Welcome to paradise! Seven vibrant worlds wait just for you, traveler. They’re all infected with evil goo or something,
I think that’s why Pam called you over, someone will fill you in. Now we WILL get to the majesty, but I DO have
to teach you how to move your own head first. Hey, you did it! Good job. A game’s first level is incredibly important. It’s a game’s one and only chance to make
a first impression, but it’s not as simple as just putting together something easy and
basic. A first level in a video game has responsibilities
it can’t get away from. First levels are inherently located at a place
where players are the least invested in the world, and most likely to fall off of a game
entirely. A great first level can be the difference
between a beloved easy-to-play classic, and a game that can’t quite get off the ground. They’re high stakes gambits where failure
means you may not get a second chance, no matter how good the rest of the game is. Let’s talk about first levels, their responsibilities,
opportunities, and how you can draw in players for the long haul. Today’s episode is sponsored by NordVPN! Here’s a variety of classic gaming scenes
if they had been crudely and inappropriately sponsored by Nord. You know what a VPN is by now, it keeps you
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channel and get an exclusive deal with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Click the link! Sephiroth endorses it probably. Nordvpn.com/designdoc stay safe. First levels are unique. Only one of them can be 'first', after all. A well-designed first level has to find a
way to put the game's best foot forward as quickly as possible and get the player both
prepared and interested to keep playing. It has responsibilities it can't get away
from and opportunities that no other part of the game will get. Failing, in either case, can cause a player
to put the game down, never to pick it up again. Unless a game has a super hardcore userbase
that knows exactly what they’re getting into, slipping out of the gate might make
it not matter how good the rest of the game is. A great first level is some combination of
a crash course and a sales pitch, and how much of each can depend on what exactly it
is you're trying to make. The most basic responsibility of a first level
is to simply teach players how to play. That means controls, but it also means teaching
about a game's structure, defining its nouns and verbs, that sort of thing. For some games, that can be a little trickier
than you'd think. Super Mario 64 has a couple of first levels. Of course, you have Peach’s Castle, which
we’ve talked about a little before. It’s an essential opener, especially given
the context the game was released into. Super Mario 64 was the first playable 3D environment
for many of its players. The castle hub is built as a worry-free sandbox
to test out controls. It’s tough to get into too much trouble
and impossible to lose any kind of ‘progress’ as you move around. Teaching and getting people accustomed to
the controls and just the paradigm of 3D movement in a video game was an important first step. However, Peach’s Castle isn’t really the
‘first level.’ It’s more of a toy than a game. The first proper ‘level’ is locked away
inside the first of the castle’s paintings: Bob-Omb Battlefield. Where Peach’s Castle is the pre-treatment
tutorial for an audience unused to the basic concept of 3D movement, Bob-Omb Battlefield
is the intro to the ‘game’ part of Super Mario 64. It’s the first place that introduces you
to the game’s core concept of Star Objectives and the first place that enemies appear while
keeping a pretty low danger level. It’s still incredibly chill, even though
you can get in trouble if you aren’t paying attention. This is one of the rare levels in the game
where you can’t just fall off of the map, nor can you even lose a life due to a huge
environmental hazard like lava, shifting sands, or freezing waters. The level’s star objectives cover a wide
range of the types of activities you’ll be doing throughout the rest of the game. There’s fighting on top of a mountain, using
level set pieces like the chain chomp to get access to a star, racing characters somewhere,
getting the red coins, and you’ll even come back here a little later when you’ve unlocked
the early-game hat mechanics to fire out of a cannon and fly through rings. Super Mario 64’s first level is a variety
pack of what will come while still keeping frustration at as low of a level as possible. Great first levels are about a lot more than
just introductions, though. First levels need to establish the baseline
experience early. You have to set up a game’s default expectations
before you can think about the cool twists you want to make off of those expectations. First levels are a chance to expose players
to the basic mechanics, structure, setting, and even the base difficulty of how you intend
the game to be, and save the super crazy stage gimmicks for later. Take SUPERHOT. The first few screens are both a teaching
tool and a way to introduce you to the most basic version of the game, which it does in
like 3 sentences. That’s it. 3 sentences, a couple enemies, and the space
to tinker and get used to the time mechanics that form the very core of the game. In seconds, you get everything you need. That concept applies across different genres,
too. Most kart racers start with a dead simple
race track with little extra flair. Look at the first tracks in Mario Kart. Mario Circuit, Luigi Raceway, Peach Circuit,
Luigi… Circuit. Figure-8 Circuit, Luigi Circuit… Again. The names aren’t even trying to get spicy. Most are generic stadiums with flat, gentle
tracks with simple turns, maybe some basic item boxes and maybe a shortcut here and there. Ooh, a ramp. The gimmicks shown off this early are only
the ones that will apply over the entire rest of the game, like paragliding in Mario Kart
7 and 8. The goal isn’t to astound you, it’s to
