Level Design Workshop: Singleplayer vs. Multiplayer Level Design: A Paradigm Shift — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:01[Music]
- 0:04hello everyone uh just as a reminder
- 0:07before I start my talk uh turn off your
- 0:08cell phones and fill out uh the the
- 0:12surveys that they give you uh through
- 0:14email and so I'm going to get this talk
- 0:17rolling so I'm going to be talking about
- 0:20single player versus multiplayer level
- 0:21design and the paradigm shift that kind
- 0:24of occurs when you're thinking about
- 0:25designing between each one first of all
- 0:27who am I my name is Elizabeth Bank
- 0:29Schwarz and I'm a level designer at a
- 0:32company in Austin Texas called certain
- 0:34affinity and I got my start working on
- 0:37uh the MMO RPG Lord of the Rings Online
- 0:39the minds more expansion pack and since
- 0:42then I've worked on a bunch of different
- 0:44single player and multiplayer titles
- 0:46including BioShock Infinite uh Mafia 3
- 0:48and doom and Call of Duty Modern Warfare
- 0:51remaster and so what I will be covering
- 0:53today is what is based on my own
- 0:57experience coming from a single player
- 1:00highly narratively linear background
- 1:03designing stuff like for BioShock
- 1:05Infinite and then moving over to working
- 1:08at certain affinity and designing more
- 1:10multiplayer levels especially for
- 1:12first-person shooter design like for the
- 1:15new Ste came that came out uh we certain
- 1:18Affinity helped with uh with some of the
- 1:21multiplayer for that and so I came from
- 1:23a very narrative heavy single player
- 1:25background and I was very surprised when
- 1:28I started designing levels for
- 1:29multiplayer about a lot of the
- 1:30differences there are there are some
- 1:32similarities but there was a lot of
- 1:34things I was used to putting a lot of
- 1:36time into in single player levels that I
- 1:39didn't need to in multiplayer and
- 1:42comparatively things that I found out
- 1:45need to be paid a lot of attention to
- 1:47when you design for a multiplayer level
- 1:49that you don't really need to think
- 1:50about as much when you're designing a
- 1:52single player level so this talk is
- 1:55based on my own experience is kind of a
- 1:57if you're going to switch in between the
- 1:58two and learn what similarities there
- 2:00are and what differences there are so
- 2:04first of all when you are starting to
- 2:06design the layouts for a space obviously
- 2:08you need to plan for the size of your
- 2:11level and in single player the things
- 2:14that go into figuring out how you're the
- 2:18size that you're going to design for is
- 2:20you know how many combats are you going
- 2:22to be supporting in that space what are
- 2:24the sizes of those combats are there
- 2:27going to be any big narrative set pieces
- 2:29in that level uh any traversal
- 2:32conversations like for example if you
- 2:34need to support uh smaller narrative
- 2:36moments where maybe uh for example on
- 2:39bshock infinite uh the player as Booker
- 2:42uh is talking with Elizabeth and they're
- 2:44walking and having a conversation and
- 2:46your learning narrative moments and so
- 2:48you want to think about designing a
- 2:50space that's a quiet moment where it
- 2:53doesn't intersect into combat or uh
- 2:56other elements like that and so thinking
- 2:58about the sizing there
- 3:00and any additional side quests or
- 3:02content that you might want to add in
- 3:04there whereas in multiplayer the biggest
- 3:07thing when you're thinking about the
- 3:08level size is obviously what is the game
- 3:10you're working on how many players does
- 3:12it support uh are you designing for like
- 3:15a 2v2 level or a 64x 64 and also what is
- 3:19the intended time until engagement is
- 3:22the game you're designing a game like
- 3:24Doom where it's almost immediate uh
- 3:27interaction in combat and you just go go
- 3:30go or are you uh designing a level for a
- 3:33smaller slower uh sorry a larger slower
- 3:36Pace level where you want to have a bit
- 3:39more space before uh the player
- 3:41encounters another enemy so that they
- 3:43can uh get a sense of the battlefield
- 3:45and their options and a bit more of a
- 3:47tactical
- 3:48feel and once you've kind of had a
- 3:51general idea of how big you want to make
- 3:54your level uh there's a couple
- 3:57differences between the things you have
- 3:59to think about when you are designing
- 4:02and uh frame Framing and composition of
- 4:06the level overall so the biggest focus
- 4:08in single player especially if you're
- 4:10working on a very narrative level uh a
- 4:13narrative level is storytelling
- 4:15storytelling is really important uh as
