Transcript Systemic Level Design Harvey Smith [email protected] Systemic Level Design Lecture Overview • • • • • • Intro, Overview and High Concept Special Case LD Systemic LD Pros of Systemic LD Cons of Systemic.

Systemic Level Design
Harvey Smith
[email protected]
Systemic Level Design
Lecture Overview
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Intro, Overview and High Concept
Special Case LD
Systemic LD
Pros of Systemic LD
Cons of Systemic LD
Summation
Systemic Level Design
What if Frank Lloyd
Wright Built Doom
Levels?
• Not a visual
aesthetics or
architecture talk.
• Not a level design
‘chokepoint’ or ‘flow’
talk.
Systemic Level Design
What Today’s Talk ‘Is’
• Related to LD content creation tasks
and tools.
• Advocates gameplay implementation:
o
o
According to (systemic) global patterns
Instead of (special case) localized patterns
Systemic Level Design
Intro: Ion Storm (Austin)
• An EIDOS Studio
• Studio Head – The
GREAT Warren Spector
™
• Titles to date – Deus Ex
(PC and PS2)
• In development – Deus
Ex 2, Thief 3
• Focus on Immersive
Simulations
Systemic Level Design
Intro: Harvey Smith
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Deus Ex 2 (Project Director)
Deus Ex (Lead Designer)
FireTeam (Lead Designer)
Technosaur (Project Director/Designer)
CyberMage (Associate Producer)
Ultima VIII CD (Tester/Design Assist)
System Shock (Lead Tester)
Super Wing Commander 3DO (Tester)
Systemic Level Design
Deus Ex: Goals
• Spy fiction
• Realistic
environments
• Immersive
environments
• Genre mix
• Player-driven
experience
Systemic Level Design
Deus Ex: Where We
Ended Up
• Conspiracy Theory
• Globe-hopping, Real
World Locations
• Immersive Sim –
Shooter Hybrid
• Multiple Solutions
to Problems
Systemic Level Design
Deus Ex:
Systemic/Special Case
Hybrid
• Multiple Solutions (Player Expression)
Player-expression via game systems,
emergence and simulation (Systemic).
o Player-expression via LD-driven puzzles
and situations (Special Case).
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Systemic Level Design
High Concept
• Level designers can establish
gameplay systemically or on a special
case basis.
• Systemic implementation enables
o
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More intentional, less scripted play
Decreases the learning curve
Makes bug fixing easier
Systemic Level Design
Special Case Level
Design Definition
• Special case level design is the
creation of gameplay out of the notions
of a particular designer, as needed for a
specific, localized occurrence in the
game.
• Special case level design has limited
awareness of global game patterns.
Systemic Level Design
Special Case Level
Design
• All about the ideas of a given level
designer:
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What is consistent
What is fun (and rewarding)
• Consistency is possible, but
improbable:
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Requires vigilant manual effort
Single cardboard box in DX contained
something useful
Systemic Level Design
Special Case: Planning
• Example—Team discusses:
Fictional setting of a given level
“Look and feel”
Placement of units (monsters or
characters), weapons, tools or resources
o Specific puzzles or scripted sequences
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 Discussed, but implementation is not detailed
 Not practical
 Different designers, different styles/techniques
Systemic Level Design
Special Case: Tools &
Content Creation
• Properties and parameters for many
game elements reside on a per
instance basis:
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Objects with tweaked parameters
Unique moving geometry (movers)
Special triggers
• All cobbled together by each LD
individually
Systemic Level Design
Special Case: Tools &
Content Creation
• Examples:
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Generic (highly configurable) triggers
Moving geometry (generic “movers”)
Different LD’s create visually identical “crushing
block” puzzles that function differently, with subtle
variations.
• Many editors have hybrid tools
o
DX1 trip lasers had default properties, but could
be tweaked, causing problems.
Systemic Level Design
Special Case: Bug Fixing
• Testing finds problems and often each
instance of a gameplay element must
be visited and reconfigured manually:
Each scripted scene
All triggers controlling specific state
changes
o All unique movers
o Et cetera
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Systemic Level Design
Special Case: Bug Fixing
• Example—Playtest determines that
crushing blast doors add fun.
• Because each door was set up
manually, each door must be visited
individually:
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Takes time
Likely to introduce bugs
Systemic Level Design
Systemic Level Design
Definition
• Systemic level design is the creation of
gameplay out of combinations of
existing game elements with globally
defined, consistent characteristics and
behaviors.
• Systemic level design has an
awareness of global game patterns.
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Planning
• Team discusses:
Same stuff as in Special Case planning
(fiction, look and feel, game element
placement, specific sequences)
o Rules governing behaviors of game
elements
o Specific methods for implementing types of
situations (according to agreed upon
patterns)
o
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Planning
• Example—Team plans 3 door classes:
Light doors easily destroyed and do not
inflict damage
o Medium doors only destroyed by explosives
and inflict light damage
o Heavy doors cannot be destroyed and inflict
heavy damage
o
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Tools &
Content Creation
• Game element properties and
parameters reside at a higher level,
rather than on a per instance basis.
