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GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Apr 13, 2017

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Page 1: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios
Page 2: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Building and supporting Narrative Through Level Design

Level Designer, StorytellerLevel Designer, Storyteller

Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Page 3: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Please Note There is a ton of useful information

in the notes of these presentations.

Please download these presentations and enjoy them in MS PowerPoint locally.

Thanks!

Page 4: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

What’s This, Then?What’s This, Then? Not Platform/Unreal Specific Just My Thoughts There Will Be… Jargon.

Page 5: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

A Brief OverviewA Brief Overview LD/Player Relationship

LD role in storytelling Cross-medium Techniques Unique tools & methods Doing a lot with little Accepting Chaos

Page 6: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

The Storyteller’s ToolsThe Storyteller’s Tools Language

Dialogue, Text, etc.

Visual Information Layout, Clutter, Effects, et

Page 7: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Quick Writing ExerciseQuick Writing Exercise Player is a space Marine.

Lands at forward base. Commander, Colonel (radio), Sarge Convey Objective & Reward

Account for Budget Sarge is Cut 12 Lines, 85 Char/Line

Re-Write! Active Storytelling Lands Behind Enemy Lines One Character Delivers Lines

Page 8: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

What Did We Learn?What Did We Learn? Game Development is Chaotic

Things outside your control change

Drafts Are a Good Thing They expose what’s important Function before Form

Page 9: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Using LanguageUsing Language Why use language?

Familiar Direct Unambiguous

Page 10: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Using LanguageUsing Language Traps of Language?

Tired Techniques Localization Concerns Verbosity

“Vigorous writing is concise.” William Strunk Jr.

“Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.“ Elmore Leonard

“Brevity is the soul of wit” Shakespeare

Page 11: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Using LanguageUsing Language Best Practice:

Brevity & Content Quality Gameplay Info Before Style In their own Words Optional Static Text Dialogue During Action

Left 4 Dead

Page 12: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Visual StorytellingVisual Storytelling Older than Language, after all…

Page 13: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Visual InformationVisual Information Huge Array of Visual Tools:

Layout Lighting AI Behavior Small Clutter

Particle FX State Changes Full Screen FX Etc, etc…

Covering any of them in detail is beyond the scope of this conversation

Page 14: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Gestalt & the PlayerGestalt & the Player Hard-Wired to Draw Conclusions

We crave order in what we see Familiar Shapes most Recognizable

Lots of Gamer Demographics But we’re all Humans. Look for opportunities to use Gestalt

Page 15: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Gestalt & Level DesignGestalt & Level Design Environments Tell Story Inherently

They Just Cannot Help Doing So! So You Might As Well Use That

Collaborate with Art Often

Enable Team To Contribute Your game will be richer All that’s required is Oversight

Page 16: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Snapshot StorySnapshot Story

Page 17: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Exercise: Snapshot StoryExercise: Snapshot Story View Unreal Room & Objects On Paper, arrange objects in Room

Goal is to provide an interesting snapshot story using these elements

Page 18: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Putting It TogetherPutting It Together Fallout 3 Radio Tower Example

Language (CB Radio Dialogue) Gameplay Information (Static Ratio) Snapshot Story (Small Clutter) Gestalt (Player Story)

Page 19: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Accepting ChaosAccepting Chaos Interactivity & The Medium

To exploit it, we must accept Chaos Set Up Dominoes

Let the Player scatter them Letting the Player Own Story

Don’t De-mystify We are not those other guys The Player is our Partner

Page 20: GDC 2010 - Level Design in a Day Part 6. Level designer, Storyteller: Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

Thanks For ListeningThanks For Listening Some further reading suggestions:

“On Writing” Stephen King “Designing Disney” John Hench “Understanding Comics” Scott McCloud “Kluge” Gary Marcus