Wayfinding

Wayfinding is how a player works out where they are (orientation) and how to reach where they want to go (navigation). The Level Design Book uses exactly this split, and argues the goal is usually for players to wayfind "naturally", with little disorientation or frustration (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding).

It is shared work. Level designers shape the routes; environment artists make those routes readable with shape, light, colour and landmarks. Valve's Half-Life 2: Episode Two commentary sums up why it matters: "After watching numerous playtesters get lost, it became obvious that they were not having fun" (Combine OverWiki: Developer commentary/Half-Life 2: Episode Two).

#Wayfinding and "guiding the player"

Game-design talk often frames this as "guiding" or "leading" the player. The Level Design Book pushes back. Players often leave the critical path, explore, criss-cross spaces or simply relax, so tricking them down a route is the wrong goal; instead, "our goal is to provide tools and information to help them use our level" (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding). "Wayfinding" is also the standard term in architecture and usability, and it keeps the player's agency in view (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding). For artists, the task is to make the space legible rather than to force the player down a single funnel.

#How players build a mental map

Players form mental maps. The Level Design Book, drawing on Kevin Lynch's 1960 study The Image of the City, lists five elements (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding; Wikipedia: The Image of the City):

• Paths: routes used to move around.
• Edges: boundaries and breaks in continuity, such as walls, shorelines or overpasses.
• Districts: areas with shared characteristics.
• Nodes: strong intersections such as squares or junctions.
• Landmarks: easily identifiable objects used for reference.

Lynch's study of Boston, Jersey City and Los Angeles concluded that "people form mental maps of their surroundings consisting of five basic elements" (Wikipedia: The Image of the City). See landmarks for a diagram and game examples.

When there are no landmarks, people fall back on dead reckoning: estimating position from a known start, direction, speed and time (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding). The Level Design Book also lists strategies such as track following, route following, educated seeking, inference, aiming, map reading, compassing and social navigation (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding).

#Where players look

The Level Design Book's Half-Life 2 example: Valve pointed a station door frame towards the city square and added a flock of birds rising, drawing attention to the Citadel (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding). From it the book draws three guidelines (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding):

1. Players don't look upward unless something draws their eye.
2. Players look in the direction they are moving.
3. Players focus on contrast in colour, shape, lighting and movement.

These are composition rules applied to movement. A focal point at the end of a corridor, framed by architecture and lit brighter than its surroundings, is a basic wayfinding tool. Valve's commentary describes it directly: "The building on the right is bright and eye-catching, with the intention of drawing the player there first" (Combine OverWiki: Developer commentary/Half-Life 2: Episode Two). See light and shadow and leading lines.

#Wayfinding aids from subtle to direct

The Level Design Book sorts wayfinding aids by how many players will notice and use them, with estimates it openly calls non-scientific (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding).

The book's advice is to start subtle and add less subtle aids in response to playtesting (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding). It also notes that almost everything is a wayfinding aid: "A wall makes a player to go around it; stairs promise another space above or below" (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding). No aid guarantees behaviour: in a room with two exits where enemies guard one, the player's health, resources and history decide what they do (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding).

#Signage

The book borrows four sign types from architecture: informational (about this place), directional (arrows at decisions), identification (you've arrived) and regulatory (what's not allowed) (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding). In games, in-world signs are "easily mistaken for irrelevant set dressing" (The Level Design Book: Wayfinding), so put them at decision points and make them readable at gameplay distance.

#Examples from games

#How much should you signpost?

#The environment artist's part

Most coarse wayfinding aids are art:

• Light. Brighter goals, darker dead ends. See light and shadow and real-time lighting.
• Colour. Districts and accent colours for interactive things; see colour for environments.
• Landmarks. Unique silhouettes visible from far away; see landmarks and silhouette.
• Ground composition. Planks, tracks, worn paths and decals that point forward; see decals.
• Set dressing. Props that clutter dead ends and leave the main route clear; see set dressing and art passes.
• Consistency. Once something means "go here", it must always mean that. See signifier and affordance.

#Further reading and watching