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• 1. FIRMITAS - SPACEPLANNING​

  • Optimization​

  • Robustness

  • Logic

  • Believability

    • Informed Simplicity​

    • Where is the toilet?

    • Suspension of Disbelief

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• 2. UTILITAS - GAMEPLAY

  • Ergonomics​

  • Flow

    • short term goal​

    • mid term goal

    • long term goal

  • Rhythm

    • Core Loops​

    • Game Loops

    • Second-to-Second

    • Minute-to-Minute

    • Hour-to-Hour

  • Difficulty

  • Impression

  • Hooks

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• 3. VENUSTAS - COMPOSITION

  • Art Direction​

  • Lighting - Guiding Light

  • Texturing/Coloring - Guiding Color

  • Composition

    • Sence of Place - Genius Loci​

    • Focal Points

    • Leading Lines

    • Axis

    • Repetition

    • Symmetry

    • Balance

    • Hierarchy

    • Frame in a Frame

    • L-Shape

    • Vingette

    • Depth and Layering

    • Avoiding Tangents

    • Sence of Scale

    • Referens Objects

    • Negative Space

    • Rule of Shapes

    • Rule of Thirds

    • Rule of Odds

    • Visual Hierarchy

    • Affinity

    • Contrast - Opposits Attract

    • Silhouettes

    • Movement

  • Readability

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• 4. LEVELDESIGN BASICS

  • Call to Action - CTA​

  • Establishing Shot

  • ​Vantage Point

  • Point of Interest

  • Stairs & Ramps
  • Verticality
  • Doorways & Openings
  • Bottlenecks - Chokepoints
  • The Door Problem
  • T-Junction
  • Corners & Edges
  • Sightlines
  • No-Mans-Land
  • Rabbit Hole
  • Gate - Gating
    • One-Way​
    • Point-of-no-Return
    • Drop-of
    • Skillgate
  • Prisoncell Gameplay
  • Decompression Zone
  • Backtracking
  • Fatigue
    • Visual Fatigue​
    • Combat Fatigue
  • Foreshadow
  • Telegraph
  • Anticipation
  • Affordance
  • Signifiers
  • Signposting
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Breadcrumb Trail
  • Buffer Zone
  • Illogical Space
  • Player Choice
    • Player Agency​
    • Choice Parallazys
    • Percieved Complexity
    • Risk - Reward
    • Prospect - Refuge
  • Implicit / Explicit Knowledge
  • Implicit /Explicit Information
  • Intrinsic / Extrinsic Motivation
  • Juxtapose
  • Counterpoint
  • A Duck
  • Sidescene
    • Hard Boundaries​
    • Soft Boundaries
  • Combat
    • Monster Closet
    • Combat Closet
    • Cover
      • Controlled Randomness​
      • Clusters
      • Hard - Soft Cover
      • Half - Full Cover
  • Denial & Reward
  • Reveal
    • Hard Reveal​
    • Soft Reveal
    • Funnel Before Reveal
  • Rewarding Vista
  • Bait & Switch
  • Fear Then Relief
  • Tension & Release
  • Servant Space & Served Space
  • Closed Space & Open Space
  • Distance goals; short, middle, long
  • Red Herring
  • 10-second Rule
  • 30 seconds of Fun
  • Hour-Glass Design
  • Crazy Ivan
  • Findability
  • Discoverability

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• 5. LEVELDESIGN STORYTELLING​​

  • Show don't Tell

  • MacGuffin​

  • Checkov's Gun

  • Subverting Expectations

  • Event Horizon

  • Story Beats - Gameplay Beats

  • Protagonist - Antagonist

  • In medias res

  • Flow structure

    • Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu

    • 3-act Structure

    • Hero's Journey

  • Plot Armor

  • Deus Ex Machina

  • Alliterations

  • Denotations - Connotations

  • Kuleshov Effect

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• 6. LEVELDESIGN WORKFLOW​​

  • Problems, Tips & Tricks​

    • Onboarding

    • The Red Queens Race

    • World Builder's Disease

    • String of Pearls

    • Hyperbole

    • Design by Reduction

    • Zoom-In-Zoom-Out

    • Rough-Refined

    • Occam's Razor

    • KISS

    • The Five Whys

  • Rough Overview

  • Overview

  • Rough Blockout

  • Blockout

  • Rough Whitebox

  • Whitebox

  • Alpha

  • Beta

  • Gold

  • Release Candidate - RC​

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• 7. GESTALT LAWS​​

  • Law of Simplicity

  • Law of Similarity

  • Law of Proximity

  • Law of Closure

  • Law of Figure and Ground

  • Law of Continuity

  • Law of Order and Symmetry

  • Law of Synchrony

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• 8. MULTIPLAYER DESIGN

  • The Infinity Eight​

  • Four Squares

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• 9. THE IMAGE OF THE GAME WORLD

  • Player Paths

    • Main Path​

    • Percieved Path

    • Desire Path

    • Golden Path

    • Detour

  • Edges & Borders

  • Datum

  • Zones & Biomes

  • Nodes & Hubs

  • Landmarks

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