Level Design Pre-Production For Vertical Slice Project
- Patrick Sharpe
- Feb 5, 2022
- 8 min read
Level Overview
Level Title
Fear Store?
Level Brief
The narrative of this game derives from pediophobia where you are a child that is afraid of dolls/toys. The child gets lost in their own world, trapped in a toy store and is guided by toys to reveal a devastating twist that will keep the player on their toes as they try to escape their world.
Location
The location of the level is set in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Level style (Exploration/Combat/Narrative Mix)
The main focus of the level is narrative as the project is required to be narrative-driven however, there will be a lot of exploration that the player has to do on their journey to completing the level. There will never be any physical combat towards the toy enemies but there will be ways of pushing/distracting them to reach the next area of the level.
Level Mission/Objective(s)
Needs updated story to apply mission beats to this
Win Condition
Escape the toy store
Lose Condition(S)
• get snatched by a toy
• run out of Lightsource
Research and Concept
Location Scouting
Toy Store Area
Toy Warehouse Storage Area
Toy Maker Process area
Toy Play Area
Collector's Room
Endless Corridor
What Push and Pull Techniques will be applied to the level design of this project?
Facilitate Mental Mapping – A – Simplify Shapes
Simple Shapes
Recognisable Feature
Reduce Clutter
Facilitate Mental Mapping – B – Create a sense of geography
Vantage points
Landmarks/Weenies
Influence via composition
Contrast
Lines & Curves
Links to unseen spaces
Position & Proximity
Perceived Affordance
Communicate through a language
Lure Mechanics
Barriers and Boundaries
UI elements
Cut scenes
World Building Narrative Techniques
High - Environmental Narrative
Medium - Location
Low - Overall Themes
What will be the core mood of the level?
How will the atmosphere be shown?
What are the elements in horror games?
Isolation
Lack of Power
Limited Resources
Tension
Lack of Knowledge
Jumpscares
Narrative
Sound
Article References:
What do the elements create in horror games?
Isolation creates a sense of loneliness in the world of a horror game, where the player has to get by themselves which can make them feel scared because they have no one to help guide them on their journey to freedom. In horror games, as the player gets used to being isolated, they become more aware of their surroundings. This builds up my next point which is talking about power.
Isolation can be found in Amnesia: The Dark Descent as the player spends most of their time alone with a monster consistently chasing the player while figuring out timed puzzles to reach a new area. This happens to develop fear into the player from being isolated for so long instead of being given comfort which wouldn't make it a horror game.
Game Reference: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
Power is a great tool that can be used to create fear in people's minds and it is certainly a method that can be applied in a horror game. In horror games, the player tends to lack any sort of power at the start of the game by removing any combat, allowing for chase sequences to happen between the player and the relentless enemy. This ends up the player having to hide/run away from the enemy.
Lack of Power can be found in Outlast as the player doesn't have any combat controls towards enemies in the game as it wants the player to feel powerless by having the player only able to run away or hide in lockers or under beds. Even when the player escapes an enemy and feels empowered, they are later confronted by a stronger enemy again removing their power as the player.
Game Reference: Outlast
Having Limited Resources is a way to have the player potentially confront enemies who are guarding areas of resources that the player needs to survive and progress through to the next level. It also creates a sense of uncertainly as the player may not find what they are looking for, and instead find themselves feeling anxious when being confronted by their enemies. Over time the player can learn to be resourceful through trial and error which can take a lot of time playing the game.
Resident Evil Village is a horror game that balances resources quite well, almost too good as the player has to keep an eye out on any ammunition and medicine that they can find. However, the player can only acquire more resources by getting past enemies by using resources. This keeps the player at a disadvantage as they rarely have any spare ammo during the end of a wave of enemy encounters.
Game Reference: Resident Evil Village
Tension is would by far the most important element of a horror game as it is sprinkled across the majority of horror games, the tension can build up quite rapidly during a timed puzzle, keeping aware of resources or running away from threats.
Tension can be seen used in Little Nightmares as the player tends to hide in order to avoid being caught by deformed human monsters. In this instance, the player has to hide until the enemy is far enough away from the small gap in the wall to allow the player enough time to get past the enemy without getting caught. However, they will need to use a handle to lift up a hatch exit which causes a disturbance and creates tension for the player as the enemy tries to reach the player.
Game Reference: Little Nightmares
Players having a lack of knowledge is key to creating weakness, especially in horror games as it tends to resort to not knowing what is ahead of the darkness. This involves the player's mind playing tricks on them to imagine what the monster. This is why the player shouldn't be told what the monster looks like and what it is because it would ruin the mystery behind it and you wouldn't be so afraid.
