What are the most effective ways to use level design to guide player experience in a 3D game environment?

Level design is the art and science of creating 3D game environments that support the gameplay, narrative, and aesthetics of a game. It is a crucial aspect of game development that can influence how players feel, think, and act while playing. In this article, you will learn some of the most effective ways to use level design to guide player experience in a 3D game environment.

1 Establish a clear goal

One of the first steps in level design is to define the goal or objective of the level. What do you want the player to do, achieve, or learn in this level? How will the level progress and end? A clear goal gives the player a sense of direction, motivation, and challenge. It also helps you to design the level layout, mechanics, and feedback that support the goal. For example, if the goal is to escape from a prison, you can design the level with obstacles, puzzles, enemies, and clues that create tension, suspense, and reward.

Add your perspective

Mantas Talmantas

Lecturer
Report contribution
It is advised to clearly define long term and short term goals. Sometimes you would have couple short term goals so player can chose witch one to proceed or if they get stuck working on one goal they can switch to other without being stuck. Its advised to show goals in couple of ways. If you tell the goal in a cut scene players skip it and dont know what to do. you need alternative method to give this information to a player. journals, conversations with npc's or similar.

Like

Load more contributions

2 Use visual cues

Visual cues are elements of the level that communicate information to the player without words. They can be used to attract attention, indicate affordances, suggest actions, and provide feedback. Visual cues can include colors, shapes, lighting, contrast, landmarks, signs, symbols, and animations. For example, if you want the player to explore a dark cave, you can use torches, glowing mushrooms, or cracks of light to guide the player's eye and curiosity. Visual cues can also create mood, atmosphere, and immersion in the level.

Add your perspective

Load more contributions

3 Balance challenge and skill

Another way to guide player experience is to balance the challenge and skill levels of the level. Challenge refers to the difficulty or complexity of the level, while skill refers to the ability or competence of the player. A balanced level design creates a state of flow, where the player is engaged, focused, and satisfied. A level that is too easy or too hard can cause boredom or frustration, respectively. To balance challenge and skill, you can use adaptive difficulty, difficulty curves, difficulty modes, or player feedback.

Add your perspective

4 Create variety and contrast

Variety and contrast are essential for creating interest, surprise, and excitement in a level. Variety refers to the diversity or change of elements in the level, such as layout, mechanics, enemies, items, and events. Contrast refers to the difference or opposition of elements in the level, such as light and dark, open and closed, loud and quiet, and fast and slow. For example, if you have a level that is mostly linear, you can create variety by adding branching paths, hidden areas, or optional objectives. If you have a level that is mostly bright, you can create contrast by adding dark shadows, fog, or rain.

Add your perspective

Load more contributions

5 Apply feedback loops

Feedback loops are mechanisms that reinforce or modify the player's behavior and experience in the level. They can be positive or negative, depending on whether they reward or punish the player's actions. Feedback loops can include sounds, visuals, text, scores, achievements, rewards, penalties, and consequences. For example, if you want the player to be stealthy in a level, you can apply a positive feedback loop by rewarding the player with extra items, bonuses, or secrets for avoiding detection. You can also apply a negative feedback loop by punishing the player with alarms, reinforcements, or traps for being spotted.

Add your perspective

6 Test and iterate

The final and most important way to use level design to guide player experience is to test and iterate the level. Testing is the process of evaluating the level's functionality, usability, and fun. Iteration is the process of improving the level based on the test results and feedback. Testing and iteration can help you to identify and fix problems, polish and refine details, and optimize and balance the level. You can test the level yourself, with other developers, or with playtesters. You can use various methods and tools, such as playtesting, debugging, analytics, surveys, and reviews.

Add your perspective

Load more contributions

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

Add your perspective

Karen Ruggles

Associate Professor at DeSales University
Report contribution
Make sure to consider the many different people and devices for the experience/game. A simple example for accessibility is color blindness. Around 1 in 12 people who are assigned male at birth are color blind (Cleveland Clinic). Around 1 in 200 people who are assigned female at birth are color blind (Cleveland Clinic). Informing your color design to work for all people’s color sensitivities is important. Take this exercise into a deeper dive for accessibility by considering visual, physical, and audio sensitivities is crucial. Although not as important as considering the people, one should also consider the device. If a mobile game/experience (widest audience) consider all the different screens, color gamuts, functionality, etc

Like
Mantas Talmantas

Lecturer
Report contribution
Sometimes its a hard balance not to be too obvious with quests and solutions, but on other hand not to leave players clueless of a solution to a puzzle.

Like

What are the most effective ways to use level design to guide player experience in a 3D game environment?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Establish a clear goal

2 Use visual cues

3 Balance challenge and skill

4 Create variety and contrast

5 Apply feedback loops

6 Test and iterate

7 Here’s what else to consider

3D Graphics

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

More articles on 3D Graphics

More relevant reading

What are the most effective ways to use level design to guide player experience in a 3D game environment?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Establish a clear goal

2 Use visual cues

3 Balance challenge and skill

4 Create variety and contrast

5 Apply feedback loops

6 Test and iterate

7 Here’s what else to consider

3D Graphics

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

Explore Other Skills