• Tools for adding game elements are
streamlined, calling upon archetypes,
rather than specific instances of any
given game element.
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Tools &
Content Creation
• Example—Door behavior (3 classes)
stored in object property tree
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Not entered for each of 500 doors by hand
Information entered and managed centrally
LD’s select proper door and drop into place
New door types are added when needed
All doors inherit properties from archetypes
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Bug fixing
• Playtest determines that a given
gameplay element behaves
inappropriately.
• A change is made to the object property
tree storing the behaviors of the game
element archetype.
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Bug fixing
• Example—Playtest complains that
medium doors are not always
destroyed by grenades:
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Medium door strength is lowered globally
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Advantages
• Consistency
• Emergent Gameplay
• Efficiency
Systemic Level Design
Consistency Breakdown
• Consistency
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o
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Plan Formulation
Intuitive Behavior
Learning Curve
• Emergent Gameplay
• Efficiency
Systemic Level Design
Consistency: Plan
Formulation
• Consistency rewards strategic plan
formulation.
• Once the behaviors of game elements
can be predicted, the player is
empowered to make assumptions.
• Success or failure are understood.
• Player feels a sense of agency.
Systemic Level Design
Consistency: Plan
Formulation
• Example—LD’s set up blast doors w/ different
properties:
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Crush, Move Speed, Sound Volume
• After encountering first blast door, player
makes assumptions about second blast door.
• Plans fail.
• Player feels like he is uncovering an arbitrary
path set out for him by the designer.
Systemic Level Design
Consistency: Intuitive
Behavior
• If game elements are implemented with
systemic consistency:
The player is more likely to develop an
intuitive understanding of game elements.
o Variations of game elements are likely to be
understood even if the player is
encountering them for the first time.
o
Systemic Level Design
Consistency: Intuitive
Behavior
• Systemically implemented fire damage model:
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If campfire burns player-character once, it is likely
to burn him twice.
If player encounters a second form of fire (like a
fire barrel), it is likely to behave intuitively:
 Burns player-character
 Burns cat
 Burns dog
Systemic Level Design
Consistency: Learning
Curve
• If the behaviors of game elements stay
consistent:
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Player spends less time learning the game
Player spends more time playing the game
Systemic Level Design
Emergent Gameplay
• Consistency
• Emergent Gameplay
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Special Case = Per instance basis
Systemic = Class-to-class basis
• Efficiency
Systemic Level Design
Emergence
• Emergent gameplay can arise from the
interaction of simple rules, making the
whole of the game experience greater
than its parts, allowing for second order
consequences.
Systemic Level Design
Emergence
• DX1 Monsters were more systemic
than characters:
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Monsters were dropped in place
Characters’ properties were tweaked
 Urban context: Run when shots fired
 Warzone context: Crouch when shots fired
• DX1 Monsters provided more
comprehensible, useful emergence
Systemic Level Design
Emergence Example 01
• Players discovered deeper layer of
interaction than we had planned:
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Locked Containers: Opened w/ resources.
MiB Unit: Explodes upon death.
Emergent Strategy: Players used MiB’s to
open locked containers.
• Good surprise: “Oh, wow, of course.”
• Bad surprise: “What the hell?!?”
Systemic Level Design
Emergence Example 02
• Transform: Convert
organic into mech.
• Command Bolt:
Steal enemy mech.
• Player can upgrade
then steal enemy
organic units.
Systemic Level Design
Efficiency
• Consistency
• Emergent Gameplay
• Efficiency
Systemic Level Design
Efficiency
• Systemic Level Design:
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Plan-and-drop efficiency
Global bug fixes
Designers spend less time on tedious mapmonkey tasks and more on gameplay
Systemic Level Design
Efficiency
• Example—A change
made to TripLaser_red
in the global object
hierarchy changes all
red trip lasers.
• Worth noting: Part of
the DX1 problem was
the lack of a LD tools
support programmer.
Systemic Level Design
Systemic:
Disadvantages
• Need for Shoehorning
• Introduction of Uncertainty
• Designer Perception
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Loss of power
Consistency is boring
Systemic Level Design
Shoehorning
• Twisting an idea to make it work with
core gameplay systems. A restriction on
creative impulse in exchange for the
benefits of systemic level design.
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Sometimes needed to meet creative vision
Sometimes needed for player expectation
Systemic Level Design
Special Case Squad
Mate Example
• Designers (and testers) wanted a
“squad mate” for cell break
• Idea made total sense, in context
• DX1 lacked “Squad Mate AI”
• We hacked it in anyway with a bunch of
manually placed triggers
Systemic Level Design
Ladies and
Gentlemen…Miguel
• It met expectation
and provided color
• It broke often and
was lame
• Special case tools
are powerful (maybe
in a bad way)
Systemic Level Design
Systemic Arrow/Pyre
Example
• Designer takes abstract idea and warps
it to work with some of the core game
systems
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Planting spots become pyres
Seeds become water arrows
Stealth is employed
Core context/fiction is employed
Systemic Level Design
Uncertainty
• Systemic LD is more likely to allow for
emergent events within the game.