- 4:18some of the previous speakers talked
- 4:19about trying to find any little moment
- 4:21that you can tell the story in the level
- 4:24is really important and also supporting
- 4:26any gameplay objectives uh Steve touched
- 4:29on on this a little bit about making
- 4:31sure the player knows where they're
- 4:33going like how where they're trying to
- 4:35get to and making sure that's clear for
- 4:37the player is really important whereas
- 4:39in multiplayer the the biggest things uh
- 4:42isn't really storytelling as much and
- 4:44that was a big uh change for me uh
- 4:47coming from uh working a rational it was
- 4:49all like story story story how can we
- 4:51put story into every little bit element
- 4:53of the space whereas in uh some
- 4:56multiplayer games do have a bit of story
- 4:58but it's not as important and it's
- 5:00almost a waste of time to spend uh spend
- 5:03your time working uh and thinking about
- 5:06that element whereas the more important
- 5:08things in multiplayer are more uh what
- 5:11are your player routes and paths and
- 5:13options for the player to move around
- 5:16the space and also uh something that's
- 5:18more important in multiplayer but not as
- 5:20important in single player is uh
- 5:22tightening up all the sight lines uh and
- 5:24making sure that you fix any and all
- 5:26exploits that you can before it gets out
- 5:28there live and talking about kind of uh
- 5:30break this down a little bit more so uh
- 5:34when I was talking about telling a story
- 5:36um and using any opportunity you can to
- 5:39tell a story is you need to identify or
- 5:44create situations that really frame
- 5:46narrative moments and so think
- 5:49about when you are designing a level
- 5:51that doesn't have cutcenes
- 5:54what are the times where the player will
- 5:58definitely be looking at a certain
- 5:59location and identifying those and
- 6:01making sure that you use the crap out of
- 6:05that moment so some examples of this
- 6:07would be like uh in the image here uh
- 6:10when the player is exiting a room uh you
- 6:12know that the player is going to be
- 6:14looking at that door and putting all
- 6:17this narrative moments around the door
- 6:21or say you are exiting the door what do
- 6:24you see when you exit that door and some
- 6:26more examples of this are if the player
- 6:29is stuck in an elevator moving up or
- 6:31down maybe they are climbing up a ladder
- 6:33and that moment where they exit the
- 6:35ladder what will they see identifying
- 6:38those moments is really important when
- 6:39you're designing a level and either
- 6:41creating those moments or using those
- 6:44moments uh also you could when you are
- 6:46designing the space to to support
- 6:49narrative moments thinking about using
- 6:51things like a t
- 6:53Junction uh to have an opportunity to
- 6:57show narrative bits to the player for
- 7:00example here this is a t Junction where
- 7:02the player has entered and they have the
- 7:04option of going left or right and so
- 7:08putting the narrative elements right at
- 7:10the base so the player will see it no
- 7:12matter which path they choose is a
- 7:13better option than choose than putting
- 7:16it in one area or another cuz you don't
- 7:18know whether the player is going to see
- 7:21it or
- 7:22not um and besides narrative also uh
- 7:26making sure gameplay objectives are
- 7:28clear is super important in single
- 7:29player there's this idea uh that was
- 7:32coined by Walt Disney called weenies uh
- 7:34it's uh based on the concept that he his
- 7:38dog used to follow him around when he
- 7:39had a like a hot dog or weenie and he
- 7:41noticed that the dog would follow him
- 7:43around and it would it was a way to
- 7:45guide the dog to certain places he
- 7:47wanted to so he used that terminology
- 7:50when designing theme parks uh like for
- 7:52example Cinderella's castle uh in Disney
- 7:55World Etc and it's kind of like this
- 7:57this visually distinctive thing that you
- 7:59can see and you can use that as a point
- 8:01of reference um so in this example uh
- 8:05from infinite you are exiting uh this
- 8:08small space and the first thing you see
- 8:11is this Statue Of An Angel and you know
- 8:13from past knowledge that uh the uh the
- 8:17young woman Elizabeth is in that Tower
- 8:20the angel Tower and that's where you
- 8:21need to get to but you don't really
- 8:23might not know how to get there yet but
- 8:25at least you know where you're going and
- 8:28on the image of the right gives you an
- 8:30idea of the fact that you can kind of
- 8:32see this angel statue from anywhere and
- 8:35you are guided towards that space and so
- 8:38making sure you identify moments like
- 8:41exiting rooms or things to display