Phasmophobia is a horror game that plays on the idea that you have to investigate a building location and find out what type of ghost it is and escape the area before you get killed by the ghost. At the start of the level, the player is given very little information on the ghost with only their name to be called if found to be a ghost that can communicate to the player using a ghostwriting book. If a player shows weakness in the eyes of a ghost, they will try to kill or torture the player at their most vulnerable times.
Game Reference: Phasmophobia
Jumpscares is a cheap way of scaring the player in a horror game but it doesn't take away the fact that it works and if it is incorporated in the right way, it can be very successful. Jumpscares tend to happen when the player is reaching the end of their goal to cause distract the player from completing their goal as long as possible. It can also happen after the player has been rewarded for completing their goal.
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach is just one of many FNAF games that use jumpscares to cause fear into the player's minds as they try to complete tasks set for them. However, the more you see the jumpscares, the less you'd get scared causing the game to become tedious and frustrating when receiving a jumpscare.
Game Reference: Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach
The Narrative is essential for making the player feel more involved in the story and as a result becomes more immersed in the world of the game. Each step that the player makes, the narrative is carried with it; creating meaning in every part of the way through. The narrative can come across through dialogue, text, environment or cutscenes. The narrative of a game contains themes that help the player understand the player's perspective and the most you get out of narrative themes is that it is relatable to the audience playing it.
Among the Sleep for instance is a survival horror with some puzzle elements that take on themes of abuse and neglect through the eyes of a toddler. The narrative in this game is that the toddler faces the truth about how his mother abused and neglected him by the influence of alcohol and a breakup between the mother and ex-husband. The truth is sprinkled across the game as the toddler instead imagines that his new toy teddy speaks to him and guides him in a dream-like realm that includes good memories of him and his mother getting along. However, that dream doesn't last forever as the dream starts to turn into a nightmare showing who the real monster is in his nightmares and then the child finds his way back to reality. The house is a mess and displays the mother helpless as she has given into alcohol and retrieving the teddy from his mother causes the mother to respond with physical abuse. This brings us to the end of the game where the father confronts the child to take him to be in better hands.
Game Reference: Among the Sleep
Music in Sound is a way that horror games can help build tension and can push the player to create a sense of imagination of what or who could be making that sound. If the music is suspenseful then it could conclude to the player that there is something ahead of their journey just waiting for the right moment to attack. Although music can be used to define a place, a person or a thing. It is important to not use too much music as it can remove the tension. If every day was your birthday then it wouldn't be so special.
A good representation of Sound being used is in Blair Witch, a horror-thriller game that consists of various sounds that creates the atmosphere of past and present areas. These sounds consist of ambient and vocal that is spaced out properly to keep the player in the dark of what is really going on in this forest.
Game Reference: Blair Witch
How are levels structured within the horror genre?
Levels can be structured by creating a linear level that is already defined on where the player can go. However, creating a non-linear level gives the player more pathways to go through to reach their next goal. Although both styles can work together to create a diverse level design method that gives both linear and non-linear players what they want.
Level Design Map References:
Five Nights at Freddy's: Security Breach - Linear and Non-Linear
RE8 Village, Outlast, Phasmophobia, Amnesia: The Dark Descent - More Linear than Non-Linear
GDC Talk Reference:
How can good pacing in a horror game help with player experience?
Pacing controls the tempo of a scene in a story and in this case, it's a section of a level. There only seems to be two tempo speeds and that is fast and slow. Fast tempos deal with high tension sections of a level such as a chase sequence, a jumpscare or even an introduction to a new enemy. On the other hand, slow tempos deal with low tension sections of a level that inform the player of new story details, restock on resources and most of all, deal with the recent high tension. Pacing comes along with good timing as you don't want to stretch out slow tempos as the player will feel that the game is dragging them which will become boring. This also means that fast tempos can be too short as the tension will not rise enough for the player to become petrified when reaching the exit point.
An example of good pacing in a horror game is Amnesia: The Dark Descent as the tension correlate quite well with the player's experience. For example, there is a section of the game where the player encounters the invisible water monster for the first time and this causes the tension to rise. The monster follows wherever the player goes and the only way to escape the monster is to distract it with human limbs. Although the tempo rose, the boxes that you stand started to become more scarce, meaning the player has to venture through the water longer each time to reach the exit point. Eventually, the player has to just make a run for it which appears to be the fastest tempo meaning high tension. However, after reaching the exit, the player tends to gradually lose the tension and let their guard down by giving the player a puzzle to do to keep their mind away from what just happened. After the puzzle is complete then the pacing can start to pick up more.
Game Reference: Amnesia: The Dark Descent
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