How Level Design Can Tell a Story

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Can a video game level tell a story? In this video I look at a bunch of examples and best practices for embedding narrative elements into the very spaces and places we visit in games. We’ll tackle environmental storytelling, evocative architecture, and contextualising player identity.
Sources
Environmental Storytelling: Creating Immersive 3D Worlds Using Lessons Learned from the Theme Park Industry | Gamasutra
www.gamasutra.com/view/featur...
What Happened Here? Environmental Storytelling | GDC Vault (Free Access)
www.gdcvault.com/play/1012647...
Hitman 2's Jakob Mikkelsen and Eskil Mohl | GMTK on KZbin
• Hitman 2's Jakob Mikke...
Ask a Developer: Emilia Schatz Talks Level Design | KZbin
• Ask a Developer: Emili...
The Art of Environment Storytelling for Video Games | KZbin
• The Art of Environment...
Emotional Journey: BioWare's Methods to Bring Narrative into Levels | GDC Vault (Free Access)
www.gdcvault.com/play/1017761...
Level Design Workshop: 'Hitman' Levels as Social Spaces: The Social Anthropology of Level Design | GDC Vault (Paid Access)
www.gdcvault.com/play/1025879...
Find out more
Designing Journey | GDC Vault (Free Access)
www.gdcvault.com/play/1017700...
Environmental Narrative: Telling Stories in Spaces Without Saying Anything Aloud | GDC Vault (Paid Access)
www.gdcvault.com/play/1025876...
Environmental Storytelling in Prey | KZbin
• Environmental Storytel...
Level Design Workshop: An Approach to Holistic Level Design | GDC Vault (Free Access)
www.gdcvault.com/play/1024301...
AAA Level Design in a Day Bootcamp: Techniques for In-Level Storytelling | GDC Vault (Free Access)
www.gdcvault.com/play/1017639...
Games shown in this episode (in order of appearance)
BioShock (Irrational Games, 2007)
Prey (Arkane Studios, 2017)
Journey (thatgamecompany, 2012)
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog, 2016)
Dead Space (Visceral Games, 2008)
Fallout 4 (Bethesda Game Studios, 2015)
Fallout 3 (Bethesda Game Studios, 2008)
Dishonored 2 (Arkane Studios, 2016)
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios, 2011)
Dark Souls III (From Software, 2016)
Metroid Prime (Retro Studios, 2002)
Gone Home (Fulbright, 2013)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution (Eidos Montreal, 2011)
Portal (Valve Corporation, 2007)
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (Eidos Montreal, 2016)
Half-Life 2 (Valve Corporation, 2004)
Portal 2 (Valve Corporation, 2011)
Alien: Isolation (The Creative Assembly, 2014)
Thief: The Dark Project (Looking Glass Studios, 1998)
Hitman 2 (IO Interactive, 2018)
Life is Strange (Dontnod Entertainment, 2015)
God of War (Santa Monica Studio, 2018)
Tomb Raider (Crystal Dynamics, 2013)
Mass Effect 3 (BioWare, 2012)
P.T. (Kojima Productions, 2014)
Amnesia: The Dark Descent (Frictional Games, 2010)
Aragami (Lince Works, 2016)
Metro Exodus (4A Games, 2019)
Celeste (Matt Makes Games, 2018)
DOOM (id Software, 2016)
Yakuza 0 (Sega, 2017)
Death Stranding (Kojima Productions, 2019)
Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (Kojima Productions, 2014)
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (CD Projekt, 2015)
Control (Remedy Entertainment, 2019)
BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games, 2013)
Hollow Knight (Team Cherry, 2017)
Music used in this episode
BioShock soundtrack - Garry Schyman
Dirt Rally 2.0 soundtrack - Stuart Ross
Thanks to GMTK Patron Satellite for help with audio on this episode
Contribute translated subtitles - amara.org/en-gb/videos/Lv64Yf...

[@GMTK]

Hi! This is a re-uploaded version of a video I released earlier in the month. Unfortunately, that video was deemed not age-appropriate by KZbin because of some of the examples I used, and so the video had a big scary warning before you could watch. I wasn’t happy with that, so decided to upload a new version with the icky stuff taken out (plus, I removed a Celeste spoiler, and fixed the high/low pyramid silliness!). Ultimately, I want my channel to be suitable for a general audience - including schools and universities, so I feel this was the right call to make. Also, I want to say sorry to anyone who was made to feel uncomfortable by the previous video. Certainly wasn’t my intention, and I screwed up. Going forward, I’m going to be more careful about the types of content I show. That means less gratuitous violence, and clear labelling or warnings if such content is necessary for the video. You can always watch the original version here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mJibppqMZ6yVm6c

[@Shefetoful]

nice, except I am indifferent violence in your vids :P

[@flupyt1182]

Game Maker's Toolkit damn I was so excited for another game design vid but it will do. Anyway I really enjoy your vids and it really opens my thoughts on how I look at games

[@AntoneII]

Hey, it’s okay. Your videos are really well done and should be shown to as many people as possible

[@GMTK]

@Jimmy T Proper new video tomorrow :)

[@Canadas_Very_Own]

Thank you for the explanation. I was confused for a moment there.

[@retractingblinds]

Environmental storytelling: the art of putting a skeleton next to an unflushed toilet

[@stoked9004]

"Why does somebody not know how to flush a toilet after they’ve had a shet? Disgoostang"

[@KageRyuu6]

Well you know how they went, shitting their guts out.

