systemic level design harvey smith [email protected]
TRANSCRIPT
Systemic Level Design
Lecture Overview
• Intro, Overview and High Concept• Special Case LD• Systemic LD• Pros of Systemic LD• Cons of Systemic LD• Summation
Systemic Level Design
What if Frank Lloyd Wright Built Doom Levels?
• Not a visual aesthetics or architecture talk.
• Not a level design ‘chokepoint’ or ‘flow’ talk.
Systemic Level Design
What Today’s Talk ‘Is’
• Related to LD content creation tasks and tools.
• Advocates gameplay implementation:o According to (systemic) global patterns o Instead of (special case) localized patterns
Systemic Level Design
Intro: Ion Storm (Austin)
• An EIDOS Studio• Studio Head – The
GREAT Warren Spector ™
• Titles to date – Deus Ex (PC and PS2)
• In development – Deus Ex 2, Thief 3
• Focus on Immersive Simulations
Systemic Level Design
Intro: Harvey Smith
• Deus Ex 2 (Project Director) • Deus Ex (Lead Designer) • FireTeam (Lead Designer) • Technosaur (Project Director/Designer) • CyberMage (Associate Producer) • Ultima VIII CD (Tester/Design Assist) • System Shock (Lead Tester) • Super Wing Commander 3DO (Tester)
Systemic Level Design
Deus Ex: Goals
• Spy fiction• Realistic
environments• Immersive
environments• Genre mix• Player-driven
experience
Systemic Level Design
Deus Ex: Where We Ended Up
• Conspiracy Theory• Globe-hopping, Real
World Locations• Immersive Sim –
Shooter Hybrid• Multiple Solutions
to Problems
Systemic Level Design
Deus Ex: Systemic/Special Case Hybrid
• Multiple Solutions (Player Expression)o Player-expression via game systems,
emergence and simulation (Systemic).o Player-expression via LD-driven puzzles
and situations (Special Case).
Systemic Level Design
High Concept
• Level designers can establish gameplay systemically or on a special case basis.
• Systemic implementation enables o More intentional, less scripted playo Decreases the learning curveo Makes bug fixing easier
Systemic Level Design
Special Case Level Design Definition
• Special case level design is the creation of gameplay out of the notions of a particular designer, as needed for a specific, localized occurrence in the game.
• Special case level design has limited awareness of global game patterns.
Systemic Level Design
Special Case Level Design
• All about the ideas of a given level designer:o What is consistento What is fun (and rewarding)
• Consistency is possible, but improbable: o Requires vigilant manual effort o Single cardboard box in DX contained
something useful
Systemic Level Design
Special Case: Planning
• Example—Team discusses:o Fictional setting of a given levelo “Look and feel” o Placement of units (monsters or
characters), weapons, tools or resourceso Specific puzzles or scripted sequences
Discussed, but implementation is not detailed Not practical Different designers, different styles/techniques
Systemic Level Design
Special Case: Tools & Content Creation
• Properties and parameters for many game elements reside on a per instance basis:o Objects with tweaked parameterso Unique moving geometry (movers)o Special triggers
• All cobbled together by each LD individually
Systemic Level Design
Special Case: Tools & Content Creation
• Examples:o Generic (highly configurable) triggerso Moving geometry (generic “movers”)o Different LD’s create visually identical “crushing
block” puzzles that function differently, with subtle variations.
• Many editors have hybrid toolso DX1 trip lasers had default properties, but could
be tweaked, causing problems.
Systemic Level Design
Special Case: Bug Fixing
• Testing finds problems and often each instance of a gameplay element must be visited and reconfigured manually:o Each scripted sceneo All triggers controlling specific state
changeso All unique moverso Et cetera
Systemic Level Design
Special Case: Bug Fixing
• Example—Playtest determines that crushing blast doors add fun.
• Because each door was set up manually, each door must be visited individually: o Takes time o Likely to introduce bugs
Systemic Level Design
Systemic Level Design Definition
• Systemic level design is the creation of gameplay out of combinations of existing game elements with globally defined, consistent characteristics and behaviors.
• Systemic level design has an awareness of global game patterns.
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Planning
• Team discusses:o Same stuff as in Special Case planning
(fiction, look and feel, game element placement, specific sequences)
o Rules governing behaviors of game elements
o Specific methods for implementing types of situations (according to agreed upon patterns)
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Planning
• Example—Team plans 3 door classes: o Light doors easily destroyed and do not
inflict damage o Medium doors only destroyed by explosives
and inflict light damage o Heavy doors cannot be destroyed and inflict
heavy damage
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Tools & Content Creation
• Game element properties and parameters reside at a higher level, rather than on a per instance basis.
