Game Design Lecture for Session 7 of The Los Angeles Film School's Game PreProduction course.

1. Session 7
David Mullich
Concept Workshop - Game PreProduction
The Los Angeles Film School

2. Game Audio
 Diegetic Sounds are sounds that occur within hearing
distance of the player character. This includes sound effects
and dialogue.
 Non-Diegetic Sound refers to background music and sound
effects not within the game environment.

3. Game Audio
 Zone refers to environmental sound, such as birds or sirens.
These sounds set the game ambience.
 Effect refers to sounds during gameplay that are produced
by characters: i.e., footsteps, gunshots, explosions. These
sounds can be on or off screen.
 Affect refers to sounds that set the mood of the game.
These range from orchestral music to moody low tones.
 Interface refers menu sounds or sounds related to the HUD.
The main use of these sounds is to confirm that the player’s
input was registered properly.

4. Game Audio

5. Game Music
Video game music refers to the soundtrack or
background music accompanying video
games.
Music is dynamic and the intensity of the
music has a powerful effect on the player's
emotions.

6. Game Music
 Main Theme: This track should be one that
would be identifiable with your game.
 Low Key: This track represents a quiet
moment in the game, or during an
exploration mode.
 Intense: This track represents a dramatic
moment in the game, such as combat.

7. Game Music
Other music:
 Fanfare: Short/non-looping music used to
signal victory.
 Defeat: Short/non-looping music used to
signal a loss.
 Stings: Very short, non-looping music used
to dramatize surprise, threat, or humor.

8. Sound Effects
 Fanfare: Short/non-looping music used to
signal victory.
 Defeat: Short/non-looping music used to
signal a loss.
 Stings: Very short, non-looping music used
to dramatize surprise, threat, or humor.

9. Create an Audio Page in your Concept
PowerPoint for:
 Main Music (1 sample)
 Low-Key Music (1 sample)
 Intense Music (1 sample)
 Zone Sound (2 samples)
 Effect Sound (2 samples)
 Interface Sound (1-2 samples)
PowerPoint

10. Game Levels

11. Game Levels

12. Game Levels
1. Good level design is fun to navigate
2. Good level design does not rely on words
to tell the story
3. Good level design always tells the player
what to do, but never how to do it
4. Good level design constantly teaches the
player
5. Good level design is surprising

13. Game Levels
6. Good level design empowers the player
7. Good level design is easy, medium and
hard
8. Good level design is efficient
9. Good level design creates emotion
10. Good level design is driven by mechanics
Dan Taylor, GDC 2013

14. Create a Levels page in your GDD Wiki that has the following:
 General Progression and Difficulty
 How do the levels progress? (The game flow)
 What makes the game challenging?
 What can you adjust if you find the game to be too easy or hard?
 How do you plan to handle the difficulty ramp as the player transitions from novice to
expert?
 For each Level
 What is the level's layout?
 What is the level’s starting point?
 Where are the obstacles/enemies? (including spawn points, if any)
 Where are the resources the player must acquire?
 What are the intermediate objectives (if any -- include waypoints)
 What are the win/loss conditions?
 Where is the level's exit (if any)?
Wiki

15. Example
Within this game the flow follows a certain pattern. The player moves from room to room in
each level, where they have to both maneuver along platforms and around pitfalls and fight
enemies along the way. Each level has about 5-10 separate rooms and at the end of each
level they have to fight a boss before they progress to the next level. The game is
challenging in the fact that the player has to move creatively not only to hit enemies but also
to traverse through the specific environments.
The difficulty ramp in the game will be done in two major ways. One, the enemies will
become stronger and thus require more hits to take down, thus either using more of the
blaster energy or taking a chance to leaving the player vulnerable if they go in for the melee
attacks. The second way is to ramp up the number of not only obstacles and pitfalls but put
them in creatively to where the player has to figure out the best way to maneuver and their
margin for ever grows smaller and smaller throughout the game.
If it becomes too easy or hard the best way to scale up or down would be not only adjusting
the health of the enemies but also moving around the locations of the obstacles.

16. Example