- 8:44relevant uh narrative or uh gameplay
- 8:48objectives is super important in single
- 8:50player whereas a
- 8:53multiplayer uh framing is still really
- 8:55important but you're kind of framing
- 8:57different things you are thinking about
- 9:01making clear the player path options
- 9:03that they have so that players when
- 9:05they're running around the space they
- 9:06can make split-second decisions of where
- 9:09they're going to be going and also it's
- 9:11really important to guide uh to make
- 9:15clear where the paths are going to be
- 9:17leading uh some some multiplayer levels
- 9:20you you might turn a path and you think
- 9:22you're going a certain direction and you
- 9:24get frustrated because it leads you
- 9:26somewhere else where you don't intend
- 9:28and that's not really the best uh design
- 9:32when of a space when you're designing a
- 9:34multiplayer level uh but for example
- 9:36here this is um an image of Zanzibar
- 9:39from Halo and on the bottom right you
- 9:42can see that the path there's a path
- 9:44framed on the side with the sand that
- 9:46kind of leads up giving you the
- 9:48impression that you're you're going into
- 9:50the second layer of this building here
- 9:53but you also know that you can see this
- 9:55the path up on the left coming out from
- 9:58the building so you know that somebody
- 9:59might be coming into the building from
- 10:02that left upper path as well and so
- 10:04making sure that the options the player
- 10:08has to move around the space and
- 10:10strategically where other enemies will
- 10:12be is the most important thing when
- 10:14designing multiplayer level and the
- 10:17biggest change that that I had to think
- 10:21about when I started designing
- 10:22multiplayer levels is really paying a
- 10:24lot more attention to sight lines in
- 10:27single player it can be kind of fun to
- 10:29find that teeny little spot where you
- 10:31can get an advantage over an NPC and
- 10:35they don't see you and and you feel like
- 10:39it's rewarding and fun uh because the
- 10:41enemy doesn't have feelings but in
- 10:44multiplayer the enemy you're killing has
- 10:47feelings they're a real person and they
- 10:48get frustrated if they don't they die
- 10:51and they don't understand why it in a
- 10:54multiplayer game it's important to
- 10:56understand why you died and feel like
- 11:00the players should feel like it's their
- 11:01fault that they made a mistake that they
- 11:03died and not that there's some gaming of
- 11:05the system that feels unfair and so
- 11:08watching out for uned Sight lines is
- 11:10super important and I have an example
- 11:13here of uh one of an early level I had
- 11:16done and there was a small room where
- 11:19you enter you could enter from either
- 11:21door which is the brown blocks there but
- 11:24if you entered down from the bottom and
- 11:26walked up the stairs uh around those uh
- 11:29exagonal pillars the player could have
- 11:31an unattended sight line where they
- 11:33could look in between the two pillars
- 11:35and get this teeny little sight line out
- 11:37of the door and and just sniper shoot
- 11:39anyone who was running around outside
- 11:41the door and the people who are running
- 11:43around outside were like what the heck
- 11:45where did I die from I don't know and
- 11:47and because they can't the people
- 11:49outside can't really see in and they
- 11:51don't really see that there is an enemy
- 11:53in there and so I had to adjust this to
- 11:56block off that sideline and so a lot
- 11:58more time time goes into really nailing
- 12:02down these sight lines when you're
- 12:04designing a multiplayer
- 12:06map and once you have the base map
- 12:09designed obviously you want to start
- 12:11thinking about optional or more advanced
- 12:14player
- 12:15routes and so in single player the
- 12:19additional Roots can be used
- 12:21to give additional story elements to the
- 12:24player for example this is a small
- 12:27basement in a
- 12:29in a bar in the level fton and it's very
- 12:33out of the way but what happens is
- 12:36there's a guitar that's on a chair and
- 12:39the player can interact with it and what
- 12:41happens if you interact with it is uh
- 12:44the player Booker starts playing
- 12:45strumming a guitar and Elizabeth there
- 12:48she starts singing this kind of
- 12:49melancholy song about how the circle
- 12:52will never be unbroken kind of talking
- 12:54about like the chain of Oppression and
- 12:57people being poor and and it being
- 13:00really difficult to get out of that
- 13:01situation and she takes this orange and
- 13:05gives it to this little kid here and so
- 13:06it's a really uh poignant little teeny
- 13:10side moment that a lot of players might
