Game Level Segmentation Model

Patterns of Contrast

Presenting the Level Parameter Segmentation Model

- A tool for assuring variation in game level design

Kristian Helle Jespersen

Master thesis

IT-University, Copenhagen

3. November 2008

Supervisor: Alessandro Canossa

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1 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................................... 2

2 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................... 4

2.1 Keywords ........................................................................................................................................................... 5

2.2 Research Question ............................................................................................................................................ 5

2.3 Definitions ......................................................................................................................................................... 6

2.4 Hypothesis ......................................................................................................................................................... 6

2.5 Delimitation ..................................................................................................................................................... 11

2.6 Topicality ......................................................................................................................................................... 12

2.7 Thesis structure ............................................................................................................................................... 13

3 Method .................................................................................................................................................................... 14

3.1 Identifying the parameters ............................................................................................................................. 14

3.2 What constitutes change? ............................................................................................................................... 22

3.3 LPS-model as a tool for analysis ...................................................................................................................... 22

4 Discussion ................................................................................................................................................................ 23

4.1 CRBP revisited ................................................................................................................................................. 24

4.2 Occurrence analysis results ............................................................................................................................. 30

4.3 Model topicality .............................................................................................................................................. 40

4.4 Investigating the LPS-model categories .......................................................................................................... 43

4.5 Summary ......................................................................................................................................................... 52

5 Model for analysis – HL2E2 ...................................................................................................................................... 53

5.1 Setting ............................................................................................................................................................. 54

5.2 Visuals ............................................................................................................................................................. 55

5.3 Gameplay intensity ......................................................................................................................................... 56

6 The Bigger picture .................................................................................................................................................... 57

6.1 The framework ................................................................................................................................................ 58

7 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................ 59

8 Ludo- and bibliography ............................................................................................................................................ 60

9 Appendix .................................................................................................................................................................. 66

9.1 Appendix A - Frequency word script ............................................................................................................... 66

9.2 Appendix B - Frequency data .......................................................................................................................... 68

9.3 Appendix C - Keywords.................................................................................................................................... 71

9.4 Appendix D - Arrange keywords script ............................................................................................................ 72

9.5 Appendix E – Category frequencies ................................................................................................................ 80

9.6 Appendix F – HL2E2 analysis ........................................................................................................................... 82

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1 Abstract

“Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern”

(1)

“The arts would lie open for ever to caprice and casualty, if those who are to judge of their excellencies had

no settled principles by which they are to regulate their decisions; and the merit or defect of performances

were to be determined by unguided fancy; and indeed we may venture to assert, that whatever speculative

knowledge is necessary to the artist is equally and indispensably necessary to the connoisseur.” (2)

“All artifacts are created within some design methodology. Whether building a physical prototype,

architecting a software interface, constructing an argument or implementing a series of controlled

experiments - design methodologies guide the creative thought process and help ensure quality work.”(3)

“There’s no argument that the goal of games is to have fun, so it’s not surprising that many write about the

topic. But fun and emotions are outcomes of psychological processes, and not the processes themselves. If

we want to build better and better games, we need to look deeper and understand the dynamics that

actually determine the emotional outcomes.”(4)

The quotes in the above are all related to this thesis’ attempt to construct a level parameter segmentation

model (LPS-model), for linear AAA-game level design, based on universal design principles. The goal is to

identify universal principles which can be organized within a structuralistic framework to aid designers in

creating a more interesting play experience. A semantic analysis of a number of reviews reveals the

parameters which game critics emphasize the most, and these parameters become the groundwork for the

LPS-model, combined with a look into tips & tricks from industry professional and game scholars.

Additionally I will present a theory on neuroaesthetics which identifies Contrast, Rhythm, Balance and

Proportion as the most important aspects of human aesthetic appreciation, which will further justify the

overarching claim of this thesis; that variation, in its own right, is an extremely important aspect of any

experience, thus being the prime focus of the LPS-model.

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With variety as the ‘meta-principle’ the identification of areas of discussion, which are subject of critic

emphasis, allows the LPS-model to categorize the elements of play experience which could benefit from

having orchestrated variation i.e. assuring that the player is never exposed to the same stimuli for a longer

period of time, by changing setting, lighting, gameplay etc.

The LPS-model is a physical model, which is meant to be hung on the wall and provide a visual overview of

how the various parts of the game play together. Since game development is iterative by nature, the

constant changes can often blur the outlook on the game. Being that the LPS-model is easily modifiable, it

allows designers to get instant feedback on the effects of the change. In conjunction with being a tool for

designers to verify that the design vision is adhered to, the model also provides a tool for communicating

changes throughout the entire team without each team member having to constantly attend meetings or

frequently re-read the design manual.

The LPS-model, as a tool for communication, is not thoroughly addressed in this thesis, since validation

would imply using the model in a large scale production. Instead the focus is on its use in design, and an

analysis of a critic acclaimed game is performed to verify if it adheres to the principles set forth by this

thesis.

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2 Introduction

Having been presented with narratology as a mean of analyzing games in my early years of study, but

acknowledging its obvious shortcomings due to the temporal aspects as well as the cognitive implications

of participation versus observation, I have pondered how a structuralistic approach to game and level

design could be described. While Steffan Björk and Jussi Holopainen has done great work on structuralistic

game design in Patterns in Game Design (5), level design literature seems more oriented on technical

aspects as well as a selection of more general ‘tips & tricks’. Models and methods as seen in other

artistic/narrative media e.g. the actant model, the narrative arc, the golden ratio etc., seems to be absent

when looking at the field of level design. This inspired an investigation into the possibility of a design

model, inspired by an interdisciplinary collection of design principles, as the ones aforementioned.

“Instead of treating the new phenomena (Game-aesthetics) carefully, and as objects of a study for which no

methodology yet exists, they are analyzed willy-nilly, with tools that happen to be at hand, such as film

theory or narratology, from Aristotle onwards. The cautious search for a methodology, which we should

have reason to expect of reflective practitioners in any new field, is suspiciously absent from most current

aesthetic analyses of games.”(6)

Even though Aarseth, in his publication Playing Research: Methodological approaches to game analysis, not

explicitly refer to the lack of any aesthetics-centered design methodology for level design, as this thesis

must be categorized as being, his publication encompasses it. It may seem an odd choice to insert the

above citation into a thesis which, at first glance, bases a model for aesthetic level design on precisely these

“willy-nilly” tools. The reason being, that the focus is not on founding the Level Parameter Segmentation

Model (LPS-model) on a modification of existing tools, but on the universal truths that these tools were

initially based on. Therefore what may seem as a modification of tools is merely an acceptance of the

premise on which these tools were founded, and using them to construct a specialized model for game

level design.

Figure 2: The actant model Figure 1: Narrative arc Figure 3: Golden ratio

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This thesis attempts to create such a tool allowing the designer to, if not define the fixed value of good

design parameters, then expose the parameters of which good level design consists, which is exactly what

the models mentioned in the above does for other artistic media, and allow the designer to gain an outlook

on the overall effect of his/her decisions.

Besides from the initial search for structuralistic level design tools, the thesis subject stems from a design

discussion with a few colleagues of mine when working on a AAA 3rd person action adventure game at

ZeitGuyz Game Developers, which I initially had agreed to write this thesis in collaboration with.

Unfortunately the final negotiations with publishers did not result in a publishing deal and thus the

company had to close. The discussion revolved around the lack of narrative structure in the plot of the

game, and that the plot at that time did not correspond to generally acknowledged narrative theory, and if

that was an even meaningful goal at all. The discussion spawned an idea of looking at the narrative arc

theory, as spawned by Aristotle(7), as a starting point for formalizing game flow and intensity variation

throughout the different levels, based on the premise that tension and variation were desirable principles

to strive for in the experience of any art form. This idea became the foundation for the investigation this

thesis performs.

2.1 Keywords

Gameflow, level design parameters, spatial dramaturgy, aesthetics, design principles

2.2 Research Question

How can universal design principles for game/level design be identified? And how would a model which

incorporates these principles be constructed, with the goal of aiding the design process of linear AAA 1st/3rd

person action games?

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2.3 Definitions

In this section I will define words, which may be subject to misunderstanding, and is essential to this thesis.

• Segment: A part of a level which is sufficiently different from the previous segment, to classify it as

being independent.

• Instance: A filled out paper-version of the LPS-model describing a single segment.

2.4 Hypothesis

The reasoning which is paramount in leading to the validity of the LPS-model, is that contrast/variation in

its own right is a valid goal in any design process. It is a goal of this thesis to confirm the hypothesis partly

through the work on neuroaesthetics of Peter D. Stebbing in his publication A Universal Grammar for Visual

Composition (8) and partly through an interdisciplinary look at narratology, architecture and color theory.

2.4.1 The three uses

The LPS-model is first and foremost a tool for designers to assure coherence in the implementation of the

design vision, but the model contains other uses as well. I propose three distinct uses of the LPS-model;

1. As a mean of ensuring quality on levels and provide an easily modifiable model for the designer.

2. It should be able to provide information to each team member of in which direction each level is

currently going. This should help everybody have a clearer understanding of which assets are

needed to fulfill the vision.

3. As a tool for the producer to get hard data for cost/benefit analysis on time spend within each

individual setting and with each individual mechanic. This should aid in decisions on which aspects

of the game to cut/diminish or expand on.

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2.4.2 Physicality of the model

Before these three uses are explained in further detail, a brief description of the

parameters and physical nature of the LPS-model is deemed necessary in order to

present the reader with an understanding which is essential in the remainder of this

section. The model shares physical similarities with storyboards and is supposed to

be hung on the wall for all team members to see. The comparison to storyboards is

limited, to a large extent, to its physical design, since whereas storyboards shows

the framing for each shot as well as any necessary notes, the LPS-model focus on

gameplay intensity and the variation in the aesthetic parameters.

Figure 5: Five model-instances from Half life2: Episode2

2.4.3 Designing using the model

When designing a level using the LPS-model, it should be subdivided into a number of segments whenever

sufficient change occurs to separate the current segment from the previous (what constitutes ‘sufficient

change’ is described in section 0). Each of these segments are described in its own ‘instance’ of the model

i.e. a separate page, which contains the value of each parameter in the given segment e.g. gameplay,

intensity, color, sound and spatiality. Having these instances hung next to each other yields the overarching

outlook on the consequences of each design decision, with regard to the level as a whole. With this

Figure 4: Storyboard from

Star Wars

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description of the LPS-model in place it’s time to delve a bit deeper into the three potential uses as

described in the beginning of this section.

2.4.4 Cognitive bias

The first use of the model, as well as the predominant part of this thesis, deals with the LPS-model as a tool

for the level designer. Given that the designer has a vision of gameflow as well as a documented art

direction, it holds the potential of mapping these abstract ideas into a visual model. The important aspect

here is that the player experience of a level-segment is also affected by the preceding, and in part the

subsequent, segments due to human perception of change i.e. the value of any stimulus is not necessarily

perceived as actually having the given value, but more likely a value influenced by juxtaposed stimuli i.e.

that stimulus is perceived as more than the sum of its parts. This principle is well described in the field of

visual perception with the laws of simultaneous and successive contrast. These laws, identified by the 19th-

century physicist Michel-Eugène Chevreul(2), are a subset of the cognitive biases which humans possesses,

i.e. patterns of deviations in judgment e.g. if exposing ones hands to respectively hot and cold water, the

perceived temperature will vary when both are exposed to lukewarm water. Simultaneous and successive

contrast can be described by the collective name ‘contrast effect’ which can be defined as:

“A contrast effect is the enhancement or diminishment,

relative to normal, of perception, cognition and related

performance as a result of immediately previous or

simultaneous exposure to a stimulus of lesser or greater value

in the same dimension. (Here, normal perception or

performance is that which would be obtained in the absence

of the comparison stimulus - i.e., one based on all previous

experience.)”(9)

Figure 6 shows both simultaneous contrast (left) and successive contrast (right). The perception of the color

of the center square is affected by the color of the surrounding square, and by looking at the red and green

circle for some time, it will change the perception of color when directing the eye to the yellow circles.

Figure 6: Example of contrast effect

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2.4.5 How to use cognitive bias

Exemplified by the contrast effect, it’s a hypothesis of this thesis that similar cognitive bias exist in the

experience of level design aesthetics. This hypothesis is supported by theory from other schools of art,

which will be dealt with in further detail in section 4.4. To simplify; the value of the LPS-model lies not only

in presenting the parameters of each individual segment, but also to expose its differences with regard to

the preceding and subsequent segments i.e. the flow/form. David Bordwell and Kirsten Thompson, well

known film theorists and founders of cognitive film theory, propose just this:

“In order to analyze a film’s pattern of development, it is usually a good idea to make a segmentation.

Segmentation is simply a written outline of the film that breaks it into major and minor parts, with the parts

marked by consecutive numbers or letters. If a narrative film has ten scenes, then we can label each scene

with a number running from one to ten. It may be useful to divide some parts further. Segmenting a film

enables us not only to notice similarities and differences among parts but also to plot the overall

progression of the form.” (10)

Since AAA game development is a field with a highly iterative production model, the amount of changes

can easily blur the clarity of the design vision. Each change has the potential of breaking the overarching

high-concept of form i.e. gameflow and art direction, since aesthetics and tension are linked to the

orchestration of successive stimuli. The idea behind the LPS-model is, that any changes are immediately

applied to the relevant instances i.e. the filled out paper-version of the model hanging on the wall. This

should give an instant suggestion on whether or not the change has form-breaking ramifications, which

would demand further changes to be applied. See more on the model as a mean of design in section 4.4.

2.4.6 Communicating using the model

The second use of the model is more a diverted effect than an actual conscious consideration when the

LPS-model was created, but the validity seemed to be in order when it was applied in my work at ZeitGuyz

game developers. Again referring to the iterative nature of game development, the ramifications of change

does not only apply to the high-concept, but also on the work of the game ‘craftsmen’ i.e. the audio,

animation, programming and art department. Any change to level design obviously directly effects these

departments since new assets must be created to comply with the revised design. This means a great deal

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of cross-department communication is required to make sure everybody is working towards a common

goal, which subsequently means a great deal of time is wasted and that potential misunderstandings may

arise. The hypothesis here is, that some of the time spend on communication down through the

organization, or time spend reading revised design-manuals could be minimized by having an easily

modifiable and very accessible outlook on each level which, as proposed, the LPS-model can provide. See

more on the model as a mean of communication in section 4.4.

2.4.7 Mining data with the model

The third and final proposed use of the model is its potential of providing data for the producer. Gathering

data directly from the segments described with the LPS-model allows management to gain quantifiable

data on usage of game mechanics and other assets. Being able to directly compare guesstimated, or in

some cases measured, usage of a given mechanic/asset with the time-estimates given by department-leads

on required production time, allows the producer to identify any irregularities. Measured game-data is

often referred to as metric in the game industry, and applied heavily in blockbuster games such as Halo 3,

Mass Effect, and Gears of War.

An example could be the final level in Half Life 2

where the player is suddenly provided with an

upgrade to the gravity gun which makes it possible

to pick up enemy soldiers and throw them across

the room, an ability which was previously restricted

to inanimate objects. This gameplay mechanic is

only used in very small part of the game and would

instantly show up as having a very poor gameplay-

time to production-time ratio. In the given example

this would obviously not cause the producer to be

concerned since this is a conscious design decision

and not a misguided use of man hours, but in other cases it might reveal unwanted discrepancies. All

resources created by the development team should naturally not share the same gameplay-time to

production-time ratio, but the model does allow management to investigate certain game-resources which

Figure 7: Image from Half life 2

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holds the potential of being overkill when considering the series of strict deadlines AAA developers operate

under. See more on the model as a mean of data gathering in section 6.

2.5 Delimitation

Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this thesis as well as its wide perspective it’s necessary to have an

equally inclusive set of delimitations. First and foremost it’s important to narrow the scope of which games

the model has any validity; although it’s quite possible that the model has its uses in multiple genres, this

thesis is limited to 1st/3rd person action/adventure single player games that are linear in nature. The LPS-

model is based on the importance of transition and rhythm which, logically, is hard to control within an

open-ended level where information on player progression is inaccessible (unless certain dynamic

functionalities are implemented which alters the gameplay experience at run-time based on a change in

game states). This makes linear games, in which form and rhythm adheres to the principle of strings-of-

pearls when observing level progression, the most fitting to investigate. Examples of these could be the

series: Half Life, Tomb Raider and Call of Duty.

These are prime examples of games that provide a quite varied experience throughout the entire game

though modeled within a rigid structure. They provide a varied experience, even with a minimum of

different mechanics, due to a well designed gameflow rhythm which eliminates the sensation of repetitive

gameplay, even during eventual backtracking. It is the parameters, providing this varied experience, which

is the goal of this thesis to identify. It should be noted though, that identifying the parameters is in no

means the same as identifying the value of the parameters, thereby creating a fixed recipe for aesthetic

success. Although the values of these parameters are set to adhere to certain design-principles in section

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4.4, it is merely to exemplify how a filled-out version of the LPS-model corresponds to critique acclaimed

level design. The parameters of the model constitutes a design pattern which can provide an unlimited

number of results, in the same manner that DNA building blocks, although extremely limited in numbers,

are able to provide infinite results.

With regard to the validation of the model, it should be noted that analysis and theory will provide the

foundation, while an approach of validating through implementing the model on the design of actual levels

is outside the scope of the thesis. Validation through design doesn’t seem feasible given the amount of

user-testing this would imply. This directly relates to the fact that only one of the three potential uses,

listed in section 2.4 e.g. as a mean of design, will sought to be investigated to its full extent. The other two

uses; as means of communication and data gathering, necessitate the presence of a reasonably large

production team. When thinking of cross-department communication, it is obvious that any conclusion of

the effectiveness of the model is flawed by default, given the premise that theory is used as the foundation

for validation. That being said, the presentation of the final two uses will hopefully instill you, the reader,

with the inference that the inherent logics are sound, although not substantiated exhaustively.

