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Level Design Workshop: Singleplayer vs. Multiplayer Level Design: A Paradigm Shift — Transcript

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  1. 0:01[Music]
  2. 0:04hello everyone uh just as a reminder
  3. 0:07before I start my talk uh turn off your
  4. 0:08cell phones and fill out uh the the
  5. 0:12surveys that they give you uh through
  6. 0:14email and so I'm going to get this talk
  7. 0:17rolling so I'm going to be talking about
  8. 0:20single player versus multiplayer level
  9. 0:21design and the paradigm shift that kind
  10. 0:24of occurs when you're thinking about
  11. 0:25designing between each one first of all
  12. 0:27who am I my name is Elizabeth Bank
  13. 0:29Schwarz and I'm a level designer at a
  14. 0:32company in Austin Texas called certain
  15. 0:34affinity and I got my start working on
  16. 0:37uh the MMO RPG Lord of the Rings Online
  17. 0:39the minds more expansion pack and since
  18. 0:42then I've worked on a bunch of different
  19. 0:44single player and multiplayer titles
  20. 0:46including BioShock Infinite uh Mafia 3
  21. 0:48and doom and Call of Duty Modern Warfare
  22. 0:51remaster and so what I will be covering
  23. 0:53today is what is based on my own
  24. 0:57experience coming from a single player
  25. 1:00highly narratively linear background
  26. 1:03designing stuff like for BioShock
  27. 1:05Infinite and then moving over to working
  28. 1:08at certain affinity and designing more
  29. 1:10multiplayer levels especially for
  30. 1:12first-person shooter design like for the
  31. 1:15new Ste came that came out uh we certain
  32. 1:18Affinity helped with uh with some of the
  33. 1:21multiplayer for that and so I came from
  34. 1:23a very narrative heavy single player
  35. 1:25background and I was very surprised when
  36. 1:28I started designing levels for
  37. 1:29multiplayer about a lot of the
  38. 1:30differences there are there are some
  39. 1:32similarities but there was a lot of
  40. 1:34things I was used to putting a lot of
  41. 1:36time into in single player levels that I
  42. 1:39didn't need to in multiplayer and
  43. 1:42comparatively things that I found out
  44. 1:45need to be paid a lot of attention to
  45. 1:47when you design for a multiplayer level
  46. 1:49that you don't really need to think
  47. 1:50about as much when you're designing a
  48. 1:52single player level so this talk is
  49. 1:55based on my own experience is kind of a
  50. 1:57if you're going to switch in between the
  51. 1:58two and learn what similarities there
  52. 2:00are and what differences there are so
  53. 2:04first of all when you are starting to
  54. 2:06design the layouts for a space obviously
  55. 2:08you need to plan for the size of your
  56. 2:11level and in single player the things
  57. 2:14that go into figuring out how you're the
  58. 2:18size that you're going to design for is
  59. 2:20you know how many combats are you going
  60. 2:22to be supporting in that space what are
  61. 2:24the sizes of those combats are there
  62. 2:27going to be any big narrative set pieces
  63. 2:29in that level uh any traversal
  64. 2:32conversations like for example if you
  65. 2:34need to support uh smaller narrative
  66. 2:36moments where maybe uh for example on
  67. 2:39bshock infinite uh the player as Booker
  68. 2:42uh is talking with Elizabeth and they're
  69. 2:44walking and having a conversation and
  70. 2:46your learning narrative moments and so
  71. 2:48you want to think about designing a
  72. 2:50space that's a quiet moment where it
  73. 2:53doesn't intersect into combat or uh
  74. 2:56other elements like that and so thinking
  75. 2:58about the sizing there
  76. 3:00and any additional side quests or
  77. 3:02content that you might want to add in
  78. 3:04there whereas in multiplayer the biggest
  79. 3:07thing when you're thinking about the
  80. 3:08level size is obviously what is the game
  81. 3:10you're working on how many players does
  82. 3:12it support uh are you designing for like
  83. 3:15a 2v2 level or a 64x 64 and also what is
  84. 3:19the intended time until engagement is
  85. 3:22the game you're designing a game like
  86. 3:24Doom where it's almost immediate uh
  87. 3:27interaction in combat and you just go go
  88. 3:30go or are you uh designing a level for a
  89. 3:33smaller slower uh sorry a larger slower
  90. 3:36Pace level where you want to have a bit
  91. 3:39more space before uh the player
  92. 3:41encounters another enemy so that they
  93. 3:43can uh get a sense of the battlefield
