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An Approach to Holistic Level Design — Transcript

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0:00[Music]
0:06okay I think I'm going to get started
0:08soon
0:10um uh hello everyone I'm Steve Lee uh
0:13this talk is called an approach to
0:14holistic level design um before I get
0:17started I'd like to remind everyone to
0:19turn off your phones and and make sure
0:20you fill in your review forms after the
0:22talk um especially if you stayed in from
0:25the last talk I think you need to uh
0:27leave the room and and make sure you uh
0:30at the end of The Talk this is make sure
0:32you get scanned so that you can receive
0:34the notification to review the talk
0:37finally if uh we're looking fairly
0:39forward but if in general it's cool if
0:40you can sit closer to the middle so it's
0:42easier for people to sit down if they
0:43enter during the talk and uh also yeah
0:48there's no filming allowed after like
0:50the first 5 minutes of the talk I've
0:51been
0:53told okay um so a little about a little
0:56bit about me I've been a level designer
0:57in the industry for about 10 years now
1:00shipping these four games uh the first
1:03one in the list is a an open world
1:05action driving game uh but since then
1:07I've kind of deliberately made Moves
1:08towards uh firstperson games and uh
1:11games with an increasingly kind of
1:13holistic approach to level design uh in
1:15terms of how I see it um that satisfy a
1:18particular set of values and
1:20particularly the last two uh Bioshock
1:22and especially this h two um which are
1:25games that belong to the Sha known as
1:26immersive Sims which I I'll touch on a
1:28lot I'll kind of uh yeah discuss a lot
1:30of ideas kind of connected to that
1:34genre um so one thing to bear in mind is
1:36that while I hope the ideas I talk about
1:38in this uh presentation are kind of
1:40relevant to many kinds of games um I
1:43should say that these three games are
1:44three of my favorites of all time and
1:46they kind of uh you know this talk is
1:48very much informed by their
1:51sensibilities okay so what do I mean by
1:53holistic level design uh the dictionary
1:55says uh you know it it will talk about
1:58how holistic thinking is generally about
2:00seeing everything every part of a design
2:02in terms of how it affects the whole and
2:04how the whole can be much greater than
2:06the sum of its
2:07parts uh my favorite summary of this
2:09idea is is a quote from this great book
2:11called 101 things I learned at
2:13architecture school which isn't a level
2:15design book but I recommend it to all
2:18level designers it's got a lot of stuff
2:19that's very that has very strong
2:20parallels to the uh the creative process
2:23and that kind of thing um the quote is
2:25about the nature of beauty and it goes
2:27like this uh beauty is due more to the
2:30harmonious relationships among the
2:31elements of a composition than to the
2:33elements themselves and needless to say
2:36I think this is often very true of level
2:39design um so speaking of the elements of
2:42a composition these are the three
2:43elements I'm going to talk about um in
2:45games which are well refer to which are
2:48presentation gameplay and story if you
2:51just kind of categorize the all the
2:53different parts of games into these
2:54three main pillars and note here that by
2:57presentation I generally mean all the
2:59kind of audio visual output of the game
3:01and uh so like graphics and sound and
3:04everything the player sees but also like
3:06text and stuff like that and I'll get
3:07into a while
3:08later um now these B big three elements
3:11kind of are all you know very important
3:13in their own right all deserving of like
3:14talks dedicated each of them but uh this
3:17talk is specifically about how
3:18everything works together so I'm going
3:20to focus on topics that emerge from the
3:22relationships between these things
3:24instead of the things themselves so to
3:27explain what I mean by this um between
3:29these of gameplay and presentation I'm
3:31going to talk about these concepts of
3:33affordances and
3:35intentionality between uh the way we
3:38present things in story emerges this
3:40idea we refer to as World
3:42building and finally uh between gam
3:45playay and story you know emerges this
3:47idea of interactive narrative and all
3:49that kind of thing so uh yeah so this is
3:53a talk to kind of highlight and
3:54summarize these things and give a few
3:55tips on what we can do to apply them in
3:57our level
3:58design so first up uh affordance is an
4:02intentionality two concepts which emerge
4:04from this relationship between gameplay
4:06and the way we present things I'm going
4:08to talk about affordances first and then
4:09use that to lead into the concept of
4:11intentionality because they're very
4:12strongly uh
4:14connected so affordances is this term
4:17that is generally considered to come
4:18from the world of industrial design a
4:21great book to read about this is uh this
4:23one the Design of Everyday Things by Don
4:26Norman and a classic example of
4:29affordances in ction is the design of
4:30door handles um so if you look at this
4:32photo you can see two doors and uh the
4:35one on the left should be pushed the one
4:36on the right should be pulled and uh the
4:38problem here is that the uh the handles
4:40for both of these doors look the same
4:42and also they both look like they should
4:44be pulled so you can imagine how um you
4:46know people will approach the door on
4:48the left and intuitively pull it instead
4:50of pushing it and look like a bit of a
4:52fool um so here we can say that the
4:54affordances of these door handles on the
4:56left are very poorly designed because
4:57they're misleading
5:00um by contrast here are some much better
5:02door handles where the the push panel on
5:04the left clearly affords uh P being
5:06pushed in a way that kind of contrasts
5:09with the one that should be
5:10pulled and indeed the in this case uh
5:13the affordances are so clear and strong
5:15that you could remove the text from
5:16these these door handles and use them
5:18anywhere you know in any country and
5:20people would just intuitively use them
5:21correctly and that's the kind of goal of
5:23affordances is that you you know it's
5:26about communicating how things work
5:28intuitively and we can talk about this
5:30as form conveying function to use kind
5:32of industrial design
5:33lingo and designing affordance as well
5:36is a crucial part of Designing anything
5:37that is used by people um and of course
5:40this includes games and level
5:42design uh so what kind of affordances
5:44are we talking about when it comes to
5:45level
5:46design uh this is a screenshot from an
5:48early mission in dishonor 2 um edge of
5:51the world uh not my mission I'll talk
5:52about mine later but um you know so in a
5:55fully realized kind of immersive 3D game
5:57like Dishonored the most obvious
5:59importance is is in in first person
6:01level design in particular a visual and
6:03they're conveyed through things like
6:05layout and lighting and all this kind of
6:06stuff all relative to the players's view
6:08as they move through the environment so
6:11you know some of the main importances
6:12we're talking about are like the
6:14presentation of the players navigation
6:16options in relation to their goals and
6:18their obstacles and we you know we
6:20design layouts partly to present options
6:22to the player about where they can go
6:24and what they can do and in the case of
