History Main / InstructiveLevelDesign

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' is famous for its intro level intuitively teaching players the controls and many elements of basic game strategy. The different enemy types will teach the player how to jump over enemies and their projectiles, demonstrates the different behaviors of, demonstrates how to ride on certain enemies and vehicles, including that some enemies come in parts that can be destroyed separately, and the stage ends by showing off Vile in Ride Armor and Zero using a Charge Shot. The level itself also features enemies that can destroy the ground and parts of the ground that fall apart, demonstrating the dynamic layout of stages and stage elements, and giving the player a save chance to learn how to do X's WallJump when they fall into a pit. In terms of story the stage also quickly sets up Vile as an enemy for X to defeat beyond the normal robots you've seen through the stage, and demonstrates how much more powerful Zero is than X by having him chase Vile off after X is helpless against him, giving X a character arc to go through.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' is famous for its intro level intuitively teaching players the controls and many elements of basic game strategy. The different enemy types will teach the player how to jump over enemies and their projectiles, demonstrates the different behaviors of different enemies (including that some enemies come in parts that can be destroyed separately), demonstrates how to ride on certain enemies and vehicles, including that some enemies come in parts that can be destroyed separately, and the stage ends by showing off Vile in Ride Armor and Zero using a Charge Shot. The level itself also features enemies that can destroy the ground and parts of the ground that fall apart, demonstrating the dynamic layout of stages and stage elements, and giving the player a save chance to learn how to do X's WallJump when they fall into a pit. In terms of story the stage also quickly sets up Vile as an enemy for X to defeat beyond the normal robots you've seen through the stage, and demonstrates how much more powerful Zero is than X by having him chase Vile off after X is helpless against him, giving X a character arc to go through.

->VideoGame/MegaManX ''on the other hand, has so much to offer, and it teaches you all of it in the first level, no, in the first fuckin' '''seconds''' of the game. It's '''nuts!'''''
-->-- '''Creator/EgoRaptor'''

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' is famous for its intro level intuitively teaching players the controls and many elements of basic game strategy. The different enemy types will teach the player how to jump over enemies and their projectiles, how to do X's WallJump, demonstrates the different behaviors of different enemies, demonstrates how to ride on certain enemies and vehicles, including that some enemies come in parts that can be destroyed separately, and the stage ends by showing off Vile in Ride Armor and Zero using a Charge Shot. In terms of story the stage also quickly sets up Vile as an enemy for X to defeat beyond the normal robots you've seen through the stage, and demonstrates how much more powerful Zero is than X by having him chase Vile off after X is helpless against him.

Often, instructive level design is about teaching the player controls, basic rules, or patterns in a game. E.g.: The first scene of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' can teach you "Mario can grow big by getting a mushroom, Mario will be hurt by goombas, Mario can get things out of question blocks by hitting them from below, etc." Obviously you'll find that kind of instructive level design at the beginning of a game.

-->-- '''Creator/Egoraptor'''

-->-- '''Creator/EgoRaptor'''

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' is famous for its intro level intuitively teaching players the controls and many elements of basic game strategy. The different enemy types will teach the player how to jump over enemies and their projectiles, how to do X's WallJump, demonstrates the different behaviors of different enemies, demonstrates how to ride on certain enemies and vehicles, and ends by showing off Vile in Ride Armor and Zero using a Charge Shot. In terms of story the stage also quickly sets up Vile as an enemy for X to defeat beyond the normal robots you've seen through the stage, and demonstrates how much more powerful Zero is than X by having him chase Vile off after X is helpless against him.

->''VideoGame/MegaManX'' on the other hand, has so much to offer, and it teaches you all of it in the first level, no, in the first fuckin' '''seconds''' of the game. It's '''nuts!'''

This is a supertrope for any way that designers communicate things to players using level design. This is ShowDontTell style stuff, techniques you can use to inform players without them having to bore them with text.

* ''ShovelKnight'' teaches you all of its crucial mechanics through the first level's design. Piles of dirt are placed on the ground, encouraging you to figure out how to use the shovel right before you encounter your first enemy. Raised platforms require you to jump, and a breakable block that must be struck from above to proceed teaches you that you can strike down with the shovel. Right after this the downward strike must be used to bounce off a bubble to get to a higher platform and a gem located to the side of an area where the downward strike must be used teaches you that this move can be cancelled with the regular shovel hit. To beat the level you also have to pass through two breakable walls, one of which is marked and one of which isn't, teaching you about hidden rooms.

[[caption-width-right:350:The very beginning of ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1 Super Mario Bros.]]'' The most basic elements of the game are all displayed]]

[[/index]]

->''VideoGame/MegaManX'' on the other hand, has so much to offer, and it teaches you all of it in the first level, no, in the first fuckin' '''seconds''' of the game. it's '''nuts!'''

** Many of the series entries begin with you having a choice about whether to go left or right. Most games are about going right, so there's a good chance that players expecting Metroid games to be normal games will go right. However, going right in [[VideoGame/Metroid1 the original game]] takes you to a dead end, communicating two things to the player: firstly, that this game is not a normal game, and secondly that this is a game about exploring, where you have multiple options about where to go.

* ''VideoGame/Metroid'' uses a few different teaching techniques.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' uses a few different teaching techniques.
** Many of the series entries begin with you having a choice about whether to go left or right. Most games are about going right, so there's a good chance that players expecting Metroid games to be normal games will go right. However, going right takes you to a dead end, communicating two things to the player: firstly, that this game is not a normal game, and secondly that this is a game about exploring, where you have multiple options about where to go.
** In the second room, there's a small step you have to jump up on, in contrast to the many stairs in the rest of the area. This forces you to jump at least once and get a basic understanding of how the jump mechanics work, before you're pressed by time in the escape out of the area. You also meet Ridley there in a mock BossBattle to test out your shooting skills.

Often, instructive level design is about teaching the player controls, basic rules, or patterns in a game. E.g.: The first scene of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'' can teach you "Mario can grow big by getting a mushroom, Mario will be hurt by goombas, Mario can get things out of question blocks by hitting them with his head, etc." Obviously you'll find that kind of instructive level design at the beginning of a game.

* NoSidepathsNoExplorationNoFreedom: Constraining the player means that you can make sure that he gets introduced to the exact ideas you want to introduce to him.

!!RelatedTropes:

* VideogameDifficultyTropes: There might be dynamic difficulty adjustment used in this kind of level design, or just generally less aggressive enemies or something like that.

* TheLawOfConservationOfDetail: there are things you'll do in a level that don't seem like such a big deal, certainly they're not very challenging. But they might be teaching you certain controls in a subtle way.
* EquipmentBasedProgression: devs may place initial limitations on the player's abilities and lay out the game such that you only need *this* thing for *that* part. This avoids a bit of confusion for a player thinking about what they should use in a given place.

->MegaManX on the other hand, has so much to offer, and it teaches you all of it in the first level, no, in the first fuckin' '''seconds''' of the game. it's '''nuts!'''
-->-Creator/EgoRaptor-

You can use instructive level design for things other than teaching basic rules, though. In {{Portal}}, for example, test chamber 10 (approx. half an hour into the game) teaches you the "fling" tactic. The "fling" is not a basic rule of the game, but is a useful tool that is constructed out of a combination of basic rules (the basic rules that get combined are "you fall with some acceleration" and "portals can change your direction").

There's a contrast here with {{Tutorial Level}}, where the designers sit you down and scream things in your ear that you'd rather be allowed to learn through experimentation.