Guiding with empty spaces: how subtle changes in space affect player wayfinding.

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20335180

How do you guide a player in an expansive space without complete reliance on a map? This question requires game designers to be meticulous in their expertise of the architecture of game design. But what kind of details are valid? To explore this question, I designed an open game level that incorporated elements and details based on the work of noted architectural scholars Christopher Alexander, Kevin Lynch and Jane Jacobs, as well as game scholars who have applied these principles to game design. My focus was on the most noticeable element commonly associated with wayfinding, the Landmark - this will be applied to a digital game. To this end, I have recorded common areas of attention and time towards the actual goal in an open level; however, this open level will not have a readily perceivable endpoint. Considering this challenge to the users, I have used architectural principals and connected similar ideas from virtual environments and UI to facilitate and minimize stress while wayfinding and navigating through the environment. During the process of game design, I have looked at common guides from architecture and computer interactivity, in an effort to identify common traits to refine and gain better insight to level design practice. From this project, I hoped to prove that even subtle principles drawn from real world architecture and other subjects can be broadly applied to the design of digital game spaces. My findings are currently inconclusive due to the low number of users tested. However, I believe I made a base for further testing--Author's abstract