SMU Guildhall Graduate Catalog Spring 2018 — Cohort 26 | Page 66

Jake Patton Level Design « Enhancing Immersion Using Game Feel by Aligning Player Interactions With Game Metaphor Throughout my time playing games, I I learned through the development of levels are those in which the experience understand each of the elements that have noticed that the most affecting of playing perfectly matches the experience represented on screen. Likewise, a mismatch between the two can destroy a level. The goal of my thesis was to develop a process by which I could consistently achieve the former experience. I spent three months researching, developing, and refining the process itself, make up a game. Without this prior knowledge, I wouldn’t have been able to accurately assess what was possible in Fallout 4, nor would I have been able to solve design problems as quickly. Furthermore, I learned that level design fundamentals such as conveyance and digestible spaces are a prerequisite for higher-level experience goals. followed by three months using it to create I believe that my process could be useful Feedback indicates that “Meltdown” as a template for planning levels, as the a single-player Fallout 4 level, “Meltdown.” successfully matches its play experience with its planned narrative arc. The process I developed helped achieve this outcome. 66 “Meltdown” just how important it is to LEVEL DESIGN to the video games industry, particularly process allows a development team to build a shared library of information useful for level design.