ACT II: RATIONAL LEVEL DESIGN

Learn how to ensure variety, player’s constant motivation and great game flow.

Learn how to ensure variety, player’s constant motivation and great game flow.

The Rational Level Design course takes a deep look into ways of creating immersive game worlds and providing players with enjoyable game experiences. This course aims to deepen the concepts as seen in the course Rational Game Design by diving into Rational Level Design and ease the transition between the Conception, Pre-production and Production phases. The main goals are to apply different methods that bridge Game Design and Level Design together and maintain a good balance between game design theory and applied game design practices.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Understand how different game components contribute to the construction of game levels.
  • Create functional models of game levels that are consistent with predetermined mechanics, characters and story structures.
  • Determine appropriate communication between different departments for game level development.
  • Work in a collaborative environment that will help them evaluate the effectiveness of their game level design.
  • Apply principles of design theory to create games that respond successfully to different markets and technologies.
  • Understand how to create game levels that ensure variety, player’s constant motivation and great game flow.

STRUCTURE

The Rational Level Design course is divided into 5 chapters, 11 missions, 4 design practice, one final activity and one final exam. In each chapter, students will have to complete trials and final challenges in order to gain experience points (XP). The experience points (XP) will allow them to unlock their next mission and earn keys.

The keys will allow them to unlock rewards: Gameplay Analysis Video and Expert Videos. Earning Experience Points will also allow them to level up in the Leaderboard. Students who reach the top of the Leaderboard will also be viewed as a reference for the other students. It is part of their responsibility to help out and answer questions from their fellow game creators in the Q2A.

As students progress through the course, they will discover the story of Sitara, a Grey hat hacker, Artist and Hacktivist. Just like her, students will practise their skills and challenge their knowledge to progress through the second part of the Odyssey. The story of Sitara will evolve along with their own learning journey.

COURSE CERTIFICATE

In order to complete the Rational Level Design course and get their completion certificate, students will have to complete the following requirements:

  • Obtain a minimum of 11513 XP
  • Complete their final exam with a grade of 60% or more
  • Complete their final activity

COURSE SETTING

The second Act of our program takes place in a fictional setting based on Ubisoft’s game Watch Dogs 2. Watch Dogs 2 is an action-adventure video game, set in a fictionalized version of the San Francisco Bay Area.

CURRICULUM

CHAPTER I – Familiarize yourself with the course content and learn about prototyping

Mission I - Introduction

Get an overview of the course content and activities

Start to Prototype Your Own Game Here!

Learn about prototyping and the design process behind it

CHAPTER II – Dive in the macro/micro flow and learn about dynamic systems and mechanics

Explore the concept of macro/micro flow to foster involvement and full immersion of players

Relate dynamic systems and mechanics to macro/micro flow and categorize the different adaptive systems

Identify the correct game situations with the correct terms. Create your design of a game situation using the key concepts: virtuous circle, input rhythm and positive feedback

CHAPTER III – Explore how cognitive psychology can help you provide a great user experience

Get an overview of how players’ brain works and understand the four factors of the learning process

Associate the concepts from the four factors of the learning process to U.X. design in video games

Identify which learning phase corresponds to the correct game situation. Create your design of game situations using the Tease, Learn, Practice, Master learning phases

CHAPTER IV – Identify the player’s motivation factors and learn about the variety matrix

Learn about creating motivation loops that will appeal to various player types

Compare additive and subtractive design methods and how to build a variety matrix

Identify the different combinations from the variety matrix with the correct game situation. Create your own combination based on the pre-filed variety matrix

Analyse which game situation corresponds to an objective of short, medium or long-term duration. Create your design of a game situation for each duration

CHAPTER V – Learn to build an RLD table and get a summary of the course content

Learn to build an RLD table and to work with other team members

Get a full summary of the course content