Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
progression
Mechanisms
In Chapter 10, “Integrating Level Design and Mechanics,” we focused on the struc-
tural features of levels on a large scale. In this chapter, we examine the mechanisms
that drive progression and that can be used to structure levels. We don't restrict our-
selves to the traditional mechanisms found in games of progression, but we look for
ways to apply what we've learned from studying emergent gameplay to the mecha-
nisms of progression.
Our goal is to find more emergent mechanisms of progression than commercial video
games typically use, and we consider two different approaches. In the first half of
this chapter, we investigate traditional lock-and-key mechanisms and identify
ways to make them more dynamic. In the second half of the chapter, we abandon
the conventional view of progression in terms of the player character's movement
through a level and toward a goal
location
, and instead we frame the notion of
progression in more abstract terms: changing the state of the game toward a goal
state
. This perspective allows us to go beyond the common design strategies found
in contemporary games and speculate about emergent progression, an approach
that might bridge the gap between Jesper Juul's games of progression and games
of emergence.
Games that feature many levels often rely on lock-and-key mechanisms to control
the player's progress through each level. In some cases, these mechanisms are
described as actual locks and keys. For example, in
Doom,
the player can find a red,
yellow, and blue keycard in most levels to open red, yellow, and blue doors. In
The
Legend of Zelda
, Link typically uses small keys to open doors and needs to find the
master key to unlock the door that leads the final boss of that level. However, we
use the term
lock-and-key mechanism
to refer to
any
mechanism that controls access
to parts of a level. In the original
Adventure
, a snake blocked the player's path at one
point (it was the lock), and it could be driven away only by releasing a bird from a
cage (the key).
The Legend of Zelda
frequently uses other things that the player needs
to collect as keys: the monkeys, bomblings, and the boomerang in the Forest Temple
are all good examples.
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