Level (computer and video games)
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In computer and video games, a level (sometimes called a stage, zone, course, episode, round, world, map, wave, board, phase, act, chapter, area, mission or landscape) is a separate area in a game's virtual world, in modern games typically representing a specific location such as a building or a city.
The term is derived from early role-playing games, where it referred to levels of a dungeon - the setting most such games were played in. Players would begin at the bottom (level 1), and proceed through increasingly numbered levels (of increasing difficulty) until they reached their freedom at the top, or they would start at the top (which would also be level 1), and proceed through increasingly numbered (and difficult) levels until they reached the treasure at the bottom.
Each level has an associated mission which may be as simple as walking from point A to point B or as complex as finding several hidden items in a limited time. When the mission is completed, the player usually moves on to the next level; if it is failed, the player must usually try again. Not all games order the levels in a linear sequence; some games allow the player to re-visit levels or choose in which order to complete them, sometimes known as a "hub"-based system. An example of this is the Metroidvania genre, such as Super Metroid. Sometimes, choosing a level to visit is performed through a world map, such as Dinosaur Island in Super Mario World. This type of gameplay involves exploring the game-world and often discovering paths that can not be accessed with the players' current abilities. Finding an item (either a key or a power-up) later on grants the player the ability to go back and access that path. It is important to make a distinction between this type of game and a full console RPG.
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[edit] The use of levels
There are a number of reasons for the concept of the "level" in video game design. Many early games used it to extend the length of a simple (and short) game by allowing a victorious player to play again on a higher difficulty setting (such as tougher opponents), a different game setting (such as a different maze layout), or both. In this manner, the game could last much longer and be more interesting without changing the basic gameplay style.
Even as games became more advanced, programming constraints such as a limit on primary memory with which to store graphics and sound still necessitated many games being split into levels - or from another point of view, using levels allowed a great deal of variety in the game despite hardware limitations. A platform game might have the protagonist fighting against skeletons in Hades for its first level, but upon its completion the game can pause for an interlude while it removes this data from memory and loads in the Greek soldiers he will be fighting in the next level. This could not have been done at the time without a level system, since the hardware could not hold both sets of game data at the same time nor display enough colors at one time to "draw" the sprites and background.
Some modern games have attempted to gain the benefits of a level system while giving the impression that the games are continuous - i.e., one long game rather than levels. In these games, data required for an upcoming level is loaded into memory in the background as the player approaches it, a process known as prefetching.
Dividing a game into levels has other advantages. One advantage is that non-stop action can overwhelm a player if the game does not afford the player points where he or she may rest, and levels break the game up into manageable sections which allow for this. Another advantage is that while a player can usually only complete a game once, they can still achieve a degree of satisfaction each time they successfully complete a level. Games which do not have levels in the strictest sense usually have some other satisfying objective which can be achieved more than once, such as completing a line in Tetris or conquering provinces in Rome: Total War.
[edit] Level variation and terminology
As games became more varied and specialized, terminology has arisen in level design as shorthand to describe a specific type of level that are often seen in certain genres or accommodate to specific game designs.
- Stage: A stage is a common term for a level that is viewed and played in a traditional 2D perspective, which is a picture frame-like view of the action similar to that of a proscenium stage.
- Round: The term "round" is usually referring a particular game design in where the overall challenge must be overcome across more than one (up to infinity) identical or near-identical attempts. The core challenge and rules remain the same, and changes to gameplay across rounds is limited to an increase in stakes and/or to difficulty. Typically seen in fighting games (i.e "rounds" during a martial arts match), this concept is also often seen in puzzle games, party games, and titles that are driven by mini-games. They can also be localized into specific gameplay such as a boss encounter that is broken into rounds.
- Wave: A wave is a level purely defined by overcoming a number of enemies. The core gameplay is simply defeating/surviving the foes present, with little-to-no gameplay elements that would otherwise diminish it (such as exploration).
- Act/Chapter: Terms commonly used to describe levels that, along with most of the rest of the game design, are built and designed to specifically accommodate and sync with an existing story or narrative provided by a writer (as opposed to constructing a level for more traditional means such as for setting or gameplay).
