right at the entrance, to give a sense of freshness.

Come to think of it, Amnesia was kinda bad in giving you a sense of orientation. I do agree that it does contribute to the general feel of the game. At some points though, it was just downright confusing, especially in the latter parts of the game.

@demonknightinuyasha: You're welcome, and thanks for reading!

@CoffeeBob: http://designreboot.blogspot.ru/search/label/Level%20Design%20Primer

Read all of those.

Although the examples you draw from in your piece are good - I fear using Bioshock is cheating somehow - they're very limited and are mostly the domain of FPSes. Point #09 has been done in so many other titles before Bioshock; Metroid is probably the greatest example. Then again you drummed it up in less than a month so... meh.

The real trick is, after anyone reads too much about level design, whether or not you can take any game seriously any more. You end up being hyper aware of all the visual and environmental cues that you end up having more fun trying to break the game.

Skimmed the first few pages, and it seems you've learned a lot from your time in university. Speaking of which, what games have you worked on? I'd be interested to see if you've implemented these skills in your own projects.

Regardless, I'm looking forward to reading this through the Thanksgiving break (have a project of my own to finish for university).

@dudeglove: Thanks for the reading tip! I've only read one post so far, but it's some very useful advice.

You're definitely right that Metroid is a prime example of the 'skill impasse' method, I originally had the Metroid series in mind while writing about the method. My time was limited though so I didn't get a chance to get screenshot examples from any of the games. Mostly because it's been so long since I played any Metroid game that I don't remember a particular instance of the method that I could get a good screenshot of. I'll add in sample shots from Metroid later, probably for the first update to the guide.

I mainly used Bioshock because they've employed many of these methods in ways that are sometimes nigh blatantly obvious, which serves my goal of trying to demonstrate them as clearly as possible to the reader. Since I wrote the guide for a school assignment, I more or less had to assume that the reader had little to no previous knowledge on the subject.

That is indeed a problem if you're interested in both gaming and making games. Sometimes it gets rather difficult to take off those "designer goggles", I find myself studying the environments more and more often instead of just appreciating them. It hasn't really ruined gaming as a pastime for me though, so it's not a huge issue yet.

@Rxanadu: I'm glad you like the guide so far! I haven't yet properly employed any of these methods in any project, not any project that I can share anyway. For this block/month of school, I'm focusing on implementing many, preferably all, of the methods I have detailed in a level of my own. Hopefully I'll have something neat to show in a month or so, fingers crossed!