  94. 3:45and their options and a bit more of a
  95. 3:47tactical
  96. 3:48feel and once you've kind of had a
  97. 3:51general idea of how big you want to make
  98. 3:54your level uh there's a couple
  99. 3:57differences between the things you have
  100. 3:59to think about when you are designing
  101. 4:02and uh frame Framing and composition of
  102. 4:06the level overall so the biggest focus
  103. 4:08in single player especially if you're
  104. 4:10working on a very narrative level uh a
  105. 4:13narrative level is storytelling
  106. 4:15storytelling is really important uh as
  107. 4:18some of the previous speakers talked
  108. 4:19about trying to find any little moment
  109. 4:21that you can tell the story in the level
  110. 4:24is really important and also supporting
  111. 4:26any gameplay objectives uh Steve touched
  112. 4:29on on this a little bit about making
  113. 4:31sure the player knows where they're
  114. 4:33going like how where they're trying to
  115. 4:35get to and making sure that's clear for
  116. 4:37the player is really important whereas
  117. 4:39in multiplayer the the biggest things uh
  118. 4:42isn't really storytelling as much and
  119. 4:44that was a big uh change for me uh
  120. 4:47coming from uh working a rational it was
  121. 4:49all like story story story how can we
  122. 4:51put story into every little bit element
  123. 4:53of the space whereas in uh some
  124. 4:56multiplayer games do have a bit of story
  125. 4:58but it's not as important and it's
  126. 5:00almost a waste of time to spend uh spend
  127. 5:03your time working uh and thinking about
  128. 5:06that element whereas the more important
  129. 5:08things in multiplayer are more uh what
  130. 5:11are your player routes and paths and
  131. 5:13options for the player to move around
  132. 5:16the space and also uh something that's
  133. 5:18more important in multiplayer but not as
  134. 5:20important in single player is uh
  135. 5:22tightening up all the sight lines uh and
  136. 5:24making sure that you fix any and all
  137. 5:26exploits that you can before it gets out
  138. 5:28there live and talking about kind of uh
  139. 5:30break this down a little bit more so uh
  140. 5:34when I was talking about telling a story
  141. 5:36um and using any opportunity you can to
  142. 5:39tell a story is you need to identify or
  143. 5:44create situations that really frame
  144. 5:46narrative moments and so think
  145. 5:49about when you are designing a level
  146. 5:51that doesn't have cutcenes
  147. 5:54what are the times where the player will
  148. 5:58definitely be looking at a certain
  149. 5:59location and identifying those and
  150. 6:01making sure that you use the crap out of
  151. 6:05that moment so some examples of this
  152. 6:07would be like uh in the image here uh
  153. 6:10when the player is exiting a room uh you
  154. 6:12know that the player is going to be
  155. 6:14looking at that door and putting all
  156. 6:17this narrative moments around the door
  157. 6:21or say you are exiting the door what do
  158. 6:24you see when you exit that door and some
  159. 6:26more examples of this are if the player
  160. 6:29is stuck in an elevator moving up or
  161. 6:31down maybe they are climbing up a ladder
  162. 6:33and that moment where they exit the
  163. 6:35ladder what will they see identifying
  164. 6:38those moments is really important when
  165. 6:39you're designing a level and either
  166. 6:41creating those moments or using those
  167. 6:44moments uh also you could when you are
  168. 6:46designing the space to to support
  169. 6:49narrative moments thinking about using
  170. 6:51things like a t
  171. 6:53Junction uh to have an opportunity to
  172. 6:57show narrative bits to the player for
  173. 7:00example here this is a t Junction where
  174. 7:02the player has entered and they have the
  175. 7:04option of going left or right and so
  176. 7:08putting the narrative elements right at
  177. 7:10the base so the player will see it no
  178. 7:12matter which path they choose is a
  179. 7:13better option than choose than putting
  180. 7:16it in one area or another cuz you don't
  181. 7:18know whether the player is going to see
  182. 7:21it or
  183. 7:22not um and besides narrative also uh
  184. 7:26making sure gameplay objectives are
  185. 7:28clear is super important in single
  186. 7:29player there's this idea uh that was
  187. 7:32coined by Walt Disney called weenies uh
  188. 7:34it's uh based on the concept that he his
  189. 7:38dog used to follow him around when he
