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Matt Grabowski
Level Design
Best Practices for Teaching Shifting Gameplay Styles
The goal of my thesis was to explore various teaching methods to use when building video game levels to support shifting gameplay styles . Many popular video games have levels in which the player must play according to one gameplay style , such as stealth gameplay , for the first part of the mission before switching to another gameplay style for the second half of the mission . In most of these examples , the level designer forces the player to adopt the new style of play rather than simply encouraging the adoption of the gameplay style . My study instead aimed to allow players to retain their agency while still encouraging a certain gameplay style .
My artifact level is a single-player journey mission for Far Cry 5 called “ Prey & Predator .” In the level , the player ’ s goal is to traverse through a mountain valley highway occupied by armed fanatics to reach the extraction
point . For the first half of the level , the player is encouraged to partake in stealth gameplay . In the second half of the level , the player is given a firearm and subsequently encouraged to utilize push-forward firefight combat gameplay .
Over the course of 11 months , I researched different teaching methods , designed my artifact level putting these methods into practice , conducted 14 playtesting sessions , and analyzed the data results to test my assumptions . Throughout this process , I obtained an understanding of player agency and learned how to better communicate with players through level design . My research involved studying various theses , different teaching techniques in video games , and Nico Fridja ’ s Valence Theory . The conclusions and data from this thesis can aid designers in constructing levels that incorporate teaching methods and encourage shifting gameplay styles .
30 LEVEL DESIGN