In each of the projects I've been involved in, I've always pushed and shaped the design. I always try to instill in my designs simplicity, meaning and ease of understanding. Ralph Koster describes games as learning of a pattern and that humans are all about learning and understanding these patterns but they don't just apply to gameplay mechanics they apply to all aspects of a game and the device it's used on. These patterns within patterns are so easily recognised when they conflict such as playing an Real time Strategy PC game on a console device or designing a UI for a console game and then porting it to PC and not changing the interface. This very logic applies to how people understand walking around town to how they interpret walking within a city level design it's intuition over reason.
Current Project:
I am currently working on my honours project that looks at how transmedia effects the role of level design for games? How does adapting a narrative for a movie into a game's level design affect the designers decisions. Does one aim to explain or expand a narrative and how does changing media affect this. You can find more about my progress on my blog.