ease you into the game before it gets too crazy. Though don’t stay in basic mode too long. Mario Kart DS had 3 of these tracks in a single
cup - that’s just terminally boring. It’s important to teach in general, but
some games need to focus on specific things early. Games with unusual core mechanics have a little
more work to do to get players ready to play, and first levels are a great place to start
emphasizing them. Sonic Heroes is a kid-friendly platformer
built around an unconventional team formation mechanic. You control a trio of characters with different
specialties - Speed, Power, and Flight. You can swap the lead character, which creates
new formations that play distinctly from each other with unique abilities, pros, and cons. The moveset is more diverse than most other
platformers, and you'll need to grasp this formation system to get through levels as
quickly as possible. The game's first zone, which holds Seaside
Hill and Ocean Palace, helps the player get used to the team mechanic. The opening stages have a bunch of these special
formation gates that automatically swap to the best character to deal with what comes
next. Got a long stretch of terrain ahead? Blaze a trail with the speed formation. If you have a lot of rocks or enemies coming
up, punch through with the power formation. Steep platforms? Fly up with the flight formation. You'll see these enemy and obstacle patterns
repeatedly, and after a while, the game will stop leaving out these formation gates. They might instead just leave out a little
sign or have some dialogue that suggests the recommended form. This is the game slowly taking the training
wheels off and letting the player decide. Players can pattern match their way to switch
to the right formation for the job. As players get used to the patterns, they’ll
use them more quickly, which the game often rewards with power-ups, rings, extra lives,
shortcuts, and more points to reinforce the lessons and get the player prepared to use
the game's central systems. By the end, the game has repeatedly reinforced
how to use what could be an overwhelming system, especially for new, younger players. The 'firstness' of an intro level can also
run into unique challenges in some cases. Games that try having high replay value need
to take extra care with their opening stages so they aren’t annoying on repeat playthroughs. Take… ugh… Shadow the Hedgehog. Yes, this is going to be a serious point about
Shadow the Hedgehog. I'm sorry. Shadow the Hedgehog is built around - and
I'm not kidding - WANTING to play through the game repeatedly. The game's branching path structure expects
you to go through the game multiple times and make different choices to see a fairly
wide range of content. That structure makes the first level in Shadow
the Hedgehog especially important since ideally you'll be visiting it over and over again
and making impactful choices that will determine the rest of the game. That type of game should lean its first level
towards letting players get a handle on the basics and be flexible enough to get out of
the way of people passing through on their 4th, 9th, 20th run. For them, maybe make the first level act as
a nice warmup for what's coming up. Sigh. Sonic Team didn't really do that. Shadow the Hedgehog is split between Hero,
Neutral, and DARK missions. Wanna go neutral? Just get to the end of the stage. It's… serviceable. Good enough. It's a level. Wanna do either of the other paths? Do the evil or good objectives. That doesn’t sound so bad. What's the object…oh no. In this stage, eliminate ALL the enemies of
the opposite faction. It's a long grind over a lot of flat terrain
and monotonous environments, and teleporting back to the start and scouring them all again
if you missed one. Getting the neutral mission is a breeze. Getting either of the other two options is
a drawn-out hunt that destroys the game's pace right from the start. If you want to see every ending and level,
you'll be going through this slog TEN times. MINIMUM. Star Fox 64 is what you get if you did that
branching path structure, but done more gooder. Corneria is a fantastic first level on replay. The opening cutscenes are skippable. The tutorials are non-intrusive, don't stop
gameplay, and some of them don't even play unless you're currently struggling to do the
thing they would've asked you to do. For example, if you save Falco from these
three ships early, no one's gonna tell you how to boost to go save him. The environments of Corneria are pretty well-varied,
from the ocean, to the city under attack, to the outskirts. The branching path determiner is even partially
dependent on getting used to the controls to do some pretty smooth flying. Getting to the alternate boss is not overly
complicated, and it doesn't force long rote sequences onto players. Corneria is a classic opener, accessible to
new players while being a solid warmup for veterans on another run. And it’s not just for games with branching
storylines, either. Streamlining a repeating first level will
pay big dividends in New Game Plus-focused games, too. So first levels are responsible for setting
players up for success. But first levels aren’t just about what’s
necessary. There are unique opportunities to draw a new
player in to your world. The best first levels get a player to CARE
enough to keep playing the game. Knowing HOW to play is important, but WANTING
to keep playing is just as important. A lot of successful first levels are vertical
slices of an entire game: a place to show off the high points of what’s to come with
the promise of more where that came from. This is where the first level becomes more
of a sales pitch. Bayonetta doesn’t mess around. It throws you in to a combat arena with bombastic
setpieces popping off around you. The enemies aren’t tough at all to dispatch
so you can get a feel for the game’s controls and combos, and you get to do that while you
watch this clock tower explode. The first level’s goal is to be a pure vision
of what the high point of the game is trying to be, and bring it to you as quickly as possible
