Why Do Games Still Have Levels?

[wraggster]

Elite, the Metroid series, Dungeon Siege, God of War I and II, Half-Life (but not Half-Life 2), Shadow of the Colossus, the Grand Theft Auto series; some of the best games ever (and Dungeon Siege) have done away with the level mechanic and created uninterrupted game spaces devoid of loading screens and artificial breaks between periods of play. Much like cut scenes, level loads are anathema to enjoyment of game play, and a throwback to the era of the Vic-20 and Commodore 64 - when games were stored on cassette tapes, and memory was measured in kilobytes. So in this era of multi-megabyte and gigabyte memory and fast access storage devices why do we continue to have games that are dominated by the level structure, be they commercial (Portal), independent (Darwinia) and amateur (Angband)? Why do games still have levels?

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/11/21/1858240

[bm4n]

'Cuz levels are fun...Sometimes you need to break up the action. How would you split up a game like Portal if it played straight through? The level mechanic provides an ability to play just a bit of a game at a time; in your spare time without having to devote the time you do every time you load up a game like Fable or Oblivion. Also, in Portal half the fun is breaking records on levels, levels can increase the playability of a game by ten times. Look at Metal Gear Solid; every time you want to play it you beat the game. Imagine if you could just pick your favorite part; you'd play the game more. Then in a game like Crash Bandicoot 2 and 3 you play each level over and over getting more out of them each time.

So some games are awesome without levels; some are not. The mechanic of having levels in a game can be used for good or bad and must be decided by each game's developers with a lot of discrepancy. I'm distracted now because I'm watching The 40 Year Old Virgin so I think I may have lost my point. I think the point is that levels are NOT bad, just not perfect for every type of game.

The End.

[stevo11185]

EVERYONE DO NOT ENTER IN YOUR PASSWORD AND USERNAME IF A BOX COMES UP.

[Shadowblind]

Stevo: yes that did happen. Exit out of it, whatever the heck it is.

Different note, more insane games don't have levels anymore. Oblivion, Mass Effect, bioshock (relatively) dont have levels anymore.

[Accordion]

The "jerk.eternalnoob.net:80" password request is a little scary…please fix. I have only noticed it on this page though.

as for this topic… all those games have levels, and quite tight structures.
how are missions, linear location progression and serial bosses any different.
The only way a game cannot have levels is if is does not follow a linear progression. how many people find games with no goals fun?

[Emeriastone]

If you may recall, portal has levels at first--to keep you in the mindset that the game is structured this way, in secret the game has no levels at all, it's a psychological trick, something you find out in the end if you actually play it :).

[bullhead]

The "jerk.eternalnoob.net:80" password request is a little scary…please fix. I have only noticed it on this page though.

as for this topic… all those games have levels, and quite tight structures.
how are missions, linear location progression and serial bosses any different.
The only way a game cannot have levels is if is does not follow a linear progression. how many people find games with no goals fun?

Ever play Postal?

[bm4n]

I think that jerk.eternalnoob.net pw request is from me...In fact I'm sure of it since that's my site. I have no idea why that pw request would come up for all of you. I'll delete all my posts if you keep having that issue because it freaks me out as much as it does you...let me know.

bm4n

[Junixx]

how many people find games with no goals fun?

I find Gmod quite fun :thumbup:

And..... Half Life 1 was level based?...... I think not...

[gunntims0103]

Levels seem to break up the action like chapters in a book and it also gives the player a basis to progress through difficulty at a more "rigid" rate. With games that don't use levels to progress the difficulty progresses smoothly as you move on in the game.

[wizard]

I think that jerk.eternalnoob.net pw request is from me...In fact I'm sure of it since that's my site. I have no idea why that pw request would come up for all of you. I'll delete all my posts if you keep having that issue because it freaks me out as much as it does you...let me know.

bm4n

It's coming up because your sig links to it.

[dark heart]

heres why i think there is levels.
(1) so the maps can run smoothly, only running one section of an area at a time.

(2) <in my opinion> because theres always a new goal, and at the end of a level it's a good time to save and take a break.