- 13:11not see but it can be fun to design and
- 13:16add these little elements in your game
- 13:18and it can feel very rewarding as a
- 13:19player to find these teeny little
- 13:21tidbits and support additional narrative
- 13:24uh initiatives or the feel of the
- 13:27level but you also have have to think
- 13:29about what happens if the player misses
- 13:31this do we have the money and the
- 13:34resources to support these moments
- 13:36because in single player a lot well at
- 13:39least more linear single player levels
- 13:42players often only play once and so is
- 13:46it okay if players miss this content and
- 13:48that's something that you have to think
- 13:49about a lot more than when you're
- 13:51designing a multiplayer game be game
- 13:54level because people will be playing
- 13:55those over and over again and obviously
- 13:58you can also use additional areas uh in
- 14:01single player to uh additional loot or
- 14:04other narrative elements as
- 14:06well another thing that you have to
- 14:09consider when designing a single player
- 14:11level is will the AI play nice if you
- 14:13add different types of um ways of
- 14:17interacting with the levels so it's
- 14:19great to in single player and
- 14:21multiplayer to design spaces that
- 14:24support multiple play Styles maybe you
- 14:26want to design for stealth players or
- 14:29you want to design for running gun just
- 14:32go and shoot everyone action folks or
- 14:34sniping but uh you have to think about
- 14:37will the I play nice with that so an
- 14:39example I use here on the left is uh
- 14:42deox uh where you can go in the vents
- 14:45and uh run around and use those as a
- 14:47stealthy way of getting around and it's
- 14:50appealing to add these additional roots
- 14:52to support Stealth gameplay but you have
- 14:55to think about is the level is the game
- 14:58you're making will
- 14:59that support this type of play style
- 15:02because what happens if you shoot the
- 15:04enemy through the vents but the enemy
- 15:06can't get to you what happens then is
- 15:09that okay does is your game is your
- 15:12level supporting that kind of gam playay
- 15:15style and on the right side over here um
- 15:19I'm using this example from Far Cry 3
- 15:21because this is something that when I
- 15:22was playing through it I felt kind of
- 15:26frustrated at uh there are these
- 15:28defensible areas that you have to go
- 15:30into in the map and try to take them
- 15:32over but once I got the sniper I would
- 15:35just sit on the Ridge and shoot every
- 15:37enemy before they could even get to me
- 15:39because the AI didn't really play nice
- 15:43with the sniper because the combats
- 15:46weren't designed with AIS having snipers
- 15:49and so I had the advantage over them and
- 15:52the AIS would try to run towards me like
- 15:54in the path that you can see kind of in
- 15:56the back left there's like a route up
- 15:58but they have to take so long to get to
- 16:00you that you can you just have so much
- 16:02of an advantage it's not really fun
- 16:04anymore and so when you're thinking
- 16:07about adding sniper Vantage points
- 16:09trying to restrict the spaces that the
- 16:13players can have those sniper moments uh
- 16:16or thinking about how the AI will
- 16:19respond to those moments
- 16:27accordingly so when you're designing
- 16:29optional roots in
- 16:30multiplayer uh it's pretty much a
- 16:32necessity that you have to design more
- 16:34than one route because if players
- 16:37encounter each other the same route over
- 16:39and over again is really boring and uh
- 16:43because players are playing these levels
- 16:45over and over again you need to provide
- 16:47multiple roots and options for the
- 16:49player and so I have like a couple
- 16:51examples here uh the player can jump up
- 16:53on that platform and then double jump
- 16:55onto the platform on the right or they
- 16:58can just run straight on the ground and
- 16:59then jump and then ledge grab up onto
- 17:01the right or an ADV more advanced player
- 17:05uh could jump onto that platform and
- 17:07then do a much more difficult jump to
- 17:09get to a very small side ledge and have
- 17:12a different angle and advantage over the
- 17:15players but it's a lot more difficult
- 17:18for players to get onto that ledge
- 17:20without falling off and so providing
- 17:23both simple and advanced ways for
- 17:25players to get around is really
- 17:28important in multi
- 17:31player now when you're thinking about
- 17:33pickups in single player and multiplayer
- 17:36in single player often times you can
- 17:39design the level first and add pickups
- 17:41later uh you know weapon placements or