2.6 Topicality

With production cost soaring in AAA game development (Rockstar producer Leslie Benzies estimates the

cost of GTAIV at a record-breaking $100M (11)) it’s more crucial than ever to assure that communication

within the team runs smoothly, to avoid resource waste. The LPS-model claims to hold the potential of

easing the communication regarding the effect of the inevitable changes caused by iterative development,

but since this claim is, as described in the previous section, not proven within the scope of this thesis, the

interest regarding topicality should reasonably be focused on another subject; it is the end-goal to present

a model based on universal design principles which allows the level/game designer to orchestrate the game

experience and perform QA (Quality Assurance) on the aesthetic vision of the project. The model aims at

supplementing the subjective conception of a given design by providing a structuralistic approach which

provides quantifiable data.

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2.7 Thesis structure

Having in the previous sections described my motivation, research question and academic relevance - it’s

time to present the structure of the following sections.

Firstly the method, through which the research question will be sought answered, is explained. It deals with

how I propose to identify universal design principles through a semantic analysis of a number of game

reviews.

The discussion section deals with the data which the semantic analysis uncovered, as well as a more

general look into interdisciplinary design principles This section also looks at the topicality of the thesis by

relating it to the works of game scholars and industry professionals alike. Finally I present the actual

parameters of the model.

Having defined the parameters of the LPS-model, Half-life2:Episode2 (12) is analyzed and its values inserted

into the model and compared to the hypothesized principles of design.

In addition to using the LPS-model as a tool for design, I subsequently propose its use in a larger framework

with which quantifiable data can be retrieved and used for a producer to get an overview on how much

each gameplay mechanic and unique setting is used, and thereby enabling informed decisions on

production.

Finally I conclude on the thesis as a whole, and on how the research question has been answered.

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3 Method

For the model to avoid being perceived as a collection of idiosyncratic ‘common sense’ propositions and to

add academic weight to its hypotheses, it is necessary to perform some initial steps. Firstly we need a

manner of identifying the parameters which holds the potential of aiding the designer in the pursuit of

universal aesthetics principles and the sought-after gameplay experience. Secondly we need a way of

defining when the discrepancy between the previous and the current gameplay segment is large enough to

be considered as ‘change’ i.e. when does it serve a purpose to describe a segment of a level with an

individual model-instance. Thirdly it is necessary to describe how I propose to analyze games, using the

chosen parameters, in order to relate the findings of the method to the structure of critic acclaimed games.

Lastly this section presents the manner of which it is possible to extract data from the analyzed game in

order to validate the thesis hypotheses.

3.1 Identifying the parameters

The search for universal design principles to empower the validity of the model yields the need to, at least

initially, transcend the concept of aesthetics as a cultural phenomenon, and instead provide a more

scientific foundation for this discussion. The burgeoning discipline of neuroaesthetics provides such a

foundation to build the identification of model-parameters on. Neuroaesthetics uses the techniques of

neuroscience to investigate and understand aesthetics - the pioneer and coiner of neuroaesthetics, Zemir

Zeki states:

“It seems a natural starting point, when discussing aesthetics, to look at the brain, through which all art is

created, executed and appreciated.”

"...the artist is in a sense, a neuroscientist, exploring the potentials and capacities of the brain, though with

different tools. How such creations can arouse aesthetic experiences can only be fully understood in neural

terms. Such an understanding is now well within our reach." (13)

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3.1.1 CRBP in visual composition

Peter D. Stebbing, zoologist, biological illustrator and design lecturer at several UK and German universities

has in several publications sought to identify the principles which links human aesthetics to neuroscience

and organic organization. He preliminarily isolates four types of relationships as being the most important

aspects in visual composition; Contrast, Rhythm, Balance and Proportion (CRBP). (14) His method of

validating CRBP as being the prime elements in the aesthetics of visual composition consists of measuring

occurrences of certain words in the content pages of 50 books covering graphic design, painting, sculpture,

architecture etc. Measuring the frequency of which each word occurred, allows Stebbing to confirm his

hypothesis, since the CRBP (+synonyms) is in fact the most commonly used words. To link these findings

with neurology, Stebbing identifies CRBP as being equally fundamental in the organizational structure of

plants and animals – organic organization. The structure of organic beings is obviously important for

humans in order to identify food sources and potential dangers, this leads inevitably to the hypothesis that

the perceptual system is targeted at identified these structures. Succeeding in identifying these structures

yields an emotional ‘reward’ which Stebbing relates to aesthetics. He presents the notion of linking organic

organization to aesthetics in the following manner:

“Now why should we put the basic organizational characteristics of living organisms into the inanimate

'aesthetic' artifacts that we create? The answer, I hypothesize, is that our perceptual system is the bridge

between organic form and our aesthetic forms because our perceptual capabilities have evolved to

recognize the diversity of organic forms by responding to CRBP.” (8)

The identification and validation of CRBP is important to this thesis, since this hints at universal design

principles which heighten the aesthetic experience, and is dealt with in further detail in section 4.1 where

he also hints at the importance of CRBP in other media, but for the scope of this section, it is his method of

utilizing word frequency as a mean of confirming a hypothesis that is sought applied.

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3.1.2 Identifying parameters through occurrence analysis

Trying to validate the parameters of the LPS-model through theory is a legit procedure, but the

argumentation will benefit from having a more tangible method as well. Borrowing heavily from the

method proposed in Stebbings A grammar of visual composition and its biological origin (8) the approach is

to analyze reviews from the six largest online written-review sites, and record the occurrences of words

dealing with the experience of a given game. This analysis holds information on terms which are important

to critics when reviewing games, which to a degree should be important for any developer. It has also

recently been presented at GDC 2008 by Dan Arey and Chris Swain in their keynote speech: Master Metrics:

the Science behind the Art of Game Design (15), that a 5 point metascore increase equals approximately a

50% revenue increase, thus parameters important to critics should be considered, in order to develop an

economically sound game. The choice of which written review sites to include is based on traffic-rankings

extruded from Alexa.com (16), a site dedicated to delivering data on site-traffic.

The sites chosen are:

Site name Traffic ranking

(Ranking in comparison to all other websites)

Gamespot.com 120

Ign.com 132

Gamespy.com 985

Gamesradar.com 1.362

1UP.com 1.669

Gamezone.com 2.591

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3.1.3 Choosing the games

Which games to investigate is chosen by looking at the 10 best and worst ranked at Metacritic.com, a site

dedicated to gathering review scores from multiple sites. In order to be included though, the games must

adhere to certain common denominators, thus the games chosen are not necessarily the lowest scoring

games, but the lowest scoring game within the given limitations. The common denominators are

• They must be reviewed by a minimum of 10 sites

• They must be reviewed by at least half the chosen review sites

• They must be released after January 1st 2006

• They must be published for the PC, Xbox360 or PLAYSTATION3 platform

• They must be categorized at Metacritic.com as action, 1st person shooter or 3rd person shooter

The limitation regarding minimum number of review sites is based on the notion that only fairly large titles

should be included as data. This eliminates really low-budget titles where one could assume that the

development team is fairly inexperienced. Additionally the fact that a relatively large amount of review

sites have dealt with the particular game makes the average score more accurate.

The reason for limiting the search by publishing date and target platform is to assure the games have

roughly the same technical opportunities and are released during the next-gen lifetime; Xbox360 was

available at all of the three major markets (North America, Europe and Japan) in December 10th 2005.

Besides this formal way of limiting the data, it should be noted that some games, although complying with

the given rules, are disregarded if these seem to divert from the scope of games given in the delimitation in

section 2.5. An example could be Grand Theft Auto IV which satisfy the common denominators but is to

free-form to be included in this thesis. This is not saying that freeform games could not benefit from the

LPS-model, but in order to make a more coherent point, the delimitations of this thesis are quite strict. In

essence the common denominators are actual parameters in a Metacritic.com search, which yield a series

of possible games to investigate, but some of these may be discarded based on a subjective conclusion that

they do not abide with the delimitations just mentioned.

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3.1.4 The games chosen

Using the method described in the above, the following games becomes the subjects of analysis (note that

the x indicates whether the review of the given game is to be found at that particular site):

Game Score GameSpot IGN Gamespy Gamesradar 1UP Gamezone

Bioshock 96 X X X X X X

The Orange Box 96 X X X X X X

Gears of War 94 X X X X X X

Halo 3 94 X X X X X X

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots 94 X X X X X X

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 94 X X X X X X

Crysis 91 X X X X X X

Mass Effect 91 X X X X X X

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 90 X X X X X X

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 89 X X X X X X

Table 1: Best rated games at Metacritic

Game Score GameSpot IGN Gamespy Gamesradar 1UP Gamezone

The History Channel: Battle for the pacific 35 X X X X

Hour of Victory 37 X X X X X

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty 42 X X X X

25 to Life 39 X X X

PsychoToxic 40 X X X

Hellboy: The Science of Evil 44 X X X X X

Made Man 40 X X X

Alien Blast: The Encounter 41 X X X

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer 45 X X X X X X

Haze 55 X X X X X

Table 2: Worst rated games at Metacritic

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3.1.5 Data mining procedure

The procedure for getting data for the occurrence analysis is as follows:

Firstly all content from each review is copied into a separate word document, to allow for review specific

analysis later in the process. Initially the starting point of the method is to look at the combined catalog of

reviews though. The reviews of all high-scoring and low-scoring games are combined in separate

documents, and subsequently combined into one overarching document containing all data.

The document containing all reviews is run through a word script (See Appendix A - Frequency word script)

which counts unique words, counts their frequency and lists them with regard to that frequency (See

Appendix B - Frequency data). This metric data allows for identification of the most commonly used terms

in the full review catalog. It should be noted that the aforementioned word script is constructed to leave

out actual names of the games analyzed. This is done to disallow certain words which are not thought of as

‘review universals’ to contaminate the results as i.e. the word ‘gears’ and ‘war’ could create data

discrepancy when analyzing gears of war.

This frequency data is reviewed by hand and nouns/adjectives, with occurrence >= 20, are isolated as

keywords (See Appendix C - Keywords) being that these are the only word-types containing inherent value

regarding game review foci whereas i.e. pronouns, numerals and verbs does not. Subsequently all

keywords will be inserted into non pre-defined categories. The method is to take one word at a time and

then assign them with a new category-label unless a category which can contain the given word already

exists. Category labels may change throughout the process though, depending on the nature of the

keywords.

The keywords will then be used as parameters in a second word script (See Appendix D - Arrange keywords

script) which allows for combining keywords in categories and displaying their individual frequency, as well

as the frequency of the whole category (See Appendix E – Category frequencies).

20

To summarize the method steps:

1. Copy each review into separate documents

2. Combine all high-scoring and low-scoring reviews into separate documents

3. Combine all reviews into a full review catalog

4. Run word frequency script on full catalog to list all words in relation to frequency, leaving out game

specific word or sentences i.e. Haze, Gears of War etc.

5. Isolate nouns and adjectives with frequency > 20

6. label isolated words with categories

7. Run occurrence analysis script on combined catalog

8. Run occurrence analysis script, using the isolated words, on high-scoring and low-scoring review

catalogs to identify linguistic variation when discussing high-scoring and low-scoring games

These are the steps which I propose could answer the initial question on whether or not variation in its own

right is important, and additionally provide the LPS-model with input on important parameters. See more

on this in section 4.2.

The isolation process in step 5 is sought to be as objective as possible but is should be noted, that some

nouns and adjectives with frequency > 20 are omitted from the keywords based on the following criteria:

• Words considered to be contaminated since they are used to described specific game

developers/publishers, In-game locations/objects/characters or game platform i.e. Xbox, Portal,

Bungie, plasmids.

• Subjective adjectives which deals solely with player experience i.e. beautiful, brilliant, cool.

3.1.6 The method logics

During the initial research, attempts to record word frequencies within level-design specific books have

been made, but it became early on clear that such literature is limited in describing actual design principles,

and are often more involved in discussing technical issues and iterative development techniques. In

Stebbings research a substantially larger catalog of literature was available, largely due to the fact that

21

formal design principles are only just beginning to appear within the field of game/level design, but

obviously also due to the vastly longer history of theory of visual composition.

This spawned the idea to approach occurrence-analysis from the review point of view. Being able to isolate

parameters often praised in high-scoring games as well as criticized in low-scoring games would allow for

an identification of important aspects in game/level design from a critics point of view.

3.1.7 Specific parameters

Obviously the occurrence-analysis might be limited with respect to specific design principles, since an

occurrence within a given review most likely takes the form of “The segmentation of gameplay is well

orchestrated” or “The constant change of scenery gives a very varied experience”. These fabricated quotes

hint nothing at useful hands-on design principles which could be immediately implemented by a designer,

but none the less they could indicate the presence of a ‘meta-principle’ which might be worth

deconstructing to form actual hands-on design principles. The goal of the occurrence-analysis method is to

validate the hypothesis that variation in its own right, i.e. the ‘meta principle’, is something to strive for as

mentioned in section 2.4.

The actual parameters which make up the LPS-model are found through a more ‘common sense’ approach;

by investigating the theory behind other artistic disciplines, such as narratology, architecture, dramaturgy

and color theory, certain universal principles which is applicable in level design will be identified.

Additionally a number of game post-mortems as well as the tips, tricks and rules of established game/level

designers will be scrutinized to uncover the aspects relevant for the LPS-model.

22

3.2 What constitutes change?

As described in section 2.4.2 the LPS-model is, when applied in a design process, comprised of a sequence

of instances i.e. filled out paper versions of the model, describing each segment of a level. In order to

discuss segmentation, one need to clarify what encompasses a segment, this results in the following

definition of the differences necessary to identify a given part of a game, as being a stand-alone segment.

What is change? It’s the difference that makes a difference!

• A noticeable change in gameplay or gameplay intensity

• A change of scenery

• A change of spatiality

• A change in color dominance

Alessandro Canossa, in an attempt to “define unified procedures and guidelines for designing levels”,

identifies these segments (he uses the term sub-section) in the following way in his paper Designing Levels

for Enhanced Player Experience:

“A sub-section is defined as a contiguous, uninterrupted, isotropic space that shares aesthetic, ludic and

phenomenological features.”(17)

Canossa’s definition adheres well to the one previously presented. For the purpose of the LPS-model

though, it seems reasonable to create a checklist-style definition to depict the vision of the thesis, since this

approach leaves less room for interpretation when trying to segment a given level.

3.3 LPS-model as a tool for analysis

Besides the method described in 3, the validity of the model will be investigated by means of an in-depth

game analysis of Half Life2: Episode2. The success criterion is to point at similarities between a critic

acclaimed game as HL2E2 and the principles of the LPS-model. The procedure for this analysis is to

deconstruct HL2E2 and insert its values into the LPS-model. Using a screen-capture program, a screenshot

will be taken every 3 seconds to later be used in identifying visual variation. These screenshots will be

compared to the model-instances filled out whenever adequate change occurs, as defined in the previous

section.

23

4 Discussion

This section contains a discussion on the parameters of the LFS-model, as well as a more general discussion

on the validity of it. It starts off with a more in-depth description of the CRBP parameters which were

presented by Stebbing (14) and mentioned in section 3.1. These are parameters which Stebbing argue

constitutes a universal principle for aesthetic appreciation, and it will be investigated with regards to level

design in this section. Additionally his method and method data are evaluated.

The method applied by Stebbing has been, as mentioned in the previous section, modified to allow an

analysis of game reviews, trying to identify important critic focal points. The data of this method, here

referred to as occurrence analysis results, are then examined to allow for a statement on the validity of the

claim that variation is a quality to strive for in its own right, as well as shine light on important categories

within reviews.

Additionally I will address the topicality of developing models and patterns with regards to game/level

design. This part of the report will draw in references to A Pattern Language (18), Game Design Patterns

(5), the 400 project (19) and a number of Gamasutra feature articles.

The remainder of this section addresses the actual parameters of the LPS-model and discusses them by

investigating interdisciplinary design principles of narrative tension/suspense, spatial design, aural design

and color theory. Lastly the remaining parameters which deal with aspects mostly relevant to the actual

production are addressed.

24

4.1 CRBP revisited

Stebbing propose that by identifying the biological basis behind human visual perception allows for

achieving knowledge applicable in the orchestration of visual composition. Although his primary focus is on

visual composition in ‘static arts’ such as paintings, thus not directly related the art of game/level design

where fixed composition is not a valid possibility since player interaction affects what is displayed, Stebbing

also finds proof of the existence of these universal principles, CRBP, in a number of other media, such as

dance, music and architecture. These findings substantiate the acknowledgement of CRBP being applicable

in level design as well. We’ll return to CRBP in other media in the latter part of this section.

4.1.1 The origin of CRBP

After being asked on the reason behind the importance of visual rhythm and balance while giving lectures

on graphic design, Stebbing begins to investigate the significance of these as well as trying to perhaps

identify other equally important components. He finds through his initial research four types of

relationships which are important components of visual composition; contrast, rhythm, balance and

proportion. These elements are sufficiently referred to in literature to allow for Stebbing to make these the

preliminary components of his research. He defines the elements as:

Contrast: I take Bateson's definition of a contrast as a difference which makes a difference and which can be

identified by any of our senses.

Rhythm or pattern: is a repetition of a contrast which may also occur in one or a combination of the four

basic symmetry operations.

Balance and symmetry: Two or more visual elements or forces are set against (oppose) each other so that

they equalize or neutralize their tensions often resulting in a symmetry of form.