• Tools for adding game elements are streamlined, calling upon archetypes, rather than specific instances of any given game element.
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Tools & Content Creation
• Example—Door behavior (3 classes) stored in object property treeo Not entered for each of 500 doors by hando Information entered and managed centrallyo LD’s select proper door and drop into placeo New door types are added when neededo All doors inherit properties from archetypes
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Bug fixing
• Playtest determines that a given gameplay element behaves inappropriately.
• A change is made to the object property tree storing the behaviors of the game element archetype.
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Bug fixing
• Example—Playtest complains that medium doors are not always destroyed by grenades:o Medium door strength is lowered globally
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Advantages
• Consistency• Emergent Gameplay• Efficiency
Systemic Level Design
Consistency Breakdown
• Consistencyo Plan Formulationo Intuitive Behavioro Learning Curve
• Emergent Gameplay• Efficiency
Systemic Level Design
Consistency: Plan Formulation
• Consistency rewards strategic plan formulation.
• Once the behaviors of game elements can be predicted, the player is empowered to make assumptions.
• Success or failure are understood. • Player feels a sense of agency.
Systemic Level Design
Consistency: Plan Formulation
• Example—LD’s set up blast doors w/ different properties:o Crush, Move Speed, Sound Volume
• After encountering first blast door, player makes assumptions about second blast door.
• Plans fail.• Player feels like he is uncovering an arbitrary
path set out for him by the designer.
Systemic Level Design
Consistency: Intuitive Behavior
• If game elements are implemented with systemic consistency:o The player is more likely to develop an
intuitive understanding of game elements. o Variations of game elements are likely to be
understood even if the player is encountering them for the first time.
Systemic Level Design
Consistency: Intuitive Behavior
• Systemically implemented fire damage model:o If campfire burns player-character once, it is likely
to burn him twice.o If player encounters a second form of fire (like a
fire barrel), it is likely to behave intuitively: Burns player-character Burns cat Burns dog
Systemic Level Design
Consistency: Learning Curve
• If the behaviors of game elements stay consistent:o Player spends less time learning the game o Player spends more time playing the game
Systemic Level Design
Emergent Gameplay
• Consistency• Emergent Gameplay
o Special Case = Per instance basiso Systemic = Class-to-class basis
• Efficiency
Systemic Level Design
Emergence
• Emergent gameplay can arise from the interaction of simple rules, making the whole of the game experience greater than its parts, allowing for second order consequences.
Systemic Level Design
Emergence
• DX1 Monsters were more systemic than characters:o Monsters were dropped in placeo Characters’ properties were tweaked
Urban context: Run when shots fired Warzone context: Crouch when shots fired
• DX1 Monsters provided more comprehensible, useful emergence
Systemic Level Design
Emergence Example 01
• Players discovered deeper layer of interaction than we had planned:o Locked Containers: Opened w/ resources.o MiB Unit: Explodes upon death.o Emergent Strategy: Players used MiB’s to
open locked containers. • Good surprise: “Oh, wow, of course.” • Bad surprise: “What the hell?!?”
Systemic Level Design
Emergence Example 02
• Transform: Convert organic into mech.
• Command Bolt: Steal enemy mech.
• Player can upgrade then steal enemy organic units.
Systemic Level Design
Efficiency
• Consistency• Emergent Gameplay• Efficiency
Systemic Level Design
Efficiency
• Systemic Level Design:o Plan-and-drop efficiencyo Global bug fixeso Designers spend less time on tedious map-
monkey tasks and more on gameplay
Systemic Level Design
Efficiency
• Example—A change made to TripLaser_red in the global object hierarchy changes all red trip lasers.
• Worth noting: Part of the DX1 problem was the lack of a LD tools support programmer.
Systemic Level Design
Systemic: Disadvantages
• Need for Shoehorning• Introduction of Uncertainty • Designer Perception
o Loss of powero Consistency is boring
Systemic Level Design
Shoehorning
• Twisting an idea to make it work with core gameplay systems. A restriction on creative impulse in exchange for the benefits of systemic level design.o Sometimes needed to meet creative visiono Sometimes needed for player expectation
Systemic Level Design
Special Case Squad Mate Example
• Designers (and testers) wanted a “squad mate” for cell break
• Idea made total sense, in context• DX1 lacked “Squad Mate AI”• We hacked it in anyway with a bunch of
manually placed triggers
Systemic Level Design
Ladies and Gentlemen…Miguel
• It met expectation and provided color
• It broke often and was lame
• Special case tools are powerful (maybe in a bad way)
Systemic Level Design
Systemic Arrow/Pyre Example
• Designer takes abstract idea and warps it to work with some of the core game systemso Planting spots become pyreso Seeds become water arrowso Stealth is employedo Core context/fiction is employed
Systemic Level Design
Uncertainty
• Systemic LD is more likely to allow for emergent events within the game.