- 17:44powerups or uh ammo to replenish uh any
- 17:50anything that you've lost which often is
- 17:53designed so that that happens after a
- 17:55big combat scene or right before a big
- 17:58combat uh the good thing about in single
- 18:00player is you can use pickups to tell
- 18:02stories you can instead of just plopping
- 18:05them anywhere thinking about okay how
- 18:08did these uh items get here uh who was
- 18:12here and you know why are they gone now
- 18:15and using those to tell stories and to
- 18:18support the overarching story of your
- 18:20game whereas in multiplayer you pretty
- 18:23much have to design pickups at the same
- 18:27time that you are designing the layout
- 18:29so pickups in multiplayer like a power
- 18:32up or a power weapon or something like
- 18:35in this example in Doom here there are
- 18:37these things called uh runes where they
- 18:40appear randomly after some amount of
- 18:43time uh in in a level and players rush
- 18:47to it and once they the first person to
- 18:49pick up the Rune turns into a uh giant
- 18:53demon who has a lot more power over
- 18:55everyone than just an individual player
- 18:58would and so so the thing to consider
- 19:00when you're placing these is that they
- 19:02will change how the space that the
- 19:05pickups are in and how they play they
- 19:07will be both a draw where a lot of
- 19:10combat will happen around these pickups
- 19:12and uh a lot of different angles will
- 19:15need to be supported for entering to get
- 19:18to those pickups and to support a larger
- 19:22combat space than just this teeny little
- 19:24teeny little
- 19:27location and exploits is probably one of
- 19:30the biggest things to think about uh
- 19:32when you're designing a level for
- 19:34multiplayer in single player it's not
- 19:36super important uh if if there if the
- 19:39player finds an exploit I mean besides
- 19:42people posting silly videos and then it
- 19:44getting on polygon or something they're
- 19:45pretty low consequences and sometimes it
- 19:48can even be fun to get those teeny
- 19:49little exploits uh but in multiplayer
- 19:52especially if you're designing a level
- 19:53that might possibly be used for um for
- 19:56competitive gameplay somay someday it's
- 19:58critical to fix and it's super high
- 20:01consequences players will find any
- 20:04exploit it's just a matter of time and
- 20:06it's only Fun For The Individual but
- 20:08frustrating for everyone else and unfair
- 20:10for everyone else involved and so a lot
- 20:12more time and play testing needs to be
- 20:15taken uh to find and fix these
- 20:19exploits and now we get into play
- 20:21testing because play testing for a
- 20:23single player level and play testing for
- 20:25a multiplayer level are are pretty
- 20:29different so when play testing for
- 20:31single player you really especially if
- 20:33it's a narrative linear game you only
- 20:35get one shot each play tester only gets
- 20:38one first impression of your level and
- 20:42how they initially react to things and
- 20:44that's very applicable to the fact that
- 20:48play uh players in the end game the
- 20:51final product will only play at once and
- 20:53so you need to find more people to play
- 20:56but you need to take more time to polish
- 21:00your level before you show it to anyone
- 21:03because a lot of play
- 21:04testers um you normal Gamers don't have
- 21:08the skill set to extrapolate earlier
- 21:10levels into a more polished state so
- 21:13they might get distracted by little
- 21:15elements and taking more time to polish
- 21:17a level before putting in front of a
- 21:19player uh we'll make sure to see if the
- 21:22subtle nuanced level design structures
- 21:25or lighting or framing Etc will lead to
- 21:29them understanding what they're doing
- 21:31and why and The Narrative of a level and
- 21:34so keeping them as pure and untainted as
- 21:37possible is really
- 21:39critical I mean one way to get around
- 21:42this is to find uh find other devs on
- 21:46your team especially other level
- 21:48designers uh who are good at
- 21:49extrapolating so if you if you need to
- 21:52and you should uh get people to look at
- 21:55your level early then uh you should find
- 21:59those people who have the skill to look
- 22:01at the base barebones framework of a
- 22:03gray box and being able to imagine what
- 22:06it's going to be in its final State and
- 22:08not get uh like distracted by all the
- 22:11nitty-gritty details that don't really
- 22:13matter at that
- 22:16stage and so overall when you are play
- 22:19testing for single player uh you should
- 22:22make sure that players should know what
- 22:24their motivation is and they should
- 22:26always know where they are they might
