| A Game Design Test |
09 January 2003 | |
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The following is a test I took for a recent position as a level designer:
These are open-ended questions that exercise your design comprehension and your ability to think as a designer. Answer the following questions as thoroughly as you can in one or two paragraphs each:
1. Describe the relevant differences between a PC gaming experience and a console gaming experience. How do these differences, if any, affect how you would design a game?
Console games tend to be played in a less focused environment than PC games. The player is often on a couch across the room from the television, with less precise controls and in a more social environment. With PC games, the player is often sitting upright and close to the monitor, using the more precise mouse and keyboard, and most socializing is online. The environment has to be carefully considered when developing the game experience. Will the player dim the lights, turn off the phone, and savor the experience, or will the player toss in the disc and show off the latest fragfest to his friends?
In the PC version of Medal of Honor, the Omaha Beach level is halfway through the game. Playing this level consists mostly of dying repeatedly until the player figures out a safe path up the beach. This is gameplay as social commentary rather than glorifying violence–survival in a situation like that is completely arbitrary. In the PS2 version, the Omaha Beach level is the first, and involves providing covering fire to rescue other soldiers. Death is much more rare, and rarely arbitrary. The game has been simplified to provide an easier experience.
Part of the reason console games are simplified has to do with control. Because controllers are held rather than placed on a desk, players can typically only control using the index finger and thumb of each hand. In contrast, the keyboard and mouse of the PC can utilize seven or more fingers, giving more buttons and precision. As a member of the MS Playtest group pointed out, "while you're using your productivity software all day, you're also practicing aiming." The lack of control inherent in console games makes it more important to help with player with features such as auto aiming. However, removing too much control will reduce player empowerment and satisfaction.
2. What do most people mean when they mention or ask for non-linear missions, and what are the best ways to provide this?
Non-linear missions allow the player to complete tasks in a flexible order. This allows the player to prioritize their objectives as they desire, and play at their own pace. But a plot is still necessary to drive the player forward and provide guidance for when the player gets stuck. The common metaphor is a "string of pearls." This is best understood as a two dimensional diagram where a player must complete a pearl of short objectives before unlocking the next pearl of objectives. Within each pearl the objectives can be completed in any order, thus giving the illusion of freedom to the player. However, all of the objectives must be completed before the game can progress. If rounds of objectives are too difficult and don't allow saving, the player can be frustrated with having to complete the easier objectives first each time. Often if a player completes the objectives more efficiently in a order other than the prescribed order, they will feel that they are outsmarting the game. In Crimson Skies, the player can destroy planes on the ground before they take off and become a threat.
A non-linear game can ultimately lead to a single outcome, or fork into multiple outcomes, in which the player's success affects future choices. Doing well in one mission can open up otherwise hidden missions. In the latter case, this can increase replay value–give players the ability to choose different missions contingent upon earlier missions, but at the same time allow them to go back to old missions and choose a different path.
3. Halo, GTA3, and Battlefield 1942 are all examples of games with multi-modal gameplay, whereas Quake, Project Gotham Racing, and MechWarrior are not. What does multi-modal gameplay mean? What design considerations do you need to make to incorporate multi-modal gameplay in your game or mission?
Multi-modal gameplay allows players to interact with the game world in different ways. In the first three examples, the player can use vehicles in addition to their first or third person shooter experience. In the latter three examples, the player is on foot, in a car, or in a Mech for the entire game. The largest player challenge in multi-modal games is learning the different interfaces. If each mode has different controls, the player has to relearn them and will have difficulty switching between the various modes. Halo solved this elegantly: whether in first-person mode or driving a vehicle, the left analog stick controls movement and right stick controls viewing. Most first-person controls are stripped away when using vehicles–strafing is gone from all but the Ghost, and the non-trigger buttons don't do anything–but the controls that remain are identical and don't need to be relearned.
When designing for multi-modal gameplay, objectives will shift drastically. Modes such as vehicles can be considered powerups that give the player access to new areas. The game world has to be able to deal with or contain all modes. In Halo's Silent Cartographer level, the player has to go to the center of the island to retrieve information about Halo. Trees blocking the path force the player to travel on foot, although more dedicated players can find ways to force the Warthog through. Because anything hit with the Warthog dies instantly, the upcoming fight with the two Hunters is no longer a challenge, nor is that part of the level balanced. Here the environment design of placing the trees to block the Warthog keeps the level balanced.
