Giovanni's Level Pack 2 VS Sonic 1 South Island Expedition (Level Design Cross-Evaluation)

Giovanni’s Level Pack 2 outwardly didn’t seem like a particularly exciting entry to me. However, when I played it, there were several things about it that I found extremely theoretically interesting that kept me re-evaluating how I viewed Sonic level design as a whole. A bit later, I got to play Sonic 1 South Island Expedition, and I couldn’t stop comparing them ever since. Sure, they both are hacks of Sonic 1, but that’s not entirely the point: they, in many ways, tried to do the same thing in such different ways.

Eventually, I’ve decided to evaluate the level design of these entries together, as I believe that at this point this is the only way I could do so.

Unique properties

Level Pack 2

The reason this entry’s level design caught my attention in the first place is the enormous size of the levels on display, as this game uses a custom level format that allows for them to be quite large. Every stage also has 5 red star rings and 3 exits each.

Expedition

This entry goes the opposite way; while its levels are still really big, they’re more comparable to S3K in size. It has, however, implemented smaller chunk sizes and has significantly more dense levels as a result.

Very much worth noting here is the fact that South Island Expedition does the same thing Sonic Mania did in terms of level design for its “remastered” levels, but (in my opinion) in a significantly more creative manner. Whereas Mania would keep the overall structure of the original layouts and then add new sections and routes where appropriate, Expedition opts to take its source material, slice and dice it into pieces, and then construct a completely new layout utilizing those chunks where appropriate. This results in something that feels significantly more like a new stage, while still invoking that feeling of deja vu.

The implications of level density

The two entries aim to construct very large explorable levels, but what’s particularly interesting is that both of them choose to go about it in completely different ways, informed in part by the technical decisions on display. Allow me to demonstrate.

This is Bridge Act 1 from SIE superimposed over Marble from GLP2.

This is Green Hill Act 2 from SIE superimposed over Scrap Brain from GLP2.

Right off the bat, you can notice several things.

GLP is a lot more vertically oriented. In fact, it contains probably the most vertical Sonic stages I have seen. SIE maintains high density throughout the level, while GLP has very low density overall with some really concentrated platforming segments.

I find that approach from GLP actually really inventive; when making large levels your first thought would likely be to try to fill them to the brim with something. Instead, it opts for making its size have a purpose: it enhances the spectacle of the levels and the sections that serve the purpose of building up momentum in ways I haven’t seen before.

It now has the room to just have extremely large setpieces where the purpose is just to build up a ton of momentum without them having to take up the majority of space and that’s actually quite refreshing to see!

You can now have both platforming sections and the freedom to zoom around enormous vastnesses, and that’s just plain fun. It could be argued that such sections are shallow, but shallow sections can serve as good breaks for the player in the context of levels’ pacing.

You can also observe two radically different approaches to splitting pathways.

GLP2 prefers to have its paths sectioned off and separated. Switching between them is limited to key points, outside of which you are essentially forced to follow a line; there are also less secret spots. This significantly reduces the number of ways the levels can be played; there is less to explore overall and the exploration amounts to guessing very specific switch points and solving a puzzle. SIE blows the door wide open, with paths full of holes and opportunities to switch at any point in the level.

SIE also probably has better hiding spots and better grasp on fundamentals. While secrets in GLP2 mostly boil down to noticing other paths and going there and/or timing, SIE has an aspect of physics manipulation and puzzle-solving to it that’s extremely enjoyable to play around with!

Consider this example: the hidden room with the 1-up is only accessible by rolling, and it’s not immediately obvious how (you have to either hit the spring or jump from the top)

GLP2 also has a big problem of sometimes fumbling handling multiple equivalent routes. At some points, there were rooms where you could get from point A to point B in two different ways:

• an extremely easy one that takes you 2 seconds;
• a much harder one that takes you 15 and gives you no advantage.

Consider this:

The orbinaut, platform and swinging platform combo here serves NO level design point, does not reward you for your trouble, is completely pointless and only punishes you for attempting to explore the level.

But while SIE is more satisfying to play in terms of you as Sonic feeling powerful and having agency over how you move throughout the world, there’s no doubt that the more isolated routes makes finding branches in GLP2 significantly more rewarding, especially given it actually has collectibles that are recorded and celebrated. The lack of any meaningful collectibles is the weakest point of SIE’s level design, but there is something to also be said about the increased density and openness paradoxically decreasing the value of exploration. It’s satisfying to break down gates, and if there are none, this feeling can not be gotten.

Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation

When people do… pretty much anything, they can have two types of motivations for it.

Extrinsic motivation is being motivated by an external reward or punishment. In real life, that would be an award, a raise or the threat of a monetary fine; in gaming, it would be an item, a cosmetic, or a completion percentage.

Intrinsic motivation is being motivated by an internal desire. That would be doing something out of passion, fun or a desire to improve your own skills.

Most people in most instances are motivated by a combination of the two. Sure, there are games that cater almost exclusively to intrinsic (example: Minecraft’s Creative mode) or extrinsic (example: clickers, to an extent) motivation types, but most games’ incentive structures are the most effective when taking advantage of both.

What I see here is that:

• Giovanni’s Level Pack 2 is quite skewed into extrinsic motivation. It is still fun to play the level, but a lot of its exploration is merely being able to notice things and not quite mastery of the mechanics. It does, however, nail the reward structure of logging down red rings and exits. It feels really good to notice a new path, and then really quickly be pushed into a red ring; to finally be on the path to a new exit and to finally hit it, and to see it logged on the save card. But the level design overall could use a little brushing up on the fundamentals and a few more inventive approaches to using physics. Its biggest threat is people getting bored while replaying the stages over and over while attempting to find very specific branch spots, as exploration is in actuality fairly constrained and rigid, and the very good extrinsic incentive structure could lose its luster as a result.
• South Island Expedition very definitively caters to intrinsic motivation. It feels really good to toy around with Sonic’s moveset, and experimentation is regularly acknowledged by the game and rewarded in the few ways it can. However, none of the awards particularly matter, and your only motivation for performing physics feats is internal. Its biggest threat is people just not trying to explore these big levels because they don’t get anything from it; and the satisfaction of finding new paths is somewhat hindered by the very wide open nature of the levels and the ease of switching paths. The only reason you’d explore the levels is if you were already geared up to explore them, and the game doesn’t do anything to convince any given player to do so.