Ikea, Vegas Casinos, and Video Game Level Design

by Jason Surguine on November 7, 2009

Ikea

I wouldn’t be surprised if any of the Ikea engineers ended up becoming game designers. Just look at that map. Well, not too closely, the pic is a bit blurry since I was pretty hungover when I took it. It has enough rooms and puzzles to make a decent dungeon. They even managed to place short-cuts into the show room design (which brought back memories of the board game, Clue).

The show room is designed to be easily lost in, coercing you to stay for hours, but at the same time you have a map with short-cuts to escape at anytime you wish. Brilliant. I’ve been to Ikea in at least 3 countries and they are all like this, and I’m always fascinated by it. I love Vegas casino layouts as well.

Vegas casinos take it one step further by having really confusing designs to keep you inside, while at the same time, gigantic, brightly-lit signs with big arrows pointing to the Exit. Yet people still subconsciously get lost in both Ikea and Vegas casinos. Try that the next time you are designing a dungeon or platform game level. ;)

And this has nothing to do with level or map designs but it’s damn funny:

lemons

That guy is rubbing a lemon on his forehead in the middle of an Ikea. Since I knew the guy, it loses a bit of the humor for me (although I was still cracking up in the middle of Ikea and getting lots of odd looks from people). But since you don’t know this guy, you must find the immense, random humor coming from this situation.

I’m still not sure where he even got the lemon from. I’ll have to check the map.

Probably Related:

  1. Game Design, Main Characters, and the Monomyth
  2. 3 Pictures To Make you Laugh
  3. Arvale Game Designs on Paper, Part 2

{ 3 trackbacks }

3 Pictures To Make you Laugh | Jaybot7 : Jason Surguine : Music : Audio : Design : Games
November 20, 2009 at 12:48 pm
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