Define Your Level Flow
On this page
- Step 1: Understand How to Deliver the Right Experience
- Step 2: Draw a Generic Curve of Emotional Engagement
- Step 3: Define the List of Locations
- Step 4: Define the List of Levels
- Step 5: Define the List of Important Events in Chronological Order
- Step 6: Brainstorm a List of Events with High Emotional Engagement
- Step 7: Brainstorm a List of Events with Low Emotional Engagement
- Step 8: Assign a Location to Each of Your Important Events
- Step 9: Assign Events with High and Low Emotional Engagement to Each of Your Locations
- Make Use of Flowcharts
In order to deliver a desirable experience throughout your game, it is essential to define the sequence of events that will occur. This structure will allow you to control both the pacing of the game and the emotions it may evoke. The following steps can help you establish an effective workflow to manage level flow.
Step 1: Understand How to Deliver the Right Experience
It is important to ensure that players experience a balanced range of emotions during gameplay to provide them with the best possible experience. This involves careful variation and pacing of activities and objectives. Consider the following principles:
Players should not be required to perform the same activity repeatedly. Instead, they should engage in a varied sequence of tasks, such as activity A, followed by B, then C, and then A again, followed by C and B, and so on. Repetition of identical activities can lead to boredom.
Players should not encounter the same objectives in succession. Rather, objectives should alternate in a similar pattern to the one described above. Repeatedly performing the same objective reduces interest and engagement.
Players should experience alternating levels of physical and mental demand. Activities should range from those with low demands to those with high demands, creating a dynamic rhythm.
Examples of activities with low physical and mental demands include:
Traversing the game world when not under threat.
Peaceful moments to repair or rearm at one’s own pace.
Solving puzzles without time pressure.
Unhurried exploration and discovery.
Calm cutscenes.
Examples of activities with high physical and mental demands include:
Rushing toward an objective before a time limit expires.
Solving puzzles under pressure.
Confronting difficult challenges, such as boss fights.
Action-oriented cutscenes.
The goal is to prevent two undesirable scenarios:
Boredom from a series of low-intensity activities.
Three consecutive low-demand activities may cause players to lose interest with each one.
- Exhaustion from a series of high-intensity challenges.
Three consecutive high-demand activities may lead to increasing player fatigue and errors.
Ensure that individual activities are neither too long nor too short, as excessive duration can cause fatigue, while overly brief tasks can seem inconsequential.
Players should be occasionally surprised to maintain emotional engagement. However, surprises should not occur too frequently, or they may lose their impact. Examples of effective surprise moments include:
Major discoveries.
Introduction of new characters.
Dramatic events such as traps, escapes, chases, or deaths.
Unexpected boss encounters.
Embarrassing or humorous situations.
Emotional contrasts, such as transitioning from a dark area to a brightly lit one, or exploring a majestic building after encountering several ordinary ones.
Introduction of new gameplay options or rewards.
Changes in non-player characters’ behavior.
Moments that significantly alter gameplay speed.
Step 2: Draw a Generic Curve of Emotional Engagement
Create a general emotional engagement curve that represents the intended progression of emotional intensity across the entire narrative. This curve should clearly depict peaks and troughs to reflect the intended rhythm of the player’s experience. To maintain player engagement throughout the game, consider the following recommendations:
The game can begin with a slow introduction followed by a gradual increase in engagement (e.g., calm initial gameplay), or it can start with immediate high-intensity action (e.g., players are thrust into a combat scenario).
Players should explore a variety of environments to avoid visual and experiential monotony.
Players should perform similar activities under different circumstances, such as changing atmospheric or lighting conditions, to maintain novelty.
Players should experience a diverse range of emotions throughout the game to prevent emotional fatigue or disinterest.
Boss encounters should be spaced out regularly. Avoid clustering multiple boss fights together followed by a long stretch without significant conflict.
Any changes introduced to pacing, environments, weather, enemy attributes, new features, or rewards can enhance engagement.
Be mindful that minor changes may not be sufficient to raise emotional engagement significantly.
Example of an emotional engagement curve: Players are immediately placed in a high-stakes situation (high engagement), followed by alternating moments of rising and falling intensity as major events unfold. Overall, emotional engagement trends upward, culminating in a dramatic climax during the final key event.
Step 3: Define the List of Locations
Establish a comprehensive list of distinct locations that will form the basis of your game’s world. These locations serve as the environments where key gameplay and narrative events will unfold.