[@retractingblinds]

@@stoked9004 "and that's a good thing." -Ken Levine

[@ens0246]

@@stoked9004 and therein lies the mystery. You walk in to decimated stall and see nothing but brown. I see a whole spectrum of possibilities. This man, he likes his meat, he's always liked his meat. He thinks it makes him strong. Makes him a man. And it works for him...for a while. He has his fun, he falls in love, and everything is going great. Until that one strain on the toilet felt not painful, not pleasant, just odd...different. He thinks it's nothing. But little does he know that 30 years of whiskey and beers, surf n turf and turf n turf have wreaked havoc on his insides. What you see now is his moment of realisation. He had ignored the pains and the twists in his guts to this day but now sitting there not only is it waste but all strength flowing out of him. So much so that he has none left to even flush. Sweating and crippled this man of pride musters himself just enough will to call his wife. The medics come and they take him to hospital. "ulcerative colitis. You could have died, sir." And here you stand, with a judgemental sneer marked across your lips, in the shadow of a prideful man's shattered shame. Pissing on it, as you hum the tune being pumped in from the front. We've all gotta go sometime...

[@MrHack4never]

@@ens0246 my feeling is more along the lines of something big and sudden like a nuclear blast or similar Example: He sat there, doing his... Business, as he noticed the bright flash out the window It happened A nuclear bomb was thrown, and has hit its target: the town square He hoped that the war would never reach such an... _aggresive_ point of action, but sadly, it didn't When the shockwave reached him, he has thrown into the wall, breaking his neck and killing him instantly

[@papayafish8519]

I'll never forget going into The Abyss in Hollow Knight for the first time. The long drop onto piles of corpses with the music slowly rumbling in then you find remnants of the King's research. The final part with the Abyssal egg really did it for me and honestly shocked me a little. One of the best video game areas I've ever been in.

[@braininmeatsuit1207]

That was cool as shit. The birthplace cutscene especially. But god are there thousands upon thousands of little vessel corpses down there

[@BGDMusic]

it shows us the unspeakable horror (or, whatever it is) the pale king did in the name of good

[@aintheidot9111]

Can you bring back: “Hi, I’m Mark Brown, and this is Game Maker’s Toolkit.” I love it!

[@deadlandplacebo1695]

I think he stopped because people were calling him pretensius

[@jinkiskhan1967]

@@deadlandplacebo1695 What's pretentious about that statement?

[@deadlandplacebo1695]

@@jinkiskhan1967 Im not sure maybe because it's a lot more formal. I do know that mauler hates in at least. Personally I do hope he brings it back

[@gameformation2100]

@@jinkiskhan1967 I think it is because he is pretending to be Mark Brown.

[@anntakamaki1960]

Hindu Rome!

[@laurenbastin8849]

I feel like another great example of half-life 2’s level design telling a story is city 17’s architecture. The second you get your first look at the city, the instant juxtaposition of the combine’s alien technology and the existing lived-in, even crumbling, Eastern-European architecture of the previous city. This immediately informs the player that the combine aren’t looking to rebuild or improve human society, choosing only to implement the technology necessary to keep the population suppressed instead of building an entirely new city. All that immediately makes clear that the combines primary goal is to take, and firmly establishes them as being against humanity.

[@distantsea]

I always loved the combine aesthetic of just setting up shop wherever works because inconveniences like a building in the way of a Citadel cable are too insignificant to worry about so they either go around or straight through without any real demolishing or clean up. They are so large that things we would consider as obstacles to new buildings are acceptable or even nonexistent. Nove Prospekt is also a great example of this

[@cupriferouscatalyst3708]

@@distantsea like those moving walls you see in Interloper and later back in City 17, that are basically walking sets of teeth eating the entire city slowly but surely.

[@CatsT.M]

Something I love when you first step outside of the trainstation and see City 17 is that Dr. Breen is talking about how the Combine is doing it all to help humanity, it is such a great moment. Another great moment for both enviormental storytelling and musical is the moment after you get out of Ravenholm, where you have a very short moment of respite and to get a few supplies before you first encounter snipers and the combine soilders. But you find a warehouse with rebels fighting with the soilders. After you kill the soilders in the warehouse you learn that a random rebel, Winston, has been shot and who will probably die. Then Triage at Dawn plays, a song that is both sad and inspiring song. Inspiring because you have finally seen people after an entire night of seeing horribly mutated corpses and after Black Mesa East was raided and you learn that Alyx made it out alive. And sad because Winston, a character you never knew, and to everyone it has just become a common thing instead of a horrible tragedy which in normal times all those average poeple would have thought before the Combine. (Also, a short bit about the song: the inspiring postiveness of the trumpets only come in when someone says: "we have been getting transmissions from Alyx" because you finally know, after an entire night of pure death and destruction, that people from Black Mesa East are alive.) (That was a bit much, sorry.)

[@Paul_Ward]

Not environmental, but the line "we don't go to Ravenholm" is great, in one sentence, we get the sense that it's an awful place to be without having to be info-dumped.

[@jessh4016]

*replies with that picture of an amazon center next to a slum*

[@GermaphobeMusic]

This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them!