6:25Dishonored we we deliberately add a lot
6:27of verticality to allow the play is to
6:29reach higher viewpoints which you know
6:32afford a great a much better view of uh
6:34the
6:36situation um finally within that layout
6:38we have like you know a bunch of
6:39specific interactive objects that we add
6:41um that afford particular gameplay
6:44opportunities you know these can be
6:45bottles that could the player could pick
6:47up and throw to distract guards or doors
6:49that we encourage sneaky players to peek
6:52through the key holes and that kind of
6:53thing to spy on people in this
6:56screenshot we have a street speaker
6:57that's hanging above the streets and
6:59that the player um can shoot down to
7:01distract uh guards and that kind of
7:03thing and we also employ this rule that
7:05every wall of Light which is the
7:07obstacle in the far end of the
7:08screenshot um every wall of light is
7:11connected by a cable to its power source
7:14and so it affords following that cable
7:17and uh using a panel you know reaching
7:19the power panel to uh disable the wall
7:22of
7:23light and uh I mentioned that every wall
7:25of light follows the rule because uh
7:27it's important that these kind of
7:28lowlevel gaml affordances uh like this
7:31are all consistent uh for example it's
7:34it's important that we're very clear
7:35about you know all kind of lowlevel
7:37interactions like whether a door is
7:38interactive or not uh or whe whether
7:41this glass can be broken or not and that
7:42kind of thing and this this screenshot
7:45here is above is about how um at Arcane
7:48it's it's forbidden to use the same
7:49measures for a non-interactive door as
7:51an interactive one because you know we
7:54we really want to make it clear so that
7:55players don't just kind of only find out
7:57that it's a non-interactive one when
7:59they've walked up to it um and you know
8:01when they try to use it so we tried to
8:03establish a very clear visual language
8:05like non-interactive dos being
8:07physically blocked by things that are
8:08always used in this in this world in
8:11this district and you know and on a
8:14higher level the the fiction of the
8:15world like like Dunwall and Cana it
8:18there you know there's a reason why
8:19there's there's always kind of disease
8:21and stuff like that because it justifies
8:23buildings being abandoned and closed
8:24down and and kind of justifies these
8:27level design requirements that you know
8:28we don't we can't have every door be
8:30interactive
8:31right um so yeah we Tred to establish a
8:33clear visual language and then stick to
8:35it so players can learn uh consistently
8:37about how things work and then act with
8:39those with that
8:41information um as well as those kind of
8:43low level affordances uh there are lots
8:45of kind of broader higher level ones to
8:47consider too U such as commun
8:50communicating to the player how broad
8:51the possibility space and how much
8:52agency they have you know there's
8:55there's no there's no use in kind of
8:57Designing a big uh complex level for of
8:59different stuff if players don't realize
9:01that it's non non lineer while they play
9:05so uh this is a screenshot of the Dust
9:06District which is my mission intoa 2 and
9:09I I worked on this with level architect
9:11Kristoff lefor uh we knew that the the
9:14the mission kind of fundamentally
9:15revolved around two factions and a
9:17choice about helping one over the other
9:20so one of the first things we talked
9:21about was reflecting this in the layout
9:23at a high level and uh presenting the
9:25two factions at a very clear Junction
9:27and hopefully this this kind of not only
9:29makes it very clear that there's a big
9:31choice to make and that it's a
9:32fundamental part of this Mission but
9:34also you know we hope that it allows the
9:36player to look at the layout from this
9:38perspective and uh kind of visualize and
9:40intuitively understand how different
9:43this Mission can be based on their
9:46choice um another heavy lifter when it
9:48came to high level affordances and
9:50exposing the size of the possibility
9:52space and that kind of thing uh was the
9:54briefing with Megan near the start of
9:55the mission and uh the task updates that
9:57come afterwards um at the end of the day
10:00the the dust district is quite a busy
10:01Mission with a a lot of stuff in it that
10:03we that we could potentially talk to the
10:04player about and you know let them
10:06understand but in the end we we kind of
10:09we were very deliberate about which
10:11information we convey to the player and
10:12which stuff we kind of hint at in a
10:13vague way and which information we just
10:15don't give the player at all so in one
10:18category you know there's this there's
10:19the crucial stuff about the mission that
10:20the player needs to know like you know
10:22there's two factions uh this this is the
10:24choice you can make and we you know we
10:26want to be explicit about the fact that
10:28it will change the the future of Cara
10:30and you know change the endings and that
10:31kind of thing um in kind of the second
10:34second category is stuff that we we talk
10:36about in vague terms and hint at um kind
10:39of you know such as the the fact that
10:40you can find a solution to the Ginos
10:42loock which is the thing you need to
10:43open to progress to the to the next
10:45mission you can find a solution without
10:47helping the factions in fact if you find
10:49out how and we just tell the player that
10:51that solution exists but we don't tell
10:53them where it is or even what it is and
10:55we leave that to players who want to
10:56explore and finally we have a bunch of
10:59stuff about the mission which we
11:00deliberately don't talk to players about
11:02at all you know things like um the fact
11:04that you can find corvo's old home in
11:06this Mission um and things like that but
11:10also uh there's this huge thing which is
11:13that you know you can skip the entire
11:15Mission by solving the gindos lock on
11:16your own and it was important to us that
11:19we didn't tell the player about this at
11:21all we we actually um kind of iterated
11:23on the dialogue in the briefing and uh
11:26you know kind of tuned the the text and
11:27the task updates to make it well sorry
11:30the uh information for the objectives
11:32and stuff we deliberately triy to Hype
11:34it up as something that is really like
11:36nobody's done it like nobody in kaker
11:38has ever solved this puzzle um to kind
11:40of you know make it seem like this big
11:41thing that is like this um impossible
11:45obstacle you know um but then at the
11:47same time we we want we positioned it
11:49near the start of the mission so players
11:51would find it on their own and Discover
11:52it on their own um so like it was
11:56important to us that we just didn't talk
11:57to the player about this at all and let
11:59them Discover it on their own so if
12:01you're making nonlinear levels it's
12:03really worth thinking about how and how
12:04much you choose to be explicit about the
12:06size and the content of the levels
12:08possibility space we want players to
12:10understand the situations they're in but
12:12without giving so much away that we
12:13spoil surprises and uh we don't want to
12:16spoil the genuine experience of like
12:18exploration and
12:20Discovery fortunately we've Dishonored
12:22by making levels that are very nonlinear
12:24and very dense uh we're in a cool
12:25position where we can promise a lot to
