One of the hardest challenges on The Last of Us Part II was creating a context for specific events without the player noticing. For example, a buddy character opening a door and stumbling into an ambush that doesn’t feel contrived (e.g. what if I’d arrived at the door first?)

Generally we always want buddy characters ahead of you, simply for the fact that their animated performances can elevate an experience and build their character. But we can only vaguely guess where the player will be in the future, lest we resort to VERY linear level design.

While TLOU2 IS a linear game, we wanted to open up level design more and remove the sense of the designers hand. The levels I worked on for example (Seattle Downtown, The Shortcut, Scar Island) are all typically wide with usually multiple paths (Downtown especially).

The feeling of being held up by an npc who you’re waiting on (to open a door for example) is frustrating. We might need that character to go first for a specific reason, but we can’t let it come at the expense of flow. So how do we keep this moment while making it frictionless?

In level design, we can set up events to prepare for this. A TON of our scripting involves buddy characters positioning in levels. For TLOU2 we established Levs increased agility to give him ways to “beat” the player to certain rooms. This way we preserve flow AND build character

In the flooded part of The Shortcut having Lev ahead of you also serviced the narrative that he is eager to move forward to get to the hospital quicker. We built several routes for Lev to get places sooner and also accounted for him being able to backtrack with the player.

In other levels, a coop interaction you had 2 minutes prior might have actually been the long setup to that NPC getting into place for another event further ahead. This way we keep them on screen and keep the momentum up.

Often the answer to a problem like “I hate waiting on the buddy to come unlock the gate” requires more discussion about the events that bookend the problem than the problem itself. Level design (at least for TLOU) is a lot like storytelling in this way.

“How should we change this event?” becomes “How do we lead up to this event so that it has the impact we desire?”. By looking further into your level and changing things that might not seem immediately connected to your current issue, you can preserve more of what you like.

When I was designing multiplayer FPS maps, sometimes the solution to the problematic cover players were camping behind wasn’t to delete the cover, but to offer better LOS to people flanking it. Beyond the “core” issue we often find better, more holistic solutions in level design.

Since this took off a wee bit lets give a shout out to @JeffOverTime @forbiddenjacky @GummiHunter @SheepGoMOO @thedmatts @vinixkun Joe G and the elusive Mark Burroughs who were the scripters on the levels we worked on!