Proportion: is a ratio composed of two or more contrasting quantities used repeatedly in either the same

and/or different measures in a design.(8)

These components become the backbone of his method to identify universal aesthetics principles.

25

4.1.2 Glossary analysis

The method to investigate the presence of these design universals is to:

1. Choose a base of literature regarding visual composition (50 books)

2. Extract all words used on the contents page of these books

3. Group synonyms and Identify the frequency of these

4. Choose the most frequently occurring words and analyze the occurrence of these in each book of

the literature base

The results that surfaced from step number 3 are in agreement with his initial hypothesis that CRBP would

be the most common terms used.(8)

CONTRAST: 61

gradation: 27

variation: 27

+ other synonyms: 97

Σ 212

RHYTHM: 33

repetition: 35

pattern: 34


Σ 131

BALANCE: 35

equilibrium: 8

symmetry: 10

+ other synonyms: 4

Σ 57

PROPORTION: 36

golden mean / section: 10

+ other synonyms: 2

Σ 48

UNITY: 24

harmony: 11

+ other synonyms: 2

Σ 37

Movement: 48

motion: 9

+ other synonyms: 0

Σ 57

Expression: 30


Σ 41

26

Stebbing also finds that a large frequency of the words Movement and Expression occurs but chooses not

to include them as they have nothing to offer in terms of organizing visual compositions. On average 2.4 of

the 5 components (CRBP + Unity) occurs in any of the content pages, allowing him to conclude that

although inconsistently referred to, CRBP should be perceived as the most important components of visual

composition.

4.1.3 CRBP in organic organization

The identification of the four core components is interesting in its own right, but the link to organic

organization adds further weight to the research. This allows the findings to transcend the categorization

of being cultural phenomena and instead being labeled as universal principles – shifting focus from

environment in the heritage and environment discussion i.e. whether a quality is based on a biological or

cultural foundation. That being said, obviously culture also affects ones aesthetic appreciation, but

identifying the subsection of aesthetics which is a universal human heritage, provides a framework on

which art can build.

What Stebbing proposes is, that the human perceptual system is attuned to respond particularly to the

characteristics of CRBP simply due to evolutionary necessities e.g. we know that the human perceptual

system actually enhances contrast to allow for faster recognition of form. These perceptual qualities allows

for fast identification of nourishment and potential dangers even outside ones natural habitat, enabling

early humans (4-5 million years ago) to survive the change from rain forest to savannah when splitting

ancestral line from chimpanzee.

“Clearly, it would have been biologically inefficient for them to have evolved feature detectors for every

organism they eat; therefore, our ancestors’ brains must have evolved an economical (i.e. grammatical)

system for recognizing any kind of organism.”(8)

(The following line of text is organized in a way that the first and last letter holds their position, but all

other letters are given a random position)

In the smae way taht tihs stenecne is ustodenrod aultghoh not bnieg slpeeld ctoreclry, human perception

is adept at understanding the construct of a given stimulus, not having to rely on identifying the actual

27

stimulus, in the same manner that unknown fruits were instantly recognized as having the characteristics of

fruits when humans changed habitat millions of years ago. The aesthetic appreciation is a way of rewarding

recognition of organisms, or as Stebbing puts it:

“Our art reflects nature. Nature formed our sense of visual perception which in its turn informs our aesthetic

expressions.”(8)

The image below illustrates how CRBP aids in recognizing organic form.

Figure 8: Organic organization

28

4.1.4 CRBP in other media

Through Stebbings research it is recognized that CRBP is important in a number of other media as well, as

shown with the following examples.(8)

“On the appreciation of dance Smith-Autard writes: ‘A few may be pleased by the overall shape of the

dance, and see the beginning, middle and end in proportionate relationship, and each section as a well

balanced entity yet carefully blended into a unified whole. Others may feel a sense of pleasure on

recognition of the repetitions and contrasts and follow the design of the dance within these frames of

reference.’”

“While on music Westrup writes: ‘Forms are the ways in which at different periods music is cast into

intelligible shapes. The fundamental principles remain constant: balance, proportion, repetition, contrast,

variation, and so on. It is the detailed application of these principles that changes. Styles are the ways in

which individuality or it may be the general feeling of the period, finds expression.’”

“Minai aims to ‘Outline the relevant design process... Harmonic order, as the law of opposites, is reached by

increasing uniformity and regularity through reduction of entropy of certain functions (e.g. rhythm), and at

the same time increase in randomness and diversity through increase of entropy of opposite functions (e.g.

climax) while numerous constraints are conditioning. Finally, 'originality' and 'probability' techniques are

introduced as tools for optimizing certain random functions, such as axioms (rhythm, climax, balance,

proportion, harmony and functional expression) and thus produce 'harmonic order'.’”

Where the initial proposal is that CRBP is crucial in visual composition, it becomes clear, that other media

shares that characteristic. Given that diverse media as dance, music and architecture are described with

these terms, indicates that it is not only the visual perceptual system which responds to CRBP, but also

other means of perceiving stimulus are influenced as well. It seems reasonable to infer that it is not only

the perception of these components but the experience of them as well. It seems valid to conclude that

contrast/variety, by example, are equally important when experiencing a work day at the assembly line, as

well as when appreciating the organization of fine art. That is, variation in experience is as important as

variation in perception.

29

4.1.5 Fear of formalism

When discussing creativity, it may be thought as limiting to consider aesthetics as a set of universal rules. Is

it restrictive to have a ruleset to abide to in a creative process? Even though the notion of universal rules

inhibiting art is fairly logical, one needs only to look at the history of arts and biology to disprove it. In arts,

new knowledge does not eclipse the old but rather builds on it, although techniques might. It could also be

noticed that extremely complicated ends can come from rather limited and strict means i.e. western music

which is limited to 12 semitones and again limited by certain patterns e.g. the major and minor scale. Or in

human physiology we see the three color receptors (red, green, blue) which are necessary to perceive the

full trichromatic color span. It is seen everywhere that limited means may produce unlimited results.

4.1.6 Relations to the LPS-model

This research into CRBP might, at first glance, seem to provide little in terms of actual parameters for the

LPS-model, but it does allow for a conclusion on the ‘meta-principle’ of the LPS-model, that variation is a

valid goal in its own right. Additionally it adds food for thought about how the designers of a given game

can incorporate repetition, balance and proportion into the design vision. Examples of this could be ensure

a certain rhythm of encounters i.e. a lengthy run-and-gun section should always be followed by a vehicle

section and end with a boss fight, or a motif as in half-life2; when you encounter dead characters with

head-crabs attached, you are sure to bump into zombies shortly. Balance could be thought of as making

sure that the gameplay intensity presents the player with both immensely intense encounters as well as

slow-paced sequences allowing the player to catch his breath. Lastly proportions could relate to the

decision to sequentially increase the difficulty of a game while progressing, in a way that the obstacles

presented are proportionate to the player progression. It should be noted that these are only examples

since the LPS-model does not attempt at delivering fixed design decisions, but only to provide a tool which

can help designers implement their design vision as well as keeping the overview on the consistency with

which it is applied.

In addition to providing all of the above, the research of Stebbing provided a method which could be

applied, although in a slightly changed form, to the research necessary to validate the LPS-model.

30

4.2 Occurrence analysis results

The main goal of the occurrence analysis method was to identify important game parameters by

investigating a series of high-scoring and low-scoring reviews. This method of analyzing metacritic.com

reviews to identify important review-criteria was also applied by Dan Arey and Chris Swain at a GDC-talk in

2008. (15) They have discovered that a 5 point score increase at metacritic.com meant an approximate 50%

revenue increase, which obviously is a point no responsible developer can ignore. They then created two

top-8 lists which could identify important common denominators in reviews of high-scoring and low-scoring

games which could be directly related to critic acclaim:

“Comparing the top game of the year per platform, versus the dud games:

1. large in scope

2. variety of player choice and activity

3. highly replayable

4. top quality visuals and sound

5. responsive and easy controls

6. engaging story and characters

7. quality interactive world and AI

8. responsive camera

Things that suppress metascore

1. undifferentiated gameplay

2. shoddy production values and controls

3. player unsure what to do or what just happened

4. mechanics disconnected from premise

5. noninteractive environment, too linear

6. does not flow, too hard too soon

7. save points too spread out

8. long repetitive load screens”

These results seem to be consistent with the findings of the occurrence analysis method applied in this

thesis, which will be expanded on in section 4.2.3. It should be noted that the success criteria in the above

had no influence on my method procedure since the GDC-talk by Swain and Arey was discovered

subsequent to the occurrence analysis being complete. Therefore any similarities in the results are due to

the method validity and not inferred by previous knowledge on the results of Swain and Arey.

31

4.2.1 Keyword categories

As described in section 3.1.5, the way the categories for the LPS-model is found, is through a step-by-step

procedure where each word, which adheres to the premise of being a noun or adjective with 20+

occurrences, were given a new label if no label existed that could include it. This means that no categories

were made prior to the allocation procedure, but surfaced when needed. It should be noted that some

labels went through minor adjustments to fit new words i.e. a label changed from “Enemies” � “Enemies /

Friendlies” when the words ‘squad’ and ‘friends’ appeared - where it previously had only contained

opposition it was chosen to allow it to encompass all NPCs.

Table 3 on the next page, shows the final categories, the three most frequently used word in it, and the

frequency of which all contained keywords, in a particular category, occurred in the 104 reviews analyzed.

The categories are as follows in descending order:

• Gameplay

• Setting

• Mechanics / Tools

• Story

• Enemies / Friendlies

• Time

• Visuals

• Variation

• Aural

• Experience

• Stability / bugs

These categories make up the parameter-categories of the LPS-model, although with minor modifications.

Initially the categories; ‘variation’, ‘experience’ and ‘stability/bugs’ are removed. ‘Variation’ is removed

since variation is not a tangible parameter, but rather the experience of change within any of the other

parameters. Even though it is removed as a specific parameter, it is still the most important aspect of the

LPS-model as a ‘meta-principle’ which guides the orchestration of each level-segment. ‘Experience’ is

removed since it is an effect of the design process, and not a cause. And lastly ‘Stability/Bugs’ is removed

since this are not parameters of design, although it maintain some importance in reviews.

32

Category: Gameplay Keyword: Frequency:

Multiplayer 260

Gameplay 235

Action 206

Combined keyword frequency: Σ 2662

Category: Mechanics / Tools

Weapons 180

Cover 155

AI 102


Category: Setting

Level 174

Little (relates to size) 158

Levels 136


Category: Story

Story 199

Character 156

Characters 104


Category: Enemies / Friendlies

Enemies 258

Enemy 183

Soldiers 76


Category: Visuals

Graphics 124

Effects 97

Visuals 69


Category: Time

Time 299

Long 112

Hours 100


Category: Aural

Sound 166

Music 67

Soundtrack 31


Category: Variation

Different 141

Variety 57

Unique 44


Category: Experience

Experience 145

Moment 45

Love 35


Category: Stability / Bugs

Issues 42

Problems 39

Broken 27


Table 3: Combined word frequencies

33

The categories will be discussed in subsequent sections, but for now let’s deal with the occurrence analysis

data regarding ‘Variety’. It is the only category dealt with in detail, since it is the foundation of the LPS-

model, and all other categories only serves as inspiration for deciding on parameters for the model.

4.2.2 Occurrence analysis: Variety

The initial analysis of the combined review-catalog reveals 9 nouns and adjectives with >20 occurrences

which relate to variation: Different, Variety, Unique, Original, Similar, Mix, Repetitive, Generic and Bland.

‘Different’ and ‘similar’ are removed as keywords since they have no explicit inherent value, and can be

used in numerous ways which does not relate directly to a discussion on variation. Additionally ‘unique’ and

‘original’ are combined since these words are interchangeable. This leaves the following 6 keywords as the

parameters for the continued analysis: Variety, unique/original, mix, repetitive, generic and bland. The

results of the occurrence analysis on each individual review, with these keywords as parameters, are shown

in Table 5 & Table 6 (high-scoring reviews) on page 35-36 and Table 7 & Table 8 (low-scoring reviews) on

page 37-38.

By looking at the data extracted from the tables, it is now possible to conclude on variety being an

important aspect of critique accolade. The following data can be seen in table format in Table 4

On average ≈1.6 of the 6 keywords occur in each review which hints at its importance. But what is even

more important is, that by grouping negatively (repetitive, generic, bland) and positively charged (variety,

unique/original, mix) words and looking at the data through this filter, some interesting numbers surface.

Within the scope of the high-scoring game reviews, the occurrence is now ≈1.25 out of 3, with both

‘variety’ and ‘unique/original’ occurring at ≈50% of the reviews (48.3% & 51.6% respectively) and ‘mix’

occurring at a frequency of 25%. Additionally it becomes clear that the negatively charged words has a far

High-scoring games Low Scoring games Ratio Combined with review word ratio

Frequency of variation 48,33 % 22,67 % 0,47

Frequency of unique/original 51,67 % 41,33 % 0,80

Frequency of mix 25,00 % 16,17 % 0,65

Occurrence of the 3 keywords 1,25 0,79 0,88 1,78

- - -

Frequency of repetitive 10,00 % 27,67 % 2,77

Frequency of generic 11,67 % 29,83 % 2,56

Frequency of Bland 1,67 % 30,50 % 18,30

Occurrence of the 3 keywords 0,23 0,91 5,42 10,91

Table 4: Variety keyword analysis

34

lesser frequency; ‘repetitive’ scores 10%, ‘generic’ scores ≈11.6% and ‘bland’ scores ≈1.6% with a combined

occurrence of ≈0.2 keywords out of 3.

With regard to the low-scoring games, the occurrence of the positively charged words does diminish,

although not massively; ‘variety’ scores 22.6%, ‘unique/original’ scores 41.3% and ’mix’ scores 16%, with a

combined occurrence of ≈0.8 keywords out of 3. It should be noted though, that reviews of high-scoring

games contains approximate twice as many words as reviews of low-scoring games does, which could

indicate that the frequency would be higher if the reviews had the same extent. But what is even more

interesting is that negatively charged keywords skyrocket comparing to the high-scoring reviews. Here the

difference is much more apparent; the 3 negatively charged words has an occurrence which is ≈5.4 times

larger than when looking at high-scoring games. When taking under consideration that high-scoring game

reviews contains twice the amount of words, the difference is now ≈10.9 times larger. Of cause this

multiplication with word-ratio is quite speculative, but its worth keeping in mind.

Besides the evident difference in numbers, it seems that reviews of low-scoring games often has a

tendency to contain a more creative and ‘cheeky’ linguistic usage, which influence a word occurrence

analysis as the one performed in this thesis, as seen in the examples found within the review catalog:

“The Good: The game plays when you stick it in the disc tray.” (20)

“The design philosophy seems to have been: If climbing two sets of stairs with an enemy on each landing is

fun, 10 sets of stairs must be a hundred times better!” (21)

These examples illustrate that reviews contains more references a specific subject i.e. variety, than is

immediately apparent when doing a word-occurrence analysis. Additionally it is not possible to derive that,

in example, occurrences of positively charged words always relates to something positive. Often the

semantics of the positively charged words in low-scoring reviews are also reversed into their own antonyms

i.e. “there’s very little variety or objectives that haven’t been covered by other WWII shooters.” (22). In this

quote the occurrence of the word ‘variety’ does not state anything on the presence of variety in the game,

but rather the exact opposite.

Not incorporating semantics into the review analysis does not detract anything from the findings of the

above. Incorporating this aspect would only add further weight to the results.

