A World Worth Interacting With

I think the ultimate goal in world/level design is to have the player be constantly aware of the environment and pushed them to actively interact with the world around them to succeed. By world/level I mean the locations takes the game takes place in, whether that's a large open world or a more linear setting. By the design I am referring to how game developers craft these locations for the players to interact with.


I have been suffering from open world fatigue the past few years. It isn't enough to have a large and pretty open world to explore if the world itself is simplistic.  Many open world games, particularly ubisoft titles, give you a large and lovely open world, but have you do the same tasks on repeat in all of the locations. (take over strongholds, kill a target, collect junk). So even though you can explore the world at your own pace and often in a somewhat free manner this choice in direction means very little. Often there is a list of tasks and the map serves as your check list. This makes exploring the world feel like a chore or a task. You have to go over there get these supplies, go liberate an outpost, take out a convey rinse repeat for twelve hours. Often getting to and from these tasks is uninteresting and that is a critical failure, one of the most important goals of game design should making getting from point A to B fun. What makes moving around uninteresting is uninteresting terrain. Even if the views are pretty, just following a dirt path or a road to a waypoint is as much fun as driving around to errands in real life.


I recently finished The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It quickly became my favorite Zelda title by a wide margin. The reason I enjoyed the title so much was primarily because of the world the game presented me with. From high mountaintops to tropical forests to fields of lava, Breath of the Wild featured an incredible amount of diversity in its world. It isn't just the diversity of location that makes the world design excellent it is the way in which the player interacts with the world. Every surface in the game can be climbed and you are given a paraglider that allows you to jump off almost any object. This turns an obstructive mountain into a stage for interaction and adventure. Often you will see Breath of Wild also features a minimalist map, where you have to physically locate and mark most points of interest yourself. Once you find a point of interest making your way there can end up being more fun/interesting than the destination itself (and that's not saying the destination is uninteresting). This encourages the player to search the landscape carefully to find points of interest and make their way to those areas while stumbling upon new adventures on the way there.



Another common issue with level design occurs when a game world looks large and complex, but what you are actually interacting with is small and simple. This is sometimes referred to as "skybox" design, this means what you are actually exploring is a plain corridor/path, but there is beautiful background scenery.  Trodding down
a narrow hallway filled with chest high walls, with beautiful scenery can be nice, but wouldn't it be nicer if you were actually in that scenery? Developers design levels like this to make a gameworld feel large and complicated, but the portion of the world that you are physically interacting with is actually very linear and uncomplicated. Going down simplistic paths while following objective markers makes games repetitive and in my opinion misses the opportunity to engross a player in the world.


The original Dark Souls and Bloodborne are to games that showcased the best level design I have ever seen in a game world(see the above picture of, Lordran, the world of Dark Souls).  Every location has multiple entrances and exits with short cuts and danger around every corner. The titles also utilized a large amount of verticality in their level design. Each single area may have several floors or layers going either up or down. This would force you to consider more than just the challenges that were placed directly in front of you as you explored the world. The verticality along with multiple paths and entrances creates a complicated world that forces you to be constantly thinking about the world as you explore it. Sometimes you'll stumble on a path that leads to a short cut to the otherside of the world. Outside of exploring just to find treasure, you are pushed to explore the world to find faster more efficient ways to get around, and better ways to approach difficult challenges.




The actual locations where gameplay takes place should serve as more than just the set dressing, it should be living and breathing. Being pushed to constantly be aware of, and interact with, a game's environment greatly enhances a gaming experience.


Here is my list of the top ten video game based on their world/level.


1. Breath of the Wild
2. Dark Souls 1
3. Bloodborne
4. Shadow of the Colossus
5. Doom 2016
6.  Skyrim
7. Super Mario 64
8. Portal
9. Bioshock Infinite
10.Metroid Prime







credit for the artwork to: http://www.tettix.net/lordran/lordran.html