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| Level | |
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| Basic Information | |
Type(s) |
Terminology |
A level, also called a stage, an area, or a world, is a room containing a challenge for a player to overcome. Levels have a start point where the player begins and a way to beat it. Ways of beating a level include making it to a certain point, defeating certain things in the level, collecting certain things in the level, or playing until a time limit runs out (often used in bonus levels). Levels are usually found in every game, though many puzzle games do not have levels.
In some games, "level" refers to a group of challenges with one theme.
History
In early days of video games, a single programmer would create the maps and layouts for a game, and a discipline or profession dedicated solely to level design did not exist.[1][2][3] Early games often featured a level system of ascending difficulty as opposed to progression of storyline.[1] A classic example of this is Taito's arcade shoot 'em up game Space Invaders (1978), where each level looks the same, repeating endlessly until the player loses all their lives.[4]
After Space Invaders, the concept of multiple, distinct levels began emerging.[4] An example of this was Heiankyo Alien (1979), also known as Digger, a maze game that featured nine distinct rounds; after completing the final round, the game restarts to the first round and repeats.[5] Data East's Astro Fighter (1979) was the first video game with multiple distinct vertical scrolling levels and a boss battle at the end of each level. Sega, which released the game in North America, marketed its multi-level structure as Multi-Phase gameplay.[6]
The concept of using multiple distinct levels to progress a storyline was popularized by Nintendo's arcade platform game Donkey Kong (1981), designed by Shigeru Miyamoto. As Mario (originally called Jumpman) tries to rescue Pauline from Donkey Kong, each level ends with Kong fleeing with Pauline and then Mario having to complete a different level each time, until he finally confronts Kong and rescues Pauline.[4]
Around late 1980, James Bratsanos began writing a program inspired by Universal Entertainment's arcade platform game Space Panic (1980); while Space Panic had pre-programmed levels, Bratsanos lacked programming experience, so he instead built "an engine that could interpret a game level and then run a processing loop on the monsters." This was a novel concept for the time, which his colleague Douglas E. Smith later evolved into a Donkey Kong inspired platform game with a level editor, Lode Runner (1983),[7] one of the first titles to ship with a level editor.[8][9] Smith reputedly paid neighborhood children to design levels for the game. That same year, the multiplayer dungeon crawl game Dandy (1983) also shipped with a level editor, which was documented in the manual.[10]
See also
For level in the sense of leveling up see Character level.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Shahrani 2006, part I
- ↑ Bleszinski, Cliff (2000). The Art and Science of Level Design.
- ↑ Bates 2004, p.162, "A few years ago, [level designer] position didn't exist. .. Now it's a key position on many teams."
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Donkey Kong". Retro Gamer (Future Publishing Limited). 13 September 2008. https://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80/donkey-kong-4/.
- ↑ Heiankyo Alien (17 July 2014). Archived from the original on 19 April 2019 Retrieved on 23 October 2019
- ↑ https://retrocdn.net/images/9/9a/CashBox_US_1980-05-10.pdf#page=57
- ↑ Grannell, Craig (January 2013). "Lode Runner". Retro Gamer (111): 20–7. https://issuu.com/michelfranca/docs/retro_gamer____111.
- ↑ "Lode Runner Contest", Computer Gaming World: 22, August 1984
- ↑ Lock'n'Lode. IGN (February 17, 1999).
- ↑ Dandy.
Sources
- Scott Rogers (16 April 2014). Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design. Wiley. ISBN 978-1-118-87719-7. https://books.google.com/books?id=UT5jAwAAQBAJ.
- Lewis Pulsipher (25 July 2012). Game Design: How to Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finish. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-9105-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=SkAJt4gdgwoC.
- Guy W. Lecky-Thompson (1 January 2008). Video Game Design Revealed. Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1-58450-607-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=3aQLAAAAQBAJ.
- Bates, Bob (2004). Game Design (2nd ed.). Thomson Course Technology. ISBN 1-59200-493-8.
- Brathwaite, Brenda; Schreiber, Ian (2009). Challenges for Game Designers. Charles River Media. ISBN 978-1-58450-580-8.
- Moore, Michael E.; Novak, Jeannie (2010). Game Industry Career Guide. Delmar: Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1-4283-7647-2.
- Oxland, Kevin (2004). Gameplay and design. Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-321-20467-0.
- Shahrani, Sam (April 25, 2006). Educational Feature: A History and Analysis of Level Design in 3D Computer Games.
- Brathwaite, Brenda; Schreiber, Ian (2009). Challenges for Game Designers. Charles River Media. ISBN 978-1-58450-580-8.