Guidelines for L4D level design and beyond...

In between heavy studying and a monster headache, I quietly resigned myself to a quick rest and worked on outlining guidelines in my personal mission statement. Naturally after an hour or two of refinement, it seems good enough to keep a running list. So lets get started...

-Gameplay Must Come First
Without fun and general enjoyment any narrative that can be formed will not be suffered through, and I do establish that with a degree of regret. Gameplay and fun is the current market demand and as such any game needs to meet those demands to be successful.

-Gameplay Must Make Sense
There needs to be flow and unity in the world that is being projected, if something doesn't make sense in the narrative or the gameplay, it doesn't work. This is where feedback and iteration comes into play. Stylization is important in creating a unique aesthetic, but if few understand it, few can appreciate your hard work.

-Objectives Should Never Contradict Each Other
Players are going to do what they want to do and often are going to be working against your established goals anyway, so why attempt to create drama while also breaking your game? Objectives should remain clear at all times.

-Do NOT Let the Player Get Stuck
...on world geometry. Player clips and tool brushes exist for a reason, it is no excuse to have something as lethal as getting stuck on a rogue prop.

-Players Need to Know when They are in Danger
Being killed by a threat that you didn't know existed is almost as bad as a sudden CTD. It is unfair. You are not being clever, you are being a lazy developer. For crescendos, the following should never be done:

• Infinite Crescendos - If used in the right way, it can be a masterful, but more often than not, it simply is a lazy alternative to add tension.
  
• Surprise Crescendos - Crescendos are made so that the survivors plan while they are not progressing. In having a surprise crescendo you are exploiting your place in an information economy and leaving the player in the dust.
• Roadblock Crescendos - Trapping survivors in one set area is rarely acceptable. Facilitate player strategies by allowing players to retreat or run ahead to safer areas.

-Darkness is a Tool, NOT a Stylization
Darkness is a tool that limits visibility, it forces the player to slow down and reassess their own insecurity. Having it in some places is good, it creates atmosphere and forces players to work together. Having an entire area dark is just annoying. If you are using darkness as a stylization, use ambient lighting, if the player cannot see the corner of their screen then bring in more light entities.

-Never Betray Player Expectations
That title should also read "when there are consequences". The path should always be well lit, but there should never always be a monster under their bed. Understand the player base and be prepared to mix things up according the how the level is paced. Just remember to keep detours brief.

-Avoid Repetition
If you are worthwhile as a level designer, you should have a style, and that style should be full of set pieces or themes. Those themes are what keep players looking for your name, but the set pieces need constant upgrading. Here are some techniques to consider:

• Verticality - Always integrate hills and variable terrain. Unique angles and flows keep the player engaged and challenged, even if it is just standing on top of trashcans or boulders.
• New Light Environments - Demonstrate empirically how different new environments are. Show the progression of time, use new light entities, create striking shadows across your environment, anything that makes familiar items look new or interesting.
• Quirks - Most players enjoy level quirks, which is a theme, or a motif that keeps returning into gameplay. This shouldn't be confused as a set piece as it doesn't establish itself as being integral for the experience. Good examples include the antlion pellet in HL2 Ep2, or Kuribo's Shoe in SMB3.
  

-Allow For the Player to Solve Challenges Creatively
Allow for problems to be solved multiple ways. Give the player an environment that can reflect their actions and choices. Be creative, so the player can be free to express themselves. It can take maybe an hour of work to create days of replay value.

-Narrative Should be Unobtrusive
Unless you are absolutely sure that your story can engage every possible player, the narrative should be subtle. This is NOT to say that narrative should be a secondary concern. The narrative in games should be discovered, hidden behind closed doors until the player calls upon them. Games are not an interpretive medium, they are an interactive one! Reflect that by keeping the player engaged in problems they are willing to solve. Further guidelines:

• Stay away from cutscenes! But if you must, do not interrupt gameplay, and keep it short and simple.
• Back-story should not be important in any format, if you can incorporate it into the gameplay, DO IT.
• No individual piece of information should make or break the game. Narrative should be ambient or reflective on player input and discoveries. No matter how many times a player plays your game, they will not catch everything, so they should at least get most of their information through the environment they are experiencing.

-Convey Narrative Through the Environment
Look around you, every single item around you has a story. How it came to be there, why it is there, why it looks the way it does. Developers have a great deal of freedom in how they shape their environments, and at times it may go to their heads. Do not get stuck down by an ambitious project. Use what assets you already have to create stories, if you find enough ways to recycle and are creative enough, you will find that you rarely need new items.

-Facilitate Immersion
Realism should not be the goal of any game, just like creating a person is not the goal of sculpture. However, immersion can be facilitated for by creating environment that are familiar. Images and actions eventually add up and the more patterns the player can recognize, the more of their brain they devote to understanding the game. Establish environments in common settings, use common equipment or props, use sounds as users would expect them to sound, and the player will be more engaged.

-Be True to the Gameplay
Left 4 Dead has zombies, but it is not a survival horror game. In fact, other than the use of horror archetypes and set pieces aside, it has very little to do with horror. L4D is at its core, a survival game, so design maps accordingly. Do not become blinded by your prejudices and initial perceptions. If the shoe fits, run with it.

Ok, that is it for now