World design for the game

When a person enters the game, he wants to do more than just complete missions and pass levels. For him, this is an opportunity to become someone else: a famous football player, race car driver or the hero of an exciting fantasy story.

The task of the virtual universe is to immerse the user in this new world and give him the feeling that everything around him is real, and every step he takes has its own consequences.

This makes a person return to the game again and again, turns in-game purchases into a viable investment, and therefore leads to the commercial success of the entire project. The game world can have a different size. For example, it can be represented by one smartphone screen or be completely open, as in AAA class projects: Elden Ring, Assassin’s creed and others. The main thing is that a lot of thoughts have been invested in it and an interesting story that you want to explore and reveal.

There are many varieties of game worlds and, often, the choice of the desired format is determined by the genre of the project. Consider the main types that are used in modern game development.

Story worlds

They are used to implement games with a linear history, where the player goes through a certain sequence of events, locations or missions in order to achieve specific goals. This format is typical for projects of the Action-adventure genre and shooters.

Sometimes developers can give gamers a certain freedom in actions – for example, choose one of several paths or complete additional tasks, but this choice still remains conditional, since it is almost impossible to complete more difficult tasks without reaching a certain character level.

A vivid example of the implementation of story worlds can be seen in the projects God of War, Nioh, Sekiro.

Open worlds

This is the largest type of game worlds. Here, a person can freely move around the virtual universe, explore the environment, interact not only with secondary characters, but also with the general population. Often, the user’s actions are not even limited to the storyline and the completion of additional tasks, instead, he can literally do whatever he wants.

For example, in Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2, a gamer can go fishing, start a business, or meet up with multiplayer friends in an in-game restaurant to eat a virtual steak.

There are different types of open worlds. For example, construction games or sandboxes do not have a plot at all, and the main task of the user is to survive and explore the environment. One of the most prominent representatives of this trend is the Minecraft and The Sims projects.

Static worlds for 2D games

A good option for quest and casual projects. Such a game world is represented by one static picture, which contains various in-game objects with which the user can interact. Depending on the genre and format, the visual design can vary greatly – from fantasy and cartoon to photorealistic.

Map worlds

A variety of game universes, which is most often used in strategies where the user controls a country or an entire civilization. The gameplay in such worlds can be divided into four components: territory control, resource extraction, research and production improvement. Sometimes the gameplay is diluted with tactical battles or real-time conquests.

Arenas

Game worlds in the arena format are used in fighting games. They can be in 2D or 3D format, and represent a limited area in which the battle takes place. Often they contain additional items that threaten health or can be used as weapons. In addition, in the three-dimensional scenes of some projects, players have access to the depth of space, which allows them to evade enemy attacks, for example, this feature is implemented in Tekken 7.

To make the virtual universe “alive” and interesting for gamers, developers follow certain principles during the production process:

• Dynamics. There must be movement in every location, even in static games. It could be a fire in a fireplace, falling leaves, or a visualization of the wind blowing. This makes the game more enjoyable to play. In larger projects, the environment is worked out more deeply – for example, dialogues of people on the street are added, weather conditions change, adding interactivity to objects.
• Scale of space. The scale of objects in the virtual world helps the player to navigate in space, and tells how to act in a certain situation. For example, some items can be moved, others can be jumped on, and so on.

• Lighting. Competent lighting creates an in-game atmosphere and makes the gameplay more exciting.
• Sound accompaniment. Sound effects and music make the world around you authentic and like the real thing. In addition, audio
  be used to prompt the player, such as signaling danger.
• Sequence of history. The script occupies one of the most important roles in the production of the game. It should not be predictable and should be revealed gradually as the story progresses. This helps keep the user interested for a long time.

AVADA MEDIA specialists have experience in implementing and launching game projects in various genres and on various platforms. If you want to create your own game with an exciting world – contact us. We will select the best technologies, work out the history and create a new virtual universe from scratch.