Multi-level Gameplay

Wahey! My letter to the editor of Gamasutra about Ernest Adams' article, Multi-level Gameplay, was published! Here it is (just in case the link is broken or it mysteriously vanishes):

On 'Multi-level Gameplay'

Ernest Adams' recent article, 'Multi-level Gameplay', was a good read. As someone who played the game Archon as a child I found myself nodding in agreement with his insight about its major drawback being that tactical play overshadowed any strategic play.

I haven't yet played the Infinite Space games mentioned, however, whilst reading the article I thought that perhaps Will Wright's Spore was a prime example of multi-level gameplay -- you begin as a microscopic organism, improving your physical structure with various add-ons via evolution, much like Infinite Space's ship-building. Eventually you move from controlling a single organism to managing a tribe of creatures, and then onwards to a city, and the world, and multiple planets and so on. I'd offer Spore as a counter-example to Mr. Adams' closing argument that "gigantic" multi-level games are "too hard".

Also, the article reminded me somewhat of game designer Ben Cousins' work regarding hierarchy in games -- it's very much to do with breaking a game down, however it has more of a focus on drilling down to the level of "atoms", or player actions, and measuring the various levels of multi-level gameplay in terms of "density" (frequency) of player actions. Such measuring can be of help when trying to identify/design gameplay "sweet spots".

I just thought I'd mention the above two items that came to mind in case they're of interest to other readers or Mr. Adams himself, who has once again written a thought-provoking article.