35

Game Gamespot IGN Gamespy Gamesradar 1UP Gamezone Frequency in %

Bioshock

- Variety 1 5 1 1 66,66666667

- Unique / Original 1 1 2 4 2 83,33333333

- Mix 1 16,66666667

- Repetitive 1 16,66666667

- Generic 0

- Bland 0

The Orange Box

- Variety 1 1 1 50

- Unique / Original 4 6 2 1 66,66666667

- Mix 1 16,66666667

- Repetitive 0

- Generic 1 16,66666667

- Bland 0

Gears of War

- Variety 2 2 1 50

- Unique / Original 1 1 33,33333333

- Mix 3 16,66666667

- Repetitive 1 1 33,33333333

- Generic 1 1 33,33333333

- Bland 0

Halo 3

- Variety 1 1 1 50

- Unique / Original 2 3 2 2 66,66666667

- Mix 2 2 33,33333333

- Repetitive 1 16,66666667

- Generic 0

- Bland 0

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

- Variety 1 1 2 1 1 83,33333333

- Unique / Original 1 1 2 2 66,66666667

- Mix 2 1 33,33333333

- Repetitive 0

- Generic 0

- Bland 0

Table 5: Occurrence analysis of high-scoring games part I

36


Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

- Variety 4 2 33,33333333

- Unique / Original 1 1 2 50

- Mix 1 1 33,33333333

- Repetitive 1 2 33,33333333

- Generic 1 1 33,33333333

- Bland 0

Crysis

- Variety 1 16,66666667


- Mix 2 1 33,33333333

- Repetitive 0

- Generic 0

- Bland 0

Mass Effect

- Variety 4 2 2 50

- Unique / Original 5 1 1 1 66,66666667

- Mix 1 1 33,33333333

- Repetitive 0

- Generic 0

- Bland 0

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

- Variety 1 2 1 1 66,66666667


- Mix 0

- Repetitive 0

- Generic 1 16,66666667

- Bland 1 16,66666667

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas

- Variety 1 16,66666667

- Unique / Original 1 16,66666667

- Mix 1 1 33,33333333

- Repetitive 0

- Generic 1 16,66666667

- Bland 0

Table 6: Occurrence analysis of high-scoring games part II

37


The History Channel: Battle for the pacific

- Variety N/a N/a 0

- Unique / Original N/a N/a 0

- Mix 1 N/a N/a 25

- Repetitive N/a N/a 0

- Generic N/a N/a 1 25

- Bland N/a 1 N/a 25

Hour of Victory

- Variety N/a 1 20

- Unique / Original 1 1 1 N/a 2 3 100

- Mix N/a 0

- Repetitive N/a 0

- Generic 1 N/a 1 40

- Bland 1 N/a 20

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty

- Variety 1 N/a 20

- Unique / Original 1 1 1 N/a 60

- Mix N/a 0

- Repetitive 2 N/a 20

- Generic N/a 0

- Bland 1 N/a 20

25 to Life

- Variety 1 1 N/a N/a N/a 66,66666667

- Unique / Original 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333

- Mix 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333

- Repetitive N/a N/a N/a 0

- Generic 2 1 N/a N/a N/a 66,66666667

- Bland 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333

PsychoToxic

- Variety N/a N/a N/a 0


- Mix 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333

- Repetitive 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333

- Generic N/a N/a N/a 0

- Bland 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333

Table 7: Occurrence analysis of low-scoring games part I

38


Hellboy: The Science of Evil

- Variety 1 N/a 20

- Unique / Original 2 N/a 20

- Mix 1 N/a 20

- Repetitive 2 1 N/a 40

- Generic N/a 0

- Bland 1 3 N/a 40

Made Man

- Variety N/a N/a N/a 0


- Mix 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333

- Repetitive 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333

- Generic 1 N/a N/a N/a 1 66,66666667

- Bland N/a N/a N/a 0

Alien Blast: The Encounter

- Variety 2 N/a N/a N/a 2 66,66666667

- Unique / Original N/a N/a N/a 2 33,33333333

- Mix N/a N/a N/a 0

- Repetitive 1 1 N/a N/a N/a 66,66666667

- Generic 1 N/a N/a N/a 33,33333333

- Bland N/a N/a N/a 0

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

- Variety 1 16,66666667


- Mix 2 16,66666667

- Repetitive 3 2 1 50

- Generic 1 1 1 50

- Bland 1 1 1 1 1 83,33333333

Haze

- Variety 1 16,66666667


- Mix 0

- Repetitive 2 3 33,33333333

- Generic 5 16,66666667

- Bland 2 2 1 50

Table 8: Occurrence analysis of low-scoring games part II

39

4.2.3 Supporting the findings

The occurrence analysis had two specific goals: firstly to identify categories often referred to in reviews,

and use these as inspiration for parameter of the LPS-model, and secondly to collect sufficient data to

conclude on the thesis hypothesis, that variety in its own right is something to strive for when designing

level-flow. Both of these goals have been achieved, but there exists additional material to further validate

the ‘meta-principle’ of variety inherent in the model.

The identification of CRBP, as being universal design principles, has been elaborated on, and by

subsequently identifying CRBP in several media, not only in visual composition, it is inferred that it is a valid

principle in level design as well.

In section 4.2, the research presented by Dan Arey and Chris Swain at a GDC-talk in 2008, was briefly

introduced, but it seems relevant to relate their method and findings to my own ditto. Their prime

objective is to identify a correspondence between metascore ratings and revenues, and subsequently to

identify the parameters which affect the metascore. Their method procedure for getting empirical data is

not specified, but the data itself is. Initially they identify the correspondence between ratings and revenue

as being that a 5 point metascore increase results in a ≈50% revenue increase. This investigation is outside

the scope of this thesis, but adds to the relevance of the LPS-model.

Similar to the method of this thesis, Arey and Swain looks at a cross-section of game reviews, and attempts

to conclude on which issues matters the most when review critics give out their scores. They identify

“variety of player choice and activity” as the second most important aspect in high-scoring games, and

“undifferentiated gameplay” as the most important reason of low-scoring games. These conclusions adhere

quite nicely to the premise of the LPS-model and the data presented in the previous section. Although Arey

and Swain only deals with variety in gameplay, it seems logical to infer, also with basis in the CRBP

research, that other aspect of level design could greatly benefit from embracing the concept of variation.

For example, the much discussed art direction of Diablo III, has visual contrast as a prime objective:

“Indeed, the broad color palette allowed for the Diablo III team to create a range of moods, continued

Donelson, where players could be subjected to the juxtaposition of bright, sunny exteriors and dark, gritty

dungeons. These contrasts played heavily into capturing the hallmark horror of the Diablo franchise. "Diablo

is a horror game at its core, and we had to keep this as a strong emphasis," he said.”(23)

40

And in a Gamasutra postmortem of Spyro the Dragon, the team talks about how to differentiate the

experience:

“With so many characters and locations, adhering to our production design was essential. Yet at the same

time we needed to give each world as distinct a look as possible without straying from our basic design

rules. One of our solutions was to design extreme variation into the game's environments. Spyro begins his

adventure in a castle garden and proceeds through a desert, snowy mountain peaks, a swamp, dreamscape,

and finishes in a mechanical world. Furthermore, the flying rounds are made of glowing crystals.”(24)

Having dealt in detail with the ‘meta-principle’ of variety, it’s time to look into the work previously done to

create a structuralistic design methodology.

4.3 Model topicality

In the last decade an academic effort has been made to create structuralistic tools to aid game designers,

and create a more formal vocabulary when discussing games. The majority of these are building on the

concept of design patterns presented by Christopher Alexander in his book A Pattern Language on

architectural principles(18). These patterns are collection of design choices and a description of their

influence on other patterns, forming a hierarchical structure which aids in game design decisions.

This mindset is adopted by Staffan Björk and Jussi Holopainen in Patterns in Game Design, a book which

identifies game design conventions as interplaying patterns i.e. the well known pattern of ‘Boss monsters’

has direct relations to patterns such as ‘Achilles’ hell’, ‘Narrative structure’, ‘Higher-level closures as

gameplay progresses’ etc. Since a connection between ‘Boss monsters’ and ‘Achilles’ heel’ has been

established, it is possible to look at what further implications this have. By looking at the ‘Achilles’ heel’

pattern, one would then see its relations to patterns such as ‘Strategic knowledge’, ‘Experimenting’, ‘Puzzle

solving’ and ‘clues’ etc. In this way the collection of patterns create a hierarchy of design conventions which

should be considered in the final design.

Even though many designers and scholars agree that such tools are both useful and rare, they are even

rarer when discussing game aesthetics and experience design, which is what the LPS-model addresses.

Even though scarce, in the contemporary design tools available, the majority discusses game design and

attempts nothing in terms of production. A deviation from this norm is the 400 project (19), a project led by

41

Noah Falstein, perhaps most known from his work on the Indiana Jones series in the nineties. The goal of

the 400-project is to get industry professionals to submit design rules to aid in creating better games –

currently 112 of a guestimated total of 400 rules is listed. Although not being as directly applicable as the

patterns presented by Björk and Holopainen, (seems more like tips & tricks than an actual methodology),

the collection of input from industry professional on all aspects of game production, and not only game

design, are interesting inspiration for fledgling developers. Additionally, several of the rules relate quite

nicely to the vision of the LPS-model. 15 of the 112 rules (See Table 9 on next page) relate to the LPS-

model either directly as in rule nr. 39: “Make Challenges Vary in More than Degree”, or as a rule that can be

enforced through the LPS-model as in nr. 89: “Emphasize Dramatic Reveals”.

The difference between the above mentioned models and the LPS-model is clear; where the patterns and

rules are meant to provide designers with means of formulating design visions, the LPS-model presents a

tool with which the implementation of that vision can be applied and evaluated. Aside from the ‘meta-

principle’ of variation, the LPS-model does not attempt to affect design visions and art direction, but allows

the designers to get an immediate feedback on the effects.

42

ID Imperative Statement Explanation in 250 words or less Domain Contributors

2 Maximize Expressive

Potential

Get the most out of your (always limited) material -- either find ways to exploit

an element of your game, or cut it out

Simplicity Hal Barwood

6 Provide Clear Short-

Term Goals

Always make it clear to the player what their short-term objectives are. This can

be done explicitly by telling them directly, or implicitly by leading them towards

those goals through environmental cues. This avoids the frustration of

uncertainty and gives players confidence that they are making forward progress.

Basic Noah Falstein,

others

16 Distribute Game

Assets Asymmetrically

When there are objects or experiences the player can encounter in a game,

place them asymmetrically, both spatially in the sense of clumping some

together and spreading others thinly, and temporally in the sense of having

some be common, some uncommon, and some rare over time. Of course,

particularly useful or powerful items are good candidates to be the rarest.

Basic Teut

Weidemann,

Noah Falstein

30 Provide a Consistent

Single Vision for the

Game

It is vital from the beginning of design to make sure that there is one consistent

single vision of the user's experience as he or she plays the game. It is most

often a problem with shared design responsibility, but even a single designer can

make the mistake of being inconsistent in vision. The vision can change during

development, but everyone must know and be informed of the change

immediately.

Production,

Meta

Noah Falstein

39 Vary Rate of Difficulty

Increase within the

Flow Channel

A specific rule addressing "Fight Player Fatigue". Over the course of time a game

should increase in difficulty in rough proportion to the player's increasing

expertise - but that rate should vary like a sine wave (or think of it as vibrato) to

provide peaks and valleys of increasing difficulty.

Meta,

Variety

Noah Falstein

57 Make Challenges Vary

in More than Degree

Another "Player Fatigue" rule, add variety in challenges other than simple

straight-line increase. Don't pick a single variable like number of enemies and

simply keep increasing it. Letting several different variables interact is a good

method (see Create Emergent Complexity).

Variety Dan Arey

58 Don't Make Your

Objective Your

Primary Threat

If you are tasked with defeating a head Ogre, don't make all the opposition

along the way solely smaller ogres.

Variety Brian Upton

61 Players Should See

Their Goal Before

They Achieve It

The "No Backward Puzzles" rule. The satisfaction of achieving a goal is

magnified when the goal has been clear (and/or literally visible) for some time.

Solving a puzzle or surmounting an obstacle without even knowing you were

doing it, or without knowing why, robs the player of satisfaction.

Psych Warren

Spector, Ron

Gilbert

64 Make the Hunter

Become the Hunted

Provide opportunities to switch roles and have the player alternate between

being predator and prey, even sometimes simultaneously. (Related to the idea

in dramatic writing of "reversal of fortune")

Meta, Psych Noah Falstein

70 Provide Visual

Weenies to Draw

Player

As Disney does in theme parks, provide distant but visible enticing objects - a

weenie - to lead player on through the environment. Movie term derives from

use of hot dogs to wrangle animals on a set

Level Design Eri Izawa

74 Sound Can Lead a

Transition

Often used in film, one can hear a new environment or character before they

actually appear on screen. (Standard movie rule too)

Psych Rich Vogel

86 Differentiate Between

Game Design and

Experience Design

(Not sure I know what this means - NF) Meta Raph Koster

89 Emphasize Dramatic

Reveals

Build emotional impact with dramatic discovery of new areas, characters, story

and plot points

Psych Brian Upton

93 Use Interest Curve to

Identify Dead Spots

Graphing the player's interest over the course of gameplay can help spot

problem areas.

Meta Jesse Schell

94 Write Player Narrative

to Identify Problems

In the early design phases, one way to find problems ahead of time is to write a

narrative from the player's point of view, describing the gameplay and the

experience of playing.

Meta Marc Cerny

Table 9: Rules of the 400 project which relates to the LPS-model

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4.4 Investigating the LPS-model categories

This section defines the model-categories, and gives examples of design principles surrounding them, but

these are simply examples, and should not be perceived as a megalomanic attempt to define a universal

design vision in all 1.st/3.rd person action games. The examples are simply a way of illustrating how a

design vision and art direction can be implemented through the LPS-model. Some of the sections below

are based on a previously written non-published report in which I deal with a similar topic.

4.4.1 Setting

Level-segment name Name of level-segment

Location In which setting does the level-segment occur?

Inside/outside Is it inside or outside?

Size What is the size of the current location (small/medium/large)?

Player Reward Is a ‘water cooler moment’ present

Table 10: Setting category of the LPS-model

This category deals with the setting of the level-segment, and breaks it down into parameters; segment

location, whether it’s inside or outside, and how large the dimensions of the current area are. The final

parameter in the Setting subset deals with the potential presence of ‘water cooler moments’ (the parts of a

game discussed with you colleague at the water cooler) after a long intense fight i.e. is the player rewarded

with an epic piece of architecture or cut-scene.

The following will give examples of how architectural guidelines can be applied in level design to create a

coherent design which is more than the sum of its parts, where the architecture itself plays a role in

enhancing the play experience. This may sound cryptic, but is actually quite obvious; the idea is to create an

environment which; seems native for the inhabitants, yields visual rewards to the player for overcoming an

obstacle, and support the intended player emotion.

The setting of each level is the most obvious variable to adjust to ensure architectural variation. It is part of

what Mike Lopez, Creative Manager at THQ, call the environment progression (Figure 3) in his Gamasutra

paper Game Design Fundamentals.(25)

44

Alongside large scale setting variation, which is the most

obvious for the player and perhaps most important for the

story progression, the level designer can also work with

variations in a smaller, but equally important, manner.

Changes between indoor and outdoor as well as a change in

the size of the area can create much needed diversity in the

individual levels. Inspiration can be found in a lot of real-world

architecture e.g. when walking around in the narrow tortuous

streets in Vatican City only to turn a corner and seeing the

huge St Peter’s square in front of St Peter’s church. This kind

of deliberate contrast in shape and size is a well known

phenomenon within architecture. I won’t dive too deeply into

the subject but mention the probable benefits games can

achieve by utilizing the same methods.

An example of a game taking advantage of the long history of architectural theories is World of Warcraft

which according to Matthias Ljungströms paper The use of architectural patterns in MMORPGs (26) draws

heavily on patterns proposed in the classical architectural work A pattern Language. (18) Ljungström talks

about how the distribution of towns in World of Warcraft, as well as city facilities adheres closely to the

patterns proposed by Alexander.

The LPS-model only includes variables concerning the varying size in a level, as well information on whether

the scenes play out in an indoor or outdoor environment. It could indeed be interesting to dive deeper into

architectural theories about urban planning and beholder response, but it is outside the scope of this

paper, but it seems that architectural theories have a lot to offer in the planning of game segmentation,

just by considering the examples in the above.

Figure 9: St Peter's square in Vatican City

45

4.4.2 Gameplay

Length The average time it takes to complete the given level-segment

Gameplay Which form of gameplay is necessary to complete the level-segment

Intensity An integer from 1-10 describing the perceived experience intensity

Table 11: Gameplay category of the LPS-model

This is one of the most important categories and has been described throughout the entire paper. It is

important not to bombard the player with high intensity gameplay without inserting break for him to catch

his breath, as well as building up suspense for the next potentially intense encounter.

The notion of having a formal way of orchestrating the perceived intensity is common within narrative

media such as films. A tool much used in traditional narrative media is the Berettermodel, also called the

Hollywood model, which can be used to structure the narrative tension of a given story. The ideas that

preceded the model came from Aristotle who laid out some ground rules of what characterized a story. The

Berettermodel in its current form seems to stem from Scandinavia, but no author is credited for its

creation, at least I have not been able to find such information. The Berettermodel have narrative tension

on the y-axis and time on the x-axis, and consists of the eight steps presented in the following.

1) Prelude

2) Presentation

3) First turning point

4) Elaboration

5) Point of no return

6) Second turning point

7) Conflict resolution

8) The coda

The model have through the years proven its validity, but what hold true for traditional narratives need not

necessarily hold true within the scope of interactive media. This paper loosely adopts the notion of the

Figure 10: The Beretter/Hollywood model

46

curve, not from a story point of view, but on the premise that variations in perceived intensity add quality

to games as well as more traditional narrative media. This paper suggests, for level design purposes,

exchanging the narrative tension on the y-axis with gameplay intensity, to keep track of intensity variations

throughout each level, and in the game as a whole.

It should once again be noted, that it is the concept of

variation, and not the story structure which is

important in this paper. Perhaps a more accurate

graph would be that of a sine-wave although with an

increasing y-value. The shape of the curve is

substantiated by rule number 39 in the 400-project as

described in section 4.3:

“Over the course of time a game should increase in difficulty in rough proportion to the player's increasing

expertise - but that rate should vary like a sine wave (or think of it as vibrato) to provide peaks and valleys of

increasing difficulty.”

The shape of the curve is of course not a universal truth, but should be shaped to support the vision of the

game design document.

To further justice the claim that variation in gameplay is an integral part of good level design, this paper will

in the following section draw on various statements from game/level designers in the industry.

Ed Byrne, game designer and level designer on game productions such as Splinter Cell and Harry Potter

dedicates a section of his book Game Level Design on gameplay rhythm. He initially focuses on that the

rhythms of events, and the intensity of these, are used within basically all forms of entertainment to set up

expectations and deliver surprises for the audience. He states that without gameplay rhythm, which is

characterized by the variation in gameplay intensity, there would be no suspense which is the prime actor

for an immersive experience. A horror movie where the main character is being chased non-stop from

beginning to end would have a hard time creating an interesting experience, thus breaking the suspension

of disbelief.

