«
Nicholas ‘ Cole ’ Morgan
Level Design
Best Practices for Designing Spaces for Progressive Movement Systems
Many games use new abilities and powers granted to the player to reward progression , exploration , or skill . Instead of designing spaces that are only for specific combinations of the player ’ s skillset at any one point in the game , designers can leverage layered level design to allow the player to revisit the same space with new abilities and experience new gameplay on each revisit . In my thesis , I explored layered level design and how to best incentivize and reward players to revisit spaces with new abilities . This allows for reuse of space and creates more gameplay opportunities in less area , which should take workload off of individuals tasked with bringing levels up to a shippable aesthetic quality during development .
By researching games that constantly reuse areas , like Metroid Prime , Ori and the Will of the Wisps , Control , and Hollow Knight , I was able to identify and break down many of the common elements these games use in order to incentivize and reward player
exploration , curiosity , and skill . Using Unreal Engine 4 , I built a custom set of character movement mechanics designed to be introduced on a lap-by-lap basis and a looping level layered with paths that catered specifically to these mechanics . This allows the player to experience the loop with none , some , and all of the mechanics the space was designed for and creates incentives and rewards that the player can notice and collect on each lap . Surveying players on how driven they felt to unlock later laps , access blocked off paths , and collect items teased in previous laps gave me some insight into which aspects of the design were successful and which were not .
Overall , this project outlines a set of guidelines that can be followed and built upon by designers in order to make layered spaces that cater to player characters that grow mechanically over the course of a game . Creating these spaces to be mechanically interesting and rewarding for players to visit each time .
56 LEVEL DESIGN