so you want to keep playing. It was so nice, why not do it again? Bayonetta 2 does basically the same thing,
but with fighting on a jet blazing through the city. Same idea, same goal, different setpiece,
but the same result. It’s not rocket science - just front-load
an easy-to-digest piece of content that’s emblematic of what you want the game to be,
and that’s a pretty solid opener. But a game doesn’t have to be as in-your-face
as Bayonetta to do the same thing. Bastion’s most interesting quirk is its
narrator and how he gives running dialogue as the game goes along, weaving together the
story’s narrative with the actions of the player as it’s happening. The first level in Bastion is a vertical slice
of the core experience, and heavily features the narrator right from the start. As the world builds around you, the narrator
blends in the lore of the land and a handy tutorial as you pick up weapons and meet…
uh… people. Both Bastion and Bayonetta put their best
foot forward as early as possible, not by being the most complicated versions of themselves,
but by showing the easiest to digest and most flattering aspects of themselves out of the
gate. Games that start off with a showstopper can
run into a problem, though. Lots of games use the progression of character
strength to motivate and reward a player to keep playing. If a game starts off at the top of the power
curve to lure people in, where do you go from there? If the answer is ‘nowhere’, you might
get a game that feels too easy, or just feels stagnant. So how can you start a game off so capable
but still have somewhere for the power balance to go afterwards? Devil May Cry 5 starts out with a set of basic
battles to let players get a handle on the controls. The small encounters give players a little
confidence boost as they become more capable in the game’s flashy combat system. At the end of the first level, the game throws
you into basically a super boss fight against the game’s big bad. The fight is technically winnable, but it’s
absurdly difficult. By just changing up who you’re fighting,
Nero is made to feel powerless in contrast to how capable he felt minutes before. You aren’t supposed to win against Urizen
- the game is trying to underscore just how far you have to go. After you lose, the game moves on normally,
with an extra bit of motivation ingrained in the players. Better yet, if you’re coming back here in
a New Game Plus, you CAN actually beat him if you’re good enough and get a secret ending. It’s really funny, actually. Devil May Cry 5’s first level sets you up
for a beat down and helps get you in the mindset for the mountain ahead. Though, you COULD just start at the top of
the mountain and then kick people back down. Yakuza Kiwami is a brawler RPG that starts
you out as Kazuma with a maxed out health bar and a collection of special moves and
combos that let you blast through everyone in your way. For, oh, about an hour. At the end of the game’s opening chapter,
Kazuma is sent to prison and there’s a ten-year time skip. Your health bar is now a fraction of what
it was and you’re put into a seemingly unwinnable battle just to underscore how much you’ve
lost over time. You’ve gotten soft, Kazuma. The early game gives you a test drive of what
lies at the end of the grind, if you choose to walk the path. The chance of disheartening players from loss
aversion, the idea that losing something feels more bad than gaining something feels good,
makes this a risky option, but especially if you can tie the events into the game’s
internal logic like Yakuza Kiwami does, it can be a very compelling technique. If you need a technique to help jump the first
level right into an intriguing part of the story, try using In Medias Res, where you
start the story in the middle of things. You can pick and choose your moment to grab
the player’s attention without having to over-explain who everyone is and what they’re
doing. It’s powerful in part because the lack of
information itself can be intriguing, in addition to whatever fun scene you’re deciding to
show off early. It’s also flexible in how you can start
filling in the details. You can just keep rolling forward and explain
along the way, or you can jump back to an earlier point in time and start a more traditional
intro, where the question of ‘how did we get from here to THERE’ stays present in
the player’s mind. Chrono Cross starts with a really good In
Medias Res level for a story-heavy game: the last half of a climactic dungeon that will
show up again hours from now. You, Kid, and a randomized third party member
arrive at the top of an elevator with some intense tunes going. There are a handful of enemies that you can
bowl over quickly with a battle system more fully-developed than what you’ll see when
the game starts for real. Do some very light puzzle solving, and before
too long, you get one of the more climactic cutscenes of the game. Kid has been stabbed, maybe by you, you give
a cryptic smile, then the game jumps back to the start as if it were a dream. Was it real? I wonder… You even meet Kid for the first time not too
long after. The randomized third party member and the
extensive cast also make the opening sequence especially intriguing if you’re playing
it over again. Who’s this guy? Who’s she? Who’s the wrestling man? Chrono Cross could have started with a basic
intro with chill beach vibes killing frogs or whatever, but instead in the first 15 minutes
you get an intense chunk of action that is accessible for newbies but also gives strong
motivation for new players to keep playing. Head down to the comments and let's talk first
levels: The best tutorials, the best tone-setters, the smoothest warm-ups, the biggest spectacles,
and the quickest power trips. Also, the bad examples of those. First levels have to teach and entice, but
also balance what can be contradictory options. Study them carefully because there's no second
chance to make that first impression. *chill vibes outro from Sonic Adventure*