• Emergent behaviors are often too
subtle (or too numerous in permutation)
for the team to effectively predict,
introducing uncertainty.
Systemic Level Design
Prox Mine Uncertainty
• Prox mines behaved according to
globally consistent rules about
relationships between classes
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Player could attach/un-attach prox mines
Prox mines were physical objects
Player could collide w/ physical objects
Player didn’t detonate his own
Player could climb walls w/ prox mines
Systemic Level Design
Prox Mine Climbing
Systemic Level Design
Special Case Prox Mine
• Prox Mine (red dot)
is linked manually to
other game
elements (green
dots).
• Prox Mine has no
relationship w/ some
game elements
(black dots).
Systemic Level Design
Systemic Prox Mine
• Prox Mine (red dot)
is linked to object
class (hollow green
dot).
• Prox Mine has
relationship w/ all
game elements
(green dots).
Systemic Level Design
Prox Mine Model
Comparison
Systemic Level Design
Designer Perception:
Loss of Power
• “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin
of little minds.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson, Special Case
Level Designer (and Poet)
Systemic Level Design
Designer Perception:
Loss of Power
• LD loses some specific narrative/flow
control.
• LD gains:
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Tools that can be combined and trusted.
Power to contextualize the world.
Power to empower the player.
Systemic Level Design
Designer Perception:
Consistency Is Boring
• “Consistency is contrary to nature,
contrary to life.”
– Aldous Huxley, Special Case Level
Designer (and Depressing SF Writer)
Systemic Level Design
Designer Perception:
Consistency Is Boring
• Games with emergence are often
surprising (in a good way).
• Players often perceive open-ended
game environments as providing more
freedom. “Anything can happen.”
• Systemic games encourage the player
to experiment.
Systemic Level Design
Systemic Vs Special
Case: Player Perception
• Doug Church:
• Playing the Game
Designer versus
Playing the Game
Systemic Level Design
Playing the Designer
• Often much more frustrating:
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o
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Some arbitrary force is foiling the player
Behaviors change, instance to instance
Environment inconsistent or incomplete
Plans often fail for inexplicable reasons
Surprise: “What the hell???”
Systemic Level Design
Playing the Game
• Can be particularly satisfying:
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Fewer logical breaks in consistency
Environment feels rational
Player feels free to experiment
Player feels less manipulated
Plans fail or succeed comprehensibly
Surprise: “Oh, cool…of course”
• The system does not care—it has no agenda.
Systemic Level Design
Some Benefits of
Special Case LD
• Variation
• Outside Scope of
Core Mechanics
• Unique Moments
• Story Advancement
Systemic Level Design
Systemic and Special
Case Examples
• Heart of Darkness
• GTA3
• Platform Games
Systemic Level Design
Heart of Darkness
• Great Game
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Amazing Art
Short Play-time
Simple Interface
Fun
• Every scene totally
special case
Systemic Level Design
Heart of Darkness
• Constant variation
• Player constantly
sees something new
• Any interaction is
possible
Systemic Level Design
Heart of Darkness
• Constant guesswork
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o
Sometimes up arrow
means “climb wall”
Sometimes up arrow
means “jump”
• Very narrow range of
emergent interaction
Systemic Level Design
Heart of Darkness
• Fun is still possible
• Heart of Darkness
has different (not
inferior) values
Systemic Level Design
Grand Theft Auto 3
• Game of the Year
• ‘Sandbox’ freedom
through simulation
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Pedestrian Traffic
Vehicle Physics
Dynamic Missions
Damage Model
• Goal Completion
Systemic Level Design
Grand Theft Auto 3
• Mostly systemic:
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Drive off roof
• Sometimes special
case:
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Play it our way
• Suffered when
Systemic and
Special Case
contrasted
Systemic Level Design
GTA3 Cartel Example
• Goal Completion
Methodology
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Sniper Rifle Only
Must Wait For 8-ball
MISSION FAILED
• Contrasts w/ Goal
Completion
Systemic Level Design
Platform Games
• Games like Mario64,
Sonic
• Made up almost
entirely of systemic
elements
• LD’s create
gameplay patterns
by combining
elements
Systemic Level Design
Summation: High
Concept
• Level designers can establish
gameplay systemically or on a special
case basis.
• Systemic implementation enables
o
o
o
More intentional, less scripted play
Decreases the learning curve
Makes bug fixing easier
Systemic Level Design
Summation: Last
Thoughts
• Design object behaviors by type, rather
than by instance.
• This is central to designing a behavior
system rather than a set of puzzles.
Systemic Level Design
Goodbye and Good
Luck
Special Thanks: Ion Storm Austin,
Marc LeBlanc, Warren Spector,
Tim Stellmach, Ricardo Bare,
Brian Sharp, Kent Hudson, Clay
Hoffman
and
Doug
Church
Systemic Level Design
Systemic Level Design
Harvey Smith ([email protected])
Systemic Level Design