[@nintySW]

what

[@GermaphobeMusic]

ninty Check Mark's pinned comment

[@coentertainer]

@@GermaphobeMusic the other one is unlisted, there's only one public version of this on his channel

[@UnderTheMicroscopeGaming]

Okay Vic Roy 👌

[@Sirebellum1337]

Dishonored has some of my favorite environmental storytelling. The amount of people you kill throughout the game heavily influences what the guards are talking about, how many weepers (zombie sick people) there are, and what your colleagues think of you. The more dead bodies the community finds, the more scared they get. If you go killing everyone you see, you'll find people shooting themselves in later levels. The guards talk about places you haven't been to yet, so when you go there you feel a sense of fear if they talked poorly about it. There is a lot of decoration that reminds you that you're in a world with a deadly plague, and that there have been many survivors that came before you in certain areas. Overall that game has such a distinct vibe

[@NPCLiam]

Such an amazing set of games. Im not sure where DOTO story took things, haven’t played it yet, but I hope we see more in that universe.

[@duckpotat9818]

And also how pristine the wealthy areas are in contrast showing the wealth gap

[@roushington]

Sorry Mark, this video is too offensive for the general KZbin public. Your daring lack of swearing, great educational message, and general lack of offensive content is just too offensive for this site.

[@fungers1514]

Yeah, how KZbin thinks it has any moral ground after supporting Pewdiepie etc. is insane.

[@brainnuke5450]

@@fungers1514 wut

[@denisshevchenko1849]

It is pretty offensive. But not as offensive as playing Dota2 on SEA server and your teammate picking phantom assasin to play hard support.

[@ens0246]

@@colin-campbell careful now, KZbin is a platform, not your boss or a job. Saying otherwise would grant you rights as an employee, and we wouldn't want any of THAT would we? We want all the money, no responsibility. That's the dream baby.

[@willowweedsYT]

Ok sure, You Tube is usually somewhat hypocritical, but I do appreciate not having gore in a video that's trying to be educational so I can watch it freely anywhere, it's not just nonsense.

[@SilverstarStream]

Having played through Hollow Knight again since the first upload, I want to share how the Deepnest level shows off the concepts in the video. Upon first entering the area, at least how a typical player might, the player will see a mountain of bugs that the Mantis Lords have kept at bay and then hear the constant grinding of thousands of bugs piled on top of each other. These are no more dangerous than spikes that the player has encountered before, but become unsettling because of the audio visual combination. Throughout Deepnest, the pathways are narrow corridors with low ceilings. These corridors are winding and dark, so they're very easy to get lost in, especially without a map. This harshly contrasts the breathing room the player is given in the area before, Fungal Wastes. Also, every room has its own noises, from the scraping of the aforementioned bugs in pits, the loud rumbling of massive invincible centipedes, or the screeches of nearby bugs. Enemies will appear from the floor, the foreground, or even from enemies that have already been defeated. Each of these factors drive fear into the player. At least coming back to the game now with experience, the area isn't all that difficult, aside from the noticeable fewer save points. Despite this knowledge, it still gives me the creeps and brings me back to the first time I got lost in Deepnest. I hate the feeling, but can also appreciate how masterfully the area uses its design to create that fear, creating a very memorable area.

[@breadstick4375]

SilverstarStream hollow knight was a good game, i still need to finish it

[@michaelhenry3234]

@@breadstick4375 I'm still stuck on Radiance :(

[@funkuro]

@@michaelhenry3234 did you beat it yet? probably go on a guide. after beating him a few times he's really easy

[@michaelhenry3234]

@@funkuro No I haven't, though I never really tried. I did search up a guide, but that just demoralized me and I think I had already gotten burnt out, so I half-assed a few attempts and haven't gone back to the game. I'll probably return to the game and finish it before Silksong drops.

[@everettewebber5680]

Also this is the one area where you find the map guy cowering in fear rather than his usual humming.

[@ridhosamudro2199]

I feel a sense of deja Vu

[@xSpJiGo]

deja view my bru

[@gabrielcaro]

The other video got age restricted by KZbin Bots.

[@786Kay786]

So what are the changes in this one?

[@KageRyuu6]

@@786Kay786 Primarily the removal of the mention of the brothel in FO4 that has children's toys in one of the rooms, as well as some spoiler mentioned in the pinned comment above. All in all about 48s worth of content.

[@uno23sleep]

There was a glitch in the Matrix.

[@jamesjin1668]

“Sky: Children of the Light” by Thatgamecompany is a fine example of excellent environmental storytelling. While the history of the world and emotional contexts are all brilliantly conveyed through most of the elements included in the video, what’s most impressive is how the environment conveys identity to the player. Through how the player as the protagonist interact with the environment to progress, the game tells the player to behave cooperatively, benevolently, and gently. Just the design of the environment completely removes the need for explicit behavioural guidelines in a real-time multiplayer game like this.

[@lachlanmccormick3486]

1. I'm seeing this game in a fair few comments sections now, good to see it gaining some traction. 2. The ways the game inspires non-toxic and positive cooperation is worthy of a talking point all its own. My favorites are how it limits written communication between players. If you want to communicate with strangers you can only do so with (well crafted) emotes or with the calls (kinda like pings). If you want to write to a player you can do it in one of 3 ways, sitting a a bench with strangers, befriending someone and collectively putting in some currency, or by sending them a friend QR code. Now this last one is a stroke of genius because not only does it make it easier for players to get their irl friends into the game but it also encourages the community to connect outside of the game, it's easy to meet and join 1-7 other people being ubered through a candle run. The Ubers are a whole other great point cause they're popular and entirely __player driven__ for no cost.

