Best Practices of Designing Transitions into Combat- Focused Gameplay that Encourage Player Commitment, Movement, and Flow
Jason YANG
Level Design
Best Practices of Designing Transitions into Combat- Focused Gameplay that Encourage Player Commitment, Movement, and Flow
In my Thesis, I built a custom Fallout 4 level called“ Sector 28B” to test my ideas. The level was made with the Fallout 4 Creation Kit.
The main problem I wanted to solve is what I call“ the door problem.” Many shooters put a clear door or threshold before a combat space. Players often stop at the door, peek, and back away instead of going in. This breaks the flow of the game.
I chose this project because combat level design is my main interest, and the door problem shows up in almost every shooter I play. The project took me about 10 months from research to final build. I learned how player behavior connects to spatial design, and how small changes in sightline, cover, and reward placement can change whether a player commits to a fight. The framework is something I want other level designers to be able to use in their own work.
To address this, I designed a framework with four factors: Priority, Preservation, Position, and Preference. I also used visual framing techniques to guide the player’ s attention. Every encounter in“ Sector 28B” was built to test one or more of these factors. Playtesters filled out a survey after each run so I could see which transitions worked and which did not.
68 LEVEL DESIGN