In everyday life, physical space serves a primary role in orientation, atmosphere, and countless other factors. We see the function of space in visual media – particularly in film and video games – where the concept of physical setting is highly choreographed and largely an unchanging variable. The artistry behind the fields of production design and level design, in film and interactive media respectively, is exemplified in works that engage the viewer or player in a profound or novel manner. In games, factors that enhance player experience can be attributed to a multitude of characteristics that have been analyzed in depth by various sources.
However, I am interested in the instances in games and film that employ implied space as a central design conceit. Implied space is defined as the parts of a level or game world that do not exist in any explicit sense, but are suggested by the elements in the level that are tangible. Put in simpler terms, implied space in a level exists when the formal elements don’t tell the player everything – they leave portions up to the imagination by the player’s own extrapolation of the created environment.
In film, setting is a prominent factor in establishing consistency in tone. In video games, level design (sometimes referred to as game mapping) can be likened to the mechanic of written language on thought formation because it serves as groundwork with limitations for the player’s in-game choices. For instance, in the World War II set Call of Duty series, an interior level with a multitude of short hallways with no extended space will disallow the use of sniper guns as an effective weapon. The way levels are designed shapes the player’s experience within the game, and the intersection of tone, spatial orientation, sound and setting all contribute to the overall environmental ambiance.
Recently, the divide between consumers and designers has become less apparent. Bethesda, a major game developer famous for their hard-fantasy, sandbox style role-playing series The Elder Scrolls, made their own proprietary level design tools available to the public when they included a “construction kit” in their most recent game release. In the online first person shooter Counter Strike, the most popular level was created by a fan of the game and not an internal designer. The level, a nondescript desert town called “Dust,” is considered to be one of the most played levels in any online game. Level design has become more accessible with the advent of exponentially faster processing power in personal computers. Despite the ability of developers and now, fans, to create spaces that are increasingly large in geographical size, technology only allows for finite spaces within a virtual context. The implied space that is necessary to form a cohesive environment is also present in film, and the two mediums possess similar characteristics in this regard.
Problem
I am studying the aesthetics of level design in interactive media and its relationship to production design in film because I want to know how video games can create cohesive, convincing “worlds” within a finite approximation of physical space in order to help my readers understand the role of implied space within a virtual environment.
Source 1
Nitsche, Michael. Video Game Spaces: Image, Play, and Structure in 3D Game Worlds. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2008. Print.
This work encompasses the concept of space in video games, largely as it relates to the medium’s transition to 3D graphics. This transition effectively led to the medium’s recognition as an artistic and technical force and helped to nullify the notion that games cannot occupy a critical space previously reserved for more traditional mediums, like film. Space in games reflects their role in media and can help us understand how and why we play them.
Nitsche explores the intersection of perception and interaction using numerous allusions to literature, film, television, and architecture and relates gaming to the formation of narratives because players must interact in order to experience the content. The author examines game spaces as not only visually based but also as pertinent practical locales. Using in-depth analysis of how congruent structures make up these spaces, he interprets the manner in which we take part in and understand their purpose.
The author relates video game space to five referential parts – rule-based space, mediated space, fictional space, play space, and social space. Nitsche uses references from the early onset of gaming to present day.
Source 2
Gazzard, Alison. “Unlocking the Gameworld: The Rewards of Space and Time in Videogames.” Game Studies 11.1 (2011). Web. <http://gamestudies.org/1101/articles/gazzard_alison>.
As a medium, video games blend time and space to create proxies for physical environment in the real world. This article explores the functions of time in games, including point collecting, high scores, and racing against the clock. Gazzard analyses the junction of time and space, the latter of which serves as an element to induce exploration via player-characters.
Gazzard uses a framework of rewards systems established by Björk and Holopainen’s (2005) and Hallford and Hallford’s (2001). Time as reward and space as reward systems are central to a plethora of genres, many of which are mentioned by the author as references. The fundamental mechanics of these two reward structures can be used to understand the way games engage players and how achievements are seen in various game
Source 3
Bleszinski, Cliff. “The Art and Science of Level Design, Session #4404.” Cliffyb.com. Proc. of Game Developer’s Conference, San Jose. 2000. Web. <http://www.cliffyb.com/art-sci-ld.html>.
In this presentation for the 2000 Game Developer’s Conference, design director and video game personality Cliff Bleszinski (who is arguably one of the most influential figures in level design due to his work on the Unreal franchise) explains the role of a level designer. He touches on the history of level design, which began as a one-person job and now consists of a multitude of roles depending on the scope of the project. He examines the designer’s relationship to their own level designs in terms of ownership and also puts forth a list of “designer commandments” and design techniques along with a prediction on the future of level design.
A key point that is relevant to my own thesis is Bleszinski’s notion of “controlled freedom,” which is a mechanic that allows players to experience a game on their own terms but within a finite environment. He states, “by keeping level design somewhat linear and giving the illusion that there are multiple paths one has the freedom to choose then the player will have a more enjoyable play experience. This way, the player experiences the best of both worlds; the player gets to the carrot on the end of the stick, and feels like he made the right decisions on where to go.” This emphasis on implied space relates directly to my proposed problem.
