{"id":880,"date":"2019-09-07T11:19:16","date_gmt":"2019-09-07T10:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/david-bailly.com\/portfolio\/?p=880"},"modified":"2021-04-04T14:51:54","modified_gmt":"2021-04-04T13:51:54","slug":"exploration-feeling-in-spyro-the-dragons-level-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/david-bailly.com\/portfolio\/exploration-feeling-in-spyro-the-dragons-level-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Exploration Feeling in Spyro the Dragon’s Level Design"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the best levels, the level design structure makes you feel like you are exploring areas you are not supposed to, while never being stopped in a dead end.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Most levels in Spyro the Dragon (and the other games of the trilogy) use (loosely) hidden treasures and secret paths to push for exploration around a simple critical path. Some are cleverly structured to guide the player’s exploration all the way through 100%. Here is a case study of a few of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The top view screenshots are taken from sonicbluetm<\/a> on imgur
The Walkthrough video are from Gaming Instincts TV<\/a> youtube channel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Town Square<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Town Square’s navigation<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This is the level where you are taught to glide. The critical path (in white) alternates between situations with the bull enemy and jumps that require to glide, each with increasing difficulty. 
The second part of the level (in yellow) loops around the first part. It is always accessible from a visible platform (on the left of the screen @2:08, in the video walkthrough below), but a new player most likely will not see or be able to make that jump. Going through the whole bonus loop gets you to a high area from which both the end and the start of the level are accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n