Enhancing Ludonarrative Harmony Through Environmental Storytelling
Ry MENDENHALL
Level Design
Enhancing Ludonarrative Harmony Through Environmental Storytelling
In this Thesis, I explored the concept of Ludonarrative Harmony, or the synchronization between game mechanics and story, by attempting to enhance it through environmental storytelling.
I chose this project because I love stories and believe that exposition as dialog and excessive cutscenes can diminish player immersion, and environmental storytelling is the way we avoid that.
The goal was to tell a deeper story for the player by building a level in a way that told a story visually as well as verbally. I explored aspects of Clement Melendez’ s Push and Pull and analyzed similar games to build design patterns that could be applied to build a level and quest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
“ Once in a Full Moon” follows Geralt to a rundown resort town to investigate claims of a rampaging werewolf. I utilized the game’ s Witcher Sense alongside crafted environments and investigation areas to fulfill my goals for this Thesis.
This project was beneficial to me because I became more adaptable through learning a new editor on my own. Also, the best practices I learned helped solidify concepts and improve my level design skills.
This project is useful to the industry because it showcases how important environmental storytelling is to player immersion and gameplay choices, which can play a key role in player retention.
50 LEVEL DESIGN