34 / wfmag.cc
Designing great single-player missionsToolbox
their way? Thinking in these terms, before you
start to paint in any narrative details or even
choose where the level is set, can help to build a
strong foundation.
In her superb 2017 GDC talk, A Narrative
Approach to Level Design, Ubisoft’s Jolie Menzel
discusses the idea of “movement incentives and
deterrents” – an idea which has been explained
elsewhere as the ‘Push/Pull’ theory of design.
Objectives (and other incentives such as escaping
a threat) propel the player forwards, while fear of
approaching danger pulls them back. Keeping this
in mind when structuring your mission can really
help with pacing: you’ll need light and shade to
keep things interesting.
Clarity is everything when it comes to objectives.
Modern games have taken this to an extreme with
waypoint markers and other UI elements designed
to keep the player on track at all times. This can
feel excessive, but if the player is fundamentally
unsure about what they need to do to complete
the mission, you can forget any idea of
immersion or ‘flow’; it’s surprising how even highly
experienced dev teams can lose sight of this.
The classic ‘mission briefing’ (as typified by
games like Wing Commander (Figure 1) and early
flight sims) is a solid way of setting up objectives
and obstacles. However, it can be easy to glaze
over and miss some important details. This is Figure 1: The briefings in
Wing Commander are an
old-school way of conveying
mission objectives to the
player – they still have their
charm, though!THE
PERFECT MIX
When it comes to objectives
and game modes, it’s a good
idea to figure out how your
single-player campaign will
pan out as a whole. If the
player finds themselves
repeating the same actions,
then things can become stale,
so consider mixing it up even if
you have one ‘core’ mode that
you return to frequently.
usually improved by in-mission dialogue to
reiterate important points, like wing leaders
barking instructions in your ear.
Another approach is to put the player into the
mission and then guide them in stages: have
them meet a contact or collect a map. This can
be a good way of managing both information flow
and pacing.DANGER AHEAD
Obstacles, on the other hand, can be more
opaque than the objective, as long as they’re
formidable. They can take the form of the
terrain, enemies, lack of information, or any
other trial that the player needs to overcome.
Foreshadowing is a powerful tool for mission
obstacles: powerful enemies can be shown in
the briefing, viewed from afar, or even hinted at
in dialogue; difficult terrain can be viewed in the
distance. Conversely, obstacles can be used to
surprise the player and break up pacing – we’ll
cover such ‘twists’ in detail later.BEAT IT
Once it’s clear what the player is going to be
doing in gameplay terms, and you have some
concept of the level’s internal dynamics, it’s
good to think about how this will slot into your
overarching narrative.