An Exploration into Liminal Spaces and Their Effects on Player Tension
Zane HERRERA
Level Design
An Exploration into Liminal Spaces and Their Effects on Player Tension
For my thesis, I explored how liminal( transitional or“ in-between”) spaces could be used in level design to generate tension and unease in players. My goal was to understand how specific environmental design elements, including unusual size, placement, repetition, or lack of expected features, impact a player’ s feelings of tension and unease. Based on research, I referred to these elements as“ distortions.”
I chose this project because I was interested in how designers can strategically shape player emotions through the game environment itself. To investigate this, I designed and built a series of distinct game levels using the Half-Life 2 engine, each emphasizing different types of liminal spaces and distortions, such as an unnervingly empty school hallway, monolithic pool areas, a forest with out-of-place objects, and a
maze inspired by“ The Backrooms”. I then had participants play through these levels and gathered feedback through surveys and heart rate data to measure their responses.
Analyzing player feedback and data enhanced my understanding of research methods and how players perceive and react to atmospheric design. The results confirmed that strategically using liminal aesthetics and specific distortions is an effective way to modulate player tension. This knowledge is directly useful for the video game industry, particularly for designers working in horror, suspense, or any genre aiming to create deep atmospheric experiences, by providing concrete techniques to evoke specific emotional responses in players.
24 LEVEL DESIGN