Prospect and refuge

Prospect-refuge is the idea that people have an "inborn desire" for prospect (vantage points with a view) and refuge (enclosures that are safe from threats) (The Level Design Book: Prospect-refuge). It is widespread in architecture and has been carried into level design, most prominently by the architect and designer Christopher Totten (Game Developer: Designing Better Levels Through Human…). It is also one of the clearest cases in this handbook where respected sources disagree.

#Where the theory comes from

The Level Design Book traces it to the geographer Jay Appleton's The Experience of Landscape (1975), which combined Daniel Berlyne's "arousal theory" with evolutionary psychology (The Level Design Book: Prospect-refuge). Grant Hildebrand popularised it in 1988 and later in Origins of Architectural Pleasure (1999) (The Level Design Book: Prospect-refuge).

Totten's 2011 article credits Hildebrand rather than Appleton with the term "Prospect Space", and grounds it in early humans surveying open land from safe, enclosed spots (Game Developer: Designing Better Levels Through Human…). The two accounts agree on Hildebrand's role; they differ on who started the idea.

#Totten's spatial vocabulary

Totten works with four kinds of space (Game Developer: Designing Better Levels Through Human…):

Prospect: "a spatial condition that is wide open, within which the occupant is exposed to potential enemies."
Refuge: "places like caves and tree covered areas", from which you can look out while staying hidden.
Narrow space: "a small enclosed space where the occupant feels confined and unable to move."
Intimate space: "neither confining nor overly large"; everything is within reach, so it feels controllable.

His practical advice: start from the core mechanic, alternate prospect and refuge to shape a route, use shadow to make safety uncertain, and make vantage points a prize to win (Game Developer: Designing Better Levels Through Human…).

A top-down plan of an open plaza tinted orange. Small alcoves sit on its left and right edges and a balcony on its top edge; two cover blocks stand in the plaza. A dashed orange player route crosses from the left edge, past both cover blocks, to the right-hand alcove. Labels give Totten's terms (prospect, refuges) and The Level Design Book's terms (sightlines, vista, cover, enclosure). — The same plan in two vocabularies. Whatever you call it, the player crosses exposed ground between pockets of protection.Diagram by the handbook author, after Totten (2011) and The Level Design Book

Different viewsIs prospect-refuge useful for level design?

Christopher Totten treats it as a core tool, grounded in survival instincts, and builds a full vocabulary of prospect, refuge, narrow and intimate space on it (Game Developer: Designing Better Levels Through Human…).

The Level Design Book argues it has "limited application to level design" and doubts its value for real architecture too (The Level Design Book: Prospect-refuge). Its reasons: Berlyne's lab-rat research may say little about human taste; evolutionary psychology is widely criticised and may not transfer to games; the replication crisis casts doubt on the evidence; and a 2016 meta-analysis of 34 studies found that "prospect is real, but refuge is not" (The Level Design Book: Prospect-refuge). Its conclusion is to avoid relying on it.

Its alternative is plainer, existing industry terms: sightline or vista instead of prospect; cover, enclosure, base or safe house instead of refuge (The Level Design Book: Prospect-refuge). Its Elden Ring example is a boss room that feels dangerous because of the missing save point, the boss's health bar, cramped furniture and music, then becomes a quiet grace site after the fight. Safety, it argues, is a game state, not a property of the architecture (The Level Design Book: Prospect-refuge).

In practice: both sides describe the same useful pattern of exposure and protection. Totten's vocabulary is good for thinking about mood; The Level Design Book's terms are better for talking to a combat designer. Neither replaces testing whether players actually feel exposed or safe.

#For environment artists

Artists shape both halves. Openness, light and long views read as exposed; low ceilings, warm light and enclosure read as sheltered. Totten suggests that railings and walls make height feel secure, while an open edge makes it feel dangerous (Game Developer: Designing Better Levels Through Human…). In combat, though, the Level Design Book reminds you that cover is defined by the game's rules: in Counter-Strike, thin wood or metal can be shot through and is only soft cover (The Level Design Book: Balance). Check that "refuge" props actually protect the player before dressing them as safe spots. See sightlines and vistas, light and shadow and set dressing and art passes.

A side section. On the left, a figure stands on a raised ledge under a low overhanging ceiling with a wall behind, in shade, with a railing at the ledge edge. Three dashed orange sightlines run from the figure's eye down across a wide, pale, open ground on the right, where a dark triangle marks an enemy patrol. Labels read: refuge, low ceiling, wall behind, in shade; railing, makes the height feel secure; sightlines, long, from a hidden spot; prospect, open, bright, exposed: crossing it is the risk. — The artist's levers in one section: enclosure, shade and a railing make the vantage point read as sheltered, while openness and light make the ground below read as exposed. Whether the ledge also works as cover is a game rule to check, not something the art can promise.Diagram by the handbook author, after Totten (2011)

sightlines and vistas, layout and flow, wayfinding, light and shadow, shape language.

#Further reading and watching

Designing Better Levels Through Human Survival Instincts (Christopher Totten, Game Developer)

prospect, refuge, narrow and intimate space with many game examples. Intermediate, free.

ArticleIntermediateFree

The Level Design Book: Prospect-refuge

the history of the theory and the case against relying on it. Intermediate, free.

WebIntermediateFree

The Level Design Book: Balance

the plainer vocabulary of sightlines and cover in combat. Intermediate, free.

WebIntermediateFree

References

The Level Design Book · Prospect-refuge · The Level Design Book · web · accessed 2026-10-21

Christopher W. Totten · Designing Better Levels Through Human Survival Instincts · Game Developer, 2011 · article · accessed 2026-10-21

The Level Design Book · Balance · The Level Design Book · web · accessed 2026-10-21