  190. 7:39had a like a hot dog or weenie and he
  191. 7:41noticed that the dog would follow him
  192. 7:43around and it would it was a way to
  193. 7:45guide the dog to certain places he
  194. 7:47wanted to so he used that terminology
  195. 7:50when designing theme parks uh like for
  196. 7:52example Cinderella's castle uh in Disney
  197. 7:55World Etc and it's kind of like this
  198. 7:57this visually distinctive thing that you
  199. 7:59can see and you can use that as a point
  200. 8:01of reference um so in this example uh
  201. 8:05from infinite you are exiting uh this
  202. 8:08small space and the first thing you see
  203. 8:11is this Statue Of An Angel and you know
  204. 8:13from past knowledge that uh the uh the
  205. 8:17young woman Elizabeth is in that Tower
  206. 8:20the angel Tower and that's where you
  207. 8:21need to get to but you don't really
  208. 8:23might not know how to get there yet but
  209. 8:25at least you know where you're going and
  210. 8:28on the image of the right gives you an
  211. 8:30idea of the fact that you can kind of
  212. 8:32see this angel statue from anywhere and
  213. 8:35you are guided towards that space and so
  214. 8:38making sure you identify moments like
  215. 8:41exiting rooms or things to display
  216. 8:44relevant uh narrative or uh gameplay
  217. 8:48objectives is super important in single
  218. 8:50player whereas a
  219. 8:53multiplayer uh framing is still really
  220. 8:55important but you're kind of framing
  221. 8:57different things you are thinking about
  222. 9:01making clear the player path options
  223. 9:03that they have so that players when
  224. 9:05they're running around the space they
  225. 9:06can make split-second decisions of where
  226. 9:09they're going to be going and also it's
  227. 9:11really important to guide uh to make
  228. 9:15clear where the paths are going to be
  229. 9:17leading uh some some multiplayer levels
  230. 9:20you you might turn a path and you think
  231. 9:22you're going a certain direction and you
  232. 9:24get frustrated because it leads you
  233. 9:26somewhere else where you don't intend
  234. 9:28and that's not really the best uh design
  235. 9:32when of a space when you're designing a
  236. 9:34multiplayer level uh but for example
  237. 9:36here this is um an image of Zanzibar
  238. 9:39from Halo and on the bottom right you
  239. 9:42can see that the path there's a path
  240. 9:44framed on the side with the sand that
  241. 9:46kind of leads up giving you the
  242. 9:48impression that you're you're going into
  243. 9:50the second layer of this building here
  244. 9:53but you also know that you can see this
  245. 9:55the path up on the left coming out from
  246. 9:58the building so you know that somebody
  247. 9:59might be coming into the building from
  248. 10:02that left upper path as well and so
  249. 10:04making sure that the options the player
  250. 10:08has to move around the space and
  251. 10:10strategically where other enemies will
  252. 10:12be is the most important thing when
  253. 10:14designing multiplayer level and the
  254. 10:17biggest change that that I had to think
  255. 10:21about when I started designing
  256. 10:22multiplayer levels is really paying a
  257. 10:24lot more attention to sight lines in
  258. 10:27single player it can be kind of fun to
  259. 10:29find that teeny little spot where you
  260. 10:31can get an advantage over an NPC and
  261. 10:35they don't see you and and you feel like
  262. 10:39it's rewarding and fun uh because the
  263. 10:41enemy doesn't have feelings but in
  264. 10:44multiplayer the enemy you're killing has
  265. 10:47feelings they're a real person and they
  266. 10:48get frustrated if they don't they die
  267. 10:51and they don't understand why it in a
  268. 10:54multiplayer game it's important to
  269. 10:56understand why you died and feel like
  270. 11:00the players should feel like it's their
  271. 11:01fault that they made a mistake that they
  272. 11:03died and not that there's some gaming of
  273. 11:05the system that feels unfair and so
  274. 11:08watching out for uned Sight lines is
  275. 11:10super important and I have an example
  276. 11:13here of uh one of an early level I had
  277. 11:16done and there was a small room where
  278. 11:19you enter you could enter from either
  279. 11:21door which is the brown blocks there but
  280. 11:24if you entered down from the bottom and
  281. 11:26walked up the stairs uh around those uh
  282. 11:29exagonal pillars the player could have
  283. 11:31an unattended sight line where they
