Level (video Gaming) - Overview

Overview

In games with linear progression, levels are areas of a larger world. Games may also feature interconnected levels, representing locations.

Each level usually has an associated objective, which may be as simple as walking from point A to point B. When the objective is completed, the player usually moves on to the next level. If the player fails, they must usually try the same level again or perhaps return to the very start of the game. In games with multiple human players, the level may simply end once a limit in points or time has been reached. Not all games order the levels in a linear sequence; some games allow the player to revisit levels or complete them in any order, sometimes with an overworld in which the player can transition from one level to another. An example of this is The Legend of Zelda.

Programming constraints such as a limit on memory with which to store graphics and sound necessitated that games be split into levels if they were to offer a great deal of variety in the game. Variety in a game's environment could not have been achieved at the time without a level system, since the hardware could not hold multiple sets of game data (such as the level plan or the tileset that defines its look and feel) at the same time.

Some modern games have attempted to gain the benefits of a level system while giving the impression that the games are continuous—i.e., one long game rather than levels. In these games, data required for an upcoming level is loaded into memory in the background as the player approaches it, a process known as prefetching.

A practical advantage is that levels divide the game into manageable sections, giving players a chance to rest at periodic intervals. Games can be automatically saved at these points and the gaps can help build suspense.

Levels are usually laid out as a continuous 2D or 3D space, but in games such as Super Mario, the spaces may be separate, with some form of teleportation in between. The space may have varying elevation and physical obstacles. The level will usually feature entities (usually characters) that commence some sort of procedure after being triggered by the player standing in a particular area or perhaps interacting with an object in the level.

Although the challenge in a game is often to defeat some sort of character, levels are sometimes designed with a movement challenge, such as a jumping puzzle, a form of obstacle course. Players must judge the distance between platforms or ledges and safely jump between them to reach the next area. These puzzles can slow the momentum down for players of fast action games; the first Half-Life's penultimate chapter, "Interloper", featured multiple moving platforms high in the air with enemies firing at the player from all sides.