Level Design & Scripting

Course Overview

• 3dsMax & Maya versions also available

Using Noesis Interactive’s ‘Level Design & Scripting’ video courseware, students will explore common practices and toolsets for 3D level creation while working “hands on” with Valve’s professional Hammer editor. Students are quickly familiarized with basic tools and techniques and are encouraged to evolve their designs as additional topics such as response systems, sound, animation scripting, enemy AI and NPC choreography are studied. Students are urged to utilize assets they’ve created in earlier Noesis tracks while developing their levels.

Objective

Using custom 3d content, create a small, first person, single player level which weaves together both storytelling and action elements for a cohesive player experience.

Supplemental Materials

The recommended Noesis’ materials, class discussions and video courseware assignments can be augmented as necessary to integrate with existing course outlines. Likewise, additional professor selected readings or research assignments may benefit students during the practical lesson projects above.

Course Outline

Week 1: Course Introduction

Course begins with an explanation of class format and required material as well as discussion of contemporary game design, its prominent genres and the role of level design and designers. Outline final project and intermediary steps required for completion along with Noesis lesson curriculum and any additional materials or readings.

Week 2: Intro to Level Design with Hammer™

Advanced Source Level Design – Section 1 (SDK & Concepts)

Advanced Source Level Design – Section 2 (Hammer Interface & Tools)

Discuss basic level design theory and common practices/limitations. Talk about level objectives, obstacles and terminology.

[Students install the Valve SDK and learn the basic Hammer tools and user interface. Exercises include creating basic building blocks called “brushes”, texturing and placing simple entities – including start positions used to run their first level]

Week 3: Building Tools & Techniques

Advanced Source Level Design – Section 3 (Functionality I)

Discuss navigation scale, level organization techniques, developer tools and importance of varied terrain and playable environments. Illustrate power of motivated obstacles, i.e. a destroyed bridge, dense forest or busy freeway.

[Students explore the common units of scale in Source, create ‘prefab’ structures which can easily be duplicated and reused, and create volumetric objects with specific traits (such as blocking player movement, light or bullets) that are not rendered in game. Displacements and skyboxes are also covered allowing more organic surfaces]

Week 4: Interactivity and Scripted Responses

Advanced Source Level Design – Section 4 (Functionality II)

Discuss basic scripting and response systems. What makes a level fun to play, not just laborious to navigate?

[Students learn basic input/output entity scripting to create functional doors, light switches etc. as well as create world geometry that can be moved and broken apart. Staging basic enemy attacks and using audio to enhance custom levels is also explored]

Week 5: Level Optimization & Extras

Advanced Source Level Design – Section 5 (Optimization)

Advanced Source Level Design – Section 6 (Details & Tweaks)

Stress organization and planning – why pencil and paper can be your best friend and how to optimize a player’s experience through minimal non-diagetic distraction and maximum emersion.

[Students learn various tools to increase the playback speed of their levels while exploring the basics behind how the game engine ‘views’ their world. Once students have begun optimizing their maps they work with several detail-oriented effects to add ambiance]

Week 6: Compiling Custom Props

Custom Props & Animation – Section 1 (Intro & Source SDK Setup)

Custom Props & Animation – Section 2 (Compiling & Model Viewer)

Custom Props & Animation – Section 3 (Breakable Objects)

Discuss software development kits, proprietary formats, intermediary formats and their advantages/disadvantages. Outline the individual components necessary to construct a typical game entity.

[Students learn to identify and create the basic individual components of Source models (.MDL). Including: StudioMDL Data (.SMD), Compiler Script (.QC), Valve Texture File (.VTF) and Valve Material File (.VMF)]

Week 7: Adding Custom Animation

Custom Props & Animation – Section 4 (3D Animation)

Custom Props & Animation – Section 5 (Animated Props I)

Discuss usages of animation in level design – specifically regarding the use of dynamic props and scripted events. Talk about key framing, and the differences between vertex animation and skeletal animation. Basic rigging, and the process of ‘weighting’ the influence of bones to a 3d mesh (aka skinning) should also be discussed.

[Students learn the fundamental animation toolset in Softimage and practice using simple bone chains to create weighted animation compatible with the Source engine. Non-linear animation, compiling animation for Source and scripting basic animation sequences inside Hammer is also presented]

Week 8: Integrating Custom Props

Custom Props & Animation – Section 5 (Animated Props II)

Custom Props & Animation – Section 6 (Dragons Lair)

Class continues animation and level design discussion largely around the use of dynamic props and game play. Instructor should check in with students regarding final project, overview of the next few weeks lessons and current status / requirements.

[These two assigned sections are recommended but not essential for completing final project. Mostly in depth review with additional techniques and more complex animation. Students learn to employ more triggers and use logic entities to add more complex functionality]

Week 9: Designing a Story

Source Choreography & Cinematics – Section 1 (Create a Mod)

Source Choreography & Cinematics – Section 1 (Pre-Production)

Source Choreography & Cinematics – Section 1 (Dialog Preparation)

Discuss the advantages of interactive choreography compared with animated cut-sequences in games. How can scripted sequences covertly teach players game mechanics or objectives? Why are narratives important to gaming?

[Students view example(s) of interactive and cinematic sequences in a single player HL2 environment, then commit to a simple choreographed narrative for their own level and record 5-10 lines of dialog they’ll use to complete it]

Week 10: NPC Choreography

Source Choreography & Cinematics – Section 4 (FacePoser Choreography)

Discuss NPC choreograph, both expositional and action oriented or a combination of each. When may the developer want to take control of the view camera? How does this effect a player’s experience?

[Students block out the player movement(s) based on their previous week’s dialog. Custom props from week 8 may also be used to support choreography]

Week 11: Level Scripting Techniques

Source Choreography & Cinematics – Section 5 (Level Techniques)

Source Choreography & Cinematics – Section 6 (Walkthrough)

What are your aims in scripting player experiences? Must all scripted sequences be linear? Explore how multiple events may trigger a single response or a single response may cause multiple results based on additional parameters. Discuss importance in prompting responses from ‘lost’ players and in understanding why a player may have become ‘lost’ in the first place.

[Students learn techniques for organizing and streamlining their choreographed sequences, both Faceposer data (.VCDs) and Hammer entities (.LCSs, etc.) are explained. Triggering multiple events, looping ‘nags’ requesting player input and response relays are also covered]

Week 12: Final Project

Lab Review / Working on Final

Week 13: Final Project

Lab Review / Working on Final

Week 14: Final Project

Lab Review / Working on Final

Week 15: Final Project

Lab Review / Working on Final

Assessments

1) 10% - A first online quiz will be given at the end of week five to assess student knowledge of core level design tools and techniques in Hammer.

2) 30% - A midterm assessment in the form of an online test will be given in week eleven and will encompass basic level scripting along with core choreography techniques.

3) 60% - A final project in the form of a short single-player level mod containing 5-10 lines of dialog and at least 2 NPC characters. Players must engage the environment and/or characters as the scene unfolds. Your complete custom mod source folder and compiled .BSP are required.

Evaluation Policy

This course emphasizes conceptual understanding, creativity and execution. 3D art and design skills are not the dominant factor during student evaluation – however cohesion between level design and narrative is stressed. The first online quiz will account for 10% of your total graded assessment. The open book midterm will account for 30% of your total grade, and the final is worth 60%.