12:27the player by telling by being explicit
12:29about the mission but then hopefully
12:30deliver even more to kind of uh you know
12:33surpass people's expectations that we've
12:36established um one final thing I wanted
12:39to talk about in regarding in relation
12:41to affordances is this kind of running
12:43Joker or recurring idea that players
12:45don't look up in in level design and uh
12:48the thing is that while um players
12:51looking up has become kind of slightly
12:52trickier since uh the big kind of
12:55mainstream market moved towards consoles
12:56and controllers um you know we kind of
12:59know that this isn't true in the case of
13:00certain games uh for example in
13:02Dishonored you know players look up all
13:04the time because they're in a stealth
13:05situation and they're very mobile and we
13:07teach players that being in High Ground
13:10is very safe and it's very uh useful for
13:12like surveying the situation um to take
13:15another example players look up in
13:17Titanfall especially multiplayer because
13:20like they're always looking for
13:21opportunities to run on walls they're
13:23getting sniped out from rooftops and of
13:25course there are like 50 foot robots
13:26blowing things up so you're going to
13:28look up all the time in that game and
13:30kind of on a more momentto moment basis
13:32you know players look up when they go up
13:34a staircase they look up when if they're
13:36if they're in a small room but there are
13:37cables hanging from the ceiling um a
13:40pipe above the player gushing water onto
13:42the floor would make them look up uh
13:44maybe if they were in a dark room and
13:46the only light source is above them they
13:47would naturally look up at the the light
13:49source so the lesson here here is the
13:51lesson here is that when players aren't
13:53looking up the problem isn't like
13:55players players or the human nature or
13:57anything that it's actually like
13:59affordances that have kind of emerged
14:01without us knowing perhaps um you know
14:03and if if the players aren't looking up
14:05it's either like maybe we can redesign
14:07the uh the way we present the situation
14:10they're in to kind of teach them to look
14:11up or perhaps we're fighting kind of
14:14higher level affordances where the game
14:16maybe the rest of the game has taught
14:17them that this isn't a game where you
14:18need to look up and people are kind of
14:20like just running with that higher level
14:22affordance from the rest of the
14:25game um so the reason I uh talk about
14:28affordance as because of how they relate
14:30to this other part of the top topic
14:32which is player intentionality and
14:35because affordances are crucial to
14:36facilitate this idea of player
14:39intentionality just going to take a
14:40quick set um this idea of intentionality
14:44in games uh seems to have been coined
14:46around 1997 I think partly by Doug
14:48Church who did a talk under an essay on
14:51gamma Sutra called formal abstract
14:53design tools which you can still read
14:55online and a book by Janet Murray called
14:57Hamlet on the Hol deck which kind kind
14:59of explored this in terms of narrative
15:01an interactive
15:04narrative so there's lots of fancier
15:07definitions that you can Google of this
15:09but my version is that um acting with
15:11intentionality is making conscious
15:13choices with specific goals and
15:15expectations in
15:17mind and this might sound like super
15:19basic like something we can take for
15:20granted that players are just naturally
15:22doing all the time when you play a game
15:24um but it's often kind of not the case
15:25and often because of kind of maybe uh
15:28slightly one key choices in the level
15:30design and that kind of thing so here's
15:32some examples of weak intentionality
15:34that we kind of probably all experience
15:35at some point um you know being lost and
15:38trying to find something to do or trying
15:41to figure out what's going on is of
15:42course not really acting with a strong
15:44sense of intentionality just kind of
15:45wandering around
15:46aimlessly um kind of further more doing
15:49something without knowing why you're
15:50doing it but only because either the
15:53game's UI has told you to do it or
15:55because it seems like the only thing you
15:56can do or because you think it's what
15:58the designer wants you to do or you know
16:01that that thing where you find a lever
16:02in a game and you pull the lever because
16:04it's a lever in a video game and you're
16:05always supposed to pull levers in video
16:06games that's not acting with
16:08intentionality that's kind of lame right
16:10and uh finally like twitch reacting to
16:12certain surprises is not really you know
16:15if if a monster jumps out at you from
16:17behind a door you've just opened it's
16:19more of an instinctive response and not
16:20an intentional kind of you know uh
16:23choice you know so that doesn't really
16:25count as uh intentionality as far as
16:27we're concerned and the thing is is that
16:30uh enabling player intentionality is at
16:33the heart of all immersive Sim gameplay
16:35and the way that systems and level
16:37design is approached to us this is the
16:39whole point of uh you know presenting
16:41these gameplay challenges and stuff to
16:42the
16:43player so uh you know this is why in
16:46Dishonored um you know the all of the
16:49the game playay mechanics and abilities
16:51are revolving around this idea of giving
16:53the player unique and combinable powers
16:56like blinking and bed time and all this
16:57stuff that encourages players to come up
16:59with their own ways of solving problems
17:01and overcoming
17:03obstacles and going back to this
17:04screenshot of the edge of the world
17:05mission in Des 2 all of these
17:08affordances that we were talking about
17:09are trying to present the player uh in
17:12you know information about their
17:13situation so that they can understand
17:15their options in relation to their goals
17:17and formulate a plan and then act with
17:20intentionality this concept of
17:22intentionality is so important at arane
17:24that as a level designer if you suggest
17:26uh a gameplay challenge or an optional
17:28puzzle that seems like it's kind of
17:30lacking intentionality at any point of
17:32the way the idea will just be rejected
17:34like it's it's just bad level design as
17:36where as far as we concerned and we
17:37wherever possible we probably slip up
17:40sometimes but wherever possible we
17:42always want the player to be acting with
17:43intentionality by
17:45default so to break the concept down a
17:48little these are the four things that I
17:49think uh players need in order to act
17:51with intentionality first of all is
17:53Choice the presentation of a choice uh
17:56second is motivation you know having
17:57goals in mind
17:59the third one is information that they
18:01Garner from clear and consistent
18:03affordances and finally you need time to
18:05process that information you know you
18:07can't pressure the player too much uh in
18:09order to you know and kind of distract
18:11them from the information that they need
18:12to have and with those in mind um here
18:15are some ways of uh facilitating
18:18intentionality first of all it's the
18:20clear and consistent affordances that
18:21I've talked about um second of all it's
18:24this uh it really helps if you present
18:26the player with higher level and longer
18:27term goals in instead of kind of drip
18:29feeding them low level tasks like look
