Almost all Hollywood movies released in the past forty years are based on screenplays that use a singular structure. This article will introduce the Hollywood screenplay formula, and examine ways to apply that same structure to gameplay design. We won’t be using the screenplay structure for a game story, rather, we will attempt to create a narrative using only game mechanics, and more specifically, applying the formula to the design of levels and play sessions in different game genres.

Most Hollywood movies start out by introducing the viewers to the hero and his current situation. Then an event happens that upsets the current state of affairs, and the antagonist is introduced. There is an initial challenge that the hero overcomes, thus proving himself to the audience. Somewhere in the middle of the movie, we get to the point where the hero must make a momentous decision and the viewer gets to understand the final goal he must achieve in the movie – this is the point of no return. From there on the hero has an uphill battle, which culminates in one last big push, and if the hero is able to overcome that last challenge, you get to see how it has affected their life and the life of others – they reap the rewards, and if there is to be a sequel, we also get a glimpse of another challenge on the horizon. Of course there are small variations on this theme, e.g. we can have multiple heroes, and the antagonist might not be a human, but a force of nature, or an angst the hero must overcome. Michael Hauge’s has an excellent summary of the separate stages of this formula.

It is surprisingly easy to come up with alternate narrative structures, and yet very few screenplays outside this rather strict structure have succeeded, at least in Hollywood; it is a winning formula, and movie producers know it. That said, what can we game designers learn here? A whole lot: the formula will teach you how to make each game level a narrative that the player is a part of – a mini movie that your audience will enjoy and remember playing, and this gameplay narrative will resonate with a majority of your audience, based on what they have come to understand and accept in movies.

I am aware that in an environment where some designers still think narrative is unnecessary and evil, claiming that giving your gameplay a narrative structure will sound like a waste of time, but bear with me as I apply the Hollywood formula to the design of a variety of game levels, and you will see not only will it make the level more consistent, it is actually a great brainstorming tool. In the next installment (to follow shortly) I will also try to explain how some of the most successful Payload levels (pl_badwater and pl_goldrush) follow this formula very closely, and walk you through a new TF2 Payload level design from beginning to end

 

An Overview of the Hollywood Screenplay Structure

Following is a summary of Michael Hauge’s description of the Hollywood screenplay structure and example screenshots from the recent movie “Battleship”.

Our hero is an impulsive, undisciplined womanizer

Stage 1 – The setup

This is the beginning of a narrativve where you are introduced to the hero(s), and possibly his companion(s) everyday life. This is where you try to make them likable and interesting to the audience. The setup normally takes up the first 10% of the duration of the movie.

 

 

After his run-in with the police, our hero’s brother forces him to join the marines in the hopes that he will get his life together

Turning point 1 – The opportunity (@ 10%)

This is where the hero is presented with a new opportunity/threat that they cannot refuse/escape (internally or because of external forces). The opportunity makes the hero leave behind the status quo and start on a journey , although logically at this point the hero could presumably go back to the status quo, but we know that won’t happen.

 

 

Our hero is an officer in the Navy, and in a relationship – still undisciplined but in a whole new world/way

Stage 2 – The New Situation

After having responded to the opportunity or initial threat, now the hero gets acclimatized to the new life he will be leading. This is where hero’s hear about their nemesis for the first time or get to learn how to use guns for the first time. This is the initial discovery phase for the hero which leads to him coming up with a plan to reach the goal set forth by the opportunity but in the background we want to show the audience that conflict is building around the her. This stage takes up another 15% of the total movie duration.

 

 

“Getting the girl” loses in importance when aliens crash-land on the Earth!

Turning point 2 – The change of plans (@ 25%)

This is where something happens that causes the hero to change his plans. It takes the hero from the new world that the opportunity defined, to a whole new level, where he will define the final visible goal that he will achieve in the movie. The guy might have found the right girl and now he wants to get her, or maybe the ex mercenary decides to protect the people he was sent to kill. The visible goal is what the “audience is rooting for your hero to achieve by the end of the film.”

 

 

Hhuman ships are in a stand-off with the alien spaceships

Stage 3 – Progress

Now the hero is in the thick of things and starts to make progress towards the visible goal. It is where the hero goes from having been caught off-guard by the change of plans, to where they align all their powers and allies to reach their goal. Conflict is still building at this stage but it is nothing the hero cannot overcome. This takes up another 25% of the total movie duration.

