Why do games (still) have levels?

[Anach]

http://roguelikedeveloper.blogspot.com/ ... evels.html

(If you are looking for articles on Unangband dungeon generation, you'll want to read parts one and two first. If you're just here to find out about why games still have levels, read on).

Elite, the Metroid series, Dungeon Siege, God of War I and II, Half-Life (but not Half-Life 2), Shadow of the Colossus, the Grand Theft Auto series; some of the best games ever (and Dungeon Siege) have done away with the level mechanic and created uninterrupted game spaces devoid of loading screens and artificial breaks between periods of play. Much like cut scenes, level loads are anathema to enjoyment of game play, and a throwback to the era of the Vic-20 and Commodore 64 when games were stored on cassette tapes, and memory was measured in kilobytes. So in this era of multi-megabyte and gigabyte memory and fast access storage devices why do we continue to have games that are dominated by the level structure, be they commercial (Halo 3, Portal, Team Fortress 2), independent (Darwinia) and amateur (Nethack, Angband)?

[Iakimo]

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought at first that it was about CHARACTER levels, rather than dungeon/gameworld levels. However, an interesting read. And I suspect the two issues (games that use character levels, and load zones and gated content in in-game worlds) are related.

Character levels are another way to impose a degree of linearity on an otherwise open architecture such as a MMORPG world. You better believe my LOTRO toons ain't gonna go anywhere near Angmar, for example, until they're at least reasonably close to level 39.

But, like a cheesy loading screen that conceals the transition from one region to another, character levels (IMHO) are a cheesy way to do the job. I think the two share dev-cheesiness DNA somewhere in their genetic past.

[Anach]

When I saw the title of this thread, I thought at first that it was about CHARACTER levels, rather than dungeon/gameworld levels. However, an interesting read. And I suspect the two issues (games that use character levels, and load zones and gated content in in-game worlds) are related.

Character levels are another way to impose a degree of linearity on an otherwise open architecture such as a MMORPG world. You better believe my LOTRO toons ain't gonna go anywhere near Angmar, for example, until they're at least reasonably close to level 39.

But, like a cheesy loading screen that conceals the transition from one region to another, character levels (IMHO) are a cheesy way to do the job. I think the two share dev-cheesiness DNA somewhere in their genetic past.

One thing I enjoy about Oblivion, is the lack of loading screens in the open world. They have built a world where everyone goes about their business and then placed the content around it. The only time you get a load screen is when entering an interior, the rest of the world (On the PC version) loads as go, without pauses.

The loading screens for interiors I'd assume is due to it being a lot more difficult to stream load an interior when you're always wandering past so many doors. Much like SWG, how it doesnt load the interior until you're actually in it. This would make a singleplayer game look unfinished and crappy, however it's much preferred in SWG than a loading screen would be when entering my house.

I never understood why HL2 had "Loading" when they knew exactly where you were heading, as there was only one way to go. Surely they could have streamed it as you approached.

Crysis is another game where they could have loaded as you go, and it would have ended up a truely, free roam world. The island is massive and the entire game takes place on it, except they only make the levels in certain portions of the island at a time, then once you reach a checkpoint, you load into the next area, which might be on the other side of the island. Instead it would be much cooler to fly or drive there in one continuous session, rather than magically warp with a loading screen.

There is an MMO in production (Cant remember the name), where space to ground transition is seamless. Now wouldnt that be awesome in SWG.