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https://www.gamedesignjunkie.com/2017/08/29/lets-talk-town-layout/

The Unspoken Question

One thing that a lot of game developers slip up on often is the layout of their towns. This isn’t something people talk about a lot (or ever), because it seems so simple, right? You have the entrance to the town, you plop a few buildings down, bing bang boom, you have a town.

Well, the truth is that this isn’t actually the case. When the player is spending hours in the wilderness hunting boar or orc or whatever, the player should be stopping in a town to sell their stuff and restock. Many game developers (myself included) feel that the town should be a place for the player to spend some time in, relax, and continue the adventure later. However, from a player perspective, this mindset can be more of a hinderance than a help.

So, what makes a good town layout?

Before we talk about designing a town, we need to talk about “flow”.

What is “Flow”?

One thing you’ll hear me talk a lot about in this blog is the feeling of “flow” — the idea that your player can go from one point in the game to the next without much interruption.

Every single player has a different sense of flow.

Let’s look at two players — we’ll call them Player A and Player B.

Player A likes to go straight for the main goal. They ignore a lot of loot and side quests and go straight for the main objective. Their pace is fast, and they don’t wait around anywhere for long. They get bored more easily than other players, and want to have a rapid sense of progression.

Player B likes to search every nook and cranny for treasure. They don’t leave a region until all side quests are done. They take it slow, have plenty of time to spend playing, and are obsessive completionists.

Obviously, these two examples are far ends of the spectrum, and most players lie somewhere in the middle, but you want to build a town that caters to both of these players. You want Players A and B to recommend your game to others equally, and have a broader appeal.

So What Makes a Good Town Layout?

Take a look at that beautiful town image I put at the beginning of this post. Recognize it? Whiterun is arguably the most memorable town in all of Skyrim. Many players attribute this to it being the first major town that you visit, however it’s more than this; Whiterun is the most well-designed town in the game. When I played Skyrim, I found myself going to Whiterun more often than any other town.

Let’s take a look at Whiterun’s map:

So, in Whiterun, you start at point 1. What are the first two things you see when you walk in? To your right, you see the blacksmith, to the left you see The Drunken Huntsman — a bow shop. It’s important to note that fighting is ~75% of what you do in Skyrim, so there’s a reason these shops are the first things you see when walking in.

What else do you see? A long Main Street cutting through the center of town leading to a fountain, and the castle in the distance. These two visual cues are focal points that the player sees immediately when walking into the town.

Let’s talk about the fountain. The places surrounding the fountain are the inn, a potions shop, and food stalls. While not necessarily as important as weapon shops, these are still vital places for the player. The player will naturally be drawn to the fountain area, as it is the only landmark interrupting the flow of the main road.

Note how all of the most important places are in the first 1/3rd of the main road. This is meant to cater to Player A. Any time the player visits the town after the first, they’ll be likely to rush in, gather equipment, get a quest at the inn, and leave town.

Whiterun also has tons of branching paths, giving Player B more time to relax, explore, talk to people, get some side quests, and enjoy the scenery before moving on.

Key Takeaways

The town’s layout should not interrupt a player’s natural “flow” of progression

The town’s layout should cater to as many player types as possible

The town’s layout should have important things in the front or along main roads, and less important areas branching off for more thorough players to explore.

Thank you all for reading!

What towns do you think have a great layout?

All images courtesy of https://elderscrolls.wikia.com