• Emergent behaviors are often too subtle (or too numerous in permutation) for the team to effectively predict, introducing uncertainty.
Systemic Level Design
Prox Mine Uncertainty
• Prox mines behaved according to globally consistent rules about relationships between classeso Player could attach/un-attach prox mineso Prox mines were physical objectso Player could collide w/ physical objectso Player didn’t detonate his own o Player could climb walls w/ prox mines
Systemic Level Design
Prox Mine Climbing
Systemic Level Design
Special Case Prox Mine
• Prox Mine (red dot) is linked manually to other game elements (green dots).
• Prox Mine has no relationship w/ some game elements (black dots).
Systemic Level Design
Systemic Prox Mine
• Prox Mine (red dot) is linked to object class (hollow green dot).
• Prox Mine has relationship w/ all game elements (green dots).
Systemic Level Design
Prox Mine Model Comparison
Systemic Level Design
Designer Perception: Loss of Power
• “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson, Special Case Level Designer (and Poet)
Systemic Level Design
Designer Perception: Loss of Power
• LD loses some specific narrative/flow control.
• LD gains:o Tools that can be combined and trusted.o Power to contextualize the world.o Power to empower the player.
Systemic Level Design
Designer Perception: Consistency Is Boring
• “Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life.”
– Aldous Huxley, Special Case Level Designer (and Depressing SF Writer)
Systemic Level Design
Designer Perception: Consistency Is Boring
• Games with emergence are often surprising (in a good way).
• Players often perceive open-ended game environments as providing more freedom. “Anything can happen.”
• Systemic games encourage the player to experiment.
Systemic Level Design
Systemic Vs Special Case: Player Perception
• Doug Church:
• Playing the Game Designer versus Playing the Game
Systemic Level Design
Playing the Designer
• Often much more frustrating:o Some arbitrary force is foiling the playero Behaviors change, instance to instanceo Environment inconsistent or incompleteo Plans often fail for inexplicable reasonso Surprise: “What the hell???”
Systemic Level Design
Playing the Game
• Can be particularly satisfying:o Fewer logical breaks in consistencyo Environment feels rationalo Player feels free to experimento Player feels less manipulatedo Plans fail or succeed comprehensiblyo Surprise: “Oh, cool…of course”
• The system does not care—it has no agenda.
Systemic Level Design
Some Benefits of Special Case LD
• Variation • Outside Scope of
Core Mechanics• Unique Moments• Story Advancement
Systemic Level Design
Systemic and Special Case Examples
• Heart of Darkness• GTA3• Platform Games
Systemic Level Design
Heart of Darkness
• Great Gameo Amazing Arto Short Play-timeo Simple Interfaceo Fun
• Every scene totally special case
Systemic Level Design
Heart of Darkness
• Constant variation
• Player constantly sees something new
• Any interaction is possible
Systemic Level Design
Heart of Darkness
• Constant guessworko Sometimes up arrow
means “climb wall”o Sometimes up arrow
means “jump”
• Very narrow range of emergent interaction
Systemic Level Design
Heart of Darkness
• Fun is still possible
• Heart of Darkness has different (not inferior) values
Systemic Level Design
Grand Theft Auto 3
• Game of the Year• ‘Sandbox’ freedom
through simulation o Pedestrian Traffico Vehicle Physicso Dynamic Missionso Damage Model
• Goal Completion
Systemic Level Design
Grand Theft Auto 3
• Mostly systemic:o Drive off roof
• Sometimes special case:o Play it our way
• Suffered when Systemic and Special Case contrasted
Systemic Level Design
GTA3 Cartel Example
• Goal Completion Methodologyo Sniper Rifle Onlyo Must Wait For 8-ballo MISSION FAILED
• Contrasts w/ Goal Completion
Systemic Level Design
Platform Games
• Games like Mario64, Sonic
• Made up almost entirely of systemic elements
• LD’s create gameplay patterns by combining elements
Systemic Level Design
Summation: High Concept
• Level designers can establish gameplay systemically or on a special case basis.
• Systemic implementation enables o More intentional, less scripted playo Decreases the learning curveo Makes bug fixing easier
Systemic Level Design
Summation: Last Thoughts
• Design object behaviors by type, rather than by instance.
• This is central to designing a behavior system rather than a set of puzzles.
Systemic Level Design
Goodbye and Good Luck
Special Thanks: Ion Storm Austin, Marc LeBlanc, Warren Spector, Tim Stellmach, Ricardo Bare,
Brian Sharp, Kent Hudson, Clay Hoffman and Doug Church
