Video summary

An Approach to Holistic Level Design

Main summary

Key takeaways

Educational

Main Ideas and Lessons (Holistic Level Design)

What “holistic level design” means

  • Holistic thinking treats a level as a whole system where every part affects the entire experience, and the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
  • Core metaphor/quote idea: beauty (and good design) comes more from the harmonious relationships among elements than from the elements themselves.

The “big three” pillars of games

  • Presentation: all audio/visual and communication the player perceives (graphics, sound, UI text, etc.).
  • Gameplay: mechanical interactions and player actions.
  • Story: narrative meaning conveyed through events, characters, and context.

The talk emphasizes less the isolated value of each pillar and more what emerges from relationships between them.

Relationship-Driven Concepts + How to Apply Them

1) Gameplay ↔ Presentation: Affordances and Intentionality

Affordances (how presentation communicates what players can do)

Definition/intent

  • Affordances communicate function so players can intuitively understand how to interact with objects and spaces.
  • Goal: “form conveys function.”

Key reference/example

  • Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things
    • Example: door handles that look the same can mislead players; clearer push/pull forms teach usage without needing text.

Level design affordances: what they cover

Low-level affordances (moment-to-moment interactions)

  • Layout + lighting + perspective relative to the player’s view communicate navigation and interaction.
  • Examples cited (from Dishonored 2):
    • Verticality to afford safe/valuable higher viewpoints.
    • Interactive objects:
      • Bottles to pick up and throw (e.g., distract guards).
      • Doors/keyholes for sneaky scouting.
      • Shootable street speaker to distract guards.
    • Consistency rules:
      • Walls of light connected to power sources; players can follow cables and disable via panels.
      • Consistent visual language clarifies which doors/objects are interactive vs. non-interactive.

Visual language consistency

  • Avoid reusing the same “look” for interactive vs. non-interactive objects.
  • Rationale: players shouldn’t learn “it’s not interactive” only after walking up and trying.

Higher-level affordances (structure of the whole experience)

  • Communicating:
    • Possibility space (how many options, what kinds of choices exist)
    • Agency (how non-linear the mission is)
  • Example (Dust District mission work in Dishonored 2):
    • Make factions and choice points clear through layout.
    • Manage what information is:
      • Explicit: core choice, faction implications, ending changes.
      • Vague/hinted: existence of alternative routes/solutions without revealing where/what.
      • Omitted entirely: major secrets/skip paths unless discovered by the player.
    • Iterate with briefing/task text to “hype” the challenge while still letting players discover it naturally.

“Players don’t look up” lesson (affordances in practice)

If players avoid looking upward, it’s often not “human nature,” but instead:

  • affordances that didn’t prompt the behavior, or
  • higher-level affordances learned elsewhere in the game (players learned “don’t look up here”).

Remedies

  • Redesign presentation to encourage looking up, or
  • ensure the broader game teaches/permits that behavior.

2) Gameplay ↔ Story: Player Intentionality

Player intentionality (what it is)

  • In the talk’s version: acting with conscious choices, goals, and expectations in mind.

Examples of weak intentionality

  • Wandering without purpose (lost/aimless).
  • Doing actions because the UI told you / it seems like “the only thing to do.”
  • Pulling levers because “it’s a video game lever.”
  • Twitch reactions to surprise threats (instinctive rather than planned/intentional).

Why intentionality matters (especially in immersive sims)

  • Enabling intentionality is described as central to immersive sim gameplay design.
  • Mechanics and level design should present challenges in a way that supports:
    • understanding options,
    • forming plans,
    • then acting.

Four things players need for intentionality

  • Choice: the game presents options the player can select.
  • Motivation: goals the player cares about.
  • Information: clear, consistent affordances that clarify what’s possible.
  • Time: pacing that allows processing and planning (not constant pressure).

How to facilitate intentionality (design methods)

  • Use clear and consistent affordances (supports information).
  • Provide higher-level longer-term goals instead of drip-feeding low-level tasks.
    • Example model (Dishonored mission structure): reach an objective across the map; players figure out the approach.
  • Enable player-driven pacing and player-initiated action
    • Provide space for observing → planning → executing.

The “intentionality loop” (gameplay cycle)

The talk describes a repeating cycle:

  1. Observe (take in situation info)
  2. Form a plan (combine info with goals/motivation)
  3. Execute
  4. React (adjust to failure/emergent situations)
  5. Returns to Observe
  • Stealth is highlighted as naturally emphasizing this loop.
  • High ground/verticality can provide safer observation time and better planning perspectives (as used in Dishonored).

Intentionality impacts perceived linearity

  • Linearity can feel bad when intentionality is weak.
  • Examples cited:
    • Half-Life 2: feels less linear due to playtesting + aligned affordances.
    • Portal: despite being very linear, players have time and freedom to experiment.

Design analogy (Inception-like)

  • The goal is to make what’s “supposed to happen” feel like it was the player’s idea—so artificiality doesn’t break immersion.