- 22:28not know how to get to where they are
- 22:30supposed to be going right away but they
- 22:32should always have a frame of reference
- 22:34as to where they're where they're going
- 22:36and not get lost and so if players are
- 22:38lost then you should probably fix
- 22:42it whereas when play testing for
- 22:45multiplayer you really need to um play
- 22:48test often and iterate often it's really
- 22:51necessary to get loads and loads of play
- 22:53tests done preferably every day if
- 22:55possible get people in and just playing
- 22:58through it uh you don't really need to
- 23:00spend as much time on polish as compared
- 23:03to single player because uh the biggest
- 23:07thing in multiplayer is the layouts
- 23:10themselves and so you can get people in
- 23:12earlier on and play testing and the
- 23:15earlier you get players in the more
- 23:17players can um can have the opportunity
- 23:21to experience your level over and over
- 23:23again because that's going to be closer
- 23:25to what uh the polished and shipped game
- 23:29is going to be like where players going
- 23:30to play over and over
- 23:32again so for multiplayer First
- 23:34Impressions aren't a huge deal uh if
- 23:37players aren't really sure where they're
- 23:39going or if they're slightly lost or
- 23:42they aren't able to make a mental map of
- 23:44the whole layout of the level it's not a
- 23:47huge deal because uh most a
- 23:51well-designed multiplayer map will guide
- 23:54players to the combat anyways and so as
- 23:56long as players initially encounter
- 23:59other other players it's fine and if
- 24:01they don't have the skills the first
- 24:04game that they play to understand what
- 24:06the layout is they'll get that they'll
- 24:08get that after playing it many times and
- 24:11so in single player it's a big deal to
- 24:13fix if players are lost but not as much
- 24:15in
- 24:17multiplayer so in summary the biggest
- 24:20things to think about uh when you are
- 24:23designing for single player and
- 24:24multiplayer levels and where you should
- 24:26put mo more of your time and your
- 24:28priorities so in single player you
- 24:30should really make sure to sell the
- 24:32narrative whereas in multiplayer uh
- 24:34narrative is generally low priority I
- 24:37got this is this is one of the things
- 24:39that I had to unlearn when designing for
- 24:41multiplayer levels uh I was designing uh
- 24:44a level and I I like to when I first
- 24:48designed a level to think about a space
- 24:52of what is it uh what is the structure
- 24:55who was there before the player got
- 24:57there what is the whole history of uh
- 25:00the design of the space and what was it
- 25:02being used for and in multiplayer I got
- 25:05really bogged down with thinking of all
- 25:07those teeny little details that don't
- 25:09really matter and don't have a huge
- 25:12impact on the end result not to say that
- 25:14teeny little narrative elements can add
- 25:16a little bit to a level
- 25:18but you you don't need to spend much
- 25:21time on that in
- 25:23multiplayer uh but in single player and
- 25:26multiplayer they do share a similar
- 25:28element element that they both need to
- 25:29make sure that they frame you know uh
- 25:32optional roots and uh gameplay
- 25:36objectives and in single player uh you
- 25:39need to design optional routes for uh to
- 25:42support uh any rewards that you give the
- 25:45player whether that's a a narrative
- 25:47tidbit or um like a pickup or something
- 25:50like that and uh support optional play
- 25:53Styles as well and in multiplayer you
- 25:56also need to support uh play style
- 25:58multiple play Styles and that's even
- 26:00more important and make sure to design
- 26:03routes for more advanced players so
- 26:05those Advanced players feel a sense of
- 26:07progression and that they're not just
- 26:08playing the same level over and over
- 26:10again but they can find additional roots
- 26:12to um evolve through the level and get
- 26:16get a fair advantage over players not
- 26:18like the sideline issue I was showing
- 26:20earlier but fair and visible advantages
- 26:23over other
- 26:25players and when you play testing single
- 26:28player you play test less and polish
- 26:30more in between and multiplayer you play
- 26:34test as often as possible and make sure
- 26:35to repeat your PL testers and most
- 26:38important uh fix exploits and sight
- 26:40lines in multiplayer because in single
- 26:42player uh they're pretty low priority
- 26:45and so these are a bunch of the things
- 26:47that you um you have to think about when
- 26:50you are designing for different uh
- 26:52experiences in single player and
- 26:53multiplayer and a lot of the skill sets
