Game Pace: How Single-Player Levels Tick

[Emabulator]

Gamasutra enlisted veteran designer Mark Davies for a six page feature (http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4024/examining_game_pace_how_.php?page=1) in which he "looks at games from Call Of Duty 4 through Dead Space to analyze the art of game level pacing."

In truth, whilst tension is created from fear of the unknown, the threat must be known in some way. Take the game Alien Vs Predator, which I feel has possibly the most tense introduction level of any game I have played.

Throughout the level your motion sensor blips and flashes as threats apparently come near you. However, this sequence heavily relies on the player's knowledge of the films to know that the flashing blips on the radar could potentially be the deadly aliens.

To achieve tension when you don't have the luxury of a well-known license to rely on, then you need to show the potential consequence of the threat, or the threat itself in some form. Dead Space does a very good job of building up tension without the player immediately knowing what the threat is. As soon as they board the Ishimura it is plainly obvious that something is seriously wrong.

[Rirath]

However, this sequence heavily relies on the player's knowledge of the films to know that the flashing blips on the radar could potentially be the deadly aliens.

I think a very general knowledge of radars, games, or even things with flashing blips would also do in a pinch to fill in this knowledge gap...

[brandonjclark]

I think pacing is an important aspect of the single-player experience. However, I think it's going to take a different direction in future games. With L4D's AI-Director doing such a great job in Multi-Player situations, I think there's room for something like that in the single-player realm.

Anyone agree that "pacing ai" is important?

[MasterEvilAce]

Dead Space was brilliant, really. I don't care so much about advanced warnings or blips or radars at all, to be honest. Dead Space used sounds amazingly well. I was walking down a hallway and I heard a banging... I slowly advanced until I came to a guy banging his head against the wall until death. It was that moment that I knew, "This place is fucked up"

The use of sounds is amazing. Just the occasional tapping of metal above your head in hallways. Was it an enemy? I don't know I didn't see anything. And sometimes it's the other way around. You see it, but it can't get you. Half-Life 2 did that a lot to show what you'll be fighting in the near future.

I'm just not a fan of radars. Because if something is on the radar you know its direction, you know how it's moving, how fast, etc. But with sounds... you can never be too sure. And that's what makes it incredible

[brandonjclark]

Dead Space was brilliant, really. I don't care so much about advanced warnings or blips or radars at all, to be honest. Dead Space used sounds amazingly well. I was walking down a hallway and I heard a banging... I slowly advanced until I came to a guy banging his head against the wall until death. It was that moment that I knew, "This place is fucked up"

The use of sounds is amazing. Just the occasional tapping of metal above your head in hallways. Was it an enemy? I don't know I didn't see anything. And sometimes it's the other way around. You see it, but it can't get you. Half-Life 2 did that a lot to show what you'll be fighting in the near future.

I'm just not a fan of radars. Because if something is on the radar you know its direction, you know how it's moving, how fast, etc. But with sounds... you can never be too sure. And that's what makes it incredible

I agree about DeadSpace. I was constantly stopping and looking over my shoulder {in-game, of course!} because of little sounds here and there. It was definitely a scary game.

[Majster Wichajster]

I agree about DeadSpace. I was constantly stopping and looking over my shoulder {in-game, of course!} because of little sounds here and there. It was definitely a scary game.

The only game that got it right was AvP.