4. What are the design considerations between single-player and multiplayer levels/maps?
In FPS games, single-player levels rely on enemy and object placement to create climaxes and resting periods. These can be placed by a game designer in a linear or non-linear manner to keep things interesting for the player, while giving enough time to for the player to learn new concepts. Everything is crafted around a single player's experience, unlike a multiplayer game which doesn't slow down to let a player learn a new concept. Multiplayer assumes that all players know the basics. Multi-player levels require careful balancing of the distribution of powerups and respawn points, if supported. Typically most weapons are available, unlike single player where weapon availability is spread out.
Levels are also designed with a mixture of enclosed and open areas for different types of encounters, encouraging interactions between small and large groups of players. There are often multiple routes to objectives, usually more than any player can comfortably cover at once. It's important that multi-player levels are learnable so that players can memorize and patrol critical areas. In team games, it's important to provide incentives for players to adapt their behavior and collaborate. If a player sees teammates running in one direction, he may follow them to give support, or patrol other areas. These microbehaviors dictate the macrobehavior of which teams win.
5. Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games and Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) are 2 very PC-centric game genres with extremely successful games. Describe how you would redesign the controls and interface for one of these popular games (Age of Empires, StarCraft, WarCraft, EverQuest, Asheron's Call, etc.) and make it usable and fun using the Xbox controller, and discuss the considerations that would have to be made to redesign the game.
Because of the low resolution of television relative to PCs, real estate is at a premium and most information should be presented contextually. Thus menus that popup to explain things but hide themselves quickly after are a good balance. Icons can conserve real estate, but designers must be sensitive to cultural perceptions and internationalization issues. Controls should be categorized and made as consistent as possible. In Commandos 2 on the Xbox, the right thumb stick was used for camera control but also for zooming and changing the perspective when the black button was used as a shift key. This constrained viewing options to the right thumb stick and the consistency made it easier for players to learn. To redesign a game such as WarCraft it would be important to give some AI to the mouse cursor, where clicking would snap to the nearest object within a few pixels or on the ground at that spot. Unlike auto-aiming in a FPS, this does not reduce player empowerment because hitting targets is not the primary goal. The click snap helps without getting in the way.
For WarCraft I would propose the following:
| left stick |
scrolling, click and abxy to assign groups |
| right stick |
cursor, click and drag |
| d pad |
contextual menus for units and buildings |
| left trigger |
use with abxy to recall groups |
| right trigger |
attack |
| white |
cycle through subgroups backwards |
| black |
cycle through subgroups forwards |
| ab |
when used with menus: select, back (standard selection method) |
| a |
when used with game: go |
| b |
game: stop |
| x |
patrol |
| y |
hold |
The right stick is used for the finer control of the cursor, mapping to the mouse control of the PC. The left stick click and trigger are used to assign and recall groups to the buttons. The buttons are used for assignment but also the basic controls. More complicated controls are within the menu systems for each object. Basic commands are always available to the player, but more complicated controls are hidden. Shift modifiers are used consistently to add an extra level of interaction while staying memorable.
6. What mission/level design considerations do you need to keep in mind when designing a 3-D flying game? What is unique about them from a design perspective (for example, as opposed to a First Person Shooter)?
A 3D flying game gives the illusion of an infinite playing space. But rather than being bound by walls and mountains, a player is bound by social constraints and boredom. In the demo for Crimson Skies on the PC, the mission takes places on a small island of Hawaii. Although the player is free to fly away from the island, there's mostly repetitive water and not much of interest. Also, if the game design is good enough that player cares about the game objectives and his teammates, he will not want to abandon either duty or friends. Because of the open space, speed indicators such as clouds, particles, and relative speed to the ground and other planes are necessary.
Enemy engagement is very different–often enemies are spotted in the distance (colors and contrast are very important) and approached head on. There's nowhere to hide, except behind clouds, other planes, or zeppelins, so there's more emphasis on defensive maneuvers. Collisions with other planes or the ground are normally fatal, since everyone's moving at high speeds. In Crimson Skies, radar would not fit in the game's time period, but the rules are bent slightly to allow the targeted enemy to be tracked on- and off-screen. Powerups are in the form of supply ships, rather than randomly placed items.
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