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Art'n'Leveldesign
by Benjamin Bauer
"an article describing my
opinion that art and emotions are
an important factor in leveldesign compared to common design"
go to 'page 2 of the article "Art'n'Leveldesign"'
Architecture and composition
We talked long enough about contrasts and emotions in our levels, now it is time for some other aspects of art. Now I want to take a look at architecture and composition. Architecture has always been esteemed as art as long as it isn't simply a copy! I am tired of telling other people that they should please use their brain and try to create their own architecture instead of making copies of existing buildings. You should see it as a challange to be your own architect. Of course it is obvious that in a normal boring part of a city you can't start to place extravagant or modern buildings. On the other hand the mansion of a druglord should not look like a drab building which you would normally use in a harbour setting. In my opinion if you have the chance to be creative you should really take advantage of it! I don't know why, but most mansions I see in computer games are in a neo-antique style. Especially some original european styles are very intresting as is modern art architecture. All of them could have amazing gameplay elements and would be someting fresh for the player's eye.
(modern art architecture - mansion of a drug lord)
The architecture of your houses should always fit in the current environment. A blocky style defintaly doesn't fit into an old district or old city. The blocky style only fits in industrial or harbour settings or if this part of the town is relatively new. Such a blocky town planning always reminds me about America and is normally totally different compared with what you find in older european citys. Town planning only playes a minor role in the history of art but you can find it in baroque parks. In my opinion gameplay and performance should be more important then a well designed part of a town. Okay, I know that normally every editor uses a 90° degree grid and it is not very easy to work against it.
(organic placment of the buildings in an old city)
Composition might play an important role for paintings but it is very hard to use it in level design. If you want to work with it you simply need some basic knowlege about theoretical art. As a small memory aid I copied what I found in my favourite/life saving internet dictionary for you (http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/):
composition
n 1: a mixture of ingredients
2: the way in which someone or something is composed [syn: constitution,
makeup]
3: the spatial property resulting from the arrangement of parts
in relation to each other and to the whole; "harmonious
composition is essential in a serious work of art" [syn: composing]
4: a musical work that has been created; "the composition is
written in four movements" [syn: musical composition, opus,
piece, piece of music]
5: musical creation [syn: composing]
6: the act of creating written works; "writing was a form of
therapy for him"; "it was a matter of disputed authorship"
[syn: writing, authorship, penning]
7: art and technique of printing with movable type [syn: typography]
8: an essay (especially one written as an assignment); "he got
an A on his composition" [syn: paper, report, theme]
9: something that is created by arranging several things to
form a unified whole; "he envied the composition of their
faculty"
For level design we should take a look at point number three: "harmonious composition is essential in a serious work of art". Yes, composition is used to create harmony. Such a haromony is often desired to create a specific feeling. If you have a scene which is strongly dominated by horizontal and vertical lines it would totally destroy the strict, still, organized harmony if you add something organic/angular/aquiline. On the other hand you can strongly influence a chaos/natural arragment if you place someting very blocky within it. It might destroy the harmony but on the other hand it is of course an eye-catcher. Players normally need things which stick out for orientation and navigation. You should simply give it a try. Normally I automaticlly include composition if I plan a town or develop special architecture. For me it is simply another element for adding harmony or disharmony.
Imported art
Okay, we have been working
the whole time on how to improve your level but why not make it even more
simple? Why not simply import art in your level e.g. as a texture or model?
Do you really need a lot of skill/thinking to include a model or texture
into a level? No, even Garfield the cat can implement this. Of course
I am doing this too, but definatly not to improve the art level in my
map! In my last level (ns_beachhouse)
I included pictures which were simply holiday images from fans. I asked
them to send me some pictures.
Imported art can be used to invigorate your level but it has defintaly
nothing to do with the topic of my current article. We want to improve
the quality of level design, not to present your modelling/2D skills or
the abilities of other artists. That doesn't mean that artistic models
or textures couldn't really help your level! I was just talking about
single models and textures which have less to do with the surrounding
artistic/atmospheric environment.
Mistakes which you could do
Art within level design
for me is only another interesting aspect. It might be wrong to give art
a very important role in your map. Gameplay, performance and quality is
definatly still more important than anything else. In my opinion it would
be wrong to say this level is bad because e.g. he follows no aspects of
art or the designer chose the wrong contrasts. On the other hand it might
be incorrect to compare the art you know from museums or school with the
art I am talking about here. It is nonsense to say something like: "Hey,
Ben ns_junglecomplex
has the similar feelings like many pictures from Vincent van Gogh, which
I saw in Paris." Personaly I have no problem with such compliments
but they could be a little bit too freaky...
Yes, it is true that art can be extremely boring for most young people
- I am young, too - but it is wrong to forget everything we know about
art, especialy if you are doing a creative process like level design!
Keep everything simple, otherwise even the more experienced people would
never notice some details. It shouldn't be very common in your level.
A museum with a hundreds of old pictures in every small room will definatly
flash you the first time - the time of flash is different from person
to person - but then your eyes/you get sick of it. The same would happen
in your level if you have too many different things drawing your attention
or you are using the same technique all the time. Try to be diversified
and innovative where possible.
Final words
What a surprise! I was
making a small break while I was writing this article and was watching
TV. I switched between the channels and there was a intresting documentation
about history of computer games and its different influences. There an
american professor compared the way the designer of Myth - an old
render advanture - worked with textures and light with the work of Rembrandt
- a famous dutch painter of the 17th century. This professor was not the
only one who saw parallels between game design and art itself. The reason
why I am telling you this is that I have mostly the same point of view
and was reinforced by the documentation. Otherwise I am happy that they
didn't talk about level design because then I would have to rewrite most
parts of the article again ;-).
No, I am not one of these freaky art geeks! I just wrote down what I remember
from school and what I am still using during the creation of levels. I
hate to tell it but it is true that some of the theoretical stuff you
learn in school might be helpful in your future.
Perhaps you wonder why I wrote this article. Of course I want to bring
more new/exacting/fresh elements to level design, and if you are not a
level designer perhaps you start to see maps with a new point of view.
Perhaps you have some more respect for the people behind your favourite
levels and start to think why. But for me creating a level is a very personal
process and I wish that even more people felt like that. Every normal
level was built out of nothing. The level designer is the only one who
brings life into the map and he is the one who gives it a soul. The level
is a reflection of the thinking of its creator. He is the person who determines
how everything will look. If you would take a look at the map of a designer
who is color blind I guess you'll see some very funny texture combinations.
Perhaps that example is too simple but that is his view. I guess you know
what I mean.
You have read to the end and you might have learned a lot of general and
theoretical knowlege/nonsense. Now it is your turn to think and try to
develop your own ideas and styles. The most important thing should be
that you start to use your brain. You can be proud of yourself if you
create a wonderful looking level but craft skills alone are nothing if
there is nothing intellectual behind it.
Perhaps you don't share this opinion with me, no problem, contentious
discussions enliven the community.
BenB - benb@benb-design.net
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