WEBVTT 00:00:01.530 --> 00:00:05.240 Hey. I’m Mark Brown, and this is Game Maker’s Toolkit. 00:00:05.240 --> 00:00:09.830 I’ve done a bunch of videos on my channel about platformer level design, but it has 00:00:09.830 --> 00:00:14.910 almost always been through the lens of Nintendo games - which have a pretty reliable formula 00:00:14.910 --> 00:00:16.309 at this point. 00:00:16.309 --> 00:00:21.040 Each stage introduces a new gameplay mechanic - and that idea is explored through a series 00:00:21.040 --> 00:00:22.890 of escalating challenges. 00:00:22.890 --> 00:00:26.800 And then, the mechanic is thrown away - never to be seen again. 00:00:26.800 --> 00:00:29.110 And that’s certainly one way to do it. 00:00:29.110 --> 00:00:30.580 But, it’s not the only approach. 00:00:30.580 --> 00:00:34.480 So, let’s take a look at a platformer that does things quite differently: 00:00:34.480 --> 00:00:38.640 Ubisoft’s Rayman Legends. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:41.289 So this game has plenty of unique ideas. 00:00:41.289 --> 00:00:44.820 But the game’s standout mechanics aren’t ditched as soon as they’re developed 00:00:44.820 --> 00:00:49.539 - instead, they’re often carried through an entire world’s worth of levels. 00:00:49.539 --> 00:00:54.770 In world two, Toad Story, practically every level is about updrafts that you can fly in. 00:00:54.770 --> 00:00:59.679 And in world three, Fiesta de los Muertos, a bunch of the levels are about digging through 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:00.729 big chunks of cake. 00:01:00.729 --> 00:01:09.180 But if you ask me, the best example is from world four: 20,000 Lums Under the Sea. 00:01:09.180 --> 00:01:15.100 This world is a sneaky spy thriller, with James Bond style music, and stealthy gameplay 00:01:15.100 --> 00:01:18.560 that’s maybe closer to Splinter Cell than Rayman. 00:01:18.560 --> 00:01:23.939 The main mechanic for this world is the sentry, which is a sort of mechanised security system 00:01:23.939 --> 00:01:28.100 that casts a green light - or red, if Rayman gets too close. 00:01:28.100 --> 00:01:32.110 And if Rayman stays in the red light for too long, he’ll be zapped. 00:01:32.110 --> 00:01:36.230 So it’s all about sneaking past the sentry at the right moment. 00:01:36.230 --> 00:01:38.190 There are ones that flicker on and off. 00:01:38.190 --> 00:01:42.700 And ones that move, so you need to hide behind bits of the level that cut off the sentry’s 00:01:42.700 --> 00:01:43.700 light. 00:01:43.700 --> 00:01:47.719 They appear in almost every stage in this world, but each level has a unique twist on 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:48.719 the idea. 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:53.670 They’re introduced in level one, The Mysterious Inflatable Island, where you avoid the lights 00:01:53.670 --> 00:01:56.289 by swimming past them. 00:01:56.289 --> 00:02:01.500 Then in stage two, The Deadly Lights, we use this tiny green guy called Murphy to press 00:02:01.500 --> 00:02:05.460 buttons and pop up barriers to obstruct the sentry’s lights. 00:02:05.460 --> 00:02:08.770 (This makes more sense if you’re playing on a console like the Wii U where you can 00:02:08.770 --> 00:02:11.670 physically poke, grab and move stuff with the touchscreen. 00:02:11.670 --> 00:02:14.909 It’s a bit janky on the other consoles where you just press a button.) 00:02:14.909 --> 00:02:16.099 Anyway. 00:02:16.099 --> 00:02:19.280 Stage three, The Mansion of the Deep, is different again. 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:23.819 The level starts with no sentries, but then you hit a power button and must go back through 00:02:23.819 --> 00:02:27.590 the same rooms but now thinking about stealth. 00:02:27.590 --> 00:02:32.360 Level four, Infiltration Station, brings back Murphy, but now you have full control over 00:02:32.360 --> 00:02:36.880 the level as you move bits of the stage to create cover, or even move the sentries themselves. 