“To create tension – if only in the player’s imagination – there has to be diversity of experience, pauses for

effect, sudden and unexpected occurrences, and long, disturbing sections dripping with suspense.”(27)

Figure 11: Proposed intensity graph

47

Cliffy Bleszinski, lead game designer at Epic, also talks about the importance of variation:

“Constant scare dull the senses. The scariest horror movies are the ones that lull the viewers into a false

sense of security and then spring something scary upon them, and a great level is no different.”(28)

A great example of how to orchestrate and vary the intensity in traditional narrative media is in the movie

Apocalypse Now (29) where the Captain and one of his crewmen are walking through the forest to gather

mangoes. The ambient sound level is quite high, but is gradually lowered for a longer period of time. The

audience is then, subconsciously, sharpening their hearing sense in order to hear the ambient sounds, at

which point a tiger attacks and the volume is turned up high again. This creates a higher emotional

response due to the contrast in sound levels, which is exactly the same effect the architectural contrast at

St Peter’s Square, as previously mentioned, attempts to achieve. This way of orchestrating events can also

be seen in Half-Life2: Episode Two where Gordon Freeman, the protagonist of the game, makes in way

through a level while crouching to avoid heavy fire, thereby limiting his view frustum. When he finally gets

to a window where he can climb through, he gets to his feet only to see an enemy point his weapon at the

player from point blank range. This is a sequence where the player is under constant fire, but is completely

safe while crouching. The trick is then to guide the player to an apparent safe-zone only to expose him for

an unforeseen event.

Similar to the premise of this paper, Byrne & Bleszinski does not mention the actual story in games, but

merely the means of how the story is told. On top of these notions he argues for the importance of

deciding on level rhythm at an early stage of the development, since changes are hard to implement at a

later stage. Although this is true to a large degree, the nature of iterative game development often requires

that ideas must be reworked throughout the game development process. This is once again where the

justification of the LPS-model comes into play, since it, as mentioned in section 2.4.6, is meant to be a very

dynamic tool which aid in communicating design changes.

48

4.4.3 Aural

Ambient soundscape Frequency domain of ambient soundscape

Music Frequency domain of music

Table 12: Aural category of the LPS-model

This category is not integral for the work of the level designer, but can hopefully aid the sound-team in

organizing which frequency domain to operate in, so that the soundtrack doesn’t drown potentially

important ambient sounds. This section of the paper would perhaps benefit from the input of sound

designers, since I have no previous knowledge about design considerations in this field.

4.4.4 Story

Story Setup What knowledge is necessary for the player to continue

Sequence walkthrough A step by step walkthrough of the level-segment from the players point of

view

Table 13: Story category of the LPS-model

Even though the focus of this paper have been on narrative discourse, the model would not be complete

without information about the story progression and which important points need to be made within the

sequence. The sequence walkthrough can also aid the development team to get a joint understanding of

the narrative progression of the game.

4.4.5 Enemies

Enemies List the enemies which is included in level-segment

Table 14: Enemies category of the LPS-model

As with the previous section, this category is not accompanied by any universal design principles, but it is

obviously important when discussing variety within computer games.

49

4.4.6 Visuals

Weather Describe weather

Time of day Which time of day

Color scheme

Image Screenshot or concept drawing of level segment

Table 15: Visuals category of the LPS-model

The lighting and color parameters are cheap means of creating variation and contrasts in the level, without

having to add additional content; textures can be swapped, and light sources altered. A well created color

scheme has the potential of letting the level designer know which colors would be wise to take advantage

of, and also on how to create the transition into the next scene. Another important aspect of having

structured the use of color is that informed decisions can be made on whether or not certain enemies

stand out or blend in.

The following section will give a brief introduction to a brief history and the most basic elements of color

theory and subsequently how this theory has been used in level design by looking at an example of a Half-

Life2 scene.

From early 18th century to late 19th century the foundation of color theory was based on the notion that the

three primary colors were red, yellow, and blue (RYB). Painters and dyers had been using these three basis

colors for years, and it was believed that all colors could be created from that set; it later was proven that

magenta was impossible to create. That limitation amongst other factor gave rise to the notion that using

red, green, and blue (RGB) as primary colors was better suited to describe color perception. This was later

substantiated by physiological findings; it was discovered that the way humans perceived colors is based on

three unique kinds of receptors in the eye, and by measuring receptor response to color exposure, it could

be documented that exposure to pure RGB colors could isolate receptor responses.

The RGB color wheel is defined firstly by the primary colors which are equally spaced around the wheel.

The mixtures between the primary colors yield the secondary colors, which then again, mixed with

primaries create the tertiary colors. On top of this, colors placed directly opposite each other on the color

wheel are called complementary colors.

50

The most basic rules of color combinations are that; colors directly adjacent to each other (analogous),

colors 1/3 the way around the wheel (triadic) and colors directly opposite each other (complementary)

works well together. Besides these basic rules a number a color schemes exists but this paper will only deal

with the analogous, triadic and complementary color schemes.

Figure 12: Triadic and complementary colors (28)

Figure 13 is a screenshot taken from Half-Life2, and will serve as

an example on how to use color theory in the construction of a

visually appealing level. The following quote is from an analysis

and tutorial on how Valve uses color theory and how the game

NPC’s are placed in surrounding which accentuate them,

thereby making it easier for the player to notice them, while not

seeming out of place in the environment.

“The cream, dusty red, and burgundy set up a solid color range with nice accents and the burgundy as a

slight contrast. The burgundy and cream gets carried into the floor tiles and rust in the railings creating

strong visually appealing floors and railing that fit in...The Combine and the concrete however form a very

blue palette between their uniforms and the pale blue grey found in the floors and some ceilings. This also

continues into the barrels. So there are two palettes, usually that is a poor approach but checking the color

wheel for where the palettes are placed. Oranges and red sit opposite and 1/3 of the way round from the

blue, because of this fact they appear to accent and contrast thus sitting together nicely in the same image”

(30)

Figure 13: Half-life2 Screenshot

51

Another important point to notice is the blue light in the background which is a triadic color of the main

color, which creates a fluent transition into the next scene where the blue color is the main.

This was an example of how proven color theory can be applied to level design, but as previously

mentioned, this is merely an example of which parameters the LPS-model can relate to. A game could have

a completely different art direction, but the LPS-model as a tool to provide an overview is still valid.

4.4.7 Unique assets

Unique code List the unique code needed

Unique animation List the unique animation needed

Unique art assets List the unique art assets needed

Unique audio List the unique audio assets needed

Table 16: Unique Assets category of the LPS-model

This category doesn’t deal with any actual design considerations, but is included as a tool for the

development team to identify the assets needed in producing the level-segment.

52

4.5 Summary

The categories of the LPS-model span over both design parameters, as well as aspects which are important

for the rest of the production team. As mentioned, the examples in the above only illustrates how design

principles from other media can apply to level design, but cannot be thought of as a checklist for all games.

With regard to the categories dealing with production, the validity cannot be proven within the scope of

this thesis, but through own experience and logical inference, I feel confident in arguing that they indeed

will prove to be valuable guidelines in any production.

Marc Laidlaw, writer, level designer and game designer at Valve Software states in an interview with

Gamasutra:(31)

“The story bible is just a way of communicating a vision of the game to the rest of the team. For us,

sometimes the bible is effective, sometimes it is not very useful at all. Early in the design process it is very

useful, and in the end, when you want to pin down exactly what you’ve done (for the benefit of posterity,

sequels and third party developers), it’s useful again. But for a long middle section, you have to rely on

something more lie telepathy to keep the team in sync. Did I say ‘telepathy’? I meant ‘lots of meetings’.”

Laidlaw talks about ‘telepathy’ and lot of meetings as the only mean of keeping a team in sync with the

design vision. The LPS-model presents an easily modifiable framework to communicate these visions.

53

5 Model for analysis – HL2E2

Using the method previously described in 3.3, this section will break up a personal play-session of two

hours of Half-Life2: Episode2 into a number of segments, and investigate if the design adheres to the

principles of the LPS-model. The data presented in the following is based on the model-instances seen in

Appendix F – HL2E2 analysis (See 9.6).

Segment Setting Gameplay min. Intensity

Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part II Countryside Story 5 1

Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part II Mines Gravity-gun 2 4

Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part III Countryside Story 4 1

Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part IV Mines Puzzle 1 2

Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part V Countryside Story 6 1

Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part I Mines Puzzle 2 3

Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part II Underground Explore 1 1

Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part III Mines Fight 1 5

Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part IV Underground Fight 6 6

Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part V Mines Hold ground 12 7

Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VI Mines Hold ground 3 8

Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VII Mines Fight 6 6

Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VIII Underground Fight 6 7

Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part IX Mines Puzzle 4 2

Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part X Underground Escape 10 9

Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part XI Mines Story 7 2

Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part I Countryside Story 3 2

Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part II Countryside Boss 5 8

Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part III Countryside Puzzle 2 2

Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part IV Factory Story 2 1

Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part V Factory Explore 2 3

Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VI Factory Fight 4 6

Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VII Factory Fight 6 7

Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VIII Factory Fight 3 4

Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part IX Factory Confined-fight 6 8

Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part X Countryside Puzzle 4 2

Table 17: Level segment parameter values

54

5.1 Setting

Looking at the data in Table 17, it becomes clear that the setting changes continuously throughout the

game, but what is especially interesting is, the fact that the setting changes within each chapter as well. If

we look at how the four unique settings used in the first three chapters of HL2E2 are applied, we are able

to derive certain principles of the level design vision.

The first chapter constantly alternates between the ‘mine’ and ‘countryside’ setting. The second chapter

continues to use the mine-setting but is now alternating between ‘mine’ and ‘underground’. The third

chapter uses ‘factory’ and ‘countryside’, but alternates not in the same manner as the previous sections,

although this chapter changes between an outdoor and indoor factory setting continuously. This means

that the designer achieves a high degree of variation with limited means i.e. unique settings, which are

obviously extremely expensive assets to create. The continually changing, almost sine-wave’ish, use of

settings makes it possible to use the same assets again and again, since their presence is interrupted by a

completely different set of assets. Inserting the playtime of each setting into a graph, results in the

following:

It seems that each setting has relatively the same amount of playtime, which is an economically sound way

of utilizing ones assets. It should be noted, that the data in the above is based on my own play experiences,

and should be verified by a larger amount of play-throughs. But since it’s outside the scope of this thesis to

validate the LPS-model as a tool for production, as mentioned in section 2.4.1, but only to present the

logical inference that it may be just that, the data collected is found to be sufficient.

0,00

10,00

20,00

30,00

40,00Use of unique areas

55

5.2 Visuals

As presented as an example in section 4.4.6, HL2E2 uses color theory to great effect. It uses color in the

transitions between level-segments by providing a lighting which is the triadic color of the predominant

color, each time a change of setting occur. Each level has red, green or blue as the predominant color, and

when the player is about to enter a new setting, the entrance is lit by one of the other colors. This

eliminates ‘hard’ transitions and helps the player find his way. The continuous change in the color spectrum

is best illustrated by presenting a number of the sequential screenshots taken with three seconds apart

while playing. The images below span over a 2½ minutes period of playtime. The full catalog of screenshots

can be found on the CD-rom. By having color spectrum information imbedded in the LPS-model, it allows

the designer to take informed decisions on subsequent level-segments.

56

5.3 Gameplay intensity

Three chapters in Half-Life2: Episode Two have been analyzed, and the findings inserted into the LPS-model

to test the structure of a commercially successful game against the assumptions presented in this paper.

Playing through the three chapters took approximately two hours and by subdividing these two hours into

segments, using the method described in section 3.2, the analysis ends up with 26 distinct sequences.

These sequences can be found in Appendix F – HL2E2 analysis (Section 9.6). Most of the parameters in the

LPS-model could be objectively observed but gameplay intensity is obviously extremely subjective, thus the

following graph is solely based on personal experience. As mentioned in section 5.1, the analysis would

benefit from having a larger empirical base, but it is possible to conclude that gameplay intensity is

contrasted greatly throughout a playthrough of HL2E2, and it is the goal of the LPS-model to ensure just

this.

Figure 14: Intensity variation in HL2E2

57

6 The Bigger picture

This section will discuss the organizational benefits of letting the model being a part of a larger framework

which allows the producer to mine data from asset and mechanic usage in the game and using it as a part

of the basis for decisions.

It would be beneficiary for any development team to incorporate the data from the LPS-model instances

into a database, which allows instant feedback on how the play experience is orchestrated. Besides being a

tool to incorporate design visions, the LPS-model instances, when applied to a database, provides the

producer valuable data on the use of assets. Given the current cost of AAA production, it is necessary to get

the most out of the created assets, or as Hal Barwood writes in rule number 2 in the 400 project:

"Maximize Expressive Potential: Get the most out of your (always limited) material -- either find ways to

exploit an element of your game, or cut it out” (19)

Bioware was also very analytical in the design process when making Mass Effect. The way they record ‘time

spend reports’ and apply them to iterative design is explained in a GDC 2008 lecture by Arey and Swain:

“Time spent report: logs what players do, time per activity, cinematics, combat, convos (conversations), etc.

Shows time on average for players and helps developers judge if the balance is right for that level. If you

look at different Mass Effect levels, they have different mixes. Players like a variety. First version of Noveria

showed a lot of convos, not a lot of combat, so players said it was slow. So they changed the mix, added

more combat, removed some convos to get the right mix. Citadel is much much more convos heavy — 99

mins of convos and 22 of combat, because Citadel was important to the story.”(15)

Although the LPS-model is primarily a tool for designers to orchestrate the play experience, a bi-product is

that the data is easily applied to a larger framework, where issues as described by the two quotes in the

above are addressed. Having a clear cut design vision needs to be checked against its actual

implementation, which is what the LPS-model can provide.

Story

25%

Fight

35%Puzzle

12%

Explore

3%

Hold Ground

14%

Gravity-gun

2%

Confined-fight

5%

Boss

4%

Use of mechanics

0

2

4

6

8

10

0 20

Inte

nsi

ty

6.1 The framework

For the purpose of this model, all data from the LPS

turn is able to provide graphs on gameplay intensity varia

gameplay elements. Below are examples, taken from the HL2E2 analysis, of which kinds of information can

be retrieved by using the larger framework.

Perhaps a better way of implementing the framework would be to create a web

by linking word and excel document. This procedure would add a great deal of flexibility, but it

the scope of this project to develop

Story

25%

Fight

Use of mechanics

0,00

10,00

20,00

30,00

40,00Use of unique areas

40 60 80 100 120

Time

For the purpose of this model, all data from the LPS-instances are linked to an excel document

turn is able to provide graphs on gameplay intensity variation, use of unique settings and use of specific

Below are examples, taken from the HL2E2 analysis, of which kinds of information can

using the larger framework. The actual excel spreadsheet can be found of the CD

Perhaps a better way of implementing the framework would be to create a web-utility, instead of doing it

by linking word and excel document. This procedure would add a great deal of flexibility, but it

the scope of this project to develop the framework, but merely to present its logics and possibilities.

58

Use of unique areas

120

excel document, which in

tion, use of unique settings and use of specific

Below are examples, taken from the HL2E2 analysis, of which kinds of information can

The actual excel spreadsheet can be found of the CD-rom.

utility, instead of doing it

by linking word and excel document. This procedure would add a great deal of flexibility, but it’s not within

framework, but merely to present its logics and possibilities.

59

7 Conclusion

The greatest pitfall of this thesis is the attempt to validate a model, meant for production, through

theoretical means. The collapse of the initial procedure of doing it in collaboration with ZeitGuyz Game

Developers, which unfortunately had to close due to funding issues, meant that a different method of

validation needed to be found. That meant that the focus shifted from proving the validity of the model as

a production tool, to a more thorough investigation of design principles.

The CRBP provides a legitimate base for investigating the presence of universal principles of aesthetic

appreciation, and when combined with remarks from game scholars and industry professionals, the basis

for a hands-on model based on variety is justified.

The occurrence analysis of 100+ game reviews yields interesting results, and is quite similar to the findings

of Dan Arey and Chris Swain in their research of correlations between certain qualities in games and their

review-score, as well as the direct correlation between review-score and revenue. They found variation to

be a prime quality in high scoring games, and lack thereof to be a detractive element in low-scoring games.

This adheres well to the hypothesis of this thesis, and gives validity to the attempt of creating a tool which

organizes variety. Additionally the occurrence analysis as well as the research by Arey and Swain identified

corresponding categories of important game qualities, which were used as parameters of the LPS-model.

The method could have benefited from not only including word occurrences, but also the semantics of

sentences as well. This seemed not to corrupt the findings to a great extent though, since the conclusion of

both the occurrence analysis and the research by Arey and Swain yielded similar results.

It is my firm belief that, although unsubstantiated, the LPS-model has the potential of being a valuable tool

in iterative development and ease the communication in large teams. The reasoning behind variety as an

invaluable quality in games, and that the LPS-model can help orchestrate this, is sound, but the final test of

whether or not it is applicable in large scale production remains to be seen.

60

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106. —. Gears of War review. [Online] Nov 6, 2006. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.]

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107. —. Halo 3 review. [Online] Sep 21, 2007. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.] http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3163125&p=4&sec=REVIEWS.

108. —. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots review. [Online] Jun 12, 2008. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.]


109. —. Call Of Duty 4. [Online] Nov 5, 2007. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.] http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3164177&p=37&sec=REVIEWS.

110. —. Mass Effect review. [Online] Nov 19, 2007. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.] http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3164453&p=4&sec=REVIEWS.

111. —. Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter review. [Online] Mar 21, 2006. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.]


112. —. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas review. [Online] Nov 21, 2006. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.]


113. —. Hour of Victory review. [Online] Jul 5, 2007. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.] http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3160803&p=4&sec=REVIEWS.

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115. —. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer review. [Online] Jun 27, 2007. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.]


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118. —. The Orange Box review. [Online] Oct 29, 2007. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.] http://xbox360.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r31784.htm.

119. —. Gears of War review. [Online] Nov 10, 2006. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.] http://xbox360.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r26748.htm.

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http://ps3.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r28100.htm.

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123. —. Crysis review. [Online] Nov 27, 2007. [Cited: Oct 29, 2008.] http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r28652.htm.

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http://xbox360.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r26327.htm.

