Gamers thrive on challenge. As the game progresses and players develop their skills, the threshold for what excites them goes up. What worked in level 10 will not fly in level 50.
Enter, game level design.
Developers employ this philosophy to strike a balance between difficulty and progression. This keeps the game from being too boring or being too hard.
Meaningful challenges foster gameplay immersion and encourage emotional engagement. This is achieved through game levels that increase in difficulty based on the player’s experience. This strategy allows developers to make the game levels challenging enough to give the players pride in their effort but not too challenging that they feel demotivated to continue.
It also makes players feel accomplished in beating the level and curious enough to go on to the next level.
Aspects like increasing difficulty, variety, player feedback, etc. form the basis for a good game level design.
Any game design studio that hopes to build a loyal customer base and plan for long-term success must keep game level design an integral part of the game development process.
Harder levels, unique challenges, and more keep the game continuously exciting. Let’s take a look at how these principles work and the impact they have on the player.
Player Engagement: The Ultimate Metric
To keep a player engaged, the gameplay needs challenge, achievement, curiosity, and social interaction.
According to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the flow is central to this goal. It allows the player to be completely absorbed by the gameplay; with the right balance of course.
Give players meaningful choices to alter the outcome of the game, improve their skills to become able to tackle the upcoming challenges, and make social interaction feasible to add a sense of community to the gameplay.
Game Level Design 101
There are so many things that hold a game together. In this section, we will look at the principles that make a game worth playing.
We talk about pacing, progression, balance, and player feedback.
Pacing:
The ebb and flow of the game manifests as the rising tension and the following feel of release, keeps the player locked in.
Progression:
The sense of advancement and accomplishment as the player tackles the structured levels that encourage them to keep playing.
Balance:
To make sure the soup is neither too hot nor too cold, but juuuust right. You don’t want the players to be frustrated or bored.
Player feedback:
To allow the game to communicate with the player. It can be things like visual and auditory cues. This is critical to ensure the players move in the right direction.
Challenges that Challenge
A better name for this aspect is ‘meaningful obstacles.’ Allow the player to overcome these obstacles through skill, ingenuity, and perseverance.
Diversity and uniqueness in each challenge are important. From puzzle solving to combat, the player must feel that each obstacle is unique and requires a new strategy. Incorporating 3D environment modeling can enhance these challenges, making them more immersive and visually distinct.
Elevate the game difficulty gradually with each level. This increase, known as the challenge curve, bases itself on the current skills and experience of the player/character. Hence, this ensures that the player feels constantly driven to move forward.
Variety: The Spice of (Game) Life
It is exciting when you clear a level. This is the feeling that developers want to maintain throughout the game and they need well-structured levels to do it.
The new level must provide unique challenges, environments, and experiences. What is needed is variety.
Variety ensures that the gameplay feels fresh, even on a replay. Varied game mechanics and challenges drive curiosity in the player to see what comes next.
Player Feedback and Iteration
Methods like playtesting, surveys, and analytics allow developers to gather data on how a game level was received. Is it too tough? Engaging enough? What are some areas of improvements?
With feedback, developers understand how players are engaging with each level, and with this information, they can refine the levels to ensure the right balance is struck. The method uses quantitative data like player behavior and performance metrics, and hence, the decisions are well-informed.
As player pain points are resolved, the game becomes more fun to play; rewarding and challenging at the same time.
It is an iterative process.
Conclusion
With a well made game level design, developers give the players the ability to bond to the game with ease. Users will be able to derive a sense of pride and fulfillment as they progress with each win. You will also leave them wanting more; with new experiences just around the corner and each level that keeps them on their toes.
Structuring game levels is easier with a game design studio. At EDIIIE, whether you need 3D environment modeling for a new level or never-before-seen game mechanics that excite your players, we’ve got you covered.
We work closely with you and have the expertise to deliver exactly what you need.