18:31over here and walk in that room and
18:33press this button it it's it's way
18:35cooler to just give them um you know a
18:38higher level objective which they can
18:39find their own solution to and of course
18:42this is how Dishonored always works it's
18:43it's you know the textbook Dison mission
18:45is you're at this part of the map and
18:47somewhere on the other side of the map
18:48is some bad guy you got to kill and uh
18:51it's up to you how you do it and it's up
18:53to you to explore and find your own
18:54Journey towards that
18:56goal um finally is this um idea of
18:59player driven pacing and player
19:01initiated action um you know it's just
19:03it's generally again it relates to the
19:05idea that players need time to uh kind
19:07of uh take in the information and
19:09formulate a plan it's just way cooler if
19:11you can find ways of giving the player
19:14space to like you know act
19:16intentionally and with this in mind we
19:18can consider it a kind of a four-step
19:20cycle of a kind of a gameplay cycle um
19:23I'm not sure who originally came with
19:25this came up with this to be honest it's
19:26been mentioned in other talks um GDC
19:29like by Clint Hawking Nels Anderson
19:31Forest ding have all talked about this
19:34um but yeah it can be useful to consider
19:36this Loop um is something that the
19:38player continuously goes through as they
19:40play so if we start at the top with ob
19:42observing you know the player is taking
19:44in information about their situation and
19:47then they use that information and
19:48combine it with their their goals and
19:50their motivations to form a plan then
19:52they execute the plan and then perhaps
19:55there's a four fourth uh step where they
19:57kind of react in perhaps instinctively
20:00to maybe the plan not going to uh as
20:03they thought it would or like reacting
20:04to some kind of uh emergent kind of
20:07situations that arise from it and then
20:09they go back to observing of course and
20:11there's just constant cycle of taking in
20:13information formulating plans and acting
20:15with those plans in
20:17mind and of course Stealth gameplay is
20:20particularly good at emphasizing this
20:21Loop um you know um it's built into
20:24stealth games that the player starts in
20:26a hidden state where they then have time
20:28to think and explore and and analyze the
20:30situation and then formulate an
20:32intention before they reveal themselves
20:33and they have to start thinking in a
20:35more kind of dynamic way uh and as I
20:38said before we uh in Dishonored we we
20:39use a combination of play player
20:41mobility and verticality in our layouts
20:43to empower the player to reach safer
20:45High higher places that give them more
20:47time and a better perspective for their
20:49observation and planning
20:51phases uh but a crucial Point here is
20:53that you don't need to be making a
20:54stealth game to to kind of facilitate
20:57intentionality
20:58uh this is a screenshot of of Doom 2 on
21:01the left which I I love dearly and Doom
21:033 which I was a little bit less keen on
21:06and uh Doom 3 the thing was partly um
21:09because of it's moved towards a scary
21:10horror game kind of vibe uh it had a lot
21:13of monsters kind of popping out of
21:14nowhere and and you know trying to eat
21:16your face and that kind of thing and uh
21:18often it would like teleport monsters
21:20behind you after like doing something
21:21arbitrary like picking up some ammo or
21:24pulling a lever or something like that
21:26and this kind of works for the horror
21:27vibe that that it was going for but the
21:30a kind of Flip Side to this is that this
21:32Reliance on frequent surprises uh where
21:34the player has no way of knowing what's
21:36going on until it's in their face um it
21:38has a side effect of killing a lot of
21:40the players's ability to act with
21:41intentionality and it's kind of reduced
21:43to very shortterm Twitchy responses to
21:45things that they didn't expect now uh
21:48Doom 2 generally had you know some of
21:50these surprises too sometimes you would
21:51open a door and a pinkies like in your
21:53face and that kind of thing but as well
21:55it also offered way more situations
21:57where um you know the player was in a
22:00much bigger area where they had time to
22:02consider the situation and always choose
22:04which weapon they wanted to use against
22:05these set of monsters I've seen and also
22:08in the screenshot on the left which is
22:09from uh a classic level called barrels
22:11of fun um it would even use setups where
22:15enemies were facing away from the player
22:17so it was almost like a they they
22:18managed to find ways to almost Implement
22:20a kind of stealth like approach to the
22:22game where you can you know you can see
22:24the situation before anyone even knows
22:26you're there
22:28uh a final point about intentionality is
22:30that um it affects how players perceive
22:32linearity in level design uh generally I
22:35would say if if linearity feels bad part
22:38of the reason at least is often because
22:40the intentionality is kind of lacking or
22:42a little
22:43weak um I mentioned earlier that Half
22:45Life 2 is one of my favorite games of
22:47all time one of the things that people
22:49often praise it for is this idea that it
22:51makes does a really good job of feeling
22:54a lot less linear than it really is and
22:57uh I think there's a lot of reasons for
22:58this an an engaging story with
23:00well-written characters helps a lot um
23:02but yeah like I say intentionality I
23:04think explains some of this as well um
23:06the thing is here is that valve have
23:08play tested their level so much and
23:10iterated on their affordances uh so much
23:12that in general they've they've managed
23:14to align what the player wants to do
23:16with the thing that they have to do and
23:19so even though the game is linear it
23:20really feels like you're doing things
23:21without knowing why or just because the
23:23game told you
23:25to um on a similar note portal is even
23:28more lineer than half left to and yet
23:30generally speaking you know very few
23:31people complained about it being lineer
23:34it's because even though there's usually
23:35only one solution to progress you know
23:37being a puzzle game and all um the
23:39player has given the time and the
23:40freedom and just the right information
23:42uh to constantly experiment with the
23:44portal gun with intentionality in order
23:47to solve that
23:50solution uh one way of looking at it uh
23:52might sound kind of goofy but I I was
23:54thinking about how the more linear your
23:56game is um the more you you could kind
23:58of say that your job as a level designer
24:01kind of has parallels with what the guy
24:02is doing in the Inception in the sense
24:05that you're trying to present kind of
24:07design and present situations in such a
24:09way that players will naturally learn
24:10and want to do the thing that you want
24:12them to do but they will feel that it
24:14was their idea all along and if you get
24:16this right generally speaking linearity
24:18stops being a problem but if you get it
24:20wrong you know the players kind of
24:21jolted out of their experience they're
24:23kind of conscious of of the
24:25artificiality of the experience and and
24:27they'll reject it you know they they
24:29won't be as engaged as a result so the
24:32overall point here is that you know
24:34whether your game is linear or nonlinear
24:36uh intentionality is pretty crucial and
24:39fundamental to the gameplay