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66

9 Appendix

9.1 Appendix A - Frequency word script

Sub WordFrequency()

Const maxwords = 15000 'Maximum unique words allowed

Dim SingleWord As String 'Raw word pulled from doc

Dim Words(maxwords) As String 'Array to hold unique words

Dim Freq(maxwords) As Integer 'Frequency counter for unique words

Dim WordNum As Integer 'Number of unique words

Dim ByFreq As Boolean 'Flag for sorting order

Dim ttlwds As Long 'Total words in the document

Dim Excludes As String 'Words to be excluded

Dim Found As Boolean 'Temporary flag

Dim j, k, l, Temp As Integer 'Temporary variables

Dim ans As String 'How user wants to sort results

Dim tword As String

Excludes = "”

'Find out how to sort

ByFreq = True

ans = InputBox("Sort by WORD or by FREQ?", "Sort order", "FREQ")

If ans = "" Then End

If UCase(ans) = "WORD" Then

ByFreq = False

End If

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory

System.Cursor = wdCursorWait

WordNum = 0

ttlwds = ActiveDocument.Words.Count

For Each aword In ActiveDocument.Words

SingleWord = Trim(LCase(aword))

If SingleWord < "a" Or SingleWord > "z" Then

SingleWord = ""

End If

If InStr(Excludes, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then

SingleWord = ""

End If

If Len(SingleWord) > 0 Then

Found = False

For j = 1 To WordNum

If Words(j) = SingleWord Then

Freq(j) = Freq(j) + 1

Found = True

Exit For

End If

Next j

If Not Found Then

WordNum = WordNum + 1

Words(WordNum) = SingleWord

Freq(WordNum) = 1

End If

If WordNum > maxwords - 1 Then

67

j = MsgBox("Too many words.", vbOKOnly)

Exit For

End If

End If

ttlwds = ttlwds - 1

StatusBar = "Remaining: " & ttlwds & ", Unique: " & WordNum

Next aword

' Now sort it into word order

For j = 1 To WordNum - 1

k = j

For l = j + 1 To WordNum

If (Not ByFreq And Words(l) < Words(k)) _

Or (ByFreq And Freq(l) > Freq(k)) Then k = l

Next l

If k <> j Then

tword = Words(j)

Words(j) = Words(k)

Words(k) = tword

Temp = Freq(j)

Freq(j) = Freq(k)

Freq(k) = Temp

End If

StatusBar = "Sorting: " & WordNum - j

Next j

tmpName = ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate.FullName

Documents.Add Template:=tmpName, NewTemplate:=False

Selection.ParagraphFormat.TabStops.ClearAll

With Selection

For j = 1 To WordNum

.TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(Freq(j))) _

& vbTab & Words(j) & vbCrLf

Next j

End With

System.Cursor = wdCursorNormal

j = MsgBox("There were " & Trim(Str(WordNum)) & _

" different words ", vbOKOnly, "Finished")

End Sub

68

9.2 Appendix B - Frequency data

9301 the, 4355 to, 4228 and, 4053 a, 3896 of, 2777 you, 2332 in, 2158 is, 1922 that, 1315 it, 1303 game, 1301 with, 1263 as, 1154

for, 1128 are, 1031 on, 1016 your, 996 but, 862 can, 842 this, 771 be, 718 or, 711 from, 662 an, 599 at, 595 up, 594 all, 587 out, 580

one, 567 have, 545 it's, 523 more, 517 will, 502 so, 501 if, 486 like, 459 some, 452 not, 445 when, 434 there, 428 by, 417 i, 404

you'll, 387 which, 387 just, 364 has, 352 into, 351 get, 350 even, 350 they, 338 through, 337 them, 331 also, 300 while, 299 its, 299

time, 298 only, 297 their, 290 way, 289 other, 285 play, 275 we, 270 much, 270 than, 269 was, 268 most, 266 no, 265 first, 261

well, 260 multiplayer, 258 you're, 258 enemies, 255 about, 251 good, 248 what, 246 any, 240 down, 235 gameplay, 234 two, 232

do, 231 player, 230 these, 228 around, 228 games, 227 take, 227 few, 221 make, 217 over, 206 action, 206 new, 204 every, 203

use, 203 where, 202 too, 199 story, 199 players, 198 how, 197 really, 194 single, 192 though, 183 there's, 183 enemy, 181 because,

181 then, 180 his, 180 weapons, 178 each, 177 team, 176 been, 175 very, 175 same, 174 level, 172 see, 170 would, 168 find, 166

sound, 165 who, 160 online, 158 little, 156 playing, 156 character, 155 cover, 154 system, 153 campaign, 152 after, 152 still, 150

fun, 150 don't, 148 off, 148 back, 147 shooter, 147 many, 147 best, 145 experience, 142 look, 141 different, 141 here, 140 right,

138 such, 137 combat, 136 levels, 135 three, 135 world, 135 that's, 130 makes, 129 before, 129 another, 128 may, 128 things, 127

great, 126 go, 125 enough, 124 graphics, 122 never, 121 both, 121 now, 121 he, 121 mode, 121 isn't, 120 doesn't, 119 need, 118

feel, 117 end, 117 own, 117 those, 115 going, 115 set, 113 pretty, 113 want, 112 bad, 112 game's, 112 long, 111 run, 110 series,

110 better, 110 does, 110 once, 108 being, 108 war, 108 fire, 108 could, 107 times, 107 bit, 105 lot, 105 person, 104 characters, 104

next, 102 ever, 102 our, 102 were, 102 ai, 101 you've, 101 yourself, 101 my, 101 episode, 100 thing, 100 hours, 99 come, 98

something, 98 know, 98 away, 98 side, 97 however, 97 effects, 96 city, 95 should, 94 xbox, 94 since, 93 without, 93 gun, 93 far, 93

had, 93 looks, 92 voice, 92 real, 92 snake, 91 always, 91 map, 91 point, 91 everything, 91 able, 91 fight, 90 weapon, 90 battle, 90

again, 90 co, 89 open, 89 big, 88 they're, 88 takes, 88 work, 87 quite, 86 between, 85 difficulty, 84 high, 84 me, 84 op, 83 us, 83

maps, 83 behind, 82 last, 82 modes, 82 points, 82 say, 82 full, 81 often, 81 actually, 81 aren't, 81 power, 81 mission, 80 during, 79

won't, 79 design, 79 moments, 78 hard, 78 looking, 78 fact, 77 place, 77 can't, 76 old, 76 easy, 76 move, 76 people, 76 soldiers, 75

control, 75 feels, 74 comes, 73 simply, 73 start, 73 across, 73 screen, 72 shoot, 71 against, 71 either, 71 kill, 71 course, 71 keep, 70

entire, 70 played, 70 amazing, 70 him, 70 almost, 70 used, 70 above, 69 yet, 69 anything, 69 give, 69 based, 69 visuals, 69 using, 69

years, 68 sure, 68 fantastic, 68 close, 68 interesting, 68 excellent, 67 music, 67 movie, 67 missions, 67 put, 67 less, 67 part, 66

made, 66 within, 65 pc, 65 making, 65 might, 65 head, 65 done, 65 alien, 64 four, 64 options, 64 hit, 64 nothing, 64 click, 64

number, 64 plot, 64 environments, 63 getting, 63 button, 62 solid, 62 rather, 62 seen, 62 least, 61 must, 61 shot, 61 got, 61 sense,

60 shooting, 60 itself, 60 along, 59 fighting, 59 powers, 59 help, 58 probably, 58 standard, 58 turn, 58 gets, 58 nectar, 57 quickly, 57

perfect, 57 life, 57 man, 57 setting, 57 pick, 57 past, 57 variety, 57 live, 56 special, 56 guns, 55 guys, 55 second, 55 taking, 55

soldier, 55 sounds, 54 it’s, 54 short, 54 review, 54 until, 54 why, 54 amount, 54 ability, 53 try, 53 style, 53 title, 53 running, 53 five,

53 called, 52 health, 52 top, 52 kind, 52 given, 52 shooters, 52 portal, 51 plenty, 51 deathmatch, 51 attack, 51 sometimes, 51

ground, 50 throughout, 50 expect, 50 dialogue, 50 change, 50 others, 50 else, 50 hand, 50 we've, 49 damage, 48 acting, 48 create,

48 sniper, 48 means, 48 powerful, 48 left, 48 various, 48 finally, 48 seems, 48 available, 48 seconds, 48 check, 48 instead, 48 ways,

47 under, 47 presentation, 47 gaming, 47 seem, 47 exciting, 47 features, 47 think, 47 camera, 47 doing, 47 small, 47 sequences, 47

rapture, 46 choose, 46 death, 46 together, 46 huge, 46 free, 46 several, 46 cool, 46 worth, 46 year, 46 pop, 46 battles, 45 found, 45

grenades, 45 die, 45 problem, 45 already, 45 moment, 45 impressive, 45 gear, 44 having, 44 gamers, 44 did, 44 machine, 44 trying,

44 completely, 44 addition, 44 mechanics, 44 unique, 44 what's, 44 especially, 44 example, 44 scenes, 44 final, 43 usually, 43 stand,

43 controls, 43 middle, 43 intense, 43 six, 43 attacks, 43 half, 43 her, 43 room, 43 squad, 42 environment, 42 complete, 42 issues,

42 he's, 42 large, 42 fast, 42 support, 42 cut, 42 vehicles, 42 previous, 41 force, 41 overall, 41 human, 41 main, 41 storyline, 41

save, 41 whole, 41 bullets, 41 whether, 41 areas, 41 let, 41 clear, 41 fans, 41 items, 41 screens, 41 dead, 41 face, 41 metal, 40

including, 40 truly, 40 said, 40 assault, 40 version, 40 gives, 40 mantel, 40 thanks, 40 epic, 40 forge, 39 possible, 39 stop, 39 tactical,

39 third, 39 abilities, 39 certain, 39 elements, 39 problems, 39 firing, 39 class, 39 allows, 39 light, 39 stealth, 38 yes, 38 challenge,

38 role, 38 range, 38 lack, 38 aliens, 38 image, 38 boss, 38 invisible, 38 nice, 38 heavy, 38 visual, 37 simple, 37 package, 37 couple,

37 works, 37 anyone, 37 details, 37 wall, 37 extremely, 37 moving, 37 easily, 37 reason, 37 ratings, 37 original, 37 you’ll, 37 ending,

37 created, 36 add, 36 particularly, 36 area, 36 job, 36 effect, 36 maybe, 36 perhaps, 36 everyone, 36 ii, 36 friends, 36 teammates,

36 satisfying, 35 types, 35 feature, 35 killing, 35 become, 35 grenade, 35 definitely, 35 goes, 35 match, 35 rifle, 35 love, 35 finish, 34

concept, 34 exactly, 34 line, 34 likely, 34 didn't, 34 locust, 33 video, 33 plays, 33 you’re, 33 designed, 33 direction, 33 nearly, 33

stuff, 33 genre, 33 vehicle, 33 water, 33 air, 33 bioware, 32 titles, 32 don’t, 32 settings, 32 sort, 32 combine, 32 objects, 32 melee,

32 beat, 32 you'd, 32 fine, 32 alone, 32 someone, 32 important, 32 lets, 32 helps, 32 chief, 32 sequence, 32 detail, 32 later, 32

engine, 32 vision, 32 s, 31 objectives, 31 idea, 31 decent, 31 models, 31 impossible, 31 textures, 31 incredibly, 31 tell, 31 offer, 31

soundtrack, 31 specific, 31 rate, 31 similar, 31 score, 31 suit, 30 guy, 30 awesome, 30 longer, 30 rest, 30 coming, 30 notice, 30

command, 30 low, 30 target, 30 spend, 30 spot, 30 explosions, 30 boring, 30 hear, 30 despite, 30 technical, 30 energy, 30 difficult,

30 although, 30 hour, 30 master, 30 gravity, 29 blood, 29 basic, 29 near, 29 call, 29 type, 29 quality, 29 space, 29 armor, 29 blast, 29

constantly, 29 themselves, 29 frame, 29 begin, 29 normal, 29 tank, 29 filled, 29 core, 29 matches, 29 chapter, 29 beautiful, 29

perks, 29 fortress, 28 walls, 28 wait, 28 further, 28 frustrating, 28 foes, 28 offers, 28 standing, 28 beyond, 28 matter, 28 position, 28

forces, 28 unfortunately, 28 x, 28 order, 28 universe, 28 shotgun, 28 split, 28 console, 28 approach, 28 gorgeous, 28 mind, 27 soon,

27 bugs, 27 attention, 27 box, 27 objective, 27 care, 27 future, 27 appeal, 27 broken, 27 mexico, 27 stuck, 27 drop, 27 chance, 27

69

battlefield, 27 fights, 27 weak, 27 piece, 27 feeling, 27 becomes, 27 franchise, 27 incredible, 27 they'll, 27 hardcore, 27 events, 27

kojima, 27 valve, 26 scoring, 26 act, 26 return, 26 wrong, 26 lots, 26 talk, 26 entertaining, 26 developer, 26 guide, 26 inside, 26

fairly, 26 mix, 26 quick, 26 show, 26 narrative, 26 encounter, 26 multiple, 26 advantage, 26 press, 26 star, 26 rebels, 26 happens, 26

i've, 26 result, 26 capture, 26 tanks, 25 generic, 25 occasionally, 25 certainly, 25 mean, 25 friend, 25 ammo, 25 replay, 25 imagine,

25 comments, 25 form, 25 repetitive, 25 depending, 25 isn’t, 25 deep, 25 planet, 25 view, 25 medium, 25 skills, 25 jump, 25 bullet,

25 forward, 25 hell, 25 strong, 25 follow, 25 base, 25 pieces, 25 speed, 25 effective, 25 let's, 25 reload, 25 brings, 24 instance, 24

stage, 24 shots, 24 stay, 24 cutscenes, 24 blow, 24 buy, 24 menu, 24 turret, 24 allow, 24 detailed, 24 bring, 24 parts, 24 body, 24

intelligence, 24 bunch, 24 ride, 24 progress, 24 via, 24 audio, 24 cinematic, 24 infinity, 23 mostly, 23 mechanic, 23 realistic, 23

absolutely, 23 killed, 23 entirely, 23 otherwise, 23 true, 23 due, 23 upon, 23 appear, 23 tactics, 23 minutes, 23 helicopter, 23 comic,

23 military, 23 strength, 23 throw, 23 major, 23 poor, 23 content, 23 members, 23 red, 23 group, 23 rocket, 23 particular, 23

provides, 23 classic, 23 eye, 23 name, 23 easier, 23 perfectly, 23 plasmids, 23 gears, 23 bungie, 23 alyx, 22 case, 22 playstation, 22

wide, 22 early, 22 ends, 22 unlock, 22 ones, 22 adds, 22 depth, 22 planets, 22 reach, 22 building, 22 aspect, 22 thought, 22 load, 22

tough, 22 punch, 22 wouldn't, 22 switch, 22 black, 22 generally, 22 lighting, 22 fps, 22 places, 22 walk, 22 am, 22 cause, 22 giving,

22 waiting, 22 general, 22 immediately, 22 massive, 22 stick, 22 delivers, 22 rpg, 22 chainsaw, 22 gordon, 21 linear, 21 limited, 21

frequently, 21 that’s, 21 fall, 21 machines, 21 enjoy, 21 lasting, 21 hammer, 21 aim, 21 supposed, 21 plus, 21 impact, 21 read, 21

gain, 21 feet, 21 hold, 21 bar, 21 hero, 21 developers, 21 deliver, 21 device, 21 enjoyable, 21 nature, 21 uses, 21 there’s, 21

situation, 21 told, 21 fan, 21 aspects, 21 legendary, 21 achievement, 21 personal, 21 familiar, 21 released, 21 explore, 21 question,

21 classes, 21 stunning, 21 leave, 21 snake's, 20 perspective, 20 totally, 20 deal, 20 break, 20 rating, 20 description, 20 annoying, 20

serious, 20 corner, 20 texture, 20 brilliant, 20 keeping, 20 white, 20 starts, 20 attempt, 20 access, 20 hate, 20 holding, 20 forget, 20

gunfire, 20 movies, 20 i'm, 20 appears, 20 watch, 20 clearly, 20 taken, 20 troops, 20 we're, 20 known, 20 somewhat, 20 smoke, 20

miss, 20 art, 20 provide, 20 heart, 20 fully, 20 plasmid, 19 unless, 19 highly, 19 avoid, 19 eventually, 19 survive, 19 difference, 19

closing, 19 ign, 19 physics, 19 lost, 19 modern, 19 mention, 19 versions, 19 option, 19 provided, 19 manages, 19 challenging, 19

day, 19 location, 19 came, 19 streets, 19 purchase, 19 perform, 19 adventure, 19 technology, 19 worst, 19 woman, 19 aiming, 19

balance, 19 greatest, 19 men, 19 happen, 19 kills, 19 moves, 19 issue, 19 step, 19 film, 19 surface, 19 offline, 19 promise, 19

include, 19 artificial, 19 minute, 19 toward, 19 cry, 19 freedom, 19 tale, 19 jungle, 19 ubisoft, 19 relatively, 19 flag, 19 surprise, 19

hide, 19 night, 19 bland, 19 earn, 19 drebin, 18 choices, 18 whatever, 18 apart, 18 link, 18 hope, 18 ship, 18 extra, 18 game’s, 18

ten, 18 friendly, 18 dozens, 18 pull, 18 videogame, 18 strange, 18 turning, 18 super, 18 computer, 18 skill, 18 generation, 18 ps3, 18

haven't, 18 army, 18 sides, 18 driving, 18 thrown, 18 cast, 18 history, 18 focus, 18 sweet, 18 aside, 18 took, 18 key, 18 days, 18

films, 18 search, 18 animation, 18 included, 18 wwii, 18 struggle, 18 north, 18 seeing, 18 thinking, 18 buildings, 18 situations, 18

explosive, 18 splicers, 18 terrific, 18 systems, 18 insane, 18 ward, 18 nanosuit, 18 korean, 17 pace, 17 theme, 17 slow, 17 favorite,