  284. 11:33could look in between the two pillars
  285. 11:35and get this teeny little sight line out
  286. 11:37of the door and and just sniper shoot
  287. 11:39anyone who was running around outside
  288. 11:41the door and the people who are running
  289. 11:43around outside were like what the heck
  290. 11:45where did I die from I don't know and
  291. 11:47and because they can't the people
  292. 11:49outside can't really see in and they
  293. 11:51don't really see that there is an enemy
  294. 11:53in there and so I had to adjust this to
  295. 11:56block off that sideline and so a lot
  296. 11:58more time time goes into really nailing
  297. 12:02down these sight lines when you're
  298. 12:04designing a multiplayer
  299. 12:06map and once you have the base map
  300. 12:09designed obviously you want to start
  301. 12:11thinking about optional or more advanced
  302. 12:14player
  303. 12:15routes and so in single player the
  304. 12:19additional Roots can be used
  305. 12:21to give additional story elements to the
  306. 12:24player for example this is a small
  307. 12:27basement in a
  308. 12:29in a bar in the level fton and it's very
  309. 12:33out of the way but what happens is
  310. 12:36there's a guitar that's on a chair and
  311. 12:39the player can interact with it and what
  312. 12:41happens if you interact with it is uh
  313. 12:44the player Booker starts playing
  314. 12:45strumming a guitar and Elizabeth there
  315. 12:48she starts singing this kind of
  316. 12:49melancholy song about how the circle
  317. 12:52will never be unbroken kind of talking
  318. 12:54about like the chain of Oppression and
  319. 12:57people being poor and and it being
  320. 13:00really difficult to get out of that
  321. 13:01situation and she takes this orange and
  322. 13:05gives it to this little kid here and so
  323. 13:06it's a really uh poignant little teeny
  324. 13:10side moment that a lot of players might
  325. 13:11not see but it can be fun to design and
  326. 13:16add these little elements in your game
  327. 13:18and it can feel very rewarding as a
  328. 13:19player to find these teeny little
  329. 13:21tidbits and support additional narrative
  330. 13:24uh initiatives or the feel of the
  331. 13:27level but you also have have to think
  332. 13:29about what happens if the player misses
  333. 13:31this do we have the money and the
  334. 13:34resources to support these moments
  335. 13:36because in single player a lot well at
  336. 13:39least more linear single player levels
  337. 13:42players often only play once and so is
  338. 13:46it okay if players miss this content and
  339. 13:48that's something that you have to think
  340. 13:49about a lot more than when you're
  341. 13:51designing a multiplayer game be game
  342. 13:54level because people will be playing
  343. 13:55those over and over again and obviously
  344. 13:58you can also use additional areas uh in
  345. 14:01single player to uh additional loot or
  346. 14:04other narrative elements as
  347. 14:06well another thing that you have to
  348. 14:09consider when designing a single player
  349. 14:11level is will the AI play nice if you
  350. 14:13add different types of um ways of
  351. 14:17interacting with the levels so it's
  352. 14:19great to in single player and
  353. 14:21multiplayer to design spaces that
  354. 14:24support multiple play Styles maybe you
  355. 14:26want to design for stealth players or
  356. 14:29you want to design for running gun just
  357. 14:32go and shoot everyone action folks or
  358. 14:34sniping but uh you have to think about
  359. 14:37will the I play nice with that so an
  360. 14:39example I use here on the left is uh
  361. 14:42deox uh where you can go in the vents
  362. 14:45and uh run around and use those as a
  363. 14:47stealthy way of getting around and it's
  364. 14:50appealing to add these additional roots
  365. 14:52to support Stealth gameplay but you have
  366. 14:55to think about is the level is the game
  367. 14:58you're making will
  368. 14:59that support this type of play style
  369. 15:02because what happens if you shoot the
  370. 15:04enemy through the vents but the enemy
  371. 15:06can't get to you what happens then is
  372. 15:09that okay does is your game is your
  373. 15:12level supporting that kind of gam playay
  374. 15:15style and on the right side over here um
  375. 15:19I'm using this example from Far Cry 3
  376. 15:21because this is something that when I
  377. 15:22was playing through it I felt kind of
  378. 15:26frustrated at uh there are these