24:42experience I have a little uh note to
24:44myself about taking a sip of water here
24:46so that's what I'll
24:50do um okay so number two of the three
24:53big topics uh which emerges from this
24:55relationship between the way we present
24:57things and the story
24:58um is this idea of World building uh I
25:02mentioned earlier on you know games like
25:04halflife and Bioshock and Dishonored you
25:06know these are all games that are
25:08praised for like this very rich Vivid
25:10sense of place in their world building
25:13and to be honest a lot of this is kind
25:14of outd Direction stuff and high level
25:16story stuff which uh especially if
25:18you're in a big company you won't really
25:19have a hand in uh kind of you know
25:21playing with yourself but I think
25:23there's still a lot you can contribute
25:25on a lower level uh in order to kind of
25:27add to the World building
25:29so with this in mind I'm going to
25:30present these kind of three little goals
25:32for World building which is to create a
25:33world that feels unique uh cohesive and
25:36meaningful and uh with those tips uh
25:39sorry with those goals in mind are a few
25:41tips so number one is that uh I suggest
25:45that World building must always be
25:47specific uh I mean this uh both in terms
25:49of like being detailed in in the kind of
25:52the kind of ideas you're presenting and
25:53not just being vague ideas of like it's
25:56the future and there's war and C
25:58operations like if if that's all you
25:59present then you you might be
26:01establishing genre but you're not really
26:02building a specific world and Fin and
26:05the other thing is that yeah like I said
26:06the idea must be the more specific to
26:08your world that this idea is like this
26:10particular games world and not like all
26:12Sci-Fi games or allw games or whatever
26:15you know the more you're building a a
26:16particular thing because you know people
26:18can only judge your world based on the
26:20things that are unique about it or those
26:22are the things that will stand out the
26:24most and uh you know one thing is here
26:26that it doesn't necessarily mean that
26:27everything has to be completely original
26:30um Harvey Smith our creative director on
26:32dis 2 he talked a lot about um in
26:35interviews and stuff about um well he
26:38used Kiran gindos as an example of how
26:40he's kind of quite a well-used archetype
26:42in this kind of game he's kind of a
26:44crazy Evil Genius scientist guy um but
26:47by layering details and specificity on
26:49top of this archetype he tends uh you
26:51know he turns the character from someone
26:53who could who could feel like a bit of a
26:55cliche into someone who feels unique
26:57enough to contribute to this world and
26:59the world building you know so to run
27:01through those examples you know our
27:03crazy evil scientist guy happens to look
27:05like this weird love child of like
27:06Nicola Tesla and Prince uh you know he
27:10he builds robots and gives them his own
27:11voice which is a bit weird and you know
27:13when he's test with like securing an
27:16important building he does it with this
27:17super obscure puzzle the gind daslu um
27:20as a way of kind of reving in his own
27:22intellect and finally he he you know he
27:24lost his finger and thumb in an
27:26industrial accent and he has this bionic
27:27thumb that he can smoke like a pipe and
27:30it's just you know these details might
27:31seem kind of trivial on their own but Al
27:34altogether they add enough specificity
27:36to the character to make him stop
27:38feeling like just kind of a Trope or
27:40whatever um and becomes unique enough to
27:43cont contribute to the World
27:45building with that kind of stuff in mind
27:47I tried to populate the dust District
27:49which was my mission um with scenes that
27:51help build the world and tell tell
27:53stories that feel specific to the
27:54Dishonored universe and also to this
27:57this particular District which has its
27:59own unique story so just to run them run
28:01through them quickly like this uh on the
28:04left is a scene about the inside the the
28:06black market which is kind of a you know
28:08video game shop where you can go in and
28:10talk to someone and uh spend your money
28:12on nice items and things um but I didn't
28:15want it to just be a pure gameplay thing
28:17uh so I added this scene where howlers
28:19who were like the the crime Mafia like
28:21style faction um they're harassing the
28:24shopkeeper for protection money and
28:26supposedly kind of claiming that they're
28:28protecting them from the overseers who
28:30wouldn't agree with the fact that
28:31they're selling magical stuff like bone
28:33Champs and stuff in their shop um the
28:36scene in the middle is this uh scene
28:38where overseers are executing civilians
28:40for breaking their kind of um religious
28:42principles and doing things that are
28:44considered impure and forbidden again
28:46which is this kind of an idea that's
28:47quite specific to their ideology and
28:49it's kind of fleshing out them as a
28:51faction and on the right there's a scene
28:53where inside the over overseer Outpost
28:55where an overseer is mercy killing a
28:57friend and over overseer after he was
28:59mortally wounded in a fights with Howers
29:02and uh you know through the way it's
29:03done and the way they talk about it I
29:05hope that it reflects a special kind of
29:07discipline and conviction that is that
29:09characterizes the way the overseers
29:10think and so all all of these things are
29:13supposed to kind of um you know convey
29:15information that is specific to these
29:16factions in this district and this
29:19game um so yeah in general World
29:22building is uh it should be as specific
29:23as we can make it uh the point number
29:25two was that we should always be World
29:27building you know like try not to see it
29:29as something where you kind of uh off
29:32the critical path you have like a small
29:33little room with some World building
29:35stuff and then you go back to the
29:36gameplay where you're shooting monsters
29:37like try and if you can try and approach
29:39every idea in your level as an
29:41opportunity uh to to build the world you
29:44know every NPC you place or you can talk
29:46to every objective or side quest every
29:49every kind of piece of loot that you
29:51place in a meaningful position could be
29:53you know can develop the world uh in in
29:55some way so try and look at all of these
29:57things as
29:59opportunities I've got a couple of kind
30:01of small examples of this is just that
30:02um in uh in the dust District this this
30:05building on the uh on the right the one
30:07in the red um originally this was just
30:09like a facade like an empty building
30:11with no interior that you couldn't go
30:12into um and at some point I I realized
30:16that it would be really useful to open
30:17up the building so you can go in and you
30:20know so to present the player with more
30:22navigation options around this area and
30:24we could have easily made this just like
30:26another generic abandoned Apartment
30:28but instead like through the way we we
30:30did the kind of set dressing and
30:31appropriate placement of Loot and by
30:34adding a note for the player to read we
30:36tried to tell a story about someone who
30:37used to live here but got kicked out by
30:39the overseers when they were kind of
30:41moving into the territory and you know
30:43invading on on the area so it's just a
30:45small example of how something that