00:02:36.880 --> 00:02:42.810 And then level five, Elevator Ambush, the sentries are still present but the stealth 00:02:42.810 --> 00:02:47.720 gameplay takes a bit of a backseat to a more action-packed fist fight against these new 00:02:47.720 --> 00:02:49.170 frogmen enemies. 00:02:49.170 --> 00:02:53.780 Because, obviously, there’s more to this world than just one mechanic. 00:02:53.780 --> 00:03:00.140 Level one also introduces us to spiky navel mines, and frogmen who fire electrical blasts. 00:03:00.140 --> 00:03:05.860 Level three adds laser tripwires, giant crushing pipes, and two extra underwater creatures: 00:03:05.860 --> 00:03:08.910 jellyfish and these freaky worm things. 00:03:08.910 --> 00:03:11.760 And level five adds another enemy type. 00:03:11.760 --> 00:03:15.200 Plus weird shark guys who throw objects across the room. 00:03:15.200 --> 00:03:19.280 And missiles, which were briefly seen in the boss fight from Toad Story. 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:24.190 What’s clever is that most of these mechanics are introduced on their own, but then go on 00:03:24.190 --> 00:03:27.500 to appear in tandem with the sentries. 00:03:27.500 --> 00:03:30.180 Enemies pop up in areas guarded by the sentries. 00:03:30.180 --> 00:03:34.150 The nightmare worms create fast-moving, and oddly-shaped cover. 00:03:34.150 --> 00:03:35.480 And so on. 00:03:35.480 --> 00:03:40.590 And then, after five stages of build up, all of these ideas come together in the sixth 00:03:40.590 --> 00:03:46.069 stage, There’s Always a Bigger Fish, which is a manic, fast-paced chase sequence that 00:03:46.069 --> 00:03:48.590 uses almost every mechanic we’ve seen so far. 00:03:48.590 --> 00:03:52.610 There are navel mines, sentries, missiles, frogmen, shark dudes, and 00:03:52.610 --> 00:03:53.620 laser tripwires. 00:03:53.620 --> 00:03:59.150 And yet, it’s totally doable - simply because, the game has spent a lot of time carefully 00:03:59.150 --> 00:04:02.329 building up this vocabulary of different mechanics. 00:04:02.329 --> 00:04:07.050 The player has learned what these things look like, what they do, and how to deal with them 00:04:07.050 --> 00:04:09.280 - even at great speed. 00:04:11.800 --> 00:04:15.540 Because, if you don’t do the necessary prep work, the player won’t have the skills to 00:04:15.540 --> 00:04:18.430 deal with these mechanics when put under pressure. 00:04:18.430 --> 00:04:22.840 And as an example of this happening, you need look no further than Rayman Legends itself. 00:04:22.840 --> 00:04:27.870 The game’s got these brilliant musical stages at the end of each world, but, for whatever 00:04:27.870 --> 00:04:32.840 reason, they often have slightly different mechanics to the rest of the levels - mechanics 00:04:32.840 --> 00:04:35.340 which haven’t always been fully established. 00:04:35.340 --> 00:04:39.389 So in Mariachi Madness, you’ll be running through the level at breakneck speed and suddenly 00:04:39.389 --> 00:04:43.690 see a creature that you’ve never seen before and need to figure out what that is and what 00:04:43.690 --> 00:04:47.930 you need to do in a split second and, yeah, I didn’t react quickly enough. 00:04:47.930 --> 00:04:49.460 And that didn’t feel good. 00:04:49.460 --> 00:04:53.690 So introducing mechanics early isn’t just responsible level design - but it also gives 00:04:53.690 --> 00:04:58.820 players an opportunity feel a sense of flow, and mastery - that isn’t halted by trial 00:04:58.820 --> 00:05:00.500 and error deaths. 00:05:00.500 --> 00:05:04.870 That stage in 20,000 Lums feels amazing because you’re going really fast and nailing all 00:05:04.870 --> 00:05:08.710 of these challenges - but that’s only possible because you’re familiar with everything 00:05:08.710 --> 00:05:10.610 the level has to throw at you. 00:05:10.610 --> 00:05:15.310 That level is then followed by a boss fight, and then a swim back to the surface for the musical 00:05:15.310 --> 00:05:20.780 number - taking you full circle, to the island you started on in level one. 00:05:22.200 --> 00:05:26.620 Now. Not every world is like this in Rayman Legends. 