For example:
Location
Grassland
Waterfalls
Silos
Marina
Fields
Clinic
Train Station
Enemy Base
Airfield
Step 4: Define the List of Levels
Determine the number of levels required for your game and associate each level with a specific location. This helps to structure gameplay progression and ensure narrative coherence.
For example:
Level
Location
Red Mountains
Fields
Red Mountains
Waterfalls
Red Mountains
Grassland
Dark Suburb
Silos
Dark Suburb
Clinic
Dark Suburb
Marina
Ghost Town
Train Station
Ghost Town
Enemy Base
Ghost Town
Airfield
Step 5: Define the List of Important Events in Chronological Order
Outline the sequence of significant events that will drive the story forward. These events form the narrative backbone of your game and provide the context for the player’s objectives.
For example:
Important Story Event
Finding the way out of the burning house.
Meeting the contact.
Saving a group of lost survivors from wild animals.
Reaching the suburb while being pursued by an enemy patrol.
Discovering the lost outpost.
Meeting the contact.
Finding maps of the ghost town containing critical information.
Surviving an enemy ambush.
Delivering the maps to the rebel leader.
Avoiding capture by enemy forces.
Escaping from the enemy base.
Uncovering the truth about the rebels.
Surviving a large-scale enemy attack.
Step 6: Brainstorm a List of Events with High Emotional Engagement
Generate a variety of high-intensity events that will create emotional peaks during gameplay. These moments can heighten tension, excitement, or urgency.
Examples:
Combat sequences.
Chases involving vehicles, animals, helicopters, or occurring on foot.
Collapses of systems or structures, such as buildings.
Destabilization of infrastructure, buildings, or vehicles.
Explosions.
Gas or fluid leaks.
Traps and ambushes.
Sudden and unexpected revelations.
Step 7: Brainstorm a List of Events with Low Emotional Engagement
Design slower-paced events to provide contrast with high-intensity moments. These events allow for narrative exposition, character development, and recovery periods for players.
Examples:
Dialogues.
Exploration.
Searching for specific objects or characters.
Flashbacks.
Preparation phases, including:
Equipping gear for an upcoming task.
Setting up defenses.
Waiting for one or more non-player characters to arrive at a designated location.
Monologues.
Traveling to a destination.
Visions and hallucinations.
Step 8: Assign a Location to Each of Your Important Events
Take the list of significant events in the story and assign a corresponding location to each one. Each location should feature at least one important event in order to be narratively meaningful. By completing this step, you will define the sequence in which levels and their locations must occur, thereby ensuring players can progress through the game in a coherent and structured manner.
For example:
Level
Location
Event
Red Mountains
Fields
Finding the way out of the burning house.
Red Mountains
Fields
Meeting the contact.
Red Mountains
Waterfalls
Saving a group of lost survivors from wild animals.
Red Mountains
Grassland
Reaching the suburb while being pursued by an enemy patrol.
Dark Suburb
Silos
Discovering the lost outpost.
Dark Suburb
Clinic
Meeting the contact.
Dark Suburb
Marina
Finding maps of the ghost town containing critical information.
Dark Suburb
Marina
Surviving an enemy ambush.
Ghost Town
Train Station
Delivering the maps to the rebel leader.
Ghost Town
Train Station
Avoiding capture by enemy forces.
Ghost Town
Enemy Base
Escaping from the enemy base.
Ghost Town
Airfield
Uncovering the truth about the rebels.
Ghost Town
Airfield
Surviving a large-scale enemy attack.
Step 9: Assign Events with High and Low Emotional Engagement to Each of Your Locations
Each location should feature a combination of events with both high and low emotional engagement. This is necessary to maintain appropriate pacing and to avoid monotonous gameplay. The emotional engagement of these events should align with the curve of emotional engagement previously defined. For instance, if the goal is to gradually increase emotional intensity, then the events in later stages should be more emotionally engaging than those that precede them.
Refer to the table below, in which:
Important events with low emotional engagement are written in purple bold.
Important events with high emotional engagement are written in red bold.
Additional events with low emotional engagement are written in purple italics.
Additional events with high emotional engagement are written in red italics.
Level
Location
Event
Red Mountains
Fields
Finding the way out of the burning house.
Red Mountains
Fields
Meeting the contact.
Red Mountains
Fields
Stealing the truck.