 

 

Our hero’s brother is killed by aliens and his ship is destroyed. There is no going back now, they must be defeated (which is the visible goal of the movie)

Turning point 3 – The Point of No Return (@ 50%)

Here an event happens, or the situation evolves in a way that will limit the hero in going back from his plans. This is the event or moment that defines the hero’s path all the way to the end of the movie. Bridges are burned and there is no going back and the audience knows it.

 

 

Close encounters of the third kind, and hand to hand combat with aliens, but our hero is doing fending off every offensive

Stage 4 – Complications

During this stage conflict builds to a point where the hero simply cannot risk loosing. It becomes all or nothing. The hero fight hard, but then just before the hero seems to score a major success the major setback happens. This stage which will also take up about 25% of the total movie duration.

 

 

The tides have turned – Alien “wheel-whizzer-thingies” shred the hero’s ship into slivers

Turning point 4 – The major setback (@ 75%)

This is the disastrous event that causes the hero to seemingly lose any chance of achieving the visible goal. He is captured, or important allies or companions leave him or die, or maybe there is a major betrayal. Things start to look real dark at this point.

 

 

The survivors regroup on the Mighty Mo and get her ready for a final grand battle

Stage 5 – The final push

Now the hero has to gather all of his energy and resources one last time to overcome the challenge. He is real close to the finishing line – the pace is furious at this point and it’s all or nothing. This stage should take up another 15-24% of the total movie duration.

 

 

She fights valiantly despite her age, and the alien mothership is destroyed and their communication scheme neutralized

Turning point 5 – The climax (@90~99%)

This is where the hero faces the final challenge, determines his own fate and the visible goal of the story gets resolved. It is where the hero fights and kills the end-boss or solves the final riddle of a crime or dies trying. It is also what the audience will probably be remembering about the movie later on.

 

 

Hero gets medal – hero gets girl – hero gets admiral’s recognition and respect – The End.

Stage 6 – The aftermath

This is where the audience winds down and gets to see the result of the events in the climax. The hero gets married or buried or gets to live happily thereafter! This stages takes up a minimal amount of time of the total movie duration, typically just a few minutes.

 

Applying the Structure to Game Level Design

Let us plot hero challenge (or audience tension) vs. time based on the timing of the stages and events from the Hollywood formula described above:

 

This is very similar to the punctuated sawtooth plot of challenge over time many game developers have proposed over the years:

 Challenge vs Time in RPG games taken from an article by Thomas DuPont

 

Now it’s time to discuss how we can lay out our level to conform to the successful formula we explained.

Stage 1 – The setup

Although many designers leave this stage out, falsely assuming that video game players want to jump straight into the action, adding some sort of introduction into a level gives players to find their bearings and get to know their avatar, the controls and movement, as well as a sense of security before making their own conscious decision to enter the fray. This is a subtle point, but players will not appreciate it when you throw them into the arena without allowing them to make the choice. Now, you may argue that the moment the player started the game, they already made the decision to face up to the challenge, but don’t forget that allowing players choice is what games are all about, and the more meaningful choices you allow the player to make, the better your level will work.

It is very easy to add a Setup to your level. Platformers and shoot ‘em ups do this by adding a section in the beginning of the level where enemies don’t exist. TF2 does it by allowing players 60 seconds to charge up their Ubers and pick their classes before the gates open, and Fallout: New Vegas has an entire starter area where there are absolutely no enemies and where you get introduced to the backstory. WoW, similarly provides safe starter areas for each race. There are three important points in setting up the “the Setup” area:

1. It has to be safe

2. It has to teach the player about the game environment and the avatar’s back-story

3. The player needs to be able to exit the area within 10% of the duration of a play session or the level play-time, whichever is smaller

Point 1 and 2 are straightforward, but I will explain point 3. Take a game like Fallout: New Vegas. Let us make an educated guess that the average playing session for the game/level will be around 1-2 hours. This means that the player needs to be able to get all the startup resources he needs to enter the badlands within 6-12 minutes of starting the game. Assuming the same for WoW, the player would need to be able to get a valuable kill within 6-12 minutes of starting in their safe zone. For a platformer where a level might last only a couple of minutes, the first kill or challenge should be available within 10 seconds.

There are games out there that don’t follow this rule of course, and they lose something because of that – BIT.TRIP Runner being a notable one where starting a new level it is very easy to feel pressured and helpless and it takes a few seconds and successful jumps just for that negative feeling to dissipate. BIT.TRIP Runner also never gives you a chance to understand the elements in the gameplay and what each do before you run into them and die and there are barely 3 seconds to check out the level before your first jump. Bad BIT.TRIP!

