Effective talk: Non-Linear level design in ‘Cyberpunk 2077’
Year of Talk: 2023
Part 1 (Understand Level Design in Cyberpunk):
Unlike the Witcher 3, Cyberpunk has a lot more options for player playstyles and a completely different set of mechanics/world design. This meant that for part of the initial design of the game, many of the team were getting used to having to rethink how they designed different features.
High-level design pillars:
Freedom in the story:
Having a branching and complex story
Having interesting characters that seem to react and interact in the world. This allows people to feel an even deeper connection with the characters.
Freedom in the world:
A nonrestrictive open world that allows people to explore it as they wish.
Make sure the different parts of the world the player can explore are rich in detail and storytelling. Makes the world seem lived in and allows people to fulfill that passion for exploration.
Freedom in the gameplay:
Fully fleshed out RPG system with different combinations of options.
The initial two pillars were mastered and properly implemented during The Witcher 3. The team decided that as part of Cyberpunk, they wanted to build on the freedom in gameplay pillar.
This led the team to work on some design goals they wanted to do during the production of Cyberpunk 2077.
Design Goals:
Style over substance: The original board game already had a lot of interesting ways for players to go through the game. So it was decided to make sure that each playstyle was interesting and unique for the player.
Every style is valid: As many players could decide to attempt a multitude of different playstyles the design team had to make sure any path that's possible could allow for the player to complete it. Should allow for the game to be played, enjoyed, and completed no matter how obscure it looked like.
Playstyle options:
Melee vs Ranged
Mobility vs Stability
Brute Force vs Ingenuity
Combat vs Stealth
Teams approach:
The team started by dividing the different systems and unlocks based on the board games' initial archetypes. Then the designers made sure to allow the player to mish and mash them.
The theory was that each archetype would have their way of solving any individual challenge and if a player had chosen multiple archetypes then at any point they could switch to one of the other solutions.
This would cause some problems as at times the player might not level up a skill sufficiently to properly solve a problem using any of the archetypes and become stuck/softlocked. The solution the team had was implementing a generic path that wouldn't require any specific skills allowing the player to always have an escape route to take if necessary.
The generic path was designed to always be the most challenging solution as the designers principally wanted players to enjoy using the different playstyles. The team normally found it easiest to design and create the story beats around the generic path as they knew there was a higher chance than normal for players to go through that path vs any other.
Having the other playstyles easier would allow the players to gain a higher sense of being powerful characters that can beat any challenge with their skill sets.
The AI was also designed to position itself around the level during combat to drag the player through a certain route. This was done as combat could start at any point and having the different AI work as breadcrumbs for the player on where they need to go for the mission helped guide them deeper into the mission.
Player Experience:
After the game was released the designers started to get some data on how players were going through the game and how they played it.
Players enjoyed the different playstyles and the ability to use a combination of any of them to complete a level.
The combination of playstyles allowed for new ways of playing the game the designers hadn't anticipated.
Though as many players could easily respec their characters it meant that they felt like sticking to any specific archetype didn't make sense and wouldn't matter for the game.
This problem required taking a step back as many of the level designers had built the experiences so that each player had the chance to experience a lot of the events in a very linear fashion. This meant that no matter what happened the players knew they wouldn't miss any of the content.
Part 2 (Becoming Better Designers):
To start each designer would search the game and analyze a specific design problem they would find in the game and plan out how they would solve it for later discussion.
The main problem that the presenter tried to solve was the fact that the team was attempting to create a branching story but many players felt that this was not the case at launch. It seemed that when compared to other games with less variability in perks/skills had a wider variety of nonlinear storytelling.
The first step was determining how the level design was negatively impacting the different playstyles. Then it would be to determine how to make sure future designs and make allow for a more entertaining game.
The Plan:
Go back and look at how older games solved the problem of multiple skills and playstyles and what the player could do. Some games that the team used were as follows: Batman: Arkham series, the Dishonored 1&2 games, etc.
