Gamasutra: Action Adventure Level Design

by **S7 Vision67** Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:00 am

I don't know how many of you actively read Gamasutra.com (I suspect Epic might), but there is an interesting article up today about creative direction in designing Action Adventure levels.

Now while my dreams of becoming a programmer in the game industry have long since faded, I still like to read Gamasutra because the articles often provide insight into creative development and design principles with far reaching application.

To quote:

Like any good scene or chapter from a book, the conflict and resolution of a level should be born from the main character's motivations. This is why the character's motivations should always be clear to the player or they will feel lost and directionless.

These motivations translate into game objectives such as "find the man who killed your lover" or more simply, "kill Boss 5 of 10". The strongest objectives are ones where character and player motivations are in alignment.

If the objectives are not directly related to the motivation (for example, if you spend most of your time being waylaid by endless rat killing quests) then the player will lose sight of the meaning behind their experience and their alignment with the main character's motivation will erode along with their interest in continuing to play.

Words to live by, Gentlemen