Simcity Level 9 Layout

[Ara Kistner]

Anothergoal for us within Scar Island was to present a different perspective of Scar culture and provide depth and texture to them as a faction. Throughout this level we see lots of examples of everyday Scar life, how they care for each other by hunting and cooking, where they pray and train as well as how they work since not all Scars are fighters.

I continued to pilfer our bank of action blocks when we needed an encounter space for Abby to face off against the WLF. Arnaldo Licea had a great space that showed a lot of potential in early prototyping. We took it as a basis for the new encounter space in Scar Island and worked with the concept and environment team to turn it into the brewery!

I was lucky to get to work with Connor Brown, another game designer, on this setpiece as he came on to take over layout of this section part way through development while Karl Morley took on scripting duties. The final experience that Connor and Karl produced was one of our most iterated set pieces as there were multiple paths and beats to time out and everything had to be as fun as possible before passing off this really tricky space to environment art and effects.

As I mentioned we had done some explorations of downtown already as a playable space. Mark Davies, a fellow designer at Naughty Dog, had put together the freeway that runs parallel to downtown and once we decided to expand into more of the built up area I inherited the freeway space from him. From there I started to build several of the blocks that surround the freeway.

The key objective locations changed a lot throughout production as we iterated, made changes to narrative flow and playtested. As players found their way through the space or, as was more common early on, got lost, we would shift pieces of the level around and make adjustments often. The total number of iterations made to a level this size would be in the hundreds, if not thousands, and the end result that you see in game is drastically different to the early drafts of the space.

We always made sure to maintain that initial view. I moved the domed building (a synagogue) closer into view as I found it really helped the flow of exploration. It was the most commonly visited first location statistically and I used that to gently push players into discovering secondary locations such as the ruins traversal puzzle and guitar store by placing them between the start position and the synagogue. The way the curved dome stands out amongst the square skyscrapers makes it feel inviting and goes a ways to adding to the buildings somewhat peaceful interior experience, so to make sure you could always see it I created a field in front of it.

One major consideration that all levels face in The Last of Us is the ability for players to piece together the history of a space just by observing its visible attributes. With downtown, we had to layer up the histories of Seattle from Outbreak Day to the day Ellie arrives.

We started by building a timeline for the level. With the city in 2013 as its base, we had to consider the events that occurred on Outbreak Day, then the collapse of society as we would have known it, the establishing of the quarantine zone, the eventual collapse of that quarantine zone and finally the influence of the Infected and WLF (the faction that presently inhabits the space as you arrive).

We utilized these multiple layers of history to create pieces of environmental narrative and storytelling that would broaden the sense of place within the level and make it feel more tangible to the player. The player could also read the environment to learn more about Seattle and its history.

While we often build to the requirements of narrative, this is not always the case. In the example of the collapsed building above, I liked the idea and the imagery that a fallen building could evoke in the level. Once I had the layout set the way I liked, we would have a concept artist do a paintover on top of the layout to establish the idea before an environment artist came on to develop it.

I like to base some parts of levels off of actual locations I have visited or artwork I have enjoyed. Get yourself to a gallery or go exploring with a camera sometimes instead of playing a game for inspiration, it will improve your work dramatically!

In a professional environment, at all stages of the above steps, key stakeholders will be involved ranging from environment art and production to narrative and design. I like to pitch ideas to members of the team and begin collaborating as early as possible to find awesome ideas. The best ideas can come from anywhere in the team, so collaboration is an integral part to level creation in a studio.

After the blockout phase, at least on the last project I worked on, we pass blockouts to concept artists for any areas we feel will help assist the environment artists who ultimately model the level. It has also been common for environment artists to step in early, during blockout phases, so we can tweak areas early and get compositions, transitions and structures believable and correct.

Themes help define a level and give it an identity within the context of the game. A level should be comprised of a dominant theme which drives its development but may contain several sub-themes within the environment to help define key locations or events.

In single player levels, themes are used to help craft the sense of pacing. If your chapter ends with a massive, exciting boss fight, you might want to start the chapter slowly. Tight, narrow corridors and claustrophobic environments would help deliver that slow experience, and would really contrast against the exciting battle at the end, emphasising the action.

Levels should be set up to allow the player to quickly orient themselves within the environment. This can be achieved through signposting, which involves setting up structures around the level that act as landmarks for the player.

In multiplayer levels signposting is crucial, as players will want to learn layouts as quickly as possible so they can focus fully on fighting other players without worrying about getting lost or confused. It also improves communication between players when they have points of reference to describe to one another.

We can enhance the players understanding of an environment by developing a clear visual language that is consistent across our levels. This will assist players in understanding such things as; what areas of a level they can access? What objects can they interact with? etc.

Readable environments are ideally devoid of clutter and have reduced visual noise. That is not to say they are not complex or interesting, but they should present gameplay opportunities and routes clearly without frustrating the player.

Some environmental features will have components that may cover even larger areas of the level. These can be used to guide the player toward an object or event. Examples include wires leading to a generator, literal signs that warn of dangers such as mines or narrative elements that foreshadow a specific environment.

Examples of soft gating might be a corridor blocked by steam escaping from a pipe, with a valve nearby to turn it off. The gate has succeeded in preventing the player from charging ahead but the means by which they bypass the gate are simple, if not time consuming.

Arenas are non-linear spaces, meaning they offer players multiple options in combat and opportunities to explore the environment. They can also include sandbox elements that allow players to formulate unique, tactical opportunities and multiple ways to complete objectives.

Exotic Gameplay describes any sequence of gameplay that is not part of the core mechanics set. These might be sections developed exclusively for a single level or section of a level. Exotic Gameplay can provide an immersive, cinematic setpiece to the player within a controlled environment that does not hamper or imbalance existing core gameplay mechanics.

Cover should ideally sit around half-height or full-height. Players become frustrated when attempting to take cover behind an object that still leaves part of their profile exposed to incoming fire, especially if it results in death! If something looks like it should offer cover, then it should be the correct height.

Cover layouts should introduce opportunities for flanking tactics. No single cover object should be so overpowered that all attackers must attack it from the same direction. Players should require battlefield awareness to stay alive, as AI should be able to flank cover from multiple directions.

Cover layouts should give players a chance to fall back or retreat when overextended. Players are still susceptible to death if they make poor choices, but a little leeway in the form of retreat routes helps keep the pace and flow of combat fluid. This also adds to the sandbox feeling of an arena, as challenges change over time and are never static.

In an arena, cover layouts should promote non-linearity within a confined space. If the player only has a limited amount of cover to use, the space will feel very restrictive regardless of how large the environment might be. By planning multiple routes and vantage points through a space, these areas feel less linear and much more open. Cover should be used to guide players around the level, much like a multiplayer level, and promote traversal and exploration. However, in this way cover layouts can also be used to create a specific narrative experience, so knowing how to utilise the mechanics of your game to create these moments is important.

In level design, a sandbox space is one which provides players with a greater extent of player agency. The player should have many tools available to them to make meaningful choices with regards to combat and objectives. There should rarely be one, singlular, scripted method to completing an objective and instead the player should utilise emergent game rules to accomplish objectives however they want.

Delivering this level of player agency requires a holistic design where game mechanics never have a singular bespoke purpose, and instead can be used in as many ways as the player can imagine. The properties of a mechanic should be modelled to interact with as many other mechanics as the player expects.

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