[@acadia5898]

i love that this channel is not an annoying essayist youtuber filled with selfaware bad jokes. i'm so tired of these type of youtubers. i'm so happy that i found this channel! great video!

[@dearmas9068]

Agreed. The internet is full of people who have never done a thing, offering nothing but hot takes and opinions about how others should do that thing.

[@alisoltani5636]

Metro 2033. The environment in that game made me look through every corner and rewarded pretty nice for it.

[@Natt_Skapa]

I originally watched this to learn more about game design, but I rewatched it to design a dungeon in D&D

[@togashi-azul]

Did your game go well?

[@Defectivania]

I'm not a skilled enough coder to make the kind of video games I'll eventually make, but I love watching these videos because a lot of my ideas for D&D are informed by the video games I've played, and there's a lot each can learn from the other!

[@Thor-Orion]

Video games are just D&D with graphics.

[@Natt_Skapa]

@@togashi-azul surprisingly yes

[@chinchillageneral]

Hollow Knight is probably one of the best examples of environmental storytelling I have ever seen. No area is without a sense that something went horribly, horribly wrong

[@cryanek8286]

There are examples of this in all my favorite games. In Subnautica, you're left to find out what happened to the survivors as well as the Degasi ship survivors on your own through audio logs, text logs, and just the environment. Bloodborne, Dark Souls, and Sekiro are entirely built on level design and environmental story telling, like when you're left to understand the Background of Senpou Temple or trying to uncover the lore of Yharnam. Other big games that rely on regular forms of Story telling still sprinkle in some of the stuff you talked about. In Red Dead 2, there are lots of houses that you can find out in the wild that leave you to figure out what crazy shit went down in there. And, of course, the Bioshock games are the kings of this stuff imo. There is so much to be deduced from the environment, it is astounding.

[@qwertydavid8070]

What I love about subnautica is how the entire world is built in a way that you can discover more about the story just by exploring more. The deeper you go in the physical world, the deeper you go into the overarching story. It does such a good job at building set pieces that naturally lead the player in specific directions without directly putting markers that tell them exactly where to go (apart from the crash pods and the sunbeam, but those are neccesary. There are no markers that tell you how to access the ghost river, the lava zones, the thermal plant or the sea emperor sanctuary. Instead the game just creates interesting structures and environments that catch the attention of the player and encourages them to explore them)

[@dragoran149]

"Hi, I'm Mark Brown and this is Game Maker's Toolkit", I REALLY missed that phrase...

[@giascle]

One of my favorite instances of environmental storytelling is the lead-up to seeing The Flood for the first time in Halo. It's raining outside. You sneak into a Covenant base, gunning through a pretty standard assortment of enemies, going deeper and deeper inside. But the deeper you go, their numbers start to thin. It's silent except for the dull hum of machinery. You walk through a doorway and your finger jumps for the trigger, but it's only a Jackal, already lying there in a pool of its own blood. Even deeper. You pass by whole rooms of Covenant weaponry, abandoned. You walk through a doorway to find a fellow marine cowering with his back to the wall, piles of alien bodies around him. He immediately starts shooting at you, screaming that he's not gonna be turned into one of those things. He can barely scratch you, but you put him out of his misery. Deeper. Fire, walls crumbling. You seem to walk through the same doorway for the dozenth time. As a single, ambient note starts to play, you pass over health packs and ammo scattered about, like you'll need them. You come to another doorway. The screen goes black. It loads the cutscene.

[@giascle]

And to be honest I think the cutscene harms it; they could've gone right into the battle because by this point, you know something is very, very wrong.

[@Comkill117]

giascle I disagree. If you went right into battle fighting the Infection Forms which die in a single hit, you’d be confused as to why they were such a threat, and also wonder what happened to the Marines (the ones upstairs aren’t the same squad) and Captain Keyes.

[@giascle]

​@@Comkill117 Fair point, but even if they're weak I still think the sheer number of them is scary enough on its own. It would possibly mess up the stuff with Captain Keyes later though.

[@DavidGuild]

That's a great example. Pity the level after it was so completely awful.

[@Phartonium]

what Remains of Edith Finch is extremely focused on level design. Each gameplay sequence makes you live the life of a different member of the family, but before that, getting into their rooms tells A LOT about each person. Decoration, toys, drawings, notes: their rooms ae packed with clues about their life.

[@rrob77]

Ufortunately they forgot to put any remarkable gameplay in it. Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a much better way of telling a story and making the player active on unfolding it. In many "walking simulators" there is no substantial difference on playing the game or watching a walktrough from someone else. I wish more developers learned from what was achieved in the vanishing on Ethan Carter and would build upon it

[@rrob77]

@@Voingous the gameplay is very simplistic and one dimensional in Edith Finch: just going forward and pressing a button randomly would often make you progress through the game. I don't think that can be considered good gameplay. Did you try Ethan Carter instead? Can you feel the difference?

[@sebazpereyra9431]

@@rrob77 I mostly agree with this, but not entirely. There is one level in Edith Finch that's incredible in the way it mixes gameplay and storytelling. The one where you control the kid working at the factory while simultaneously controlling what he is dreaming about. While most of the game was pretty uninteresting to me, as you said, just another walking sim, I feel that level is a masterpiece.

[@rrob77]

@@sebazpereyra9431 That's true and I love that section too. But my point on the gameplay structure is still valid and it affects many other modern games. What the developers of Ethan Carter achieved should have set a new standard for those type of narrative games; instead it remains a white fly.