30:47could have been just this generic empty
30:48room we we used even that to tell a
30:51story and uh similarly with a room
30:53inside the overseer Outpost um you know
30:57I knew that from a game play an
30:58exploration point of view I wanted a
31:00room with Juicy loot to pick up um and
31:02again we we tried to find a way that is
31:04specific to kind of not only justify it
31:06in the world but to you know build the
31:08world of it so we made it into a room
31:10where the overseers are confiscating
31:12things that kind of break their
31:13religious principles and so we uh we
31:15chose to add like bone chams and stuff
31:17like that in there to support this
31:21idea um and the third third point is
31:23about World building particularly in
31:25this kind of game maybe and maybe not
31:27for all kinds of games but it's it's
31:29good to be if your world building says
31:31things about the people in the world um
31:33world building is a form of Storytelling
31:35and stories are always about people um
31:38in film there's a great example of this
31:40uh in Children of Men uh which I really
31:42recommend if you haven't seen it um in
31:45in which the World building is always
31:46about people and and what would become
31:47of us in a world where hope is kind of
31:49fading away um and practically every
31:52shot of this movie the background and am
31:54me on S and all that stuff is is
31:55speaking to us about how this loss of
31:58Hope would change our society you know
32:00it would change like the role of police
32:03uh people's political values like
32:04attitudes to immigrants and that kind of
32:06thing and even our attitudes to suicide
32:08in this
32:09case um in games the the classic example
32:12is BioShock where you know every part of
32:14its world is trying to tell and support
32:16this idea of um how a society might
32:19crumble if people were you know
32:20relentlessly pursuing progress in this
32:22Rand and objectivist kind of
32:25way um one little thing I really like in
32:27the game Metro 2033 which is this kind
32:30of
32:31post-apocalyptic uh game um is this
32:34decision to show a child playing with a
32:35toy car inside the player's Hub area
32:38with an adult watching over him um it
32:41feels quite memorable and appropriate
32:43and meaningful in the context of this
32:44particular game because it symbolizes
32:46how people in this world aren't just
32:48killing the monsters cuz monsters are
32:50bad but they're they're trying to save
32:52uh the future and build a future for
32:54their children and it supports the
32:56game's kind of recurring ideas and
32:57themes
32:58that are reflected throughout the game
32:59and in its branching endings and stuff
33:01about how survival in this world is
33:03about more than just like fighting and
33:05defeating enemies but it's also about
33:07holding on to like our wisdom and
33:09compassion and empathy during kind of
33:11dark times so you know it's a simple
33:14idea but it resonates with the
33:16particular themes of this particular
33:17game and
33:19World um and for me in the case of
33:21Dishonored you know in my head it's the
33:24world is uh generally about like power
33:26relationships and Corruption and this
33:28idea that everyone depending on their
33:30place in society is kind of either
33:31screwing somebody else over or being
33:33screwed over by somebody else and of
33:35course it's the lower class citizens who
33:37get screwed the most so for example in
33:40the dust District um which is kind of
33:42like this lower class area near the kind
33:45of a mining District um we added this uh
33:48kind of wooden weird wooden kind of
33:50raised Street structure that people have
33:52built uh in response to the dust storms
33:55and environmental problems that have
33:56been caused by the dukee
33:58and so they've kind of been figuratively
34:00pushed on the ground by the problems
34:01caused by the the people in power but
34:04also they're kind of Trapped literally
34:06in the middle of these this ideological
34:08fight between the two factions and this
34:10street is placed in the middle of the
34:11map in between those two hqs and so it's
34:13supposed to be something that you know
34:15more than just look looking cool it's
34:17meant to be a symbol of uh you know
34:20something that is unique to this the
34:21story of this district and its people
34:23and support the broader themes and the
34:24tone of the soned universe in general
34:27this idea that people are being victims
34:29of the people above them
34:32essentially um so yeah to summarize you
34:34know um three points one point number
34:37one was World building must be specific
34:39uh Point number two was always be World
34:41building and don't just see it as a kind
34:43of extra thing and point number three
34:45was uh you know the importance of saying
34:47things about people in your world or
34:49relating to human ideas in
34:52general um and the third part is uh how
34:56am I doing with time oh
34:58the third part is interactive narrative
34:59this idea that emerges from the
35:01relationship between inter interactivity
35:03and
35:06story um so one little disclaimer here
35:10is that this is a huge topic that I
35:12should not be trying to tackle in 15
35:14minutes but uh I'm going to try and hone
35:16in on one or two particular ways of
35:18approaching this topic that are kind of
35:20resonate with me personally and that I
35:22kind of think are a big deal um I
35:24realized that um everything or most of
35:27the stuff I wanted to say related to
35:29this idea of Show and Tell um and
35:33specifically the fact that in the
35:34context of um interactive narrative in
35:37particular I I don't think this is a
35:39really good phrase for us to to kind of
35:41use as a guiding principle and I think
35:43we should be careful about it um it's
35:46useful for a lot of aspects of level
35:47design like the World building stuff in
35:49the sense that it encourages people to
35:51think about communicating stuff visually
35:53and in the world in front of the player
35:55which is cool um and not you know not
35:57just using cut scenes and Big Blocks of
35:59text and stuff like that but my my
36:02argument would be that specifically in
36:04in in terms of like interactive
36:05narrative only show showing and telling
36:08things is just not the full thing we
36:10should we need to do more than that um
36:12and the reason why this phrase is kind
36:14of problematic is because we've lifted
36:15it from passive mediums like uh films
36:18and novels and uh you know which which
36:20don't need to worry about interactivity
36:22at all so with that said like I think we
36:25can get somewhere that's more useful to
36:26us if we look at what this phrase means
36:28to those mediums rather than focusing on
36:30the phrase
36:31itself um so to explain what I mean by
36:34this like um in film show don't tell is
36:37uh generally about this idea of telling
36:38the story using the unique strength of
36:40the medium which in the case of film is
36:43moving pictures and editing between them
36:45in a way that creates dram and you know
36:47evokes ideas um in literature by
36:51contrast show don't tell is about the
36:53idea of writing in a way that evokes
36:55ideas and drama in the play the reader's
36:58mind and
36:59Imagination um you know so instead of
37:01like simply telling the reader things
37:03like John was very sad when he said
37:05goodbye or like old abandoned playground
37:07had a really creepy atmosphere we need