Turning point 1 – The opportunity (@ 10%)

This is where the player meets his first challenge. It is not the challenge that will send him on his quest to save the universe – that will come later – rather, it should take the player out from his safe environment, into a new area or situation where they need to start acting, and actively exploring new options. That’s where most games go wrong. In their hurry to provide meaning to their story, and gameplay challenge to the player, they send the hero off on a secret mission to save the world from a soviet nuke.

Bypassing the first turning point and going straight to the point of no return will take valuable time away from the designers which can be spent on exposing the inner life of the hero and his allies (NPCs) and give them a second and third dimension. It also removes the player from the plot in that it doesn’t give them enough reason to care for the universe or NPCs or other online players that they are supposed to save.

There are a number of ways to create a turning point and they all involve an event that is forced on the player, allowing them to accept the initial challenge, or stay in their safe zone. In TF2 e.g. when the gates first open, the player can decide to stay in the safety of the base, or move out after all the ubercharges are spent and the initial frenzy is over. Another way to give the player the best weapon or vehicle in the game, and teleport them into their future self where they will get a taste of being cool without any risk of loosing, although this method does risk creating frustration in players once they are ripped out of the fantasy and given a rusty knife to fend for themselves. Oblivion had a nice turning point where the player went from being a prisoner to having the honor of protecting the king.

Stage 2 – The New Situation

This is the stage where a fighter starts fighting – a spy, backstabbing. Note that at this point we are NOT sending the player on his final goal. E.g. if the final goal is to capture a certain control point, the turning point will not allow them to do that yet. There should be no chance of the heroes (in TF2 this is the attacking team) wining the game at this stage. This can be done by making the initial base breakout hard for faster/sneakier classes e.g, or simply making everyone have to fight their way through to a point where they can start their actual mission – They still get to kill enemies, but they cannot rush to the control point – not yet!

Turning point 2 – The change of plans (@ 25%)

After the initial combat, or introduction to the new life the hero will be leading, we start them on a path towards their goal. In TF2 this means the attacking team gets to start pushing the payload e.g. or move forward towards the control points. We facilitate this by selectively weakening the position of the enemy (defenders in TF2) by making them walk for a long time before getting to their defensive position, or by delaying their respawn a bit longer, or by taking away some of the beneficial potential fighting positions. In an MMO, e.g. this would be the stage where the hero receives a great ability that allows him to do the first part of the story quest at a fast pace. In a platformer, this might be the point where you introduce the hero to his goal of saving a princess, and giving him a first glimpse of said sexy lady!

Stage 3 – Progress

At this point it should be easy going for the heroes. The playing field is tilted in their favor. This can be done, and should be done even in games where humans play against humans. In TF2 this is the part of the level where the attacking team gets most of the advantageous positions . This might mean opening an access route (backdoor) to the first control point, or creating an easily defensible path that the payload cart can be pushed through. Make this stage last for 25% of the game time or play session duration, and let the heroes of the game feel awesome for the time being.

Turning point 3 – The Point of No Return (@ 50%)

Contrary to sports, in Hollywood, half-time is not a time of respite and rest – It is the point where something happens that destroys any chance of the hero ever going back to his original life or even new situation. It is the point where he decides that he must push forward.

In the context of level design this can mean many things:

· For a platformer: It will now be impossible to traverse levels without the newly gained awesome double-jump or jetpack. It is also impossible to kill many enemies without your thunder-stomp! And if you slow down or fail, the princess will be killed, slowly – make sure your player knows that!

· For an MMO/RPG, this is where the world changes in response to the hero’s actions. E.g. A particular dragon might have risen who needs to be defeated before he reaches the birthplace of the hero.

· For a Multiplayer shooter like TF2/BF3 this is the point where the attacking team gains control of a forward spawning/landing position that is so good that the original starting base is made obsolete, or maybe even locked out.

Stage 4 – Complications

In stage 3, the hero got all the benefits. Now the tide will start to turn and the hero and his enemies will be balanced out. This means that both teams have an equal distance to go to reach the battle hotspot e.g. or the hero simply hits the limits of his awesome power because enemy NPCs are rising in level.

We can also artificially introduce extra challenges by adding extra conflict points around the map or within the story – maybe the hero has to sacrifice an ally to get through, or there might be traps that will leave the hero with very little HP before he manages to come out the other end. Betrayals are also a commonly used story element here, and so are time limits. This is the part of the TF2 level where enemy spies run amok, and this naturally brings about the next turning point as they sap forward attacker teleports and defensive positions.