[@halesm5720]

Literally came to the comments to add this. It was truly an amazing experience. I'm okay with it being a glorified walking sim... it let the story really speak for itself.

[@FrancoisJordaan01]

Excellent video. The games I missed most was The Witness and Inside. There is a wonderful article on Gamasutra about the architecture of The Witness (they contracted an actual architectural practice to help on the game.) Besides ensuring that the all the buildings made sense structurally, they also built into the island hints of 3 historical phases, during which the island was occupied by different civilisations. None of this is directly relevant to the game, but adds immensely to the player's sense of discovery and aesthetic response. That's also what's appealing to me about Inside (and to a lesser degree its forerunner Limbo) -- there is a great effort to make the game world coherent and suggestive of a wider story beyond the game, but what that story is, is never actually revealed. That makes the game subtly different in every player's imagination, and arguably more interesting than something that is spelled out.

[@RandomProductionszsz]

"Inside" would have been also my choice

[@CherryMK_6]

I will never not love the way you can learn so much of what happened in Breath Of The Wild's Great Calamity simply through finding decayed guardians, paths, and ruins

[@mapdoor1418]

Good point

[@evolucaohunz]

"The Vanishing of Ethan Carter". This game is awesome in "environment story telling". You are literally part of the story being told and it has zero cutscenes.

[@JadeMarvin]

Watched about 3 mins going "Man this seems familiar" before realizing it was a re-upload...

[@NightFore]

Me: A new video! Game Maker's Toolkit: Sorry, re-upload! Also me: *Still watches it again*

[@hansvonlobster1218]

A nudge to Henry Jenkins' "Game Design as Narrative Architecture" would be nice. He extends on the whole topic and is an interesting and short read. :)

[@timdoesleveldesign]

Implicit storytelling through the environment is one of the key things I enjoy when playing games! Thanks for all these concrete examples! ❤

[@wilott90]

Funnily enough I didn't finish watching the first upload once it got to the first spoiler, which is a shame. Glad to watch a reupload without the spoilers. Thanks Mark, love your content.

[@Someone-sq8im]

Hollow Knight doesn’t even need cutscenes

[@lem2004]

And the way people tell the story are unique

[@richardshen8122]

There’s only like 4

[@silvermoon2608]

It does have a lot of written npc dialogue though. It would be very hard to tell what was going on without that.

[@Jtak-qu5hk]

@LOWFRAMEBLOX hunt down the bad mod

[@robocop7177]

Hollow Knight is the best example of level design telling a story IMO

[@JohnnoNonno]

I just watched the whole video again even though I already knew the content just because I appreciate your work very very much. You're the best Mark!

[@brendantoungate8287]

Love this video! My two favorite examples are Skies of Arcadia, where you can find "Discoveries" all over the world that tell you different stories within that world and make it feel alive, and The Talos Principle, with the computer program showing signs of decay which makes your mission all the more important.

[@spartan990]

Watched both versions at the same time, and I honestly think this version is stronger for the edits that were made (and the only thing that was "lost" were spoilers). Great job!

[@sinjai1337]

Wtf was offensive in the first one?

[@TheWolfgangGrimmer]

@@sinjai1337 Probably that one detailed example from Fallout 3. I was cool with it, but it _is_ very racy (and dark) content.

[@sinjai1337]

@@TheWolfgangGrimmer ohhhhhhhhh with the child strippers or whatever. Yeah true, I could see people not wanting to think about that.

[@eloujtimereaver4504]

@@TheWolfgangGrimmer That was cut, as well as one of the scenes with the ripper zipliney tool in BioShock infinite if I recall. It was a little too bad the fallout one was cut, because it is a good example of how designers can express or examine the taboo without running afoul of society.

[@lucio8794]

Your content's quality and your incredible effort is astounding. Thanks for being like this, as soon as I get out of this virus crysis I'll be glad to fund your amazing work. Good luck with everything!

[@NinjaKIngAce]

One of my favorite locations is Rogueport, the hub world and starting point in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door. The town is set on a remote island in the Mushroom Kingdom, and is spilt down the middle by a turf war between Robbo Gang, lead by Ishnai, and the Mafia of Don Pianta. The west side controlled by Don Pianta and the east side ruled by Ishnail. Neither of the opposing parties seem to have a total control over the market place. At the very beginning of the game, as Goombella starts to tell Mario what's going on, two members of the Pianta Syndicate can be seen to ambush and threaten two Robbo Gang members. Several criminals hide in the back of the tall buildings. A Bandit resides in a house behind Podley's Place; this is the same Bandit that robs Mario at the beginning of the game. The east side of Rogueport, also called Ishnail's Turf by its inhabitants, is an insecure and run-down place controlled by the Robbo Gang, lead by Ishnail. Bandits roam the streets, and when Mario first enters the area, he immediately gets robbed half his coins. The place is dirty, the houses are in a bad shape. The far east part of the east side is guarded by Gus. Mario has to pay him or fight him in order to pass. The Robbo Gang's hideout located in a secret backyard, and several people, like Grifty and Darkly, are hiding in corners or on top of buildings. The west side is a relatively secure area of Rogueport controlled by the Mafia of Don Pianta. Don Pianta's own residence is here behind the item shop. The place is much cleaner than the east side, and there is a fountain as well as a small park. The Pianta family runs the Pianta Parlor and the Westside Goods store in the area. There is also a train station and an airport.