  379. 15:28defensible areas that you have to go
  380. 15:30into in the map and try to take them
  381. 15:32over but once I got the sniper I would
  382. 15:35just sit on the Ridge and shoot every
  383. 15:37enemy before they could even get to me
  384. 15:39because the AI didn't really play nice
  385. 15:43with the sniper because the combats
  386. 15:46weren't designed with AIS having snipers
  387. 15:49and so I had the advantage over them and
  388. 15:52the AIS would try to run towards me like
  389. 15:54in the path that you can see kind of in
  390. 15:56the back left there's like a route up
  391. 15:58but they have to take so long to get to
  392. 16:00you that you can you just have so much
  393. 16:02of an advantage it's not really fun
  394. 16:04anymore and so when you're thinking
  395. 16:07about adding sniper Vantage points
  396. 16:09trying to restrict the spaces that the
  397. 16:13players can have those sniper moments uh
  398. 16:16or thinking about how the AI will
  399. 16:19respond to those moments
  400. 16:27accordingly so when you're designing
  401. 16:29optional roots in
  402. 16:30multiplayer uh it's pretty much a
  403. 16:32necessity that you have to design more
  404. 16:34than one route because if players
  405. 16:37encounter each other the same route over
  406. 16:39and over again is really boring and uh
  407. 16:43because players are playing these levels
  408. 16:45over and over again you need to provide
  409. 16:47multiple roots and options for the
  410. 16:49player and so I have like a couple
  411. 16:51examples here uh the player can jump up
  412. 16:53on that platform and then double jump
  413. 16:55onto the platform on the right or they
  414. 16:58can just run straight on the ground and
  415. 16:59then jump and then ledge grab up onto
  416. 17:01the right or an ADV more advanced player
  417. 17:05uh could jump onto that platform and
  418. 17:07then do a much more difficult jump to
  419. 17:09get to a very small side ledge and have
  420. 17:12a different angle and advantage over the
  421. 17:15players but it's a lot more difficult
  422. 17:18for players to get onto that ledge
  423. 17:20without falling off and so providing
  424. 17:23both simple and advanced ways for
  425. 17:25players to get around is really
  426. 17:28important in multi
  427. 17:31player now when you're thinking about
  428. 17:33pickups in single player and multiplayer
  429. 17:36in single player often times you can
  430. 17:39design the level first and add pickups
  431. 17:41later uh you know weapon placements or
  432. 17:44powerups or uh ammo to replenish uh any
  433. 17:50anything that you've lost which often is
  434. 17:53designed so that that happens after a
  435. 17:55big combat scene or right before a big
  436. 17:58combat uh the good thing about in single
  437. 18:00player is you can use pickups to tell
  438. 18:02stories you can instead of just plopping
  439. 18:05them anywhere thinking about okay how
  440. 18:08did these uh items get here uh who was
  441. 18:12here and you know why are they gone now
  442. 18:15and using those to tell stories and to
  443. 18:18support the overarching story of your
  444. 18:20game whereas in multiplayer you pretty
  445. 18:23much have to design pickups at the same
  446. 18:27time that you are designing the layout
  447. 18:29so pickups in multiplayer like a power
  448. 18:32up or a power weapon or something like
  449. 18:35in this example in Doom here there are
  450. 18:37these things called uh runes where they
  451. 18:40appear randomly after some amount of
  452. 18:43time uh in in a level and players rush
  453. 18:47to it and once they the first person to
  454. 18:49pick up the Rune turns into a uh giant
  455. 18:53demon who has a lot more power over
  456. 18:55everyone than just an individual player
  457. 18:58would and so so the thing to consider
  458. 19:00when you're placing these is that they
  459. 19:02will change how the space that the
  460. 19:05pickups are in and how they play they
  461. 19:07will be both a draw where a lot of
  462. 19:10combat will happen around these pickups
  463. 19:12and uh a lot of different angles will
  464. 19:15need to be supported for entering to get
  465. 19:18to those pickups and to support a larger
  466. 19:22combat space than just this teeny little
  467. 19:24teeny little
  468. 19:27location and exploits is probably one of
  469. 19:30the biggest things to think about uh
  470. 19:32when you're designing a level for
  471. 19:34multiplayer in single player it's not
