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Level Design: Single Player vs. Multiplayer and Rewards System . By: Aaron McKay. Single Player Considerations:. Control: Advantage: The player more control over what happens. Don’t have to rely on someone else. Balancing Issues:
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Level Design:Single Player vs. MultiplayerandRewards System By: Aaron McKay
Single Player Considerations: • Control: • Advantage: The player more control over what happens. • Don’t have to rely on someone else. • Balancing Issues: • Designer might misjudge skill level required for a certain part of the level, leading to frustration for the player. • Narrative Possibilities: • Most of the time it is easier to aim narrative elements at a single person rather than a group
Multiplayer • Some types of gameplay: • Cooperative Play • Versus • Deathmatch • Capture the Flag • Competitive Sports Gaming
Multiplayer Level Design Considerations • Enhanced routes and challenges: • Ex: One person distracts, the other person steals • Ex: May require one person to stand on one switch and the other person on another switch in order to open a door. • Human Element: • Unexpected strategies – Better at coming up with these strategies and also at countering them. • Competitive Challenges
Hybrids • Many games are designed with single and multiplayer in mind. • They might create a story mode for the people who like single player, and an online mode for those who prefer multiplayer.
Rewards Systems • Humans are predictable when it comes to punishment and rewards. • In level design, it is important to use a combination of punishments and rewards in order to enforce or discourage certain behaviors in the game. • Example: In multiplayer friendly fire is on, but if you kill your ally then your team loses points and you have a longer respawn time. • Example: Encourage teamwork by giving more team points for assisted kills than individual kills.
Consensual (Temporary) Submission • You willingly follow what others say. There is no punishment for not surrendering to what others say. • Example: You have a music instructor and you temporarily submit yourself to their authority on the subject. However, if the teacher asks you to do his/her shopping for them, then it is taken as unrelated and ignored.
Other Considerations • Fairness: There needs to be some level of fairness involved. People won’t stick to a game which favors one individual over the another. Even in games like Juggernaut, it is several lower powered people vs. one super powered individual to even out the game. • Investment and payoff: • Reward systems are important for keeping people playing a game. Some of the most popular games are good at this: WOW, LOL….These games have their own form of currency so that the more a user plays, the more they make. They can then use these points to buy in game items and characters. Users also continue to play because after a while, a large amount of time has been dedicated to the game, which makes it hard to give up.