Stop Getting Lost: Make Cognitive Maps, Not Levels

In this 2021 GDC talk, thatgamecompany’s Nicolas Oueijan leverages cognitive science, anthropological, and urbanism research to explore what it means to get lost in a game map and how spaces can be designed to prevent this from happening.

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[DctrBread]

I find it funny that you mentioned designing with no navigational HUD. I remember hearing a study many years ago which concluded that playing a game with a dynamic minimap caused long-term atrophy of the player's ability to navigate and memorize 2d graphs in general

[Krash]

A certain degree of "where the hell am I...?" or "how do I move forward?" can encourage exploration and ultimately enhance the experience... as long as the player doesn't stay lost for too long... because then they've become stuck. which sucks. Think of it as creating environmental tension and release.

[AlligatorTower]

This is chock full of things it felt like I "knew." But you've given me much better words and mental-scaffolding to be able to articulate them. You're a great educator Nicolas, I'll be looking for more of your talks.

[metasamsara]

What made Morrowind such a great game with no minimap is that whenever you get lost is when you discover new interesting stuff! And they make finding your destination that much rewarding! I miss it so much!

[lukkkasz]

I recommend paying more attention to this point 15:00, because it can easily go unnoticed how useful it is. This can be used for a lot of things, like for example caches of ammo in classic FPS design. Grouping loot to specific spots makes it much more meaningful than just throwing several pieces of it around the level. I remember Doom 3 doing a great job at this.

[jesustyronechrist]

Basically: Contrast.

Just like in any art: Contrast is the main force driving interest, attention and focus. If you want people to remember/focus on something, create contrast in any way. Be it shapes, color, movement, value,

[morgierwin]

I take this away from his talk: Design a level not by focusing on its manifestation in pixels, but by focusing on the cognitive image or map that is going to be formed in players' minds. From this perspective you can first design functionally, and then expand.

[ChBrahm]

One of the things I respect most in games is knowing just by glancing which are the secondary paths and which is the main one while exploring.
If a game can tell me just by the layout of the level where TO go and where I CAN go thats a good level design

[jonludwig]

Incredible talk. Short, to the point, and incredibly informative. Really enjoyed this and it will shape how I design spaces moving forward.

[Quarine]

The cognitive mapping of Elden Ring comes to mind when you mentioned both landmarks and districts. The Erdtree for example can be seen from everywhere in the world and acts as an anchor in the story and in the way the player navigates the world.

[OwlMoovement]

When I read Image of the City 12 years ago I spent a lot of time thinking about how it applied to world design in games. It makes a lot of sense in games like Shadow of the Colossus. Another great read on the topic is in Edmund Bacon's (if you're wondering, one degree. He was Kevin's uncle) Design of Cities. The way pilgrimages instrumentally structured the cities he covered are a great reference for those who want to design game worlds that teach the player navigation without a map. Thank you for making this video.

[GameDesignThinking]

I saw the thumbnail and clicked immediately. I'm not disappointed, quite the contrary, this was an amazing talk full of useful information. There's nothing more satisfying than see a complex concept being break down into smaller, self-contained and applicable chunks. Thank you Nicolas!

[mitchellty]

This is the first talk I’ve watched in a long time. This is really good stuff

[darbyburbidge]

Just wanted to say while watching this talk, all I could think about is how most From Software games hit these notes so well. Really illustrates why great level design has been a hallmark of their games.

[lumeronswift]

Fascinating comments about GPS - the difference between one of my friends and myself is that she always, always uses a GPS, whereas I instead check a map at the start and look for main roads and landmarks before leaving to go somewhere... and she usually doesn't remember how to get somewhere she has been to unless she has taken the road dozens of times, but I can (usually) remember a route I took once a couple of months ago.
However... sometimes I get lost if I don't plan well enough... and ironically my ego can get in the way of pulling up a GPS... so sometimes not using a GPS can also be egocentric, haha.

[lucasissey]

As an architect and a former professor, I can easily say that this video is better than most of my college classes. Great approach on Kevin lynch to creating environments.

[BadNessie]

This is gold info and 100% applicable to sound design as well!

[stinky]

i’m an architecture student who likes to learn about game design, as soon as he started talking i thought “oh is this gonna be about wayfinding” and then he said it! i guessed it right lmao!! very interesting video, it was really cool to see how wayfinding can be applied to a different medium. it makes sense because games are kind of like a built environment too, so i can see how improving navigation in a game would be similar to how you’d do it in a physical space.

[TheFirstTriplefife]

Goes to show, design should be built around the players knowing there is a prize out there. The game itself is what drew them towards it, but they have to find it. Its the show, don't tell simplicity of storytelling that a lot of AAA companies and designers forgot about.

[gamongames]

a real pity these video-conference talks dont allow for questions.

this one is so rich and to the point that Im sure it could benefit from a generous QA section at the end