3) Presentation ↔ Story: World Building and Interactive Narrative

World Building

Three goals for world building (explicitly stated)

  1. Unique
  2. Cohesive
  3. Meaningful

Tips/methodology for world building

  • World building must be specific

    • Avoid vague genre-level claims (“future, war, corporations”).
    • Specificity helps players judge and remember the world.
    • Familiar archetypes can be reused, but details should make them feel unique.
    • Example (Dishonored 2 creative direction):
      • Kirin Jindosh: an evil-genius archetype made distinctive through layered, obscure, character-specific details (appearance references, robot voice, obscure puzzle, lost finger/thumb, etc.).

  • Treat every design element as a world-building opportunity

    • Don’t isolate “flavor rooms.”
    • NPCs, side quests, loot, objective locations, architecture, and set dressing can all express story and world logic.

  • World building should say something about people

    • World building is storytelling about human conditions and social implications.
    • Examples referenced:
      • Children of Men (film): world details reflect fading hope and social consequences.
      • BioShock: world supports themes of societal collapse tied to particular ideologies.
      • Metro 2033: a child and toy car scene symbolizes hope, empathy, and building a future.
    • Dishonored thematic example:
      • Power, corruption, and class exploitation.
    • Dust District example:
      • Street structures raised by civilians due to dust/environmental issues caused by powerful forces; symbolically “crushed and trapped” between factions.

Summary of world-building points (as stated)

  • 1) Specificity
  • 2) Do it always—don’t treat it as optional decoration
  • 3) Make it about people / human ideas

Interactive Narrative

The framing critique: “show and tell”

  • The talk argues “show don’t tell” is a problematic guiding phrase for interactive narrative.
  • It works differently in passive media (film/literature) because those media don’t require player agency.
  • Instead, the talk reframes the goal:
    • use the medium’s strengths, and
    • evoke drama and ideas in the player’s mind.

Two approaches to interactive narrative emphasized

  1. Narrative intentionality (use interactivity to create narrative choices)

    • Interactivity is the game’s unique strength.
    • Example (Dishonored 2 concept):
      • NPCs offer systemic choices: stealth, non-lethal resolution, or lethal murder.
      • Players are told these choices change world/story outcomes, scenes, and endings.
    • Dust District example:
      • Scenes are interruptible and interactive, with branching responses depending on player choices.
      • Scenes invite narrative goals/values, not only gameplay outcomes.

  2. Evoking drama and ideas (align player emotion/thought with story themes)

    • Example 1 (pet peeve):
      • If dramatic peril is shown as a cutscene, players think: “I don’t have to do anything,” breaking immersion.
    • Example 2:
      • Uncharted 2 collapsing building: cinematic staging matches player panic with character panic.
    • Example 3:
      • Half-Life 2 “pick up the can” tutorial used to emotionally seed themes:
        • obey vs. rebel as a narrative choice later primes how players side with civilians vs. the Combine.
    • Example 4:
      • Heavy Rain (immersive sim audience might not like it, but scene praised):
        • quick-time event pressures behavior into a “good parent” role.
        • Even binary mechanics can convey emotional life changes and subtext.

Final summary of interactive narrative takeaways (as stated)

  • 1) Go beyond “show and tell.”
  • 2) Empower narrative intentionality and/or evoke drama and story ideas in the player’s mind, not just on-screen.

Closing Synthesis

  • The talk compares level design to comics: great outcomes come from relationships between components, not simply combining strong individual parts.
  • The “peak” experience happens when gameplay, presentation, and story gel into one coherent system.
  • For immersive sims, this explains what “immersive” means: the player experiences these ideas continuously.
  • Collaboration takeaway:
    • Shared design goals and shared language across disciplines (artists, writers, creative directors) improves game quality.

Speakers / Sources Featured

Speaker

  • Steve Lee (level designer; gave the talk)

Referenced books/authors

  • 101 Things I Learned at Architecture School (quote about beauty and harmony)
  • Don Norman — The Design of Everyday Things (affordances)
  • Janet Murray — Hamlet on the Holodeck (interactive narrative/intentionality context)
  • Doug Church (referenced for coining/using “intentionality” around ~1997 via talk/essay)
  • Scott McCloud — Understanding Comics (medium-specific relationships; comic analogy)

Referenced game titles

  • Dishonored 2 (Edge of the World, Dust District), Dishonored
  • BioShock / BioShock Infinite (general reference)
  • Titanfall
  • Doom 2, Doom 3 (and “Barrels of Fun”)
  • Half-Life 2 (and “pick up the can” moment)
  • Portal (including portal gun experimentation example)
  • Uncharted 2 (collapsing building / helicopter moment)
  • Heavy Rain
  • Metro 2033
  • Genre reference to “immersive sims” generally
  • (Other title callouts include Dishonored and associated missions as above)

Referenced film titles

  • Children of Men
  • Inception
  • (Also cites a filmmaker quote associated with Frank Ser—attributed by the talk as: “drama is when the audience cries.”)

Original video