Q2, Q3

Q2.Play three games—one from the 1980s, one from the 1990s, and one 

released after 2004. Compare and contrast how levels and environments are 

designed in all three games.

Q3.How does a game’s genre affect the way its levels and environments are 

designed? Choose one level from three different games—each from a distinct 

primary genre—and compare how these levels are designed with regard to 

setting, goals, puzzles, and risk–reward system.

Golden Axe, released on the Sega Mega Drive in 1989. 

Golden Axes level design draws strongly from the fantasy genre and its story. The story is conveyed with short cut-scenes in between levels and via the level design itself.  Level progression is very linear, moving from left to right to complete levels.

(opening story cut-scene)

(Flying across the ocean on the back of an eagle,

 this is a part of the story that is designed into an entire level)

Silent Hill, released on the PSX in 1999.

Silent Hill is from the survival horror genre, it's levels are a mix of spacial design and hub-and-spoke design. Silent hill offers town to explore but each of the stories key plot points take place in a specific land mark (the elementary school, the Hospital etc.).  So we can see the hub is the town and the spokes are the lesser landmarks which make up entire levels. 

Spacial design and fog used to emphasize the unknown.

The Silent Hill Hub

Town Map (Left)

Town Map (Right)

Silent Hill did not allow the player to control the camera instead using stationary
 camera angles that limit vision. This accompanied with sound and foreshadowing on
 the level make for some very interesting game play.

Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl, released on PC in 2007. 

Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl is a first person shooter survival game its level design is a mix of spatial and hub-and-spoke design. Stalker takes place in the Chernobyl Exclusion zone after another fictitious explosion at the reactor. Because Chernobyl is a real place real landmarks have been added from Chernobyl to add to the games consistency.

Real reactor. 

In game reactor.

Chernobyl Ferris wheel, (Real life, In game)

Comparison:

The level design and environments in each of these games draw their inspiration from the same key points: Narrative, Setting and Genre. These key points are different in each of the games so we have a lot of diversity between the three.

Golden Axes is a hack-and-slash its puzzles come in the form of understanding how to deal with different groups of enemies. Silent Hills puzzles where fractured all over the map, the player had to navigate with poor vision through the streets and dark corridors finding clues and referring to notes in order to solve puzzles. You could always use your gun to kill enemies but if you didn't have enough ammunition when the boss came around, sucks to be you. Stalkers puzzles come from navigating anomalies and finding stashes scattered throughout the zone.

The goal in each of the games are simple:

Kill the warlord, Find your daughter, Find and kill the Strelok (Name of another person in the Zone).