- World: A term commonly used to describe a series of levels all revolving or subsisting on the same theme, elements or concepts. Worlds allow a designer to propagate specific gameplay themes across several levels without having to create a level that is too large and unwieldy. For example, several levels containing lava and flame hazards that are all part of a "fire world".
- Area: An area is used to define a level that, literally, physically coexists amongst multiple levels, in that the player can progress from one "level" to the other simply by using the game's physics. Despite coexisting spatially, each area presents its own themes, rewards and challenges. Access to areas is often designed to require learning and progression gained from other areas. An area that serves as the only direct access to all other areas is known as a "hub".
- Map: The term "map" is used to describe arenas in competitive multiplayer games in which the gameplay is heavily dependent on terrain design (such as real-time strategy games and multi-player first-person shooters). This term is also often carried over into single-player games, also to describe levels with a high degree or scope in terrain design, or simply as the sum of all the game's areas.
- Overworld/Dungeon: A subset of "area/map" terminology which is commonly used to describe stock "hub-to-areas" level design; in this case the "overworld" functioning as a hub to the "dungeons". The overworld is often designed to resemble a true landscape, replete with civilization, economy, and expansive terrain design. The player can access dungeons from the overworld, which are areas that more directly challenge the player's abilities, usually using enemies, exploration, and puzzles. This design format is commonly seen in RPGs and action/adventure games, where they originated; they have become so prevalent a concept that the terms are used even when a medieval fantasy element is not present. The overworld is also known as a "world map".
- Mission: A term often used to describe a "level" in objective-based gameplay, in where the majority of the action takes place all within one area or scenario, and the player's ultimate goal is to simply complete all the objectives central to core progression. This term is sometimes supplanted simply with the term "objective".
- Episode: A term used in game publishing to describe a series of levels that are sold as an extra add-on to a game already established in the marketplace. Also commonly referred to as a "mission pack".
Also of note is the term "boards", a nowadays relic synonym for levels that saw its heyday in the pre-Third Generation eras. The term is borrowed from board games, whom at the time had shared equal public view with that of video games and thus some terminology as well.
When levels are actually named to the player within a game itself, game designers may often choose to use any term to suit the purpose whether or not it clashes with its common meaning (such as using the term "rounds" to describe what are actually stages). Often designers will create in-game level terminology to better refer to the game's themes, such as "phases", "floors", "zones", etc. Designers may also simply avoid actually using terminology in game at all and instead refer to each level only by its official title, usually in order to best preserve an atmosphere.
[edit] Level design
A person who creates levels for a game is a level designer or mapper, the latter most often used when talking about first-person shooters where levels are more often referred to as maps. The computer programs used for creating levels are called level editors. Sometimes a compiler is also required to convert the source file format to the file format used by the game, particularly for first person shooters. Designing levels is a complex art that requires consideration for visual appearance, game performance, and gameplay. Creation of levels is an integral part of game modding.
[edit] Levels in computer role-playing games
Computer role-playing games typically do not have levels, although they often have towns, wilderness areas and dungeons which might be considered similar to levels. Instead, levels are numbers that represent a character's overall skill and experience. To level or level up means to gain a level. By gaining a level, a character's abilities or stats will increase, making the character stronger and able to safely battle stronger enemies.
Gaining levels in an RPG is generally secondary to completing the game's objectives and something which happens naturally as a result of the challenges overcome on the way to completing the objectives, although some players enjoy levelling up characters for its own sake, especially in MMORPGs (this is known as powerlevelling).
[edit] Secret levels
A secret level is a level of a video game that is hidden from a player. A secret level is usually accessed by performing actions that a player would normally not perform except through incredible coincidence or prior knowledge (such as jumping on a block seven times and then punching the air). In many cases, secret levels are accessed by locating a hidden goal in another level (which is sometimes a secret level in its own right). Other times, a secret level is accessed by performing exceptionally well (such as in Super Smash Bros.), or by performing an exceptionally large task (such as in Sonic Adventure 2).