[@quietkiwi7572]

Adam Jensons apartment after act three, and a certain quest. That feeling of violation combined with a dark raining sky a soft electronica. Prompts you to think about what you did and weather it was the 'right' choice.

[@lensama9122]

I love how Hidetaka Miyazaki tells stories - within the inquisitive mind of the observer. Often, just enough information is given to weave one's own tapestry.

[@anmakesart]

I was looking for somebody to mention Zaki, the subtle environmental storytelling in FromSoft games are second to none. One of the examples I will never forget is in Sekiro where you can see large white snake skin on the side of a mountain that is visible way before you actually encounter it, but the kick is: it is easy to miss making the encounter a surprise for most people.

[@johnmatrix3664]

I wish Mark had pointed out that thoughtful environment design doesn't always equate to a good game. Maybe that goes without saying. It's interesting though how developers can spend so much time crafting a believable world with tons of subtle details and completely forget to make the game fun lol

[@fardimnazir666]

You seem to have some games in your mind. Could you tell which?

[@johnmatrix3664]

Idk I wasn't thinking of anything specific. I guess for me Horizon Zero Dawn is like this. There's a lot of environmental detail used to distinguish different tribes/nations from each other and tell the story of what happened before the game starts. But all the dialogue is laughably bad, combat is ass, nearly every quest feels identical, and it's just overall kind of a bore to play

[@fardimnazir666]

@@johnmatrix3664 I kind of think, I get what you mean. All those efforts at world-building would go to waste, if there is no payoff in terms of story or gameplay. Was thinking of Doom 3, with its System Shock-esque audio logs and stuff, just to tell a story that's just about as expansive as whatever was written at the back of the CD case: Fight more demons, survive!

[@johnmatrix3664]

Haha yeah dude I know what you mean. Supplementary/unnecessary story like that doesn't bother me tho, as long as there's meat to the gameplay. As far as I'm concerned, plot should always be of secondary importance to the act of playing. But that's just my opinion

[@qwertydavid8070]

For me the best game with environmental storytelling is the original subnautica. Of course you have the mini stories of the crash pods and how each member came to different ends, the main purpose of that is to make you feel alone and hopeless. But the game does such a good job at evoking natural human curiosity by only using structures and environmental clues. You see a cool ecosystem and you obviously want to explore deeper. You see this giant alien tower structure and you want to go inside to learn more about it. The environments in subnautica are perfectly crafted to let the player explore and figure out the story and narrative by themselves.

[@TheBlindWeasel]

"A reupload? Well that just means i can focus on the sound of his voice"

[@duchi882]

Mark may not upload often but when he does you know its gonna be great

[@111111111111111owner]

Awesome video man! That's really insightful.

[@senza4591]

Epic, time to watch it again. This channel is so good, I'm quite happy to rewatch videos.

[@JaneXemylixa]

One of my favourite games that do that is Obduction (by Cyan Worlds, who'd made Myst many years ago). The world of Hunrath is so full of details that tell you how the people here lived and adapted to their unusual circumstances. There are snippets of this in other worlds, too: the scene where you find the dead alien and the overlapping swap circles (long story how that works) basically tells you everything you need to know about the recent conflict, if you can piece these things together.

[@GhostUponaTimeOfficiel]

I've been watching a lot your videos these last few days and everything you say is always so relevant and interesting! Thanks a lot for your hard work, I've been learning a lot thanks to you 🙏

[@nefertitimontoya]

Me too :) it's great background noise for gamejam making

[@abolfazlkhosravi2563]

i cant believe you left limbo out. the entire story is told trough the enviorment! great work any ways!

[@SuperRitz44]

Every since you talked about the theatre stage in Bioshock 1 in that other video I can't get environmental storytelling out of my head!

[@sgnirajyt9974]

I just wanna say u are doing great work, just don't stop keep it up, we all are with u. 👍

[@toddschnack3172]

Great perspective and content - thank you!

[@quietly_undone]

Basically the Blade Runner of KZbin. I’ll watch the video again when there’s the version without voice over and an added unicorn scene. Good stuff as always!

[@zachary4670]

That moment on the radio tower in Tomb Raider was magical. Love that game.

[@elliottcoleman8225]

AER Memories of Old is one of those lesser known games I found that has some cool environmental story telling. The game's overall design makes you ask questions, and there's all kinds of optional secrets to look for to find out what happened. There's very little dialogue, and most of it is from the ghosts or memories of people who are long dead.

[@07jackg]

As always - great video, especially your choice of music.

[@Oxmond]

Great video! Well done. I also liked the first version ❤️👍

[@user-nt8dy4xw9r]

There may be people who’re tired of hearing Dark Souls but for me, the journey from Blighttown to Anor Londo through Sens’s fortress was a rollercoaster experience of emotions I’ll never forget.

[@MindETMuch]

Thank you for the reupload. To be honest, I am more of a Nintendo kind of gamer if you get what I mean even though I love video game culture in its whole which is why I enjoy your essays so very much. But yes, looking at three seconds of intense scary horror combat excerpts honestly frightens me to my core so if I can in the future completely watch your videos without having to cover my eyes, that’s a big plus for me ! So thank you for taking people like me in consideration!