17 ugly, 17 essentially, 17 sight, 17 evil, 17 flying, 17 terms, 17 obvious, 17 actual, 17 sci, 17 drive, 17 harder, 17 ago, 17 test, 17

rounds, 17 useful, 17 thankfully, 17 hardly, 17 cosmic, 17 directly, 17 fly, 17 figure, 17 achievements, 17 scene, 17 sets, 17 kick, 17

majority, 17 wasn't, 17 happy, 17 regardless, 17 choice, 17 thrilling, 17 storytelling, 17 sit, 17 notch, 17 land, 17 teams, 17 leaves, 17

self, 17 development, 17 reasons, 17 minor, 17 onto, 17 begins, 17 talking, 17 rarely, 17 customization, 17 rich, 17 superb, 17

crytek, 17 quests, 16 somehow, 16 actors, 16 puts, 16 weaponry, 16 animations, 16 fi, 16 wants, 16 rifles, 16 opening, 16 success,

16 select, 16 controlling, 16 draw, 16 considering, 16 eight, 16 puzzle, 16 compelling, 16 book, 16 pressing, 16 locations, 16 door, 16

learn, 16 tech, 16 brief, 16 pros, 16 cons, 16 list, 16 direct, 16 usual, 16 turned, 16 handful, 16 additional, 16 none, 16 saw, 16

process, 16 blue, 16 floor, 16 bottom, 16 party, 16 lead, 16 mark, 16 runs, 16 smart, 16 manner, 16 below, 16 decision, 16 outside,

16 scale, 16 pack, 16 goal, 16 placed, 16 path, 16 hands, 16 chapters, 16 finishing, 16 working, 16 sea, 16 value, 16 biggest, 16

spectacular, 16 balanced, 16 launch, 16 decisions, 16 leader, 16 adam, 16 words, 16 wonderful, 16 date, 16 equipment, 16

significant, 16 needs, 16 marcus, 16 cog, 16 launcher, 15 movement, 15 happening, 15 escape, 15 requires, 15 creatures, 15

occasional, 15 numbers, 15 windows, 15 credits, 15 added, 15 wanted, 15 surprisingly, 15 scattered, 15 nicely, 15 speaking, 15 dark,

15 hits, 15 custom, 15 total, 15 mess, 15 keeps, 15 upgrade, 15 doors, 15 graphical, 15 note, 15 visually, 15 handy, 15 finished, 15

except, 15 carry, 15 dying, 15 positions, 15 she, 15 rock, 15 meter, 15 leaving, 15 subtle, 15 alive, 15 fiction, 15 built, 15 bits, 15

turrets, 15 sections, 15 smooth, 15 competitive, 15 trigger, 15 presented, 15 front, 15 advanced, 15 quest, 15 sneaking, 15

technically, 15 straight, 15 months, 15 distance, 15 results, 15 equipped, 15 barely, 15 grab, 15 challenges, 15 enter, 15 dynamic, 15

hiding, 15 arbiter, 14 hitting, 14 giant, 14 sent, 14 seemingly, 14 doesn’t, 14 ups, 14 oh, 14 turns, 14 deadly, 14 sky, 14 slightly, 14

strike, 14 solo, 14 among, 14 mr, 14 unlike, 14 d, 14 hidden, 14 himself, 14 slowly, 14 dream, 14 loading, 14 foe, 14 laser, 14

remember, 14 magic, 14 collect, 14 rebel, 14 strategy, 14 actions, 14 green, 14 named, 14 ready, 14 continue, 14 following, 14

climb, 14 diverse, 14 versus, 14 looked, 14 resolution, 14 tons, 14 creating, 14 faster, 14 handled, 14 changed, 14 fortunately, 14

ahead, 14 require, 14 thus, 14 train, 14 framerate, 14 stages, 14 tied, 14 catch, 14 price, 14 memorable, 14 forced, 14 offering, 14

daddy, 14 item, 14 helicopters, 14 spawn, 14 fenix, 13 targets, 13 changes, 13 earth, 13 school, 13 anywhere, 13 ton, 13 impressed,

13 wars, 13 endless, 13 non, 13 re, 13 shock, 13 conversations, 13 potential, 13 lose, 13 individual, 13 torch, 13 towards, 13 higher,

13 constant, 13 expected, 13 flat, 13 pad, 13 awful, 13 tiny, 13 mouse, 13 late, 13 heavily, 13 formula, 13 packed, 13 nearby, 13

gone, 13 alongside, 13 drops, 13 damn, 13 upgrades, 13 it'll, 13 carpenter, 13 protect, 13 nor, 13 rush, 13 bodies, 13 scripted, 13

handle, 13 beautifully, 13 track, 13 expectations, 13 premise, 13 eyes, 13 method, 13 effectively, 13 worthy, 13 setup, 13 allies, 13

basically, 13 threat, 13 says, 13 ghost, 13 orders, 13 firefights, 13 mysterious, 13 cases, 13 underwater, 13 wrench, 13 genetic, 13

beauty, 13 science, 13 field, 13 psyche, 13 conclusion, 13 rescue, 13 saved, 13 watching, 13 pause, 13 terrorists, 13 falling, 13

seven, 13 shepard, 13 galaxy, 12 worse, 12 realism, 12 defend, 12 accuracy, 12 paced, 12 hoping, 12 default, 12 fare, 12 fair, 12

engaging, 12 tougher, 12 necessary, 12 firearms, 12 join, 12 surprised, 12 heads, 12 hot, 12 creation, 12 gen, 12 skip, 12 faces, 12

increase, 12 interest, 12 realize, 12 controlled, 12 motion, 12 opponents, 12 spent, 12 appreciate, 12 bots, 12 stands, 12 smoothly,

70

12 drug, 12 distinct, 12 ignore, 12 leap, 12 firefight, 12 execution, 12 robust, 12 locked, 12 dropped, 12 roll, 12 glitches, 12 missing,

12 whose, 12 finding, 12 section, 12 sorts, 12 puzzles, 12 meet, 12 sheer, 12 arsenal, 12 picking, 12 car, 12 properly, 12 blasting, 12

beginning, 12 happened, 12 ryan, 12 necessarily, 12 trick, 12 radar, 12 brute, 12 knows, 12 latest, 12 checkpoint, 12 scope, 12 joey,

12 shotguns, 12 ghosts, 12 ocean, 12 welcome, 12 indeed, 12 sisters, 12 atmosphere, 12 loud, 12 immersive, 12 experiences, 12

bumper, 12 east, 12 respawn, 12 snipers, 12 ended, 12 noticeable, 12 color, 12 started, 12 mitchell, 12 mako, 12 valve's, 12

freeman, 11 fix, 11 won’t, 11 blend, 11 monsters, 11 believable, 11 helpful, 11 home, 11 casual, 11 steal, 11 fresh, 11 graphically, 11

frantic, 11 pistols, 11 neat, 11 monotonous, 11 frequent, 11 proper, 11 poorly, 11 release, 11 auto, 11 maneuvers, 11 shame, 11

raise, 11 unlocked, 11 typical, 11 licensed, 11 ultimate, 11 primary, 11 girl, 11 improved, 11 win, 11 questions, 11 consoles, 11

wanting, 11 unit, 11 rise, 11 completed, 11 focused, 11 tired, 11 performance, 11 neither, 11 intriguing, 11 greater, 11 lines, 11

torn, 11 useless, 11 selection, 11 gamer, 11 breathtaking, 11 downright, 11 disappointing, 11 providing, 11 squadmates, 11 race, 11

arcade, 11 odd, 11 controller, 11 rendered, 11 presence, 11 considered, 11 gimmick, 11 disappointed, 11 territory, 11 word, 11

tight, 11 opportunity, 11 trees, 11 shadows, 11 accurate, 11 bomb, 11 doubt, 11 inspired, 11 crazy, 11 includes, 11 conflict, 11

element, 11 today, 11 ultimately, 11 sword, 11 armed, 11 attacking, 11 u, 11 corners, 11 enhanced, 11 needed, 11 currently, 11

information, 11 length, 11 folks, 11 scenario, 11 lag, 11 allowing, 11 answer, 11 house, 11 pacing, 11 everywhere, 11 andrew, 11

lengthy, 11 twice, 11 tries, 11 security, 11 ammunition, 11 voices, 11 tonics, 11 decide, 11 biotic, 11 devices, 11 com, 11 studio, 11

steam, 11 trouble, 11 marines, 11 rpgs, 11 pay, 11 editor, 11 sera, 11 mexican, 11 skulls, 11 digital, 11 octocamo, 10 background, 10

sitting, 10 credit, 10 purpose, 10 nuclear, 10 doom, 10 cooperative, 10 freeze, 10 chatter, 10 speak, 10 missed, 10 falls, 10

environmental, 10 terrible, 10 affect, 10 send, 10 heroic, 10 helping, 10 ps2, 10 underground, 10 sadly, 10 regular, 10 creative, 10

charge, 10 breaking, 10 throwing, 10 breaks, 10 developed, 10 radical, 10 shane, 10 overdose, 10 silly, 10 supports, 10 lower, 10

forth, 10 hook, 10 competition, 10 respawns, 10 merely, 10 average, 10 initial, 10 stupid, 10 partner, 10 meant, 10 american, 10

safe, 10 facing, 10 aircraft, 10 graphic, 10 implemented, 10 weight, 10 journey, 10 spots, 10 prison, 10 positive, 10 discover, 10

understand, 10 etc, 10 immersion, 10 capable, 10 telling, 10 presents, 10 window, 10 bonus, 10 earlier, 10 tool, 10 hopefully, 10

consider, 10 compared, 10 involved, 10 snipe, 10 cross, 10 eliminate, 10 reward, 10 tv, 10 ron, 10 perlman, 10 realized, 10 worry,

10 flaws, 10 swords, 10 delivered, 10 mood, 10 instantly, 10 managed, 10 destroy, 10 separate, 10 money, 10 starting, 10 theory,

10 chase, 10 beaten, 10 intensity, 10 creepy, 10 equal, 10 covered, 10 numerous, 10 wonder, 10 learning, 10 attempting, 10

country, 10 seriously, 10 ross, 10 blowing, 10 went, 10 we'll, 10 loose, 10 combination, 10 whenever, 10 adding, 10 dawn, 10

television, 10 common, 10 ask, 10 vital, 10 download, 10 active, 10 hacking, 10 daddies, 10 edge, 10 recommend, 10 wind, 10

touches, 10 outstanding, 10 experiment, 10 news, 10 surprises, 10 mounted, 10 frag, 10 bloody, 10 heard, 10 uav, 10 phenomenal,

10 explode, 10 commands, 10 counter, 10 customize, 10 service, 10 fit, 10 sad, 10 commander, 10 scheme, 10 exploration, 10 crash

71

9.3 Appendix C - Keywords

Gameplay:

[multiplayer][gameplay][action][team][online][campaign][shooter][combat][mode][war][battle][difficulty][modes][options][button

][shooters][deathmatch][battles][version][stealth][challenge][ratings][concept][genre][skills][speed][tactics][rpg][linear][limited][cl

asses]

Experience:

[experience][moment][love]

Time:

[time][hours][years][short][year][hour]

Setting:

[level][levels][city][world][map][open][big][maps][environments][setting][sequences][scenes][machine][room][environment][areas

][metal][elements][wall][water][air][objects][space][fortress][walls][universe][box][battlefield][planet][base][planets][building][ma

chines][corner][blood]

Enemies/friendlies:

[enemies][enemy][soldiers][alien][soldier][sniper][squad][human][aliens][boss][friends][teammates][friend][military]

Mechanics / tools:

[weapons][cover][ai][gun][weapon][life][guns][power][powers][ability][health][damage][features][camera][grenades][mechanics][c

ontrols][vehicles][bullets][abilities][grenade][rifle][vehicle][engine][gravity][armor][tank][shotgun][ammo][bullet][turret][mechanic

][rocket][chainsaw][hammer][gunfire][physics]

Visuals:

[graphics][effects][visuals][style][light][image][visual][details][effect][detail][models][textures][explosions][lighting][texture][smoke

][art]

Aural:

[sound][music][soundtrack][audio]

Stability/bugs:

[issues][problems][bugs][broken][fps]

Variation:

[variety][unique][original][mix][generic][repetitive][bland]

Story:

[story][character][characters][voice][mission][moments][missions][plot][dialogue][storyline][objectives][chapter][act][narrative][cu

tscenes][cinematic]

Removed:

[game][player][games][players][system][game’s][series][person][design][screen][movie][review][title][presentation][gamers][fans][

screens][role][line][video][stuff][titles][vision][idea][franchise][kojima][valve][developer][hell][pieces][parts][body][intelligence][de

velopers][movies][new][special][designed][released][full][old][powerful][invisible][heavy][simple][limited][serious][classic][complet

e][strong][hard][easy][impossible][difficult][hardcore][easier][fun][Good][pretty][great][fantastic][interesting][excellent][better][ni

ce][brilliant][stunning][satisfying][exciting][awesome][boring][beautiful][gorgeous][enjoyable][cool][impressive][incredible][realisti

c][familiar][incredibly][bad][frustrating][annoying][wrong][massive]

Too specific:

[xbox][pc][portal][rapture][forge][locust][bioware][console][mexico][bungie][alyx][playstation][gordon][snake’s][plasmid]

72

9.4 Appendix D - Arrange keywords script

NB: This section way differ slightly in terms of keywords from the actual script applied due to loss of data on

a defect hard drive.

Sub Arrange()

Const maxwords = 200 'Maximum unique words allowed

Dim SingleWord As String 'Raw word pulled from doc

Dim CurrentArray As Integer

Dim Freq(maxwords) As Integer

Dim WordsVisuals(maxwords) As String 'Array to hold unique words

Dim FreqVisuals(maxwords) As Integer 'Frequency counter for unique words

Dim WordsAural(maxwords) As String

Dim FreqAural(maxwords) As Integer

Dim WordsSetting(maxwords) As String

Dim FreqSetting(maxwords) As Integer

Dim WordsStory(maxwords) As String

Dim FreqStory(maxwords) As Integer

Dim WordsBugs(maxwords) As String

Dim FreqBugs(maxwords) As Integer

Dim WordsVariation(maxwords) As String

Dim FreqVariation(maxwords) As Integer

Dim WordsGameplay(maxwords) As String

Dim FreqGameplay(maxwords) As Integer

Dim WordNum As Integer 'Number of unique words

Dim NumVisual As Integer

Dim NumAural As Integer

Dim NumSetting As Integer

Dim NumStory As Integer

Dim NumBugs As Integer

Dim NumVariation As Integer

Dim NumGameplay As Integer

Dim WordFound As Boolean

Dim ByFreq As Boolean 'Flag for sorting order

Dim ttlwds As Long 'Total words in the document

Dim Excludes As String 'Words to be excluded

Dim Found As Boolean 'Temporary flag

Dim j, k, l, Temp As Integer 'Temporary variables

Dim ans As String 'How user wants to sort results

Dim tword As String

Visuals =

"[effects][graphics][light][lighting][visual][visuals][visually][textures][texture][graphical][color][colors][materials][rendering][aest

hetics][aesthetic]"

Aural = "[sound][music][soundtrack][audio][aural]"

Setting = "[setting][environments][environment][theme][locations][premise][scenario][locales][scenarios][architecture]"

Story =

"[story][characters][character][dialogue][storyline][plot][history][universe][narrative][storytelling][actors][animation][animations][

protagonist][story's][voiceovers]"

Bugs = "[bugs][broken][unresponsive][framerate][glitches][tweak][glitchy][instability]"

Variation =

"[contrasting][variation][vary][varied][varying][variance][variations][segment][segmentation][segmented][difference][different][dif

ferently][differences][differentiate][differentiates][alterations][alternate][distinct][distinctive][unique][diversity][derivative][deriva

te][derived][repetitive][repetition][repeat][repeated][repetitious][generic][monotonous][variety][change][bland][diverse][changes]

[contrast][changing][predictable][monotony]"

73

Gameplay =

"[gameplay][ai][difficulty][difficulties][fun][maps][map][level][levels][mechanics][controls][mechanic][balance][balancing][physics][

pace][pacing][paced][balanced][movement][replayability][unbalanced][unresponsive][sluggish]"

ByFreq = True

Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory

System.Cursor = wdCursorWait

WordNum = 0

NumVisuals = 0

NumAural = 0

NumSetting = 0

NumStory = 0

NumBugs = 0

NumVariation = 0

NumGameplay = 0

CurrentArray = 0

ttlwds = ActiveDocument.Words.Count

' Control the repeat

For Each aword In ActiveDocument.Words

SingleWord = Trim(LCase(aword))

WordFound = False

If SingleWord < "a" Or SingleWord > "z" Then

SingleWord = ""

End If

If InStr(Visuals, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then

SingleWord = SingleWord

CurrentArray = 1

WordFound = True

End If

If InStr(Aural, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then


CurrentArray = 2

WordFound = True

End If

If InStr(Setting, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then


CurrentArray = 3

WordFound = True

End If

If InStr(Story, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then


CurrentArray = 4

WordFound = True

End If

If InStr(Bugs, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then


CurrentArray = 5

WordFound = True

End If

If InStr(Variation, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then


74

CurrentArray = 6

WordFound = True

End If

If InStr(Gameplay, "[" & SingleWord & "]") Then


CurrentArray = 7

WordFound = True

End If

If WordFound = False Then

SingleWord = ""

