Ben Cousins

Low Level Game Design: Atoms, Measurement and Hierarchies

Ben Cousins suggests some approaches to augment current game design:

• low-level game design
• an atomic model
• measurement techniques
• hierarchies

A game involves an input and output loop. Players provide input and the game responds with output. This loop can be viewed at different resolutions. A high level example might define the input as simply "save the princess" while the output is the collection of all the game's enemies, levels or encounters. A medium level example might have "get to the end of level 1" as the input and the level design and enemy placement as the output. A low level example of input might be "shoot gun" with the output being gun fires, bullet hits, enemy dies -- each of which correspond to actual sounds and animations, game physics and changes in game state. Lower levels of design are nested within higher levels, with the lowest level involving the direct mapping of player input via a controller to game output via graphics and sound (and touch if using a vibrating controller).

Cousins suggests that the lowest level of design, corresponding to player input at the level of gameplay action, could serve as the basis for an "atomic model". This atomic model could be useful for analysis of games in terms of measuring. Cousins is very big on using measurement techniques when designing a game, and argues that "sweet spots" for various games can be found for the following:

• time, e.g. jumping time (of an avatar)
  
• distance, e.g. distance to a "choke point" in a map
  
• density, e.g. "atoms" or events "per primary element"
  
• area, e.g. 2D screen space (of an avatar's animation)

Lastly, instead of a bundle of gameplay concepts, e.g. running, missions, story, etc., Cousins believes in creating a hierarchy for a game's design. For example, running is part of missions and a sequence of missions makes a story.

The four main points of Cousins' work -- low-level game design, an atomic model, measurement techniques and hierarchies -- can be thought of as a single approach. The environment of a game and its associated gameplay, along with the representation of these, can all be viewed as composite structures, with low-level components being suitable for measurement and possible adjustment in order to improve the overall design of the game.