Set pieces

A set piece is "an especially elaborate beat with a unique concept or memorable activity" (The Level Design Book: Pacing). In games it is usually a boss fight, a big puzzle or a scripted event such as a chase or a collapse, staged in an arena with unique hero props (The Level Design Book: Pacing).

The term comes from film, where big productions paid for scenes that needed their own sets (The Level Design Book: Pacing). In a level's intensity curve, the set piece is usually the highest peak.

#What makes a set piece expensive

The Level Design Book lists four properties (The Level Design Book: Pacing):

• Expensive. Set pieces need "many unique art and animation assets, and constant iteration". They are hard to scope down or reuse, which makes them "inherently risky to produce".
• Unskippable. They are tied to the game's core pillars, so the team does not want players to miss them: "Why spend so much time and money making something if the player might miss it and blame the game?"
• Scripted. They are "Heavily scripted and somewhat linear / on-rails". A set piece with three possible outcomes "is now the equivalent of three set pieces".
• Arena-based. The usual layout is an arena, "a large room to trap the player until they complete the encounter or cutscene".

For environment artists, "unique" is the important word. A set piece rarely reuses the kit of the surrounding level unchanged. It gets one-off props, destruction states, special collision and lighting that must work before, during and after the event. See choreography and scripted sequences for how scripted events direct the player's attention.

#The spaces around a set piece

A set piece is a sequence of spaces as much as a single room. The Level Design Book describes a common way to start a big encounter: a vista (a high vantage point) lets the player see the layout first, then a "one-way entrance" commits them, sometimes with an "airlock door closing behind them" (The Level Design Book: Encounter design). It notes this pattern "is common for boss fights or any big climactic set piece encounter" (The Level Design Book: Encounter design).

After the peak, intensity should drop. The Level Design Book notes that after intense boss fights, "cutscenes and low-intensity areas feel like rewards" (The Level Design Book: Pacing). See safe rooms and rest areas.

#How to plan one

1. Tie it to a pillar. Pick an event that shows the game's central mechanic or story beat; set pieces are unskippable for that reason (The Level Design Book: Pacing).
2. Prototype it as a playable block. Build a rough, playable version in greybox and let someone else play it, as Respawn did with action blocks (Prima Games: Blocking out drunk: How Titanfall 2's story…). Throw away ideas that testers do not enjoy.
3. Keep one outcome. Every extra branch multiplies the work (The Level Design Book: Pacing).
4. Plan the run of spaces. Lay out approach, vista, one-way entry, arena, exit and rest as separate beats (The Level Design Book: Encounter design).
5. Make it hard to miss. Do not tie the event to an optional action. In PC Gamer's DOOM SnapMap test, id and Escalation designers pointed out that too many traps were tied to pickups, so players who skipped items missed set pieces (PC Gamer: We made a Doom level and got id designers to…).
6. List the unique assets early. Hero props, destruction states and effects need art and animation time (The Level Design Book: Pacing). Agree with design which parts must be unique and which can come from the kit.
7. Check the end state. After the event the space must still be readable and navigable; see collision meshes and navigation meshes.

#Use in recent games

• The Last of Us Part II (Naughty Dog, 2020). Edgar A. Martinez's post on the Rat King combat space credits him with architectural concept, environment modeling, "the interpretation of design blockout", set dressing and collision, next to a designer, prop, texture, lighting and FX artists (ArtStation: "The Last of Us: Part 2" - Med - Ratking…). A set piece is a team build across departments.
• Titanfall 2 (Respawn, 2016). "Into the Abyss" and "Effect and Cause" came out of action-block prototyping (Prima Games: Blocking out drunk: How Titanfall 2's story…; GDC Vault: Designing Unforgettable 'Titanfall' Single…).
• Uncharted 3 (Naughty Dog, 2011). The cargo plane sequence came from a brainstorm of 10 to 12 set pieces, most of which were built (VGC: The success of Uncharted 2's set pieces had a…).
• Uncharted 2 (Naughty Dog, 2009). One or two planned set pieces, the Tibet train sequence being the best known (VGC: The success of Uncharted 2's set pieces had a…).

#Further reading and watching

Related pages: pacing and intensity, choreography and scripted sequences, combat spaces and arenas, safe rooms and rest areas, blockout, hero assets, props and filler.