  472. 19:36super important uh if if there if the
  473. 19:39player finds an exploit I mean besides
  474. 19:42people posting silly videos and then it
  475. 19:44getting on polygon or something they're
  476. 19:45pretty low consequences and sometimes it
  477. 19:48can even be fun to get those teeny
  478. 19:49little exploits uh but in multiplayer
  479. 19:52especially if you're designing a level
  480. 19:53that might possibly be used for um for
  481. 19:56competitive gameplay somay someday it's
  482. 19:58critical to fix and it's super high
  483. 20:01consequences players will find any
  484. 20:04exploit it's just a matter of time and
  485. 20:06it's only Fun For The Individual but
  486. 20:08frustrating for everyone else and unfair
  487. 20:10for everyone else involved and so a lot
  488. 20:12more time and play testing needs to be
  489. 20:15taken uh to find and fix these
  490. 20:19exploits and now we get into play
  491. 20:21testing because play testing for a
  492. 20:23single player level and play testing for
  493. 20:25a multiplayer level are are pretty
  494. 20:29different so when play testing for
  495. 20:31single player you really especially if
  496. 20:33it's a narrative linear game you only
  497. 20:35get one shot each play tester only gets
  498. 20:38one first impression of your level and
  499. 20:42how they initially react to things and
  500. 20:44that's very applicable to the fact that
  501. 20:48play uh players in the end game the
  502. 20:51final product will only play at once and
  503. 20:53so you need to find more people to play
  504. 20:56but you need to take more time to polish
  505. 21:00your level before you show it to anyone
  506. 21:03because a lot of play
  507. 21:04testers um you normal Gamers don't have
  508. 21:08the skill set to extrapolate earlier
  509. 21:10levels into a more polished state so
  510. 21:13they might get distracted by little
  511. 21:15elements and taking more time to polish
  512. 21:17a level before putting in front of a
  513. 21:19player uh we'll make sure to see if the
  514. 21:22subtle nuanced level design structures
  515. 21:25or lighting or framing Etc will lead to
  516. 21:29them understanding what they're doing
  517. 21:31and why and The Narrative of a level and
  518. 21:34so keeping them as pure and untainted as
  519. 21:37possible is really
  520. 21:39critical I mean one way to get around
  521. 21:42this is to find uh find other devs on
  522. 21:46your team especially other level
  523. 21:48designers uh who are good at
  524. 21:49extrapolating so if you if you need to
  525. 21:52and you should uh get people to look at
  526. 21:55your level early then uh you should find
  527. 21:59those people who have the skill to look
  528. 22:01at the base barebones framework of a
  529. 22:03gray box and being able to imagine what
  530. 22:06it's going to be in its final State and
  531. 22:08not get uh like distracted by all the
  532. 22:11nitty-gritty details that don't really
  533. 22:13matter at that
  534. 22:16stage and so overall when you are play
  535. 22:19testing for single player uh you should
  536. 22:22make sure that players should know what
  537. 22:24their motivation is and they should
  538. 22:26always know where they are they might
  539. 22:28not know how to get to where they are
  540. 22:30supposed to be going right away but they
  541. 22:32should always have a frame of reference
  542. 22:34as to where they're where they're going
  543. 22:36and not get lost and so if players are
  544. 22:38lost then you should probably fix
  545. 22:42it whereas when play testing for
  546. 22:45multiplayer you really need to um play
  547. 22:48test often and iterate often it's really
  548. 22:51necessary to get loads and loads of play
  549. 22:53tests done preferably every day if
  550. 22:55possible get people in and just playing
  551. 22:58through it uh you don't really need to
  552. 23:00spend as much time on polish as compared
  553. 23:03to single player because uh the biggest
  554. 23:07thing in multiplayer is the layouts
  555. 23:10themselves and so you can get people in
  556. 23:12earlier on and play testing and the
  557. 23:15earlier you get players in the more
  558. 23:17players can um can have the opportunity
  559. 23:21to experience your level over and over
  560. 23:23again because that's going to be closer
  561. 23:25to what uh the polished and shipped game
  562. 23:29is going to be like where players going
  563. 23:30to play over and over
  564. 23:32again so for multiplayer First
  565. 23:34Impressions aren't a huge deal uh if