00:05:26.630 --> 00:05:31.970 Some worlds are linked by a theme, like world one’s castle, rather than a game mechanic. 00:05:31.970 --> 00:05:36.900 And there are plenty of one-off ideas, like a level about spreading guacamole, and a twisting 00:05:36.900 --> 00:05:41.850 labyrinth stage, that are thrown away at the end of the level - just like a Mario mechanic. 00:05:41.850 --> 00:05:47.170 But 20,000 Lums demonstrates some real benefits to keeping a mechanic around for longer than 00:05:47.170 --> 00:05:48.540 just one level. 00:05:48.540 --> 00:05:51.669 It means that idea can be explored exhaustively. 00:05:51.669 --> 00:05:56.150 The sentries are seen in endless variations, and they slowly ramp up in difficulty. 00:05:56.150 --> 00:05:58.230 They start to move more quickly. 00:05:58.230 --> 00:05:59.660 The cover gets smaller. 00:05:59.660 --> 00:06:02.430 They appear in pairs, or mix with other mechanics. 00:06:02.430 --> 00:06:06.530 And instead of just waiting for an opportunity to proceed, you have to move in lockstep with 00:06:06.530 --> 00:06:08.200 the cover to stay hidden. 00:06:08.200 --> 00:06:11.789 You’ll see even more variants in the world’s secret rooms. 00:06:11.789 --> 00:06:15.930 And if you want to go for bonus pick-ups like coins and kidnapped Teensies, you’ll have 00:06:15.930 --> 00:06:19.949 to put yourself at risk and deal with even more challenging sentries. 00:06:19.949 --> 00:06:23.860 Keeping a mechanic around also means it can appear in much more difficult scenarios - and 00:06:23.860 --> 00:06:27.070 the player will be able to deal with it - in masterful fashion. 00:06:27.070 --> 00:06:31.290 In Mario, you’ve got to wait until the end-game bonus stages to ever face a mechanic in a 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:32.290 more tricky set-up. 00:06:32.290 --> 00:06:38.110 A mechanic can also be a thread to create a wider narrative progression for the world. 00:06:38.110 --> 00:06:42.419 The sentries are prominent at the start of 20,000 Lums Under the Sea, where Rayman is 00:06:42.419 --> 00:06:47.300 using stealth to get around - but they disappear towards the end as - in classic spy movie 00:06:47.300 --> 00:06:51.349 fashion - all hell breaks lose for the action-packed finale. 00:06:51.349 --> 00:06:52.349 And finally. 00:06:52.349 --> 00:06:55.000 And this one might be handy for any indie developers watching. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:00.099 It’s also surely a tad more economical to keep an idea around for more than one level 00:07:00.099 --> 00:07:02.930 - than developing 100 different game mechanics. 00:07:02.930 --> 00:07:06.020 We can’t all be Nintendo, can we? 00:07:07.720 --> 00:07:08.740 Hey, thanks for watching. 00:07:08.750 --> 00:07:13.699 I also want to say thanks to Rayman level designer Chris McEntee who chatted to me about 00:07:13.699 --> 00:07:15.660 the creation of this world. 00:07:15.660 --> 00:07:20.919 I asked him whether the mechanic informed the theme, or if the theme lead to the mechanic 00:07:20.919 --> 00:07:23.770 - and he told me that it was kind of a mix of the two. 00:07:23.770 --> 00:07:28.729 The gameplay team was prototyping the sentry and the art team did some Jules Verne style 00:07:28.729 --> 00:07:34.820 underwater artwork - and these came together for a world about sneaking through an underwater base. 00:07:34.820 --> 00:07:39.979 Apparently there was a real back and forth of art and gameplay inspiring each other throughout 00:07:39.979 --> 00:07:42.580 the creation of Rayman Legends. 00:07:42.580 --> 00:07:47.180 Chris is now working on the Ori and the Blind Forest sequel, meaning I’m even more excited 00:07:47.180 --> 00:07:48.860 about that game.