Elements of Game Design: Environments

The environments of video games are kind of a big deal. A lot of games deal with immersing the player in their world for the sake of the experience. A good game environment will help to deliver the feel and mood of the game to the player, much like the art direction. In most games, you'll spend the vast majority of your time looking at some kind of environment and as such, environments are one of the main areas of a game to enforce the art direction of the project. Strong environment design will always add to the player experience, immersing the player, or even frightening and comforting the player.

A good example of this is the critically acclaimed Half Life 2, where you take control of the voiceless Gordon Freeman. Although you meet a great deal of very interesting characters, a lot of the game's emotion is provoked through the exquisite level design. From the empty sprawling streets of City 17 to the crumbling slaughterhouses of Ravenholm, the levels themselves serve to deliver the mood of the game. Tiny details in the environment like the claw-marks against the wooden boards, or the piles of rusted saws placed strategically by men before you tell stories of survival and battle in the streets of Ravenholm. Every aspect of the environment seeks to immerse you in not only the events of the present, but the history that has left its mark on the world.

Ravenholm. 5 star Bed and Breakfast. A smoke-free, pet-free, headcrab-free* getaway.

Good environment also lends itself to the overall gameplay experience. From the days of the original DOOM games, the layout of a level was one of the key aspects of the gameplay, with players memorising entire mazes in order to complete speed runs or best the game with higher scores. Even removing the artistic and story-telling elements of the environment, it is ultimately the playground on which the game will take place. Even Duke Nukem: 3D, with its countless hidden passageways and secrets allowed for replays and exploration to add to the experience. Bad environment design will hinder someone's enjoyment of a game on a basic level. To make an example of this, Zelda: Ocarina of Time's water temple suffers from an overly-confusing layout. This turns what would already be a difficult level into one of the least enjoyable points of the game.

As with most elements of a game's design, it is important that the environments fit well with the themes, characters and overall mechanics of a game. When all of these things come together and are unified under a central goal; the music and sound design amplifying the mood created by great level design and well-made characters, is when games can give some of their most memorable experiences.

image sources:

http://images.wikia.com/half-life/en/images/c/cf/Ravenholm_church.jpg
http://th04.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2012/259/d/2/cryengine_3_forbidden_lands_game_environment_by_klass1987-d5eujyi.jpg

references:

http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categories/level_design_tutorials/how-to-plan-level-designs-game-environments-workflow.php
http://n4g.com/news/571327/10-great-game-environments#c-4010326