[@p_pugm_mops7406]

Inside is an extreme great example of story telling through the environment. The falls and rises in the story are also physical in the game, you are going through various locations. And the events and object in the background help you to figure out the story

[@IQzminus2]

Psychonauts will always be the best example for me in how to use level design, theme, assets etc to tell a story. One of the best games to show the unique and wonderful storytelling only a videogame can offer. Each level is the mind of a character you meet and interact with through the whole game, and exploring the level you are also learning and understanding a character in the game world. You get this wounderfully beautiful combination of encouraging you to be curious, both in wanting to explore and discorver the level just for the gameplay itself, but also to be empathetic to want to learn more and understand this characters in the world more deeply. And all this done by the player themselves. The player need to connect the symbolic meaning themselves of certain memories being found in a 'secret' room, or finding the traces of the real hurtful story hidden in the sewers under the level where full of the persons retelling and fantasy about what happened. Every single asset, every decision made in the level design, everything has a symbolic meaning. Telling you something about that character. It's the example of how the rule in writing of "show, don't tell" should be done in a video game. And there is a lot to discover. A lot of wonderfully designed characters and levels.

[@bootstrapbill98]

deathloop does a great job of visual storytelling, each area changes over the course of the day, making exploring the world a brilliant detective exploration experience and there is a lot of "what the hell happened here" moments that encourage you to return to the area earlier in the day on your next loop

[@mysterium368]

The Metroid Prime Trilogy does this also, for example at the Federation Crash Site in Prime 2 or on Bryyo in Prime 3.

[@cromanticheer]

I was just about to mention Talon IV from MP1 as a great example of evoking emotion through setting. Phendrana immediately inspires a sense of wonder by emptying you into a massive gorgeous snowscape, while the Phazon Mines immediately inspires dread with a darker color pallet and a lot of space pirate architecture (which you've been taught to fear over the course of MP1). I think too, while each area is fairly disparate the game does a good job of treating the separate zones as part of a larger picture of a dying planet with a corrupted underbelly. Though, really, all three games are really solid at making distinct, emotional settings.

[@sockatume]

“Spaces can speak volumes.” I see what you did there.

[@drewrichards2159]

These videos are so great. I just want more!

[@JoeyYan]

New follower here. This is the best video on level design in games I've ever watched.

[@canskntsfalan5430]

I want more stuff like this, seriously this is what i wanted from media when i was a kid

[@yoshimasachong2766]

Amazing video. It'd be cool if you made a video about how titles screens in video games are made and how many games handled them differently

[@sonam9881]

Mark brown: this is a reupload sorry :p The entirety of his fanbase who appreciates his high quality content: *you hear somethin?*

[@zekeyeager1403]

This video is DOPE 🔥🔥🔥, keep up the good works bro!

[@ShadyNetworker]

Oh okay, this IS a re-upload. Glad to see I'm not going insane, thanks!

[@shawnheatherly]

Glad to have this video back up; I don't think the previous version was offensive, but it's good to just be able to watch this either way.

[@ygyeung2056]

thx for explain the world, level design how to enrich the game, give it sense, emotion player feeling, etc.

[@dondashall]

I've gotten really into metroidvanias beginning last year (where previously I'd never played one) and the entire genre is based around environmental storytelling. While the odd one can have more narrative bits ALL are mostly driven through environmental storytelling.

[@beanquadofbeans4976]

Hyper light drifter does a really great job with this. Everything from the color, the music, and the ruins help to tell the story of a post apocalyptic world. The best part is that all the story telling is always visual, and never explicitly tells you the story of an area, letting you wander about finding clues of a forgotten history. HLD also does a really good job at showing scale in three dimensions, despite being a 2D game, by using music, color, and perspective to emphasize a location or object. Honestly, this game is probably my favorite of all time and I can’t recommend it enough.

[@MetaI4Brains]

"The best levels in Hitman incorporate a rich mix of those area types." One of the reasons why Colorado is the worst Hitman map.

[@renjithjoseph7135]

I actually really like Colorado because everyone is already an 'enemy'

[@pnutz_2]

on one hand you had to up your game and couldn't rely on strangling everyone, on the other you couldn't scout anywhere on foot without 34507893249087098 people shooting at you

[@ellie8674]

I like it, it's noticeably different from every other level in the last 2 games.

[@WickedGuardian]

Fantastic video - per usual. I think Burial at Sea Part 2 (Bioshock Infinite DLC) also did a fantastic job with environmental storytelling. Not that it didn’t use quite a few notes and audio diaries. But it felt worth mentioning.

[@a.perf.1453]

Love this topic! Keep it up please

[@eragon_argetlam]

GRIS is definitely the first game that comes to mind. Absolutely stunning use of the principles in this video.

[@averageasian5462]

The new thumbnail is a huge improvement 👍

[@kp5602]

I literally just finished all 3 games and the DLC's yesterday. Wow!

[@AEvans853]

Thanks a lot. That video was very helpful

[@tylerpayne7467]

Hmm, Interesting seeing this again. Thank you for going threw the effort to rejig this episode. I personally am not a fan of particularly gory Scenes in video-games, so you saying you will try to keep it more "General audience" is greatly appreciated. Also lovely seeing Journey still talked about. Best of luck in your Future Endevors.

[@lessgooo116]

Great video mate!

[@MrLukas190]

I really like your video and argumentation, and for the same reasons as you I would structure the pyramid the other way around. Then the tiny world details would support the structure of the more complex and abstract story telling elements. Becouse these would make the implications of the story more belivable/emersive

[@samghost13]

Again! Deus-Ex is showing us how good this series really is! Love your Show so Interesting to watch and to think about the games in another perspective. Really really cool!