Turning point 4 – The major setback (@ 75%)

The major setback is the darkest hour of the hero’s existence and unlike most other stages that can be achieved by tweaking gameplay/level elements requires a certain degree of engineering to make it work. After all the complications in the previous stage, we want the hero to be in a very weak position at least for a short while. Here are some ways to do this:

In an RPG: Endgame boss appears, and as the player is fighting him casts tons of debuffs on him that will last for quiet a while after the boss himself has left the arena.

In a platformer: reduce the number of health/ammo powerups. Now the hero needs to start counting bullets and health points.

In a strategy game: the player is flanked on three sides by the enemy, or even better, after his allies left him or dies in the previous stage, he is now stuck with a tiny defensive force and has to fight his way out through a painful gauntlet. We want the hero to be standing alone against the horde at the end of this stage.

In multiplayer shooters: give the defenders a great ambush chance, or a great sniper nest. Those two particular obstacles are a serious blow to the attacker (hero) morale and can definitely elicit the feeling of going through a major setback. However, make sure that those particular ambush/sniper nests are also possible to overcome. Do not place them in spots where enemies can easily get to them over and over, or you will have inadvertently created the climax before the players actually reach their goal.

In order for a climax to work best, we want all elements (closing in on the goal, final push, lots of conflict, balanced fight) to come together at the same time.

Stage 5 – The final push

In stage 3, the hero had all the benefits. In stage 4 the two sides were balanced out. Now it is time to give the antagonist(s) (in TF2, the defenders) the teeth. Provide the enemy with great sniper position, and good cover. In TF2 the fact that the conflict points are now closer to the defender base provides a natural benefit to the defenders. In all other games, this is the time where the player constantly has to switch weapons because they run out of ammo, and has to use up a lot of potions or they simply won’t function. The final push is an intense and uphill battle (literally making this an uphill battle is a great way to use the symbology in game where having higher ground gives the enemy benefits, e.g. in most shooters or strategy games).

During this stage, the hero needs to be able to see the goal (the last control point, or the last waypoint on a TF2 payload map e.g.). He needs to be able to get to the conflict point really fast (in Battlefield games, there would be multiple fast vehicles at the control point right before the last one) and the final battle area needs to be very concentrated. Do not create wide open areas or trenches for this stage. Make the conflict direct. Also don’t forget to give the enemy lots of benefits that will really hurt the hero, and if your game mechanics allow for time-limits use them in the nastiest possible way at the end of this stage. This is the only part of the level where the level designer can go all-out sadistic on the player, and as long as there is some chance of the player being able to punch through, they will not be whining too much (well, they will, but they will also see the point and enjoy the fast pace).

I have pointed at some of the elements needed to create a final push stage in your game. How can we implement those in different genres?

In a strategy game: After the hero got through the major setback alone, he is now replenished with all possible units in the game, and the enemy is overrunning the planet with all of their forces. The final battle is set in an hourglass level with huge waves of enemies eating away at the players defenses in a concentrated area. As we near the climax, the waves get larger, and the player’s army keeps pace. At one point the fighting gets so furious that the player starts to feel the pressure of micromanaging units. There is also a timer before the enemy is able to produce their nuke unit If the player cannot destroy their factory, and the enemy is starting to use larger and larger, and maybe even hitherto unseen units.

In a platformer: in this level platforms fall as you walk over them…you need to be fast and constantly move forward, and the enemies are relentless…sometimes it becomes more viable to just dodge their bullets and run instead of trying to kill them. There is only one visible and viable path, and very little time to choose anyways. No puzzles here….just relentless fighting and moving forward. Maybe the world behind you is crumbling at a constant speed – maybe you can hear the screams of your avatar’s “romantic interest” as she is being assimilated by Cthulhu himself ….

In an RPG: you have discovered the dungeon where the final boss/enemy resides, but his minions are not willing to serve up their master. Wave after wave of progressively stronger enemies come at you from the front, and from behind, and there is no time to explore, or maybe even open those loot chests. Monsters spawn so fast that going back and resting is not an option. Then there are the vilest minibosses in the game that you have to go through, before reaching the chamber of Jronichiloctiel the Soul crusher!

In a multiplayer shooter: This is the fight for the final control point, or the capture of the enemy base. Allow the attackers to spawn nearby, or get there fast. Give them all the fancy weapons they want, but give the defenders an awesome position (e.g. let them have higher ground, or force the attackers through an hourglass level – you should of course never have only one path to go through, but you can always have one seemingly easy way to the enemy base and multiple really dangerous ones :P ). For this to work, you need to give attackers/heroes an awesome forward staging area (i.e. if your game/spawn mechanics allow for this) and let the defenders have access to all sorts of defensive turrets, etc.

