Anyone want to take a stab at making sense of this quote?

[Hellbent]

"Between gameplay and presentation emerges affordances and intentionality. Between presentation and story emerges world building. Between story and gameplay emerges interactive narrative." -- Steve Lee, An approach to Holistic Level Design.

 

I don't really have a clue what this means. I got this quote from DBX. 

[Phobus]

He's basically proposing that there are three core parts of level design:

Gameplay

Presentation

Story

 

You use presentation to influence gameplay, showing the player your intentions by highlighting specific items, routes or areas. Likewise, you're showing the player what they can get (or are being afforded).

 

You present the story through level design via world building. Has this facility been recently abandoned? Show things left unfinished, like half-eaten meals, or untidy areas. Has it been attacked? Bodies, battle damage and a few stragglers. That sort of thing.

 

As for the interactive narrative... That's the player simply playing through the story. That may be the rather unimaginative situation where you have to go to NPCs and click on them to talk with them, or something a bit more interesting, like having the player explore off the main path reveal things like what the enemies do when they're not being killed by you, or, better yet, branch the storyline.

 

Seems straightforward to me!

[Hellbent]

Thanks! You are smarters than me. 

[anotak]

 

here's context