#044 An Architectural Approach to Level Design - Chapter 5 - Communicating through Environment Art
still constructing
Game levels utilize sensory information (visual and auditory) to connect with players.
- Different teaching methods present in modern games
- How to utilize art assets in such a way that the player associates them with meaningful information, and how they can be organized to teach players through direct or indirect methods
- How to use visual information to turn game levels into spaces of information that create feelings of certainty and uncertainty in players
TEACHING THEORIES FOR GAME LEVELS
This chapter will reinforce three models of teaching commonly considered by game designers - the operant conditioning model, the Montessori method, and constructivism - as the framework of our visual communication methodology.
Behavior Theory and Operant Conditioning
Classical conditioning: Pavlov would ring a bell before feeding his dogs, thereby causing them to salivate every time he rang a bell.
Operant conditioning involves changing voluntary actions of subjects via positive and negative reinforcements, as well as punishments.
Skinner box
Skinner himself argued for a methodology that avoided emphasis on lectures or tutorials, but rather on breaking large tasks into a series of smaller ones. As each task is performed, correct actions are reinforced so the student learns the proper way of performing his or her tasks.
tutorials for games
The Skinner box model can be used to describe the repetition of one singular action over and over again.
As such, it has been used as a derogatory term for games in the mobile free-to-play market that require players to wait extended periods of time to do simple actions.
Montessori Method
The world didn’t want him to fail here. It was pushing him, but gently. — THOMAS WAS ALONE, MIKE BITHELL
Game design is a second-order design problem, meaning that designers are communicating with players indirectly through their games.
Montessori views of games support the development of player skill and problem solving over the course of an entire game. In a game’s early puzzles, players learn the extent of their avatar’s movement capabilities before these capabilities are tested in later, more complex, puzzles.
This method of player-learning can focus early levels on teaching players how to deal with obstacles individually, and then mix and match them later to create more complex puzzles.
This is especially useful if designers have created a set of modular gameplay assets that they can simply mix and match within their game engine environments.
This outlook on teaching in games differs from the operant conditioning model in that it does not directly address reinforcements or punishments as outcomes to solving in-game situations.
The skill gates discussed in Chapter 2, where players cannot progress until they learn the ability that lets them overcome a particular obstacle, are examples of this kind of teaching. Skill gates are self-reinforcing, as players are simply stuck if, for example, they do not learn that jumping is a way to pass over a block that is in their way.
Constructivism
Concrete experience, observation and reflection, forming abstract concepts, and testing in new situations
In Game: attempting to overcome an obstacle, observation and reflection of play outcome, forming strategies, and testing new strategies.
For designers:
- create interactive environments and challenges for players to experiment with
- set up rewards to reinforce mechanics
provide non-severe punishments, players should be only set back to a point where they can comfortably retry a challenge
- Operant conditioning: reinforce gameplay mechanics through applications of rewards and other positive game outcomes for success and through punishments for failures.
- The Montessori Method: a framework for understanding how to structure a series of puzzles or challenges over the course of a game so that players can deduce solutions by recognizing elements of previous challenges, even if they are used in new ways.
- Constructivist methods: structure challenges, feedback, and punishments in such a way that players are motivated to iterate their play to overcome or master gameplay challenges.
SYMBOLS AND VISUAL DESIGN IN GAMES
The pairing of visual art and procedural behaviors in game objects allows players to build strong associations between game objects and gameplay mechanics. These objects therefore become symbols of the gameplay mechanics they represent.
Implementing Symbols in Games
Prefabricated objects have consistent behavior and the player will eventually build a literacy of their havits as defined by their scripted behaviors.
For environment art-intensive games, it is important to establish what portion of the scenery is a gameplay symbol and what is simply environment art.
L.A. Noire: uses gold color to distinguish interactive buildings from non-interactive buildings.
Two rules when building environmental symbols in games:
- Each symbol must have a unique appearance, even from similar environment art objects.
- Each symbol must be repeated so the player learns what it means through repetition.
Teaching with Symbols in Games
The repeatability of prefabricated game objects used as gameplay symbols allows these objects to become enforcers of the previously studied teaching methods: operant conditioning, the Montessori Method, and constructivism.
Introducing Symbols
Super Mario Bros. and Super Meat Boy: introduce symbols in the form of actual game objects or level geometry arrangements by allowing players to interact with them through their avatar’s abilities.
SWARM!: introducing an unconventional core mechanic to players: luring enemies into traps instead of fighting them directly. This mechanic was further used to unlock doors that would open when all enemies in an area were defeated.
To teach the relationship between the player, enemies, and environmental puzzles:
- Introduced the enemies far from any traps to communicate that the player could not directly defeat them with the default character.
- Enemy spawn points were set up in an area surrounded by traps, so players could watch the enemies hit the traps and explode.
- The player was put in a situation where he or she could lead the enemies into the traps, which would open a door.
The three pieces were all located within one screenshot’s view of each other so players could easily see their relationship.
Symbols as Guides
Symbols are important tools not only for introducing mechanics early, but also for conveying the message of what actions to take throughout entire games.
Portal:
There are caution signs at the beginning of the game’s test chamber puzzles that describe what hazards are inside. As players visit new rooms, see the symbols, then play the rooms themselves, they learn which symbols correspond to specific mechanics.
Another layer of symbol occurs within the level geometry itself, where specific layouts of wall panels and masses are arranged according to the metrics of specific actions. As such, a player who enters a room and sees signs that indicate inertia-based puzzles, and then encounters the deep pit, wide canyon, and tilted wall panels consistent with the game’s inertia puzzles will know what actions to take.
As players learn what each symbol means, they will train themselves to search for them as indicators of what to do next in your game levels.
Designing and Placing Symbols for Effective Communication
Good principles of visual communication are vital not only for the aesthetic quality of each symbol, but also to make them stand out from other, non-symbolic pieces of environment art.