Turning point 5 – The climax (@90~99%)

The climax is the hero’s chance to overcome that one last giant obstacle to reaching his visible goal. In a game level this is the final boss battle, the capturing of the enemy base, or killing the last enemy standing. Here are some point to remember about the climax:

1. Don’t reduce tension artificially right before the climax. This is a stupid gimmick akin to screaming at your audience “Haha got you there!” Instead let it arise naturally from the already rising tension in the “final push”.

2. In order to overcome the final enemy, the player should use a lot, if not all of his skill/knowledge gained in the latter parts of the game. This is not the time to introduce new mechanics – it’s the time to demand the most of players based on already seen mechanics. For example, if success in your game was based on constant movement and quickly dodging enemy attacks, don’t put the player in a static turret that shoots at some giant end-boss!

3. It must resolve the hero’s quest. There is no more challenge after the climax whatsoever. After the climax it’s done! There should be no cleaning up to do. If the boss spawned adds during combat, once he is gone, the adds should blow up or something. Don’t distract the player from their huge achievement. Let them fully enjoy it. And then let them get their reward before the sweat on their brows dries!

In terms of level design, the climax is a natural extension of the final push, with the addition of one more element. This could be a final bomb that needs to be installed at the gates of the enemy base, or an end-boss, etc. Once the climax point is reached, it is not wise to suddenly negate all the prior challenges the hero was facing; no calm before the final storm here.

If you have a fighting game the arena where the final climax takes place normally has a central area where it all happens. It has entry points all around the arena, and players should be given no reason whatsoever to fight it out outside of this arena. Lock any backdoors that would distract from the final battle, and don’t let the defenders sneak pass attackers and backstab them. Also, avoid having any complex or smart enemies (except for the final boss) at this stage: having to think reduces pace, and new enemy behavior slows down flow – we don’t want any of that.

If you are making a puzzle or adventure game, this is where you repair that awesome giant mechanical contraption that will align Gaia’s energy with the center of the galaxy and save the world!

In an MMORPG, this would be the final boss in the story missions that needs to be beaten, or in case of dungeons it would be the end-boss battle.

In all of these cases make sure that the visuals tell the player that they have reached the end of the level before they enter the final battle (e.g. circular arena with tons of opening and no exit behind the boss), and make sure the final boss/challenge tests the players in multiple ways (speed, coordination, smarts, gear, armor, sensible tactics, etc.)

Stage 6 – The aftermath

After all the madness in the final push and the climax, and after the final goal has be resolved (hopefully in a final and definite way) it is time for the heroes to have a rest and enjoy their reward. A few points that might need repeating here are:

1. Make sure the player knows that he has won. Enemies should not be shooting at you anymore, and players should not find ANY challenges in their environment after the climax.

2. Give the player time and space to enjoy his reward. In TF2, successful attackers get to chase down and crit cowering defenders. In RPG’s players get access to all the treasures strewn about in the Boss’s chamber. In MMORPG’s this is when loots gets divided up. Many games simply announce that you won, and load the next level. Sometimes you don’t even get enough time to check out the leaderboards: this is bad design and rushing the player who gets no sense of closure and reward.

3. Avoid half-assed aftermaths. Let the player utterly defeat the antagonist or marry the girl in a happy ending or allow the Hero’s beloved one to die in a sad ending (instead of them being hurt e.g. or leaving the hero). Don’t let the nemesis get away, at least put him in prison, or magically lock him in a rock for good. Players hate to see that after all their trouble nothing happens to the baddies. Leave a clue for the sequel if you want to, but also give a good sense of closure to players.

There aren’t many level design tips for the aftermath except that:

a) Do not forego this stage and rush your player out the door into the next adventure.

b) Give players ample reward and time/space to enjoy that reward. Praise them, and show them how well they have done. If the player saved the princess have the princess kiss them, or have a marriage ceremony or something , or if they were supposed to destroy the enemy base, show them in gory detail how they bombed and burned their enemies and how all the structures came down in beautiful Destruction2 ™.

c) If this was a mini-story (like a dungeon in a larger MMORPG) don’t make players work in the aftermath of their success, e.g. teleport them out of the dungeon instead of making them walk out. Give them a magical glow and let them feel like kings for a while.

 

In the next installment of this article, I will create a TF2 Payload map that follows the Hollywood formula, and I am sure you will start to see parallels with existing popular payload maps. Go ahead and play around in the map a bit before you read the full details of the design. I would also love to hear from you about other ways to make the Hollywood formula work in different games, and if you are a designer, let us know if you have ever consciously followed this or a similar flow design formula in your own level designs.