Extended Practice Size and Layout of World Research: Spyro

The next game series that I wanted to look at for inspiration about the size and layout of the world was Spyro, the original three games, as they proved to be inspiring and generally are a good size when it comes to the worlds and levels. 

Spyro the Dragon
The first game in the series that I wanted to look at was the original Spyro the Dragon game as it really did set an incredible benchmark for a lot of games to come after that. The whole level set up for Spyro works incredibly well, having different worlds that have levels coming off them. It makes the game feel bigger and there feels like there is more too the levels this way. The overall size to them varies on how many collectibles your getting on each level and also whether your familiar with the levels or not. The time taken may vary for different people but the main time is anywhere from 5-15 minutes per level depending on the nature of the level and how it plays.

Moving onto the layout of the level, they do not tend to be as linear as they seem, some have clear paths in which to take, especially on the boss levels, others are set in a certain place and then the layout of the level will then branch around that on different levels and heights throughout, making an interesting and unique experience for the player. The only downside to this at the moment is for my level this may be too big of an approach and I should definitely think about approaching my level with a smaller theme in mind.

Spyro the Dragon: Gateway to Glimmer/Ripto's Rage
I then moved onto looking at the second game in the Spyro franchise, which again uses pretty much the same premise for the game. This did have certain differences to the first game, and some additions which in my opinion didn't always work out well and some levels where tedious and not as fun, for me the underwater really didn't work. The size of the levels are generally the same as before, but may take slightly longer due to the addition of these mini game type ideas that feature throughout. This slows the player down though and in my opinion doesn't work to well.

Again the layout of the levels are exciting and dynamic much like in the first game and work in the same way that that did as well, not necessarily following a certain path but working all around and eventually opening up other places to go off the main area, something that works very well for the game series. The difference in this game is that Spyro can swim, something that really doesn't appeal to me, but it offers a new level of exploration and the layout of the level can then extended further below as well as still higher up due to the underwater sections and also has the ability to create a world for the players to get immersed in fully.

Spyro: Year of the Dragon
The last game in the series that I wanted to look at was Year of the Dragon, the third installment in the series as this one did end up changing the persona for the series in many ways and created a much different look with additions of new characters, activities and mini games that didn't all work and certainly didn't live up to the nature of the first game. The size of the levels continues to be pretty much the same, but due to additions of mini games and side activities to complete in the main game level, the playing time on each level can be anywhere from 5-30 minutes if you want to ensure you've collected everything; this size is just a little bit too big for our game, the player becomes detached from the game play and it becomes tedious.

Lastly the layout to this game again is relatively the same, having the world where you travel to the different levels that is generally the same size as it has always been, having a space where the player can run around, but also having the portals to the different worlds scattered throughout and not just in front of the player as soon as they come back, giving the player chance to explore the world more. The layout of the individual levels is again pretty much the same it has always been but it made slightly more complex by having portals in the levels as well which will take you to the mini game as they are not built into the main level like they are in the second game, something that I do not think works well.