[Broadus]

What's wrong with levels? This is the most idiotic thing I've ever heard.
Half-Life 2 doesn't have levels. It's paced exactly like Half-Life 1, the only difference is it lets you load different sections of the game at any time. Also, games that don't have levels still have loading times between areas.
Games that don't have levels are usually built completely different from games that do. Most shooters that have dramatic pauses between levels don't have seemless continuity between loading times, or they just have different pacing altogether. Being modern also doesn't make games more level-free. The Legend of Zelda games were all about roaming about the land, and though they contained dungeons, they never contained levels.

[MicroNut]

Pointless when viewed within the context of the game.
They either work or they don't.
They are neither anathema nor benediction.


and it frakken time this is wiped from the face of these forums:

[The Virus]

What the **** is the point of even discussing this ****ing subject? Levels are as natural to games as the game-play itself.

I can already predict a new topic on this forum;

WHY DOES GAMES STILL HAVE GRAPHICS???

Or if you'd like;

WHY PLAY GAMES WHEN YOU CAN WATCH MOVIES??

[bullhead]

What the **** is the point of even discussing this ****ing subject? Levels are as natural to games as the game-play itself.

I can already predict a new topic on this forum;

WHY DOES GAMES STILL HAVE GRAPHICS???

Or if you'd like;

WHY PLAY GAMES WHEN YOU CAN WATCH MOVIES??

Yeah good point... Why interrupt a perfectly logical discussion with angry posts, when you can, not.

[northernlights]

Hey, im very new here but have collecting games for a while now. I thought this topic was interesting so i thought i I would add a bit.
Obviously there are a few factors on why levels exitst in games (memory restrictions on older consoles being a major one) I believe one reason is that your brain just needs time to adjust and is also conditioned to be rewarded after completing a level, thus you want to play the game's next level, and the level after that.....just like bm4n said "Cuz levels are fun...Sometimes you need to break up the action"
I guess its very similiar to books, or albums. Would you enjor reading a book that has no chapters? Or an album that has no titles or gaps between songs? Personally i listen to alot of ambient music which quite often is mixed seamless and find it to be a different audio experience than when you are just clicking to the next song or whatever...with no gaps (and typically no words) you brain must latch on to the ideas in a different way. Games are no different than this. I think it really comes down to what you feel like at that moment....do i want to play "Arkanoid" or "Seaman"?

[jaws365]

There are cool games that are not level-based, but I think it is stupid to discuss whether it is better or not. Game concepts vary alot, and thank Jesus Crust for that!

[NitrousB]

Honestly this topic is stupid, as has been said by other people some games really need levels and others dont, but all require loading time, by the way level less games are even older than the oldest game mentioned (Elite i think), old text/graphical adventure games were one level, just different areas.

Nitrous

[Robert de Clair]

over 100 years ago airplanes was relased with wings... we have now a XXI century so why airplanes still have wings

a peoples living on the world from many centuries, why peoples (usualy) ;) have one head two arms and two legs?

--------------------------------------
1 LEVELS are good and naturals for many types of games :) like a chapters for books.
2 loading screens and waiting for loading a new levels are not good :>

some times ago a game on Amiga (i was forgot about this game name) has a unique system: when you are on stage a next stage is loaded so player dont wait for loading because before player change stage a next one is loaded and waiting in memory.

sorry for my english :)

[mickmos]

Why do video games have levels?? what a stupid question

[jsheridan]

Actually, I was just thinking about this same thing, but in reverse.

Games that stream new contant but lag while doing so and have pop-in 3D graphics annoy me much more than games with load screens. I'm happy to take a break every so often for a load screen, but if there is a pause when I'm trying to play it's much more jarring.

So I say: bring about loading screens.

[JPJunkie]

What the hell was that password thing?

[jaws365]

Once in a while I play The Last Ninja 1&2 on C64 emulator. I actually prefer to play the cassette- instead of diskette version. That is because loading music is very good and becomes an important part of the fictional universe. It feels somehow like the character is "travelling" to the next level.

[Gizmo356]

Haze for ps3 will have no loading screens or levels.