If I was a level designer in the 1980s I would develop a game on a home console with how home gaming has become more popular with the release of the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) the game that I would develop would be an action-adventure genre game were you play a hero travelling to distant lands to destroy the evils of castle oblivion and retrieve the consuming dragon stone. The game itself will be a 2D side scroller dungeon explorer were you need to explore Castle Oblivion to retrieve items that will give you the ability to unlock and explore new areas of the castle so you can power to defeat the evil of the castle.

           

         

Game levels and environments have changed over the years from the 1980s to 1990s and after 2004 with the introduction of the Xbox360 and PlayStation 3. I compared three games that were released during these times PAC-man (1980s), Final Fantasy VII (1990s) and dead rising (2006). While PAC-man’s levels get harder with every completed stage Final Fantasy 7 is different in that you level up you character so that you can continue the story while Dead Rising you complete curtain objectives to continue the story in the game getting harder as time goes by. The environments differ in the fact that in PAC-man being that it is a 2D game they get more integrate with each new level, while Final Fantasy 7 environments get explored as the story goes along and they have tougher enemies to challenge. Dead Rising has more parts of the environment unlock as you unlock new skills and save more people that are trapped in the mall that the game is set in.   

A game’s genre affects how levels and environments are designed by how someone will play them. A first-person shooter like the Call of duty franchise has a very linear type of level, it’s all about getting from the start to finish while killing enemies along the way and completing objectives of the level if there is any. RPG’s levels can vary from completing objectives to levelling up like in Final Fantasy 13 in the level you need to level up by beating the monsters in the area and completing certain objectives that have you pitted against stronger monsters then yourself so you can level up faster most of the environment in this level is a flat plain so that you can find the monsters easier. Lastly real-time strategy has an abundant of different environments depending of the setting of the game but a level in Total War: Shogun 2 where you need to attack a castle during winter season with the snow drop environment your armies move at a slower pace meaning that the enemy armies occupying the castle have more time to bring up their defences this also leaves you valuable to attack as well. The risk-reward of the level is do you wait to set up your forces or do you attack in waves to weaken the enemy to make it easier to take the castle. As you can see a genre affect’s not only how the game plays but also how you react to the environment and the level itself.