Duke Nukem 3D - Game Tutorial Through Level Design

Some of the best games use level design to teach the player the mechanics of the game and how to ultimately play, instead of relying on the dreaded tutorial that forces the player to play through before actually getting to the game. One of the classic examples of this is World 1-1 in the original Super Mario Bros. The intro to this level has been analized to death, so I'm not going to beat that dead horse. Instead, I want to look at one of my favorite games of all time, Duke Nukem 3D, and how the mechanics of the game is taught to the player through the level design of Hollywood Holocaust.

Before we dive in, we need to remember that Duke Nukem 3D was released almost 19 years ago (damn, we're all getting old :( ). The first person shooter genre was just being born out of prior games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. Duke Nukem 3D, at the time, was a large leap forward in the genre, offering true 3D play as players could traverse the Y-axis through jumping and jetpacking and incredibly expansive, detailed levels and interactivity. Duke3d needed to let the player know this isn't Doom they were playing!

We're going to walk through just the first area of Hollywood Holocaust, and how the level design is used to teach the player about the new mechanics available to him, both as a player who's played Doom, and a player new to the FPS genre entirely.

The game starts with Duke jumping out of his ride (damn those alien bastards!). Immediately, Duke is airborne. He doesn't start grounded, letting gravity pull him down the Y-axis. This immediately tells the player that there's a whole new axis of gameplay available to you. You will not be zipping around just the X and Z axes. This is further emphasized by the fact that you land on a caged in roof top. There's only one place to go but down!

The player is left to roam the enclosed rooftop. The rooftop is seemingly bare at first, but rewards the player for exploring beyond the obvious path with some additional ammo hidden behind the large crate. Exploration and hidden areas is a large part of Duke3d's gameplay, and this is a subtle, yet effective way of communicating that to the player.

Next, the player will come across a large vent fan, taped off, with some explosive barrels conveniently placed next to it. The game literally cannot continue until the player figures out the core mechanic of the game, shooting. Not only is the mechanic of shooting being taught, but also the mechanic of aiming at your target. This is all done at a leisurely, comfortable pace for the player. Imagine if that there was an enemy guarding the air vent? For a player new to the genre (and back in 1996, it was very common to have someone play this game who's never played a FPS before, not even Doom), it would have been very overwhelming and probably a guaranteed player death.

Once the player figures out aiming and shooting, they also are taught another core mechanic of the game, puzzle solving. Solving little environmental based puzzles will be common going forward, so the player needs to be taught to be aware of their surroundings and understand it is interactive and interactivity will be key to success.

It's fascinating to me that the core of the game is taught to the player in such little time, with such seemingly simple level design.