breakdown will be best done by level. For each level, you should describe in detail what
challenges players will face, what story (if any) transpires on them, and the visual aes-
thetics of the levels. Figure out and describe what the major challenges will be on a
given level: fighting with a horde of enemies at location A, meeting and talking to a spe-
cific character at location B, and solving a gameplay puzzle at location C. You certainly
do not need to break down the level to the point where every single conflict is listed in
minute detail. As with the character statistics, this is something that you will only be
able to do when you are actually working with the level, when you are able to try the
conflict a certain way and test it out. Explain how the appearance of the level will com-
municate the game’s story, if applicable. What objects and items must be in what
locations for the story to progress properly? Also discuss which elements from the
game’s “palette” will be available on this level. Which types of enemies will players
expect to encounter and what types of items will they find along the way?
More than anything, try to put into words how the level should affect players, not
just in terms of how difficult the level will be, but what sort of gameplay experience
players will have. How do you want players to feel when they are playing the level, and
how should those feelings fluctuate over the course of the level? Should players feel
constant conflict and challenge, or is this level more slow-paced and centered on explo-
ration? Is the story at a climax in this level, resulting in increased tension, or is the level
more slow-paced, focusing on filling in the game’s back-story? As you write your Game
Progression, always keep in mind how players should feel when playing a given level,
and try to communicate that emotional state in your writing.
Of course, not every game has levels, and so your Game Progression may not
break down so easily into self-contained units. But most games have stages of some
kind. Try to determine what the stages of your game are, and break down your Game
Progression into these stages. For example, the original arcade gameCentipedehas a
series of waves players play through. In that game, once players kill all the segments of
the centipede, they progress to the next wave. The waves are cyclic, with each subse-
quent wave throwing in a different centipede, either in terms of its length or speed.
372 Chapter 19: The Design Document
Free-form strategy
games such as the
SimCityseries will not
require a Game
Progression section,
since what happens
during the game is
entirely determined by
the player’s choices and
the game mechanics.
Pictured here:SimCity
2000.