>>6249473>game design theory... and music??>PACINGI actually found an incredible insightful website the other day, which explains a lot of the background design of videogames.
On past qtgs I was investigating that idea of game dramaturgy, which consisted of Design Goal (I call this moral purpose), Idiom/Genre, Dramatic Substance, Suspense, PACING, Catharsis
This website is focused on first person shooter game levels, but a lot of the storytelling design theory, patterns and ideas can be transferred to any game even text based rpgs
look at this section on PACING, which describes an analogy between the rhythm of gameplay event design and musical notation
https://book.leveldesignbook.com/process/preproduction/pacingWhat is pacing?
Pacing is the general order and rhythm of activities and events in a level.
Pacing should address
Scope: What can the player do in each level?
Hierarchy: Which parts of the level are most important?
Causality: Why does the player do (this activity) before (that activity)?
Information: What do we tell the player and when?
Intensity: When should the player pay more attention, and when do they rest and recover?
***
A beat is a small self-contained chunk of a level. A single area, event, activity, or element.
To make beats more interesting, music composers arrange beats in different ways to create variation:
-pulse: establish a regular recurring pattern of beats, like a heartbeat;
example: end every level with a distinctive exit door
-accent / stress: emphasize or intensify certain beats
eg sometimes the exit is difficult to find / reach
-rest: incorporate periods of weaker beats or silence, sensitize audience to accents again
eg sometimes the exit is easy to find / reach
-motif: a short recurring sequence of beats
eg sometimes the player fights a boss before reaching the exit
-variation: repeat a sequence of beats, but with different melody, rhythm, etc.
eg some levels have multiple exit doors
-syncopation: go off-beat; the basis of modern pop music
halfway through a boss fight, another boss appears;
sometimes a false exit door hides a monster;
final boss destroys the exit door; now there is no escape;
player gains the ability to create their own exit doors
