Everything I learned about level design I learned from Disneyland GDC San Francisco, CA Mar 27 2009 Cory Doctorow doctorow@craphound.com -- Scott Rogers Creative Manager at THQ, LA Reads disclaimer -- this is not endorsed by Disneyland or Disney Guest = Player * When I designed by first game, I didn't know what to do, so I hearkened back to Disneyland, specifically a "fun-map" of Pirates of the Caribbean, which included vignettes of the scene * So I drew a similar fun-map for Pac Man World, and many elements survived into the final game * As I progressed, I started asking myself "What would Walt do?" * Imagineers came out of film, and were "story guys" * Attractions had four themes, like "moral arcs" * What do you want the player to do/learn from this experience * Previz: lots of drawings, paintings, sculptures * They'd build paper mockups of the whole ride and you'd ride through the whole thing on a rolling chair * Haunted Mansion Omnimover Doom Buggies are like a FPS * Started from the top down -- Disneyland starts as a model train set with stuff inside, subdivided into thematic lands * World to land to attraction to experience -> Game to world to level to experience * Start with your interests -- Walt built the park as an homage to all that he loved in his life * Walt was interested in urban planning -- beyond Epcot * What's a good place to visit and how do you move them around? * Walt invented lots of "moving people around" tricks that are useful in level design e.g. weenies (landmarks that draw guests towards certain locations) * Good navigational points for open worlds like GTA * Provides "picture spots" to stop and think, "Wow this is cool" -- Athens coming into sight in God of War * How Weenies Work * First weenie is the castle -- you walk down linear Main St, and as you reach the hub, more weenies open up, the fronts of the lands, prompting the player/guest to choose where to go * As you go further, more weenies open up, the rivers, treehouse, Matterhorn, Space Mtn -- peeking over the horizon, giving a tantalizing glimpse * Enhancing Weenies: * Draw players towards goals geographically and visually * Change altitude to enhance drama/scale * Make player backtrack/change direction to give more information * Switchbacks can do this * See ratchet and clank games * Use lighting to encourage player movement * Lighting to draw people toward goal * Absence of light has a powerful effect on players * After fireworks, they dim the lights everywhere except the exit -- "Get the hell out of the park" * Squint test: look at a screen e.g. Crash Bandicoot, and squint, and the main path is the brightest thing on the screen * Attraction posters in entryway: * Treat locations as activity * Foreshadow dangers and rewards * Gets player excited about options * Mortal Kombat's opening screen shows you all the bad guys you might fight some day, even though you can't fight most of them at first * Ghosts and Goblins opens with a pan over the entire world * Presented path v Exploration * Disneyland wants you to explore -- the maps show all the main arteries * But there are lots of little side-paths that make you feel smart * Rewards players for multiple paths * Fingers of distraction in level-design are effective at making world seem richer and fuller than it really is (we did this in Maximo for Capcom) * Playtesters felt like the world was real and big * Liberty City is like this in GTA * Disneyland trains are like teleporters * Great pathing, moment to moment * Provide the illusion of freedom -- Frontierland is supposed to be about the freedom of the old west * Lots of paths to walk on between the gates and the river, but you always end up in the same place * By contrast, Adventureland is a crowded, tropical bazaar * It is deliberately choked, thronged, and you have to push through * Only two paths through (either side of the treehouse) but tons of distraction * New Orleans Square is about exploration * Lots of side-paths, places to sit or visit for a spell * If you've got time to kill, you work your way in toward the restaurants, stores, and find nooks and crannies, musicians * "I found a really cool band" * There's a wealth of things you've found * Just twisty enough to get you turned around with lots of ways to get out * Pirate's Lair/Tom Sawyer Island * Playground * Tom and Huck's Treehouse * Hard for adults to get into it * THere's a safe with a treasure-map in it that only kids can see * "Daddy, daddy, let's go find it" * Leads to a stack of treasure on the other side of the island * Easter eggs/other rewards -- fun for fun's sake * Hoist the treasure and a skeleton is hanging from the bottom * Thematic goals: * Escape with your life: Space Mountain, Star Tours * Explore: Autopia, Tarzan * Education: Jungle Cruise, Journey to Mars, InnerSpace * Moral lesson: Toad, Pinnocchio, Pirates * Pirates (pre-Depp) * Travel back in time * Explore caves and treasure * Attack city * Escape * Return to safety * Originally, the pirate skeletons would tell you their stories (I drank myself to death, I fought with my mates, etc) * Lying in gutter with pigs, being imprisoned, shooting each other in the armory -- the wages of sin * The narrator says, "Dead men tell no tales" -- there but for the grace of god go I * The Florida ride rams this idea home * Morals in level design: * Bioshock -- Adam gave residents super-powers * But the results were mutants, zombies, etc * Main Street isn't boring it's packed with great lessons * Not every ride has to be an E-Ticket * Pleasant distractions/music in the air * Always a place to sit/frequent checkpoints * Nooks and crannies that reward exploration * Re-orientation/Safety * Level items -- use player expectations as a spring board * Frontierland has wooden indians, horse troughs, even crates and barrels! * Players expect more now -- see Toontown * Everything that's in Frontierland, but it's plussed -- it's whimsical and interactive * In Maximo, swords passed through geometry, but that was unsatisfying. Adding a "boioioing" sound made it much realer * Theme generic items, like the themed trashcans in Disneyland's lands * Need to stay recognizable for function * But shouldn't be the same over and over * Illusional narrative * We usually want grandiose solutions -- full animations, etc, but these don't lend themselves to rapid iteration * Peter Pan: when the swordfight is going on, you turn 180 deg and the fight is over and there's a slightly different animation that shows you what happened next * Cheating death is a major Disneyland theme * You're always threatened, but rarely seriously so * Players like to feel danger, but know that they're in control * You can never have enough skeletons * In Two Towers Orc fight, feels like a giant melee, but it's really just you versus a couple orcs * Applied lessons: Indy queue * Lots of foreshadowing -- snake imagery telling you what danger you'll encounter later * Makes your mind wonder what the danger will be, creates anticipation * Expectation enhances surprise -- the "something in here with me" moment in Resident Evil 2 * Lots of backtracking that weaves you around the environment, with elevation changes * Once inside, all kinds of minigames, puzzles and storytelling -- heiroglyphs, coded messages * Puzzles aren't gating devices, they're story elements * Tons of implied threats, skulls, easter eggs and interactivity -- yank-rope, collapsing ceiling * Tutorial section: Sala's movie tells you the story * Like a cut-scene * Instructions about using the seat-belt * You don't have to pay attention to it, but it's part of the environment, better than a sign * There's a hidden map that points out the easter eggs * Builds anticipation -- you see the jeeps, then they take you up the stairs and down again * The queue gives you foreshadowing of Tarzan and Jungle Boats * Good juxtaposition of interior and exterior spaces * Narrow areas have danger, wide areas are for exploration * Illusional narrative -- Indy versus the rolling ball * Clear path out -- no spooky lighting, all straight * Lighting follows the squint-rule