[@austinjackson498]

I know its old - but i really thought you would talk about the game Riven in this. It was the first game i ever played that had this experience - and the entire experience rolled itself into a fantastic puzzle that pulled on the story threads created by the environment. There is a great documentary too by the Cyan leads that talks about the making of Riven and they go into how they grew on the Myst environmental experiences into Riven.

[@sonyerikson]

Nice use of the DiRT Rally 2 soundtrack.

[@thisisfrankie]

I just wanna say how wonderful Dirt Rally’s music sounds in the background. Cheers Mark, from a big rally fan!

[@kadenlaga9901]

I always felt like mad max was underrated when it came to this. I loved how every camp felt like it told me a little story about how people survive in their own way. The tire toilets were a nice touch.

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

Wow I've never even seen that warning before a video. Looking back at it, I can see the moments that would justify it, but the first time I watched I didn't notice them at all. It's amazing how years of video games have made me totally disassociate the violence in those games from reality.

[@OhShootKid]

Abbreviated Reviews which part was taken out? If it’s a spoiler gimme a warning

[@AbbreviatedReviews]

@@OhShootKid I think one of the most notable is an early scene in Bioshock Infinite involving the spinny hook thing. I didn't go through much of it, but I noticed some violent scenes from other games like a burnt body on a fence and some random other bits they'd probably flag.

[@OhShootKid]

@@AbbreviatedReviews Ahh, yes that is a particularly gory scene from Infinite. Thanks for the response!

[@BaraTheVeggie]

I got so distracted by Dirt Rally 2's incredible soundtrack that I had to rewind. Great taste man!

[@ElJorro]

I think these videos are excellent tools for any creative field.

[@Soroboruo]

"Imagine [game] without cutscenes" you already had my attention with the title xD fr tho, I've been thinking on games recently and how effective one can tell a story without cutscenes or even text or dialogue. Environmental storytelling is so important and so memorable when done right.

[@Derek_Baumgartner]

Thank you for this.

[@guy_incognito]

The best example of level design and narrative I can think of is INSIDE -- which I'm shocked wasn't mentioned here. No cut scenes, no explanations, no narrative except for what is on the screen in front of you. And the most compelling game I have ever played. Also a nod to Another World, and Limbo would've been nice.

[@samohickey]

Excellent video! Liked and subscribed!!

[@jacobmauk853]

I think a great example of environmental story telling is The Forbidden Lands in Shadow of the Colossus, with it's broken architecture and structures that suggest what may have been there beforehand. It just such a cool place to explore even though its empty.

[@ChrisfromLeedsinUK]

Somehow missed both the original and this version of the video. I remember reading how Splash Damage aimed to create environmental narrative in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. It was quite fascinating how much effort went into an online multiplayer shooter. The game is set on Earth shortly after the invasion of the Strogg, a prequel of sorts to Quake 2. The devs wrote that they took inspiration from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and created very distinctive looks and themes for the two sides in the same way that in the films you know what is Elfish, Dwarven or Orcish. Playing through some of the maps where the Human faction were on attack you could see areas decimated by the Strogg, you could tell something had gone down. The Strogg augmented their tech onto existing buildings which was where the objectives were located. It was clever way to give players a clear idea where to head to without big massive objective markers (they still used these but could be turned off). It also meant you knew you were close to the enemies spawn points. Maps would also typically start on the outskirts of these main bases, normally out in the open where the landscape hasn't been touched much by the war. You'd have to take out a shield generator or hack the security controls to gain access to the next area of the map. As you progressed, these maps areas looked more savaged by the Strogg and action got more focused to indoor areas where the objectives were located. Was a great build up, getting more tense as you went on. Sadly not all maps were like this for reasons highlighted in this video, different level designers working on them.

[@Groggimus_Prime]

So I get to like the video a second time? Awesome!

[@Ikcatcher]

Finally got the chance to play Bioshock with the PS4 version, I took way more time than I was willing to admit just enjoying the view and sights of a fallen city

[@reDActedGamedev]

I don't think I've seen this example yet, but my personal favorite storytelling moments through level design is in The Last of Us Part 1 (I haven't played Part 2 yet). The moment in particular that stood out to me is when you're in the sewer system and you pass a section that looks like it was used as a preschool/kindergarten. There's shelves with shoes and chalk drawings everywhere with numbers and the alphabet drawn on the walls..then on the ground you see 3 little bodies covered up with blood on them with their little shoes poking out the bottom of the sheets. It's haunting, yet an amazing moment of telling a story in a blink and you'll miss it moment.

[@aditkumar4644]

in hollow knight, when we are about to fight the brooding mawlek (who is much more aggressive than the normal mawleks as it has not met any of its kind for years) we see many dead mawlek's bodies in the room and this tells us the story of the boss and why is it killing us. the same can be seen in the secret room on the howling cliffs where we fight 2 elder baulbers, we see a lot of corpuses of baulbers giving us the same hint. I fund level design telling us a story in hollow knight more effective than the actual cut scenes like the blue lake above the city of tears or the elegant key matching the design of the elegant door. and the music of the singer. the level design can weave a story and this is also seen in the charms. the charm matches the place it is found.

[@lemuero]

This is genius. THIS my friends is the magic cook book we all need to make games (besides mechanics)

[@leona3598]

Спасибо за очень интересное и полезное видео! Качество и подача на высшем уровне.

[@strobohobo]

I like how Donkey Kong Country 2 starts with the crashed ship after the whole ship was the final area in the first DCK.