Home Gaming Dishonored 2 has a layered and deeper approach to level design

Dishonored 2 has a layered and deeper approach to level design

3 min read
12

Dishonored (2)

Level design may be just one of the most unappreciated jobs in game design. Not only do developers and art teams have to create a world that looks fantastic, they have to arrange all of those pieces into a shape that suits the flow of gameplay. Gameplay that usually has people racing past intricately constructed stages and utterly ignoring the beauty around them.

Man, I feel bad for developers. Anyway, if there’s one game that nailed atmosphere and the flow of progression through multiple levels, it was the first Dishonored game. It’s one of the highlights from that first game, a testament to the sheer genius behind every move and moment of stealth and guile. Naturally, Dishonored 2 wants to up the ante for their levels.

“When we make the level, we build the basics first; the main buildings, the balconies and the apartments and then on top of that – well it’s kind of a layer,” lead level designer Christophe Carrier said to Eurogamer .

While I’m talking I’m realising that it’s a layer but we are digging deeper into it and we add or remove things. Entrances, new paths, and of course we had to deal with the no power players so that they have an experience that is as fun as all the other people.

I try to play the game in no power [mode] as much as possible to give the player the same fun as if they were using the powers. And it’s more difficult of course, but it’s as fun I think. For example, somewhere where you could go by blinking or far reaching, you have to find the way to go up or down and it’s more hidden – you have to search your environment and I think for a no power player, it’s fun to have to find solutions like that.

It’s not a puzzle per se, but the pleasure comes from ‘Yeah, I found it! That’s where I have to go with no powers.’

Dishonored (1)

And yes, each level in Dishonored 2 will be filled with content that you’ll probably miss out on through your first playthrough. Content which you can always revisit later, as that’s part of the charm in Dishonored 2 says Carrier:

You know, the thing that is really awesome for us is to see players talking to other players saying ‘what did you do? I went there but had to do this – no! You could do this and you know, take this window’ and they go ‘oh I’ll try this next time’ and that stuff we call the coffee machine talks… in my work, when I hear that, I’m so happy to hear that from players; that they’re not playing the same game. That’s one of the things I love about working on Dishonored – that you can see everyone is doing something different, but they have equal fun.

You know at Valve they have an entirely different perspective. They say – as far as I remember, it was a long time ago – they say everything we do should be seen by the player. Right? And I totally respect that because you put a lot of work into a game so you want to show everything you’ve done. For us, we have to accept that some players will never see an entire part of the level – so that’s different.

But, at the end of the day, it encourages replayability – because when a player hears from other players that they didn’t see the same thing, they have the feeling that they probably missed something – or maybe that it was an entirely new way to do a level and it’s like playing an entirely new game, I’m not sure, but this kind of thing is really fun.

Dishonored 2 drops later this year, so remember remember the 11th of November.

Last Updated: October 5, 2016

12 Comments

  1. Remember, remember, 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110110

    Reply

    • Pariah ???

      October 5, 2016 at 12:15

      01100101 01101100 01100101 01110110 01100101 01101110 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110110 01100101 01101101 01100010 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01110111 01101111 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110101 01110011 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110011 01101001 01111000 01110100 01100101 01100101 01101110

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        October 5, 2016 at 12:21

        lol

        Reply

      • HairyEwok

        October 5, 2016 at 12:54

        11th of November? Do you not mean 00110101 01110100 01101000 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110110 01100101 01101101 01100010 01100101 01110010
        ohhhh wait i see what you did there.

        Reply

  2. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    October 5, 2016 at 12:15

    That’s “knife” to know

    Reply

  3. mila kunis

    October 5, 2016 at 14:23

    Dishonored 2 is an upcoming stealth action-adventure video game developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks. The sequel to 2012’s Dishonored, the game is scheduled to be released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on November 11, 2016.
    The series takes place in the fictional Empire of the Isles with the majority of Dishonored 2 set in Karnaca, a coastal city based on areas in southern Europe. After Empress Emily Kaldwin is deposed by an “otherworldly usurper”, the player may choose between playing as either Emily or her bodyguard and father Corvo Attano as they attempt to reclaim the throne.
    english ringtones

    Reply

    • Dane

      October 5, 2016 at 14:46

      Thanks I almost forgot!

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Starfield’s PC and Xbox exclusivity will make for a better product according to Bethesda’s Todd Howard

It's official: Starfield won't be coming to PlayStation, and that's a good thing according…