FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME DESIGN, SECOND EDITION
Ring Layouts
In a ring layout, the path returns to its starting point, although you may include shortcuts that cut off a portion of the journey (see Figure 12.3). Designers mainly use ring layouts for racing games, in which players pass through the same space a number of times, facing challenges from the environment and each other along the way. Shortcuts require less time but should be proportionately more difficult than the regular route; balancing this will be a big part of the level designer's job.
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Rings do not necessarily look like circles. Oval tracks or twisting road-racing tracks qualify as rings.
Spaces in a network layout connect to other spaces in a variety of ways. Figure 12.4 shows a simple example. A large network poses a considerable exploration
challenge; just learning the way around made up a significant part of the gameplay in old text adventure games. Modern graphical games that implement threedimensional spaces usually present architecturally appropriate and logical networks (going downstairs from the ground floor of a building leads to the basement, for instance) but still offer plenty of opportunities to create enjoyable exploration challenges. See the section "Exploration Challenges" in Chapter 9 for further discussion.
A network layout gives the player considerable freedom about what path to take, so you will find it difficult to tell a story that requires a particular sequence of
events in a network layout. This doesn't mean that you can't tell stories, only that your stories have to tolerate the player experiencing events in any sequence. To enforce some sequence, use a combination layout, described in the later section "Combinations of Layouts."
In a network with a small number of major spaces, every space may be connected to every other space for maximum freedom of movement. This arrangement poses little exploration challenge to the player but makes an ideal fighting ground for deathmatch contests in games such as Quake because there are no choke points. Enemies may enter and exit in several directions, which prevents a player from guarding one particular location indefinitely.
