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Crafting Narrative through Level Design: Insights from Joel Burgess

Delve into the art of level design and its integral role in storytelling as shared by Joel Burgess, Senior Designer at Bethesda Game Studios. This talk offers an overview of how level design shapes the player experience and conveys narrative through visual and textual elements. Learn about techniques, challenges, and best practices that engage players and create immersive stories, including character interactions, environmental storytelling, and the importance of collaboration with the art team. Embrace the chaos of game development and discover how to turn constraints into creative opportunities.

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Crafting Narrative through Level Design: Insights from Joel Burgess

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  1. Level Designer, Storyteller Building and supporting Narrative Through Level Design Joel Burgess, Senior Designer, Bethesda Game Studios

  2. What’s This, Then? • Not Platform/Unreal Specific • Just My Thoughts • There Will Be… Jargon.

  3. A Brief Overview • LD/Player Relationship • LD role in storytelling • Cross-medium Techniques • Unique tools & methods • Doing a lot with little • Accepting Chaos

  4. The Storyteller’s Tools • Language • Dialogue, Text, etc. • Visual Information • Layout, Clutter, Effects, et

  5. Quick Writing Exercise • Player is a space Marine. • Lands at forward base. • Commander, Colonel (radio), Sarge • Convey Objective & Reward • Account for Budget • Sarge is Cut • 12 Lines, 85 Char/Line • Re-Write! Active Storytelling • Lands Behind Enemy Lines • One Character Delivers Lines

  6. What Did We Learn? • Game Development is Chaotic • Things outside your control change • Drafts Are a Good Thing • They expose what’s important • Function before Form

  7. Using Language • Why use language? • Familiar • Direct • Unambiguous

  8. Using Language • Traps of Language? • Tired Techniques • Localization Concerns • Verbosity • “Vigorous writing is concise.” • William Strunk Jr. • “Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.“ • Elmore Leonard • “Brevity is the soul of wit” • Shakespeare

  9. Using Language • Best Practice: • Brevity & Content Quality • Gameplay Info Before Style • In their own Words • Optional Static Text • Dialogue During Action Left 4 Dead

  10. Visual Storytelling • Older than Language, after all…

  11. Visual Information • Huge Array of Visual Tools: • Particle FX • State Changes • Full Screen FX • Etc, etc… • Layout • Lighting • AI Behavior • Small Clutter • Covering any of them in detail is beyond the scope of this conversation

  12. Gestalt & the Player • Hard-Wired to Draw Conclusions • We crave order in what we see • Familiar Shapes most Recognizable • Lots of Gamer Demographics • But we’re all Humans. • Look for opportunities to use Gestalt

  13. Gestalt & Level Design • Environments Tell Story Inherently • They Just Cannot Help Doing So! • So You Might As Well Use That • Collaborate with Art Often • Enable Team To Contribute • Your game will be richer • All that’s required is Oversight

  14. Snapshot Story

  15. Exercise: Snapshot Story • View Unreal Room & Objects • On Paper, arrange objects in Room • Goal is to provide an interesting snapshot story using these elements

  16. Putting It Together • Fallout 3 Radio Tower Example • Language (CB Radio Dialogue) • Gameplay Information (Static Ratio) • Snapshot Story (Small Clutter) • Gestalt (Player Story)

  17. Accepting Chaos • Interactivity & The Medium • To exploit it, we must accept Chaos • Set Up Dominoes • Let the Player scatter them • Letting the Player Own Story • Don’t De-mystify • We are not those other guys • The Player is our Partner

  18. Thanks For Listening • Some further reading suggestions: • “On Writing” Stephen King • “Designing Disney” John Hench • “Understanding Comics” Scott McCloud • “Kluge” Gary Marcus

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