Hubs, Maps, and Menus

[tentus]

Thought I'd get some community discussion about this.

In many games, levels are extremely sequential. Level 1, Level 2, etc. Games with this structure often present you with a list view of the levels, listing them out in order so that you can pick up where you left off.

Other games replace the list with a simple map. Take Castle Crashers as an example: the levels are still pretty linear, but to go from one to another you use a world map that lets you move your avatar from one predefined point to another.

Still other games replace this map with a more complex model: the map becomes a stage itself. Super Mario Galaxy is a good example, in that you select stages via a small meta-stage, in which the avatar behaves pretty much the same as it usually does.

All of these methods accomplish the same goal: let the player navigate a series of insular levels, which may have dramatically different context/rules so connecting them with a full-out overworld is impractical. A list menu, stage map, or level hub all have different strengths and weaknesses though, so this discussion could be beneficial to incoming game designers.

What are your thoughts?

[kikito]

An excellent theme.

My thoughts: it depends a lot on the nature of the game, but in general hubs are not needed; the game will play just fine with a menu.

Unless the game mechanics require it (for example, if you are creating a GTA or a MMORPG) then I'd say that hub worlds are just a "nice to have" feature.

On the other hand, if you already have some kind of "portals" implemented in your game, and you still have no menus, it might be actually easier to implement a hub than a menu. But this is unlikely; you will need menus for other things, like key mapping etc.

[tentus]

I rather like overworld maps because they give you a sense of scale and relation, and often give you a different perspective on the characters. (Often a chibi-fied version, but I'll take what I can get). The obvious problem is that it's a whole new layer of complexity: a seemingly simple map means that the developer has to make a whole set of media resources and special-case code, so for a developer that's struggling to get the game done at all, it's probably not a good direction to go in.

I also rather like hub worlds because they keep you in the game, so to speak. A silent or HUD-less game could very well depend on a hub to transition naturally from one area to another without confusing the player. Also, look at the world hubs in Psychonauts: besides the direct hub in the Collective Unconscious, the entire "real-world" camp served as a kind of hub stage, complete with enemies roaming around and collectibles to find. I loved rolling around the camp, and never thought of it as an elaborate menu. Again though, a hub world is a lot more work than a menu list, and it's easy to spend too much time working on your hub when you should be working on the actual gameplay.

Not to hate on menus. Menus are extremely direct. They tell you what you want to know with no fuss. Unfortunately, that means that a lot of developers think that menus are intrinsically boring and they're off the hook to make them interesting. Not so: look at the keypads in Beyond Good & Evil. The spiral-shaped menu was cool and interesting, despite being very direct. The fact that I remember a menu design says something about what a clever developer can do if they want to.

[Jasoco]

Really depends on the game.

I like world maps like in SMB3, SMW, NSMB and NSMBW, etc. because they let the game have a way to travel around the world, while allowing a lot of detail for little cost.

But a hub world works in games like SM64 where there's a whole buttload to do in the big castle. But sometimes, if done improperly, it can be tedious, like Mario Galaxy 1 was. Which is why they simplified it in Galaxy 2. It had a hub for having fun, but then a map screen when it came time to actually select a level to play. This method was highly praised after Galaxy 1's huge flying castle that took a bit of time to navigate if you wanted to get from the start point to the final observatory at the top.

Menu's are boring. Screw them. Give me at least a simple map screen with an avatar of your character moving between points. I need presentation. Not text.