Deconstruct the Cyberpunk levels and determine differences between all the games and why some succeeded while others didn't do as well.
Have a set of principles that help guide future designs that would help create better levels that allow for more nonlinear levels and experience.
To prove this point the designer decided to implement this system in an already existing location in the game to test the reliability.
At the same time, the principal needed to work for what the team could and could not do. Each team has different strengths that can be played to.
Something that was discovered was the fact that many of the levels would have extremely obvious generic solutions which meant that people would notice it first and solve the rest of the quest using said generic solution instead of going through one of the specific playstyles.
This meant that as the generic solution was the most obvious for players and many of the interesting features/moments appearing only in the generic walkthrough it meant that many players would prefer to go through this route instead of trying out the quicker/simpler playstyles.
The main insight then is the fact that having the generic path means where a lot of the content can be found then players won't feel inclined to explore the other routes that might test their skills and their unlocks more.
Part 3 (Discover Vs Exploration):
The concept starts with Discover where the player starts off taking the time to look at the layout and think through how they might want to solve the problem. This can be just observing how different enemies walk around or what abilities to use. At the same time, these initial establishing moments will allow for a better mood to be set and the player to have an easier time getting into the correct mindset. Which is then proceeded by the execution of the plan and gaining all of the payoffs of the planning and execution.
If you can have the player focus more on setting up their route and the feeling of payoff after finishing it means that the player will have an even more special experience with the level and game as a whole. Though make sure you dont implement all of the interesting features in this initial phase of route setting and try to keep some for the end to have an exciting and interesting ending for a worthwhile payoff.
Once the player has discovered all of the useful information and executed their plan they can enter the exploration phase where they enter a more limiting area that might not have as many sight lines or areas to explore but allow for each playstyle to have an even more unique experience compared to how it originally was set up. Allows the players to feel the benefits and drawbacks of their choices.
Part 4 (Benefits of Missing Out):
Principle 1 - Perception of Choice/Distance:
The player will mentally break down what they are seeing at the start of the mission. Have them think of any decisions they might need to make soon and how the player won't risk losing too much content.
At the same time having part or the entire generic path occur near a playstyle path allows for the players to subconsciously think that both are related even though one might require certain skills while others dont.
This means the player is given the illusion of a choice and by having two possible routes/options closer together you make the player think they are very similarly related and arent just two different routes. Verticality does not help distinguish as many different paths the player can take. If you add more distance between each path the player will believe they are completely different even if they take you in a similar path if they both are close together.
Principle 2 - Perception of exclusivity:
By gatekeeping some information on where a route might take the player then they will become interested in where those other routes can give for information. This means they might be more willing to play the game again in the future just to see what's different. Forces them to make a decision and causes the player to fantasize about what special things can be found in the other areas. The player starts thinking “What if” for the other areas.
By hiding or breaking the line of sight for the player it means they can make them think there is stuff being hidden from them. Which allows them to start thinking about it. Also forces them to take the extra time to think about whatever route they are about to take.
Principle 3 - Perception of Uniqueness:
Validating the player's choice on which path they took. If a player can choose a path then there must be content or features unique to that route that might make the player enjoy it. At the same time, it validates their choice with a payoff or consequences.
The player is also left wondering if this cool stuff appeared in this path, then what else am I missing out in the other paths? Leaving them with a feeling of fear of missing out which can lead them to playing the game multiple times/for longer and enjoying it even more.
Part 5 (Bringing it together):
Grab previously made blackouts of levels and proceed to analyze them through the new design pillars. This allowed them to better understand some of the mistakes they had been making until that point and how it would limit the player's freedom. This meant that when redesigning the block-out levels more rooms and hallways were added as well as allowing for new explorable areas that would only be accessible through the improved paths.
At the same time having multiple entrances and exits, it allows the player to find different ways of starting and finishing the map. This also means that if the player wants to double-check an area they will have an easy way to progress through to the next part of the map without feeling like they are doing a walk of shame to the singular exit.
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