37:09to write in a way that evokes these
37:11ideas instead of just like throws them
37:13in the rudest
37:14face um so if we take those two key
37:16Paths of uh those kind of ideas we have
37:19unique using the unique strength of the
37:21medium and evoking drama and ideas in
37:24the audience's mind and personally I
37:26think pretty much every every game that
37:28is kind of interesting from an
37:29interactive narrative point of view does
37:32at least one of these things well um you
37:34know some games kind of naturally lean
37:36towards one or the other but yeah it
37:38does one of them I find and so first of
37:41all you know a couple of a few examples
37:43of using the unique strength for the
37:44medium um to me like the idea of uh well
37:50of course in in infective uh media
37:53interactivity is the unique strength of
37:54the medium and combining uh you know
37:57inter activity with narrative naturally
37:59leads us towards this idea of empowering
38:01the player to act with what I'll call
38:03narrative
38:04intentionality I talked about
38:06intentionality earlier but mostly in
38:08terms of like gaml and gameplay goals
38:11but here we're talking about the idea of
38:13you know giving the player the
38:14information and the time and the
38:15opportunity to make intentional choices
38:18but with narrative goals in mind and not
38:19just gameplay
38:21ones I also mentioned how Dishonored and
38:23immersive Sims revolve around
38:25intentionality and this kind of goes for
38:27Nar intentionality too at least in
38:29dison's case especially like um so like
38:32in Don's uh case um narrative
38:35intentionality is kind of built into the
38:36game at a systems level in the sense
38:39that every NPC in the game can be uh you
38:41know you can either sneak around them or
38:43you can deal with them non-lethally or
38:45you can murder them horribly of course
38:47and we tell the players that this will
38:49change the story in the world and
38:51certain scenes in the game and the
38:53endings and that kind of thing and so
38:55what this does is it transforms like a
38:56simple what would be a simple gameplay
38:58Choice into an opportunity to act and
39:01express narrative intentionality every
39:03time you encounter an NPC that's kind of
39:06that's the kind of thing we're into um
39:08going back to the dust districts um one
39:10of the main things that appealed to me
39:11about this particular Mission when I was
39:13kind of given the mission to work on uh
39:16is that its premise revolves around this
39:17idea of choosing a faction and how and
39:20making a choice that will affect the
39:21endings of the game so you know the the
39:24mission the unique thing about the
39:25mission is this act of narrative
39:27intentionality kind of built into the
39:29whole premise of the
39:30mission um and with that kind of thing
39:32in mind you know I mentioned uh in the
39:33world building section these three
39:35scenes that I Tred to develop the world
39:37with in some way uh but another kind of
39:40aspect of it is that I I deliberately
39:42designed them to um kind of encourage
39:45the player to act with intent narrative
39:47intentionality so you know two things
39:49about these scenes is that first of all
39:50they're not just scenes that you watch
39:52uh I'm not just showing and telling
39:54story here these scenes are deliberately
39:56designed to be interrupted and
39:57interacted with and they all have like
39:59extra lines and scripting and stuff
40:01beyond the main scene um in order to
40:04react to certain choices that the player
40:05can make um and secondly these scenes
40:09are there to present interesting
40:10dramatic situations which invite the
40:12player to interact with narrative goals
40:14and values in mind and not just gameplay
40:17ones you know as far as I'm concerned
40:19whenever I can make a player make
40:21gameplay choices as they're moving
40:22through a level with narrative goals in
40:24mind and not gameplay ones it's kind of
40:26more interesting and you know cooler and
40:28more immersive and that kind of thing
40:30and so yeah when any opportunity I can
40:32do uh take to do that I kind of try and
40:34take
40:35it um so that was about you know using
40:38the unique strength of the medium which
40:39is agency and how that leads to
40:42narrative
40:43intentionality um if we take a look at
40:45the literature's take on this phrase we
40:47have this idea of evoking dram and ideas
40:49in the audience's mind and
40:53uh yeah I've got an example of this I
40:56got three examples of this in the first
40:57one is like a kind of lowlevel in the-
40:59moment kind of thing it's a bit of a pet
41:01peeve of mine um
41:04when like basically when something very
41:07dramatic and perilous is happening to
41:09the player character but in the game
41:11it's it's presented as a cut scene so
41:13control is taken away away from the
41:15player just before it happens and so
41:17while the character is thinking oh my
41:18God I'm in Peril the player is thinking
41:21oh it's a cut scene I can relax I don't
41:22have to do anything and it's the
41:24complete opposite of what the character
41:25is supposed to be thinking um so it's
41:27just like you know I'm I'm bit sensitive
41:29to this it always drives me mad um by
41:32contrast this example this scene from
41:34Uncharted 2 where you're navigating this
41:36collapsing building when the helicopter
41:37is blowing it up um is you know kind of
41:40a a crazy extreme expensive example it's
41:42amazing um but like the cool thing here
41:45is that Nathan Drake is kind of crapping
41:47his pant and thinking oh my God what am
41:48I going to do and the player is
41:50hopefully figuratively cropping their
41:52pants and thinking oh my God what am I
41:53going to do and so they perfectly they
41:55put spent a lot of money and time to
41:57align the players Thoughts with the
41:59character's thoughts in this dramatic
42:01situation you know it reminds me of this
42:04phrase by quote from Frank CER who's
42:06like a a filmmaker from the 30s I think
42:09who talked about how he he made mistakes
42:11in drama I thought drama was an actors
42:13cried but drama is when the audience
42:15cries and of course you know we can we
42:17can take that idea and and apply it to
42:19games because we want the players
42:20experience to be these dramatic highs
42:23and lows and not just something they see
42:25on the screen
42:27uh my second example of evoking ideas is
42:30this um classic pick up the can scene
42:32from Half Life 2 um for anyone who
42:35hasn't played it um well first of all
42:37shame on you you should really play Half
42:38Life 2 it's really good but secondly
42:41it's um it's basically a tutorial for
42:42the player for picking up and
42:44interacting with physics objects but
42:45what's cool is that the level designer
42:47used it um as an opportunity to allow
42:51players to act with a Nar narrative
42:52intentionality you know between they
42:55when you pick up the can the game tells
42:57you that um you can either put it in the
42:59in the trash can or you can throw it at
43:01the combined guy's head and you know
43:03this choice between obeying and
43:05rebelling is is is a narrative thing you
43:07know that the players going to consider
43:08when they uh you know go through this T
43:11tutorial but an extra cool thing about
43:13this is that these two particular
43:15choices these this idea of obeying and
43:17rebelling basically sum up like the the
43:20The Human Condition of people in the
43:22world of City 17 you know every citizen