- 26:56you learn from one are applic able to
- 26:58the other you know using a lot of uh
- 27:01architectural and framing techniques
- 27:02that you've learned or thinking about uh
- 27:05what makes a fun layout in space and
- 27:07those can definitely uh be interchanged
- 27:10in between the two but there's a lot of
- 27:12um slightly different things that you
- 27:14have to think about in terms of where
- 27:16you place your time in in thinking about
- 27:20them so thank you
- 27:24[Music]
- 27:32so we have like three minutes
- 27:36so so yeah if there's any questions
- 27:39might get one or two in hi um that was a
- 27:43great talk thank you I was just uh
- 27:45Curious how you think of Cooperative
- 27:47level design because this seems uh
- 27:49focused mostly on multiplayer so I'm
- 27:52thinking would you place Cooperative
- 27:54closer to single player or
- 27:56multiplayer so I haven't personally
- 27:59designed any Cooperative multiplayer
- 28:00levels yet but I imagine that it
- 28:02probably uh takes into account kind of
- 28:05both of the elements that I was talking
- 28:07about in single player and multiplayer
- 28:09obviously you're right I was designing I
- 28:11I was talking about specific examples um
- 28:14and there are a lot of multiplayer
- 28:16experiences or single player experiences
- 28:18that don't fit in between the two things
- 28:19I was talking about but cooperative play
- 28:24um yeah there's definitely some
- 28:26similarities like there might be like
- 28:28framing uh objectives and maybe
- 28:31narrative moments that the Cooperative
- 28:33uh Team wants to experience together
- 28:36those are those would be important to uh
- 28:39design and frame but you don't have the
- 28:42issue of a single player level where you
- 28:44only get one chance to understand what's
- 28:47going on thank
- 28:49you hi thanks for the cool talk um I
- 28:52would like to stick with the uh single
- 28:54player levels right now um before we
- 28:56going to start with I don't know basic
- 28:57blockouts whoever uh environment you're
- 28:59working on how much story in terms of
- 29:01the storytelling wise how much story do
- 29:04you need to start uh working on the
- 29:06level you you're thinking about uh it
- 29:08really depends I would say the biggest
- 29:11thing to think about
- 29:13is what is the space um obviously you
- 29:18might have varying amounts of data as to
- 29:20what the story will be in the space but
- 29:23at least thinking about uh instead of
- 29:26starting out with just plain shapes
- 29:28thinking about what are those shapes and
- 29:30structures and building small stories
- 29:34based on that that might support the
- 29:36overall theme of the game you're working
- 29:38on and so even if you don't have the
- 29:41full idea of
- 29:43what what the story is yet you probably
- 29:47have a good idea of the general theme of
- 29:49the game and I mean single player you're
- 29:51going to rework your level multiple
- 29:53times and especially if it's a narrative
- 29:55game you're probably going to remake a
- 29:56bunch of the levels to support support
- 29:58new narrative elements that get that get
- 30:00put in and so you're just going to have
- 30:02to start somewhere and then add stuff in
- 30:05later when you get more data thank you
- 30:08so
- 30:09much hello um thanks for the talk first
- 30:11of all uh I wanted to talk about
- 30:13multiplayer level design I guess my
- 30:15question is uh what's your opinion on
- 30:17asymmetry and multiplayer level design
- 30:19and how you like handle giving players
- 30:21different advantages in a situation or
- 30:23would you rather have like a completely
- 30:24symmetrical map where both teams like
- 30:27have no advantages over each other so I
- 30:30think symmetrical multiplayer levels are
- 30:35I don't prefer them because players can
- 30:37get easily mixed up and confused as to
- 30:40where they are uh but asymmetrical
- 30:43multiplayer I hate using the word
- 30:44asymmetrical because they still are
- 30:46symmetrical in terms of balancing uh you
- 30:49need to figure out like if you give
- 30:51advantage on one side you need to figure
- 30:52out a different way to give a similar
- 30:54advantage on another side or provide
- 30:58locations that give advantages that are
- 31:01equidistant between the two players and
- 31:03maybe supporting like maybe one route on
- 31:06one side is more stealth oriented
- 31:07whereas the other side is more open uh
- 31:10direct um direct combat and so I would
- 31:14pref I prefer more asymmetrical
- 31:16multiplayer levels okay thank you I
- 31:19think that's all the time we have so
- 31:21thank you
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