End If

If Len(SingleWord) > 0 Then

Found = False

'Visuals

For j = 1 To NumVisuals

If WordsVisuals(j) = SingleWord Then

FreqVisuals(j) = FreqVisuals(j) + 1

Found = True

End If

Next j

If Not Found Then

'Aural

For j = 1 To NumAural

If WordsAural(j) = SingleWord Then

FreqAural(j) = FreqAural(j) + 1

Found = True

End If

Next j

End If

If Not Found Then

'Setting

For j = 1 To NumSetting

If WordsSetting(j) = SingleWord Then

FreqSetting(j) = FreqSetting(j) + 1

Found = True

End If

Next j

End If

If Not Found Then

'Story

For j = 1 To NumStory

If WordsStory(j) = SingleWord Then

FreqStory(j) = FreqStory(j) + 1

Found = True

End If

Next j

End If

If Not Found Then

'Bugs

For j = 1 To NumBugs

If WordsBugs(j) = SingleWord Then

FreqBugs(j) = FreqBugs(j) + 1

Found = True

End If

75

Next j

End If

If Not Found Then

'Variation

For j = 1 To NumVariation

If WordsVariation(j) = SingleWord Then

FreqVariation(j) = FreqVariation(j) + 1

Found = True

End If

Next j

End If

If Not Found Then

'Gameplay

For j = 1 To NumGameplay

If WordsGameplay(j) = SingleWord Then

FreqGameplay(j) = FreqGameplay(j) + 1

Found = True

End If

Next j

End If

If Not Found Then

If CurrentArray = 1 Then

NumVisuals = NumVisuals + 1

WordsVisuals(NumVisuals) = SingleWord

FreqVisuals(NumVisuals) = 1

End If


NumAural = NumAural + 1

WordsAural(NumAural) = SingleWord

FreqAural(NumAural) = 1

End If


NumSetting = NumSetting + 1

WordsSetting(NumSetting) = SingleWord

FreqSetting(NumSetting) = 1

End If


NumStory = NumStory + 1

WordsStory(NumStory) = SingleWord

FreqStory(NumStory) = 1

End If


NumBugs = NumBugs + 1

WordsBugs(NumBugs) = SingleWord

FreqBugs(NumBugs) = 1

End If


NumVariation = NumVariation + 1

WordsVariation(NumVariation) = SingleWord

FreqVariation(NumVariation) = 1

End If

76


NumGameplay = NumGameplay + 1

WordsGameplay(NumGameplay) = SingleWord

FreqGameplay(NumGameplay) = 1

End If

WordNum = WordNum + 1

'Freq(WordNum) = 1

End If

If WordNum > maxwords - 1 Then

j = MsgBox("Too many words.", vbOKOnly)

Exit For

End If

End If

ttlwds = ttlwds - 1

'StatusBar = "Remaining: " & ttlwds & ", Unique: " & WordNum

Next aword

' Now sort it into word order

For j = 1 To NumVisuals - 1

k = j

For l = j + 1 To NumVisuals

If (Not ByFreq And WordsVisuals(l) < WordsVisuals(k)) _

Or (ByFreq And FreqVisuals(l) > FreqVisuals(k)) Then k = l

Next l

If k <> j Then

tword = WordsVisuals(j)

WordsVisuals(j) = WordsVisuals(k)

WordsVisuals(k) = tword

Temp = FreqVisuals(j)

FreqVisuals(j) = FreqVisuals(k)

FreqVisuals(k) = Temp

End If

' StatusBar = "Sorting: " & WordNum - j

Next j

For j = 1 To NumAural - 1

k = j

For l = j + 1 To NumAural

If (Not ByFreq And WordsAural(l) < WordsAural(k)) _

Or (ByFreq And FreqAural(l) > FreqAural(k)) Then k = l

Next l

If k <> j Then

tword = WordsAural(j)

WordsAural(j) = WordsAural(k)

WordsAural(k) = tword

Temp = FreqAural(j)

FreqAural(j) = FreqAural(k)

FreqAural(k) = Temp

End If

' StatusBar = "Sorting: " & WordNum - j

Next j

For j = 1 To NumSetting - 1

k = j

For l = j + 1 To NumSetting

If (Not ByFreq And WordsSetting(l) < WordsSetting(k)) _

Or (ByFreq And FreqSetting(l) > FreqSetting(k)) Then k = l

Next l

If k <> j Then

77

tword = WordsSetting(j)

WordsSetting(j) = WordsSetting(k)

WordsSetting(k) = tword

Temp = FreqSetting(j)

FreqSetting(j) = FreqSetting(k)

FreqSetting(k) = Temp

End If

Next j

For j = 1 To NumStory - 1

k = j

For l = j + 1 To NumStory

If (Not ByFreq And WordsStory(l) < WordsStory(k)) _

Or (ByFreq And FreqStory(l) > FreqStory(k)) Then k = l

Next l

If k <> j Then

tword = WordsStory(j)

WordsStory(j) = WordsStory(k)

WordsStory(k) = tword

Temp = FreqStory(j)

FreqStory(j) = FreqStory(k)

FreqStory(k) = Temp

End If

Next j

For j = 1 To NumBugs - 1

k = j

For l = j + 1 To NumBugs

If (Not ByFreq And WordsBugs(l) < WordsBugs(k)) _

Or (ByFreq And FreqBugs(l) > FreqBugs(k)) Then k = l

Next l

If k <> j Then

tword = WordsBugs(j)

WordsBugs(j) = WordsBugs(k)

WordsBugs(k) = tword

Temp = FreqBugs(j)

FreqBugs(j) = FreqBugs(k)

FreqBugs(k) = Temp

End If

Next j

For j = 1 To NumVariation - 1

k = j

For l = j + 1 To NumVariation

If (Not ByFreq And WordsVariation(l) < WordsVariation(k)) _

Or (ByFreq And FreqVariation(l) > FreqVariation(k)) Then k = l

Next l

If k <> j Then

tword = WordsVariation(j)

WordsVariation(j) = WordsVariation(k)

WordsVariation(k) = tword

Temp = FreqVariation(j)

FreqVariation(j) = FreqVariation(k)

FreqVariation(k) = Temp

End If

Next j

For j = 1 To NumGameplay - 1

k = j

For l = j + 1 To NumGameplay

If (Not ByFreq And WordsGameplay(l) < WordsGameplay(k)) _

78

Or (ByFreq And FreqGameplay(l) > FreqGameplay(k)) Then k = l

Next l

If k <> j Then

tword = WordsGameplay(j)

WordsGameplay(j) = WordsGameplay(k)

WordsGameplay(k) = tword

Temp = FreqGameplay(j)

FreqGameplay(j) = FreqGameplay(k)

FreqGameplay(k) = Temp

End If

Next j

' Now write out the results

tmpName = ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate.FullName

Documents.Add Template:=tmpName, NewTemplate:=False

Selection.ParagraphFormat.TabStops.ClearAll

With Selection

.TypeText Text:=Trim("") _

& vbCrLf

.TypeText Text:=Trim("Visuals: ")

.TypeText Text:=Trim(NumVisuals) _

& vbCrLf

For j = 1 To NumVisuals

.TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqVisuals(j))) _

& vbTab & WordsVisuals(j) & vbCrLf

Next j


& vbCrLf

.TypeText Text:=Trim("Aural: ")

.TypeText Text:=Trim(NumAural) _

& vbCrLf

For j = 1 To NumAural

.TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqAural(j))) _

& vbTab & WordsAural(j) & vbCrLf

Next j


& vbCrLf

.TypeText Text:=Trim("Setting: ")

.TypeText Text:=Trim(NumSetting) _

& vbCrLf

For j = 1 To NumSetting

.TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqSetting(j))) _

& vbTab & WordsSetting(j) & vbCrLf

Next j


& vbCrLf

.TypeText Text:=Trim("Story: ")

.TypeText Text:=Trim(NumStory) _

& vbCrLf

For j = 1 To NumStory

.TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqStory(j))) _

& vbTab & WordsStory(j) & vbCrLf

Next j

79


& vbCrLf

.TypeText Text:=Trim("Bugs: ")

.TypeText Text:=Trim(NumBugs) _

& vbCrLf

For j = 1 To NumBugs

.TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqBugs(j))) _

& vbTab & WordsBugs(j) & vbCrLf

Next j


& vbCrLf

.TypeText Text:=Trim("Variation: ")

.TypeText Text:=Trim(NumVariation) _

& vbCrLf

For j = 1 To NumVariation

.TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqVariation(j))) _

& vbTab & WordsVariation(j) & vbCrLf

Next j


& vbCrLf

.TypeText Text:=Trim("Gameplay: ")

.TypeText Text:=Trim(NumGameplay) _

& vbCrLf

For j = 1 To NumGameplay

.TypeText Text:=Trim(Str(FreqGameplay(j))) _

& vbTab & WordsGameplay(j) & vbCrLf

Next j

End With

System.Cursor = wdCursorNormal

j = MsgBox("There were " & Trim(Str(WordNum)) & _

" different words ", vbOKOnly, "Finished")

End Sub

80

9.5 Appendix E – Category frequencies

Gameplay: Σ 2662

260 multiplayer

235 gameplay

206 action

177 team

160 online

153 campaign

147 shooter

137 combat

121 mode

108 war

90 battle

85 difficulty

82 modes

64 options

63 button

52 shooters

51 deathmatch

46 battles

46 free

40 version

39 stealth

38 challenge

37 ratings

34 concept

33 genre

25 skills

25 speed

23 tactics

22 rpg

21 limited

21 linear

21 classes

Experience: Σ 225

145 experience

45 moment

35 love

Time: Σ 808

299 time

112 long

100 hours

69 years

54 short

46 year

42 fast

30 longer

30 hour

26 quick

Setting: Σ 2068

174 level

158 little

136 levels

135 world

96 city

91 map

89 big

89 open

83 maps

64 environments

57 setting

47 sequences

46 huge

44 machine

44 scenes

43 room

42 environment

42 large

41 areas

41 metal

39 elements

37 wall

33 water

33 air

32 objects

29 blood

29 space

29 fortress

28 universe

28 walls

27 box

27 battlefield

25 base

25 planet

22 building

22 planets

21 machines

20 corner

Enemies / Friendlies: Σ 965

258 enemies

183 enemy

76 soldiers

65 alien

55 soldier

48 sniper

43 squad

41 human

38 aliens

38 boss

36 friends

36 teammates

25 friend

23 military

81

Mechanics / tools: Σ 1854

180 weapons

155 cover

102 ai

93 gun

90 weapon

81 power

59 powers

57 life

56 guns

54 ability

52 health

49 damage

47 features

47 camera

45 grenades

44 mechanics

43 controls

42 vehicles

41 bullets

39 abilities

35 grenade

35 rifle

33 vehicle

32 engine

30 gravity

29 armor

29 tank

28 shotgun

25 bullet

25 ammo

24 turret

23 mechanic

23 rocket

22 chainsaw

21 hammer

20 gunfire

20 physics

Visuals: Σ 761

124 graphics

97 effects

69 visuals

53 style

39 light

38 image

38 visual

37 details

36 effect

32 detail

31 textures

31 models

30 explosions

24 detailed

22 lighting

20 texture

20 smoke

20 art

Aural: Σ 288

166 sound

67 music

31 soundtrack

24 audio

Performance / Bugs: Σ 157

42 issues

39 problems

27 broken

27 bugs

22 fps

Variation: Σ 406

141 different

57 variety

44 unique

37 original

31 similar

26 mix

25 repetitive

25 generic

20 bland

Story: Σ 1093

199 story

156 character

104 characters

92 voice

81 mission

79 moments

67 missions

64 plot

50 dialogue

41 storyline

31 objectives

29 chapter

26 act

26 narrative

24 cutscenes

24 cinematic

82

9.6 Appendix F – HL2E2 analysis

Level name Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part I

Setting Countryside

Length 5

Weather Clear skies

Time of day Daytime

Gameplay Story

Intensity out of 10 1

Enemies Zombies X

Fast zombies

Crab-covered zombies

Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions X

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships

Inside/outside Outside

Large/small size Very Large

Player Reward Portal Storm

Story Setup The combine portals are unstable

Ambient soundscape Low frequency stormlike

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

83

Level name Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part II

Setting Mines

Length 2

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Gravity-gun


Enemies Zombies X

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions X

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships

Inside/outside Inside

Large/small size Narrow

Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Low frequency humming

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

84

Level name Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part III

Setting Countryside

Length 4

Weather Clear skies

Time of day Daytime

Gameplay Story


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships


Large/small size Small

Player Reward NA

Story Setup The player must deliver vital information


Music NA

Color scheme

Image

85

Level name Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part IV

Setting Mines

Length 1

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Puzzle


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab X

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward Animated event

Story Setup NA


Music NA

Color scheme

Image

86

Level name Chapter 1: To the White Forest - Part V

Setting Countryside

Length 6

Weather Clear skies

Time of day Daytime

Gameplay Story


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships


Large/small size Medium/large

Player Reward NA

Story Setup Learn about Hunters + Must save Alyx

Ambient soundscape Sounds of Hunters nearby

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

87

Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part I

Setting Mines

Length 2

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Puzzle


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab X

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward NA

Story Setup Regroup with the vortigaun

Ambient soundscape Low frequency machines

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

88

Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part II

Setting Underground

Length 1

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Explore


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape High frequency animal sounds

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

89

Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part III

Setting Mines

Length 1

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Fight


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions X

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward NA

Story Setup

Ambient soundscape Sounds of ant lions

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

90

Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part IV

Setting Underground

Length 6

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Fight


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles X

Ant lions X

Ant lion workers

Acid lions X

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships


Large/small size Medium

Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA


Music NA

Color scheme

Image

91

Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part V

Setting Mines

Length 12

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Hold ground


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions X

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships


Large/small size medium

Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Ant lions + sounds of antlion radar warnings.

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

92

Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VI

Setting Mines

Length 3

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Hold ground


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions X

Ant lion workers X

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships


Large/small size medium

Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Ant lions + sounds of antlion radar warnings.

Music Yes

Color scheme

Image

93

Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VII

Setting Mines

Length 6

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Fight


Enemies Zombies X

Fast zombies X


Grenade Zombies X

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab X

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions X

Ant lion workers X

Acid lions X

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward NA

Story Setup Need Ant lion essence to save Alyx


Music NA

Color scheme

Image

94

Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part VIII

Setting Underground

Length 6

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Fight


Enemies Zombies X

Fast zombies

Crab-covered zombies X

Grenade Zombies X

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions X

Ant lion workers X

Acid lions X

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA


Music NA

Color scheme

Image

95

Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part IX

Setting Mines

Length 4

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Puzzle


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Low frequency hum

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

96

Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part X

Setting Underground

Length 10

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Escape


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards X

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships


Large/small size Small/Medium

Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA


Music NA

Color scheme

Image

97

Level name Chapter 2: This Vortal Coil - Part XI

Setting Mines

Length 7

Weather NA

Time of day NA

Gameplay Story


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward NA

Story Setup Main storyline info about G-man


Music NA

Color scheme

Image

98

Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part I

Setting Countryside

Length 3

Weather Clear skies

Time of day Daytime

Gameplay Story


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships


Large/small size Very large

Player Reward NA

Story Setup Alert the rebellion of the combine attack

Ambient soundscape Sounds of Gunships in the distance

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

99

Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part II

Setting Countryside

Length 5

Weather Clear skies

Time of day Daytime

Gameplay Boss


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions X

Ant lion workers

Acid lions X

Ant lion guards X

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships


Large/small size large

Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Thumping of big hammers , low frequency

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

100

Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part III

Setting Countryside

Length 2

Weather Clear skies

Time of day Late afternoon

Gameplay Puzzle


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab X

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships


Large/small size small

Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Wind

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

101

Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part IV

Setting Factory

Length 2

Weather Clear skies


Gameplay Story


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships


Large/small size Large

Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Wind

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

102

Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part V

Setting Factory

Length 2

Weather Clear skies


Gameplay Explore


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships

Inside/outside Primarily inside


Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Zombie screams

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

103

Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VI

Setting Factory

Length 4

Weather Clear skies


Gameplay Fight


Enemies Zombies X

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies X

Leg-less Zombies X

Head-crab X

Poison head-crab

Barnacles X

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Zombie screams

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

104

Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VII

Setting Factory

Length 6

Weather Clear skies


Gameplay Fight


Enemies Zombies X

Fast zombies X


Grenade Zombies X

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab X

Poison head-crab X

Barnacles X

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Zombies

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

105

Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part VIII

Setting Factory

Length 3

Weather Clear skies


Gameplay Fight


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies X

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles X

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Low freq humming

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

106

Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part IX

Setting Factory

Length 6

Weather Clear skies


Gameplay Confined-fight


Enemies Zombies X

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies X

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab X

Poison head-crab X

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships



Player Reward NA

Story Setup NA

Ambient soundscape Sounds of the Geiger counter

Music Electronic

Color scheme

Image

107

Level name Chapter 3: Freeman Pontifex - Part X

Setting Countryside

Length 4

Weather Clear skies


Gameplay Puzzle


Enemies Zombies

Fast zombies


Grenade Zombies

Leg-less Zombies

Head-crab

Poison head-crab

Barnacles

Ant lions

Ant lion workers

Acid lions

Ant lion guards

Combines

Combine elites

Snipers

Turrets

Striders

Hunters

Gunships


Large/small size Large

Player Reward Portal blast + bridge collapse

Story Setup Get Car to proceed

Ambient soundscape Squeaking bridge

Music NA

Color scheme

Image

Game Level Segmentation Model

Documents

Transcript of Game Level Segmentation Model