Philosophies
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Fun to navigate.
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Don't rely on words / Tells what, but not how.
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Let the player fill the gaps with creativity and exploration.
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Give choices to the player, letting them explore and be creative.
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Be creative in ways to tell the narrative. Don't give walls of text to be read.
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Constantly Teaches / Is Surprising.
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Example from Zelda, which turns the game into a huge tutorial: a new mechanic is introduced, many ways to use it are taught, then it is tested in a "boss"; sometimes after the boss the mechanic returns and surprises the player with another use that wasn't explored.
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Creative re-use of mechanics.
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Beware of being predictable. Disturb expectations.
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Deliver the fantasy.
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Adapt challenges based on atmosphere and the game's pitch. For example, make challenges easier when they conflict with narrative or the game's focus.
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Let the fantasy and emotion guide you, then design the level.
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Is efficient.
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In short, rely on reusing content without making it feel repetitive.
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Modular design, where mechanics return in familiar ways.
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Bi-directional design, so that GOING to a level is very different from RETURNING from it, making it interesting and better than simple backtracking.
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Create levels and mechanics that are meaningful.
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Composition
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Affordances / Intentionality, World Building and Interactive Narrative .
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{3:45}
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Shows a slide with the video's premise: the connection between Presentation, Gameplay and Story.
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{4:05 -> 24:42}
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Affordances and Player Intentionality.
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{24:42 -> 35:05}
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World Building.
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{35:07 -> 49:20}
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Interactive Narrative.
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Great video covering level design fundamentals as the speaker navigates the created world.
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Interior Design for level design .
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Excellent video. Very dense and valuable.
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The video ends at {47:30}.
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The speaker is Dan John Cox.
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Refuge Space and Prospect Space .
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It's about level design in HyperLight Drifter and Sunset Overdrive.
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Not a very practical video, but I found the concepts of 'refuge space' and 'prospect' interesting.
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Recommends the book 'An Architectural Approach to Level Design - Christopher W. Totten'.
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{11:55 -> 15:44}
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Explanation and examples of 'Refuge space' and 'Prospect', as ways to convey safety vs danger.
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Framing .
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Talks about 'funnels' and 'choke-points' to "control" the direction the player will be looking.
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Narrative
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Pacing .
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Discusses 'gameplay beats' and action regulation. Very interesting.
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"If you don't make down-time in your game, people will seek down-time outside of your game".