Level Design for Computer Games - An understanding of Ludic, Aesthetic,Technical and Narrative game design aspects.

To gain a deeper understanding of games design as a whole, I must understand the Aesthetic, Technical, Narrative and Ludic approaches to games design.
In terms of aesthetics, this concerns the functionality of design aspects in tandem with the representation of said aspects.
In my level, the overall aesthetic is that of a desert settlement, set post-apocalypse, the surroundings are designed to show exactly that, with a lot of lower end, makeshift housing and much smaller amount of higher end housing as an end user would expect for the setting.
Whilst giving the player an aesthetic feel for the level is also allows me to utilise the functionality of the aesthetic choices made, in a sense that I could potentially use the compact style of the shanty town to hide enemies, in an attempt to catch the player off guard.
Taking only the aesthetics into account however, this from the outset gives the user a pre-determined idea of the area to come, which may be included further in any end product.

With Ludic game design aspects in mind, as I did not know what the term meant, I looked up a definition, the Oxford dictionary definition for ludic is "showing spontaneous and undirected playfulness".

From this, I began thinking about methods of guiding players to areas resulting in play in the aforementioned 'undirected' sense. Also about guiding players using subtle methods so as they feel they are not being guided. Effectively following like a sheep, not realising you are in fact being led.

A perfect example of this in game is within the Destiny content for The Taken King expansion, in which a small white light guides you through early stages of the content, with the light appearing less and less. This subtlety tells you subconsciously to follow the small light as it appears later in the run up to the final boss automatically, running into battle without thinking about it, therefore not realising you're actually following.

An example of this in my level can be seen via flashing lights, subtly guiding the player in the right direction following the target.

Translating this through to my own level, whilst not as subtle as the light effects used within Destiny I have implemented some flickering lights, placed strategically throughout the starting area and the high class district of my level. These are designed to subtly guide the player in the appropriate direction they should be moving toward the endgame, eventually guiding the player without thinking about it.

This, when coupled with an intended objective based system, may take away from some of the subtlety but would add in other veins of game design, hopefully evening out, though the obvjecitves given could be made vague in an attempt to maintain the level of Ludic value.

Below is an early capture of the flickering lights I have implemented, prior to modpacking and texturing processes.

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The Narrative gameplay aspects of my level are not yet really implemented as in the player being vocally or textually guided with speech or captions.
However, with the implementation of cutscenes and lighting yet to come, these will be implemented further. This may be implemented in the form of a small radio, with vocals being transmitted to and from another radio, with the narrative passed between referring to the gameplay and the objectives within.
Examples of well executed narrative gameplay aspect in particular can be found in a few games, firstly, The Stanley Parable, in which the story is narrated as the player progresses through the world, and is essentially told what to do in the world, with the option to do the exact opposite. For example early on in the game, upon arriving at a pair of doors, the narrator says "When Stanley came to a set of two open doors, he entered the door on his left." This then gives the player the option to progress the story in two directly opposite ways.

In a lesser narrative context, although equally perplexing for its time, Metal Gear Solid 2 has a very well thought out narrative aspect to the latter stages of the game. The player is contacted by what would appear to be the Colonel, who then speaks very realistically about the realities of society mixed in with a speech about mapping of the human genome and the digitising of life itself, referring to the Human Genome Project, a real life research project undertaken to identify and map every human gene.
Slightly later again within the game, the Colonel makes contact again, commanding the player to "Turn the game console off right now!", followed by the statement "The mission is a failure! Cut the power right now!". This is an elaborate way of breaking the fourth wall, and combined with the previous rhetoric, the narrative is used in a way which is known to have resulted in confusion amongst some players, and was actually known to have made some players turn the console off when instructed to do so.

A goal for future development within my level, potentially within the HCI module, is to add an objective tracker, starting through text driven goals and then at a further point in time potentially spoken commands, though spoken commands would be more subtle, and maybe use different wording to the written goals.

As previously mentioned, this may take away from the ludic design decisions within my level, so I will need to be careful about how much text of vocal based narrative I actually use.

Also from a narrative angle, the intention to have the courtyard populated with people from both in and outside of the settlement, could work well in my favour upon the primary event triggering within the level, in which info could be gained through civilians in the courtyard as to the direction or actions of the target which the player will be following.

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In terms of Technical gameplay, this is more down to the functionality of the gameplay itself and what lies within. The mechanics of the game are much more in question when it comes to Technical Game Design and these are much more present when it comes to less subtle games.
Whilst there are game mechanics in the titles which make more use of ludic design techniques, a good example of technical game design comes from rail shooters, in which a user is forced to follow a set of more strict mechanics to complete objectives and complete the game.
Within my game the mechanics come more into play with the boss fight, and within the games industry in general, Destiny can be used as a good example again, as some boss fights in the more advanced 6 man raids contain a large series of specific mechanics which must be completed in certain ways to be completely successful in quest to defeat the boss.

To reflect this back on my own level, the current mechanics that are involved, aside from the regular combat mechanics, include forced walk volumes which can add to both the narrative and technical aspects of my game design.
In a sense of technical, these directly impact the gameplay, slowing the players pace to a walk, allowing them to take in the surrounding narrative game design elements, providing a double hit of design elements.
There is a point also in my level at which a few shipping container doors open, this is intended to force the player into a fight with multiple enemy combatants trying to stop them from reaching the target. This direct drawing of the player into a battle is a mechanic which could be developed on even more so, allowing for the final bosses health to be chipped away with each minor enemy beaten, possibly beaten in a specific way to drive the mechanic even further.