Red Mountains
Waterfalls
Installing some ballistic protection for the truck.
Red Mountains
Waterfalls
Getting some basic gear in the cave.
Red Mountains
Waterfalls
Saving a group of lost survivors from wild animals.
Red Mountains
Grassland
Finding the farm.
Red Mountains
Grassland
Stealing fuel for the truck from the enemy.
Red Mountains
Grassland
Reaching the suburb while being pursued by an enemy patrol.
Dark Suburb
Silos
Fixing the communication station.
Dark Suburb
Silos
Discovering the lost outpost.
Dark Suburb
Silos
Escaping from collapsing silos.
Dark Suburb
Clinic
Locating the clinic.
Dark Suburb
Clinic
Meeting the contact.
Dark Suburb
Clinic
Getting back the medical supplies taken by the enemy.
Dark Suburb
Marina
Finding maps of the ghost town containing critical information.
Dark Suburb
Marina
Meeting the agent.
Dark Suburb
Marina
Surviving an enemy ambush.
Ghost Town
Train Station
Following the tracks to reach the station.
Ghost Town
Train Station
Delivering the maps to the rebel leader.
Ghost Town
Train Station
Avoiding capture by enemy forces.
Ghost Town
Enemy Base
Finding the way out of the prison.
Ghost Town
Enemy Base
Calling rebels for help.
Ghost Town
Enemy Base
Escaping from the enemy base.
Ghost Town
Airfield
Sneaking into the command center and stealing the plans of the operation.
Ghost Town
Airfield
Uncovering the truth about the rebels.
Ghost Town
Airfield
Surviving a large-scale enemy attack.
These events defined in the table above represent the peaks on the curve of emotional engagement. You should ensure that you are capable of implementing these events while taking into consideration your project’s budget, timeline, and the skill set of your development team.
This image illustrates what a completed curve of emotional engagement looks like, with all major events highlighted. Each peak corresponds to one of the events listed in the previous table.
Ensure that the peaks are distributed evenly across the timeline, so that players consistently encounter events with high emotional engagement throughout the story. This approach prevents player boredom and maintains engagement. Additionally, you should strategically incorporate events with low emotional engagement in such a way that they provide effective contrast. This contrast allows the more intense moments to stand out, thus forming the prominent peaks on the emotional engagement curve.
Make Use of Flowcharts
Once your level flow is defined, flowcharts can be employed to communicate story events more effectively to other members of your team. You may use the following notation, which includes the most fundamental elements:
Element name
Icon
Description
Initial Element
Indicates the start of the flow.
Activity Element
Represents an objective to be accomplished.
Decision Element
Denotes a point where progression depends on a condition.
Merge Element
Combines multiple alternative flow paths into one.
Control Flow
Connects elements and directs progression from one to another upon task completion.
Final Element
Marks the end of the flow.
Begin by drawing the Initial Element, which will symbolize the starting point of gameplay.
Next, add elements—typically Activity Elements—to represent the objectives that players must complete. Use arrows—Control Flow—to connect these elements, clearly indicating the sequence in which the objectives should be completed to enable player progression. Keep in mind that during the production phase, you may need to rearrange these activities, which could, in turn, alter the curve of emotional engagement initially defined during the pre-production phase.
Continue adding Activity Elements until all objectives have been visually represented within the diagram.
Then, draw the Final Element, representing the conclusion of the game. Integrate this into your flowchart to indicate where the gameplay ends.
The accompanying image illustrates a progression path that is linear in structure.
You may observe that the diagram contains an excessive number of elements, which may appear overwhelming. To maintain clarity and organization within your flow diagram, consider subdividing it by introducing several high-level events. The next image demonstrates how the content can be structured into three levels, each corresponding to a specific area of the game: Red Mountains, Dark Suburb, and Ghost Town. Each of these areas can then be represented by its own dedicated flowchart.
An example of a high-level flowchart shows the events associated with the three aforementioned levels: Red Mountains, Dark Suburb, and Ghost Town.
Subsequently, you will create individual flow diagrams for each high-level event. You may include as many layers of detail as necessary to ensure that your diagrams remain clear and manageable.
A lower-level flowchart illustrating the events that occur within the Red Mountains.
A lower-level flowchart illustrating the events that occur within the Dark Suburb.
A lower-level flowchart illustrating the events that occur within the Ghost Town.