  566. 23:37players aren't really sure where they're
  567. 23:39going or if they're slightly lost or
  568. 23:42they aren't able to make a mental map of
  569. 23:44the whole layout of the level it's not a
  570. 23:47huge deal because uh most a
  571. 23:51well-designed multiplayer map will guide
  572. 23:54players to the combat anyways and so as
  573. 23:56long as players initially encounter
  574. 23:59other other players it's fine and if
  575. 24:01they don't have the skills the first
  576. 24:04game that they play to understand what
  577. 24:06the layout is they'll get that they'll
  578. 24:08get that after playing it many times and
  579. 24:11so in single player it's a big deal to
  580. 24:13fix if players are lost but not as much
  581. 24:15in
  582. 24:17multiplayer so in summary the biggest
  583. 24:20things to think about uh when you are
  584. 24:23designing for single player and
  585. 24:24multiplayer levels and where you should
  586. 24:26put mo more of your time and your
  587. 24:28priorities so in single player you
  588. 24:30should really make sure to sell the
  589. 24:32narrative whereas in multiplayer uh
  590. 24:34narrative is generally low priority I
  591. 24:37got this is this is one of the things
  592. 24:39that I had to unlearn when designing for
  593. 24:41multiplayer levels uh I was designing uh
  594. 24:44a level and I I like to when I first
  595. 24:48designed a level to think about a space
  596. 24:52of what is it uh what is the structure
  597. 24:55who was there before the player got
  598. 24:57there what is the whole history of uh
  599. 25:00the design of the space and what was it
  600. 25:02being used for and in multiplayer I got
  601. 25:05really bogged down with thinking of all
  602. 25:07those teeny little details that don't
  603. 25:09really matter and don't have a huge
  604. 25:12impact on the end result not to say that
  605. 25:14teeny little narrative elements can add
  606. 25:16a little bit to a level
  607. 25:18but you you don't need to spend much
  608. 25:21time on that in
  609. 25:23multiplayer uh but in single player and
  610. 25:26multiplayer they do share a similar
  611. 25:28element element that they both need to
  612. 25:29make sure that they frame you know uh
  613. 25:32optional roots and uh gameplay
  614. 25:36objectives and in single player uh you
  615. 25:39need to design optional routes for uh to
  616. 25:42support uh any rewards that you give the
  617. 25:45player whether that's a a narrative
  618. 25:47tidbit or um like a pickup or something
  619. 25:50like that and uh support optional play
  620. 25:53Styles as well and in multiplayer you
  621. 25:56also need to support uh play style
  622. 25:58multiple play Styles and that's even
  623. 26:00more important and make sure to design
  624. 26:03routes for more advanced players so
  625. 26:05those Advanced players feel a sense of
  626. 26:07progression and that they're not just
  627. 26:08playing the same level over and over
  628. 26:10again but they can find additional roots
  629. 26:12to um evolve through the level and get
  630. 26:16get a fair advantage over players not
  631. 26:18like the sideline issue I was showing
  632. 26:20earlier but fair and visible advantages
  633. 26:23over other
  634. 26:25players and when you play testing single
  635. 26:28player you play test less and polish
  636. 26:30more in between and multiplayer you play
  637. 26:34test as often as possible and make sure
  638. 26:35to repeat your PL testers and most
  639. 26:38important uh fix exploits and sight
  640. 26:40lines in multiplayer because in single
  641. 26:42player uh they're pretty low priority
  642. 26:45and so these are a bunch of the things
  643. 26:47that you um you have to think about when
  644. 26:50you are designing for different uh
  645. 26:52experiences in single player and
  646. 26:53multiplayer and a lot of the skill sets
  647. 26:56you learn from one are applic able to
  648. 26:58the other you know using a lot of uh
  649. 27:01architectural and framing techniques
  650. 27:02that you've learned or thinking about uh
  651. 27:05what makes a fun layout in space and
  652. 27:07those can definitely uh be interchanged
  653. 27:10in between the two but there's a lot of
  654. 27:12um slightly different things that you
  655. 27:14have to think about in terms of where
  656. 27:16you place your time in in thinking about
  657. 27:20them so thank you
  658. 27:24[Music]
  659. 27:32so we have like three minutes
  660. 27:36so so yeah if there's any questions