43:25here is struggling with this choice of
43:26whether or not they should obey and
43:27conform or resist and rebel and so by
43:31being oppressed by the combine directly
43:33and making this Choice yourselves um the
43:35player relates to their plates
43:36essentially and relates to them as as
43:38people and so when you come up to this
43:40scene later in the game you don't just
43:42shoot the baddies because they're
43:43buddies in a video game but you
43:45naturally side with the civilians
43:46because you relate to them and you
43:48naturally oppose to the combine based on
43:50a personal interactive experience that
43:51came before so even though half left 2
43:55story in game plays is pretty linear and
43:57stu um to me it still qualifies as you
43:59know solid immersive interactive uh
44:02storytelling because it's it's very
44:03smart about emotionally involving the
44:05player in the ideas and themes of the
44:07story and my final example is uh might
44:11be a surprised to immersive Sim people
44:13Cu uh people generally immersive Sim
44:15people don't aren't so keen on this game
44:17um but I think this particular scene is
44:19amazing um so near the start of the
44:22game uh this it's establishing you as
44:24the main character this fa in a game
44:27about losing your child and desperately
44:29wanting to save them and doing anything
44:30to save them and uh you know in you're
44:33out in the garden play fighting in this
44:34kind of very M dramatic Star Wars kind
44:36of way and then you know uh as with most
44:39of a lot of heavy rain um it's a
44:40sequence of QuickTime events where you
44:43know you have a prompt to press the
44:44button on screen and uh you know like
44:48you have based on whether or not you
44:49succeed or fail at this the game shows
44:52you a different animation
44:53essentially now the interesting thing
44:55here is that if we follow our play our
44:57kind of gamer instincts to just try and
45:00win the sequence we end up being a super
45:02douchy dad in the process and uh this
45:05scene like I've watched a lot of
45:06playthroughs of this on YouTube and
45:07stuff and it's really good at making
45:09players realize this as they play and
45:11change their the way they play based of
45:14based on this kind of narrative desire
45:15to play the role of a good dad and so
45:18it's cool because it's like you know the
45:20subject of subtext of this scene is
45:22quite Grand in the sense that it's uh
45:25you know it kind of reflects this the
45:26fundament nature of becoming a parent in
45:28the sense that when you have a kid you
45:30know it's like it changes your life in a
45:32way that means that succeeding in your
45:34own kind of selfish terms is no longer
45:36the priority and that's what this whole
45:38scene is about conveys
45:40interactively um so yeah it's a great
45:42example of how we can take even
45:44something that seems kind of basic and
45:45binary um and typically trivial as is
45:48like pressing a button in time but use
45:50it to kind of interactively evoke some
45:52fairly big ideas about the story and
45:54about life in general even and all of
45:57this is inside the player's mind without
45:59explicitly telling them anything which
46:00is
46:02awesome so uh to summarize um yeah these
46:06are my three points about narrative
46:08interactive narrative know number one
46:10was striving to do more than just show
46:11and tell wherever possible number two
46:14was empowering the player to act with
46:16narrative
46:17intentionality and or you know depending
46:19on your kind of game we can try and
46:21think of ways to evoke drama and story
46:23and ideas in the player's mind and not
46:25just on sh on
46:27screen uh and so we're close we got a
46:30couple of minutes so yeah to wrap up um
46:34as a closing thought I I thought about
46:35this particular section of a book called
46:37understanding Comics by Scott McLoud
46:39which is a super smart book that I
46:40recommend to everyone um uh it's kind of
46:43written to uh educate people and change
46:46people's perspective on Comics but I
46:47think it has the effect of doing this uh
46:49you know changing the way we look at
46:50pretty much every medium and I really
46:52recommend it to everyone if you like
46:53this kind of thing and you know don't
46:56worry about reading the Tex on the
46:57panels here but like this in this
46:58section of the of the book he uh he
47:01talks about how Comics used to and
47:03perhaps still do uh suffer from people
47:06assuming that because Comics are a
47:07medium made of pictures and words that
47:10you can just take a great artist and a
47:11great writer and kind of just throw them
47:13together and you you've got a great
47:15comic and of course in reality if you
47:17just put nice words on nice pictures you
47:19only end up with something that's pretty
47:21like a shallow form of a comic um that
47:23doesn't really utilize the true magic of
47:25the medium and you know the experience
47:27of reading a great comic doesn't just
47:29come from the the combination of these
47:30two things but it's like it's completely
47:33defined by this art forms particular set
47:35of special relationships between words
47:37and
47:38pictures and uh of course like you know
47:40the whole point of this talk is to talk
47:41about how level design is kind of the
47:43same thing or at least it's one way of
47:44looking at it and I think we've all
47:46played games before where these three
47:48elements you know the gam playay and the
47:49story and the graphics and the world or
47:51whatever um they're all good
47:53individually but they don't seem to kind
47:54of gel so well um you know not they're
47:57not really working together and uh to me
48:00when games and level design are at the
48:02peak it's all about how these things
48:03work together you know for those
48:05familiar with the genre um known as
48:07immersive Sims that I talked about um to
48:09me this these this approach and this set
48:12of ideas says a lot about um to me
48:15explains a lot about what the immersive
48:17part of immersive Sim really means um
48:19you know and to me these ideas aren't
48:21just extra nice little things to
48:22sprinkle on top of your your gameplay
48:24and stuff um to add flavor to the player
48:26EXP experience i' I'd go as far as
48:28saying that these kind of games uh with
48:31these kind of games and and the kind of
48:32games I'd like to see more of these
48:34things are the player experienced you
48:36know these these three ideas are what
48:37the player is thinking about all the
48:40time um you know so I I would argue that
48:43the individual pillars of gameplay and
48:44graphics and story and all this stuff um
48:47they're kind of just means to these ends
48:48I would I would say uh you know to be
48:51honest I'm not really sure that
48:53everybody will agree with that but uh I
48:55would hope that you know if I can
48:57encourage anyone to uh take this kind of
48:59perspective with level design I think it
49:00would be a cool thing and finally on top
49:02of that as level designers when we work
49:04with other disciplines you know like
49:06artists and writers and and creative
49:07directors and stuff I think the more we
49:09can discuss and establish these kinds of
49:11ideas as shared goals between
49:13departments uh the better and more
49:15interesting and the cooler our games
49:17will
49:17be and that's it thanks for listening I
49:20hope it was interesting
49:26[Applause]

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