I will be discussing the level design of the tutorial level in the first Dark Souls. To do this I will break this essay up into the ‘10 principles of good level design’.
But, like in any form of design, rules are meant to be broken. These principles are just guidelines but if broken it must be in a well founded and purposeful way.
On with the show!
The Player Should Always Know Exactly Where To Go
Dark Souls is a game that is not afraid to leave the player guessing. However it doesn’t leave you high and dry, even if the game doesn’t like to admit that sometimes.Dark Souls is a fairly linear game for the most part.
In the tutorial level, there is little wiggle room for getting lost. The only point that I have seen cause confusion is during the first encounter with the Asylum Demon, but that is mostly because of the panic attack one gets when they first play this part.
As you can see below, the door to go through it's quite glaringly lit up, but previous video game experience has taught most players that they should always take a boss head on. After all what kind of game would pit you against the boss before you were ready? Well, um… Dark Souls, for one...
Good Level Design Does Not Rely On Words To Tell Story
Well Dark Souls has environmental story telling down to an art form. It’s a good thing too because even when there is words about the story they are weirdly cryptic, especially to a new comer...
In most games, and most media for that matter, speech is used as to deliver exposition. A way to clearly explain things to an audience. In Dark Souls, cryptic speech is used to coax the player into the way the game wants to be approached. Dark Souls story is explored by the player asking why. Why did he say that? Why did he rescue me? Why was I locked up? Why does a demon guard the exit? Why do I resurrect after dying? Why can’t I get past this feckin’ boss!?
The mysterious nature of Dark Souls story telling helps makes the game scary and dis-empowers the player. You never get too comfortable, the game keeps you guessing at something.
Good Level Design Tells What But Not How
This is where the tutorial falters slightly, in my opinion.You are presented with an archer in a straight hallway. The archer manages to shoot you just as you come far enough up that you can reach a small room to your left. If you want to not get hit again you will go into the small room. At the entrance to the room there is a body that you can search which has a shield. The message is clear, use the shield to block the arrows in order to proceed.
Where’s the problem? It’s just before you go into the hallway…
The message was probably retrofitted into the title after test audience frustration.
It's not much of an falter really, but it is a shame that the developers had to break their hands off approach to point out the obvious. Dark Souls is otherwise very firm in not straight up telling you much of anything. Going back to the Asylum Demon, as an example, a health bar appears which signals that it can be killed but the game never says how to achieve this.
Good Level Design Constantly Teaches
Yup, Dark Souls has this in spades. Let’s list some examples up until the shield lesson!1 - You can receive help from strangers.
But they might have a weird way of helping...
2 - Items can be looted from things that have the white flame on top of them.
Weirdly only bodies and chests. You’ll never find a sword just lying there for the taking. Why? I don’t know… gosh, Dark Souls and its mysteries huh?
3 - You can find keys that open locked doors.
Critical because it may take a bit of searching on your part in the future.
4 - Messages can have useful information.
You can’t miss this one either, lit by a torch and right in your direct path.
5 + 6 - Your weapon can bounce off walls, stunning you + non hostiles can die.
Placed very near the wall and right after you learn the attack button, this helpless hollow died to bring you this lesson. He won’t attack so that you can have a safe space to practice your new moves, you monster.
7 - Locking onto your target allows you to side step and circle around them.
You’re hardly going to hop straight down like some sort of that uncivilised apparition. No, you’re most likely going to take the stairs to your right which will show off your snazzy side step. Also you haven't seen water before now and you are a little scared...
8 - Bonfires are check points.
The Bonfire is in your direct path and your curiosity gets the better of you. Your character sits down to demonstrate that this a place of rest. You will also respawn here as you begin to grasp the next point.
9 - You are going to come up against things you are not prepared for.
Unless you have mastered the art of using a broken sword...
10 - You will die (a lot) and that’s okay.
It happens to the best of us…
It’s early so you haven’t lost much, if anything.
11 - You can roll and it’s effective.
The urns will block your path when trying to evade the Asylum Demon and you can only break them by attacking or rolling into them. The urns force your hand because attacking is too slow at clearing the way and the alternative is getting smashed.
12 - Resting at a Bonfire replenishes your health.
Nothing like a bit of R&R in between nightmares.
Good Level Design Is Surprising
Well here are some examples.The Asylum Demon drops from the ceiling...
You turn the corner and get shot at by an archer...
Walk up a stairs and get hit by a bolder...
The bolder has opened up a new room...
Good Level Design Empowers The Player
Dark Souls is about disempowering the player, but it is also about rising to the challenge. It definitely encourages persistence and considered actions.The game knocks you down so far as you learn the basics and confronts you with steadily increasing odds, but because of the player’s struggle, every inch is a victory. The player can get a real sense of progression from seeing themselves reach further and further each time they try.
This is unlike traditional modern design where the player is always breezing through level by level, and any slowing down or failure state is considered unacceptable.
Good Level Design Is Easy, Medium & Hard
Dark Souls doesn’t have a difficulty selection screen but it does have easier and harder ways to do things.For example, you can in fact kill the Asylum Demon on your first encounter but it is very very hard. You will be rewarded for your efforts though with an exclusive item!
There are also certain enemies you can avoid all together and, on the flipside, helpful items that you can refuse.
One of the game’s pillars is built around the idea of cooperation. Its challenges are to be discussed among friends or guided with the help of online players leaving messages throughout its world.
Good Level Design Is Efficient
Please refer back to my section on ‘Good Design Constantly Teaches’ and look at the list of 12 things the game teaches you about it’s mechanics in the first 3 minutes of gameplay.This tutorial level also doesn’t punish replays.
Although it might take you 20 odd minutes or a couple of nights to complete if you ‘rage quite’, if you have played the game before then this level will take you approximately 4 or 5 minutes, maybe even less.
As well as that there are no mandatory cut scenes or the like!
Good Level Design Creates Emotion
As I said in the section ‘Good Level Design Empowers The Player’ Dark Souls is about disempowerment and rising to the challenge. The game starts you off in a rat infested cell as a dried up husk of your former self, the one from the character creation screen. Your fellow inmates are also husts, but more so than you, they seem to be completely brain dead or mad or both. You rise from the decrepit dungeon to the crumbling ruins of an asylum guarded by demons and the undead.This certainly creates despair. An emotion which the player must confront in order to conquer the game’s challenges. So, in contrast, the level also creates a feeling of hope and of triumph.
Good Level Design Is Driven By Mechanics
Absolutely. This level is tightly controlled and centered around teaching the player its mechanics and they interact with themselves and the rest of the experience.In Conclusion
This level is excellently designed and certainly lets you know what to expect in the rest of the game.Hay, you made it all the way to here! What do you think? Do you agree? Thoughts? I'd love to know!
In the mean time...
We shall 'shlaters',
Richard.