sullynathan
Arcane
Ubisoft does, which is surprisingBut hey, who designs vertical levels nowadays in AAA?
Ubisoft does, which is surprisingBut hey, who designs vertical levels nowadays in AAA?
Even Fallout 4 had heavy vertical level design, it's a common thing in AAA.Ubisoft does, which is surprisingBut hey, who designs vertical levels nowadays in AAA?
Fallout 4's dungeons are actually an improvement over skyrim imo. Skyrim dungeons are the epitome of straight line covered by cheap illusions and easy twist and turn. Skyrim's dungeons are exactly like intestines. They look like they have many turn and twists, but actually, there is only 1 entrance and exit.Even Fallout 4 had heavy vertical level design, it's a common thing in AAA.Ubisoft does, which is surprisingBut hey, who designs vertical levels nowadays in AAA?
Skyrim dungeons were typically composed of relatively well designed small sections strung together in a completely linear fashion. Sometimes they would loop around above one another permitting shortcuts and exchange of fire.Fallout 4's dungeons are actually an improvement over skyrim imo. Skyrim dungeons are the epitome of straight line covered by cheap illusions and easy twist and turn. Skyrim's dungeons are exactly like intestines. They look like they have many turn and twists, but actually, there is only 1 entrance and exit.Even Fallout 4 had heavy vertical level design, it's a common thing in AAA.Ubisoft does, which is surprisingBut hey, who designs vertical levels nowadays in AAA?
Fallout 4 is much better in complexity and natural feel of the place, without making it just a straight line.
That said, both are still shit games.
That's a very broad and simplistic diagram, mostly here to show varying degrees of space usage. The Advanced/Expert fluff is here in relation to architecture complexity, not layout. Another thing is that these are just top-down views that don't represent height variations or any of that stuff. It just can't be properly represented on a 2d plane. You can have a level that's very well made layout-wise with lots of vertical action but looks like #2 and then have a super flat level with a complex arrangement of rooms like #4. In this case #2 will be much more interesting than #4 despite a simpler architecture and space arrangement. But hey, who designs vertical levels nowadays in AAA?
#4 here is perhaps the most 'accurate' representation of what a MP level should be from top view:
Don't forget that they stretch it and have 3 cutscenes from start, middle and end.
Did I pass the test?
Deus ex had the right idea. One path was for the talker, other for the fighter and the third for the stealther. Now, that's a good design.
Deus Ex doesn't have such binary level design. Rarely is it just a) combat route or b) stealth route. Even rarer still is a path dedicated to talking. Now Deus Ex: Human Revolution, yes that was very binary. Mostly boiled down to you go the obvious way or you crawl through some vents, but that was shit.Level design has to deal with two different ideas:
Having more than one path.
Having each of that path mechanically different.
i.e. if you create two paths but going through either of them involves exactly the same shit e.g. killing 10 million aliens or talking through one with a <intimidate check> and other with <persuation check> then the multiple paths have achieved nothing. Deus ex had the right idea. One path was for the talker, other for the fighter and the third for the stealther. Now, that's a good design.
Still Vivec, by level design we are talking specifically about the layout, connectivity, the obstacules (and their placement), mental challenges (such as puzzles, riddles, etc) and lastly the aesthetics and atmosphere.
I saw this diagram via Adam Heine's Twitter feed, and it made me sad:
I noticed that the big difference among these is that with each iteration, he has cut down the number of routes through the level. By "expert," there is only a single path through the map. Obviously this is something that everyone has experienced in playing games from the 80s/90s to the present, but I found it pretty interesting to see someone presenting this way (i.e., as an evolution from bad to good, notwithstanding the disclaimer at the top right).