Portfolio discipline · 02
LAST SENTINEL
Road flow takes priority over the authenticity of real-world streets. Building heights need to be adjusted for landmark visibility so players can maintain a sense of orientation as often as possible.
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN · MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2
Design around metrics for minimum swing heights and spacing between buildings. Avoid claustrophobic arrangements where players cannot see a way to swing through a space. There should always be enough negative space to reveal a line through the buildings and keep players from feeling stuck.
EDGE OF NOWHERE
In this VR Oculus launch title, investigations revealed which level layouts minimized nausea and which ones made people feel sick. Never make the player move backward, and limit side-to-side traversal except during slower-paced ice climbing. These findings resulted in a long, ribbon-like play space through the world.
SUNSET OVERDRIVE
Unlike Tony Hawk, the lines in this game encircle combat, and those circles connect outward to other grind lines. Bouncies—the many objects that launch players upward—are abundant beneath grind lines but sparse where enemies actually fight, supporting both player and enemy navigation.
DEFIANCE
An MMO can have unpredictable player counts during encounters, so spacing is critical. Areas also have to account for vehicles—either restraining their flow through a space, as seen in the layering of the Bathhouse, or allowing vehicles to move freely, as in the Diablo example.
TONY HAWK: RIDE
Designed around the looseness of the board’s controls, downhill sections use clusters of three tracks with space between each cluster, giving players time to choose what they want to do. Making the world visually playful also went a long way toward increasing the excitement of the gameplay.
AMERICAN WASTELAND · PROJECT 8 · PROVING GROUND
A good level has “lines” that guide players through the space by flowing from one mechanic into another. Adding more lines gives players choice and makes the world instinctively readable. As those lines stack vertically, the overall experience becomes more playful. Avoid “bonks”—lines that dead-end. Every line should flow into another and never simply stop.