  661. 27:39might get one or two in hi um that was a
  662. 27:43great talk thank you I was just uh
  663. 27:45Curious how you think of Cooperative
  664. 27:47level design because this seems uh
  665. 27:49focused mostly on multiplayer so I'm
  666. 27:52thinking would you place Cooperative
  667. 27:54closer to single player or
  668. 27:56multiplayer so I haven't personally
  669. 27:59designed any Cooperative multiplayer
  670. 28:00levels yet but I imagine that it
  671. 28:02probably uh takes into account kind of
  672. 28:05both of the elements that I was talking
  673. 28:07about in single player and multiplayer
  674. 28:09obviously you're right I was designing I
  675. 28:11I was talking about specific examples um
  676. 28:14and there are a lot of multiplayer
  677. 28:16experiences or single player experiences
  678. 28:18that don't fit in between the two things
  679. 28:19I was talking about but cooperative play
  680. 28:24um yeah there's definitely some
  681. 28:26similarities like there might be like
  682. 28:28framing uh objectives and maybe
  683. 28:31narrative moments that the Cooperative
  684. 28:33uh Team wants to experience together
  685. 28:36those are those would be important to uh
  686. 28:39design and frame but you don't have the
  687. 28:42issue of a single player level where you
  688. 28:44only get one chance to understand what's
  689. 28:47going on thank
  690. 28:49you hi thanks for the cool talk um I
  691. 28:52would like to stick with the uh single
  692. 28:54player levels right now um before we
  693. 28:56going to start with I don't know basic
  694. 28:57blockouts whoever uh environment you're
  695. 28:59working on how much story in terms of
  696. 29:01the storytelling wise how much story do
  697. 29:04you need to start uh working on the
  698. 29:06level you you're thinking about uh it
  699. 29:08really depends I would say the biggest
  700. 29:11thing to think about
  701. 29:13is what is the space um obviously you
  702. 29:18might have varying amounts of data as to
  703. 29:20what the story will be in the space but
  704. 29:23at least thinking about uh instead of
  705. 29:26starting out with just plain shapes
  706. 29:28thinking about what are those shapes and
  707. 29:30structures and building small stories
  708. 29:34based on that that might support the
  709. 29:36overall theme of the game you're working
  710. 29:38on and so even if you don't have the
  711. 29:41full idea of
  712. 29:43what what the story is yet you probably
  713. 29:47have a good idea of the general theme of
  714. 29:49the game and I mean single player you're
  715. 29:51going to rework your level multiple
  716. 29:53times and especially if it's a narrative
  717. 29:55game you're probably going to remake a
  718. 29:56bunch of the levels to support support
  719. 29:58new narrative elements that get that get
  720. 30:00put in and so you're just going to have
  721. 30:02to start somewhere and then add stuff in
  722. 30:05later when you get more data thank you
  723. 30:08so
  724. 30:09much hello um thanks for the talk first
  725. 30:11of all uh I wanted to talk about
  726. 30:13multiplayer level design I guess my
  727. 30:15question is uh what's your opinion on
  728. 30:17asymmetry and multiplayer level design
  729. 30:19and how you like handle giving players
  730. 30:21different advantages in a situation or
  731. 30:23would you rather have like a completely
  732. 30:24symmetrical map where both teams like
  733. 30:27have no advantages over each other so I
  734. 30:30think symmetrical multiplayer levels are
  735. 30:35I don't prefer them because players can
  736. 30:37get easily mixed up and confused as to
  737. 30:40where they are uh but asymmetrical
  738. 30:43multiplayer I hate using the word
  739. 30:44asymmetrical because they still are
  740. 30:46symmetrical in terms of balancing uh you
  741. 30:49need to figure out like if you give
  742. 30:51advantage on one side you need to figure
  743. 30:52out a different way to give a similar
  744. 30:54advantage on another side or provide
  745. 30:58locations that give advantages that are
  746. 31:01equidistant between the two players and
  747. 31:03maybe supporting like maybe one route on
  748. 31:06one side is more stealth oriented
  749. 31:07whereas the other side is more open uh
  750. 31:10direct um direct combat and so I would
  751. 31:14pref I prefer more asymmetrical
  752. 31:16multiplayer levels okay thank you I
  753. 31:19think that's all the time we have so
  754. 31:21thank you

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