My Problem With Weenies

For the uninitiated: in level-design, weenies are a stand-out piece of interest used to draw a player’s attention and guide them around a map. Yellow paint, light at the end of a corridor, tall spires, and broken walls are all examples of weenies. Anything that stands out will grab the player’s gaze and tell them where to go next. The term originates from the thought of luring an animal with a sausage (weenie).

Most resources you see on weenies will bundle large landmarks into the weenie definition, with their purpose shifted from guiding you through a map on a room-by-room basis into the larger objective you must reach, or just a way to situate yourself in a map. After all, why not? The method was taken from Disney parks, where the tall castle spires grab your attention and draw you towards them. Who wouldn’t want to visit an awe-striking landmark?

Examples of weenies defined as large landmarks

The Problem

But these landmarks serve a different purpose to the yellow paint and strategically placed lights, and this is where my problem is. Rather than being the metaphor of luring a dog through a room, it tries to be a grand objective. In other words, the meaning has bundled how to get there with where to go, and these 2 definitions are incompatible and should be separated.

The Solution

In my opinion, weenies should only refer to the room-by-room details (the how), and not the overall objective (the where). Disney themselves have regressed on the term, preferring “visual magnet” - albeit probably not for the same reasons.

Credit (Edited). A clearer definiton of a weenie, showing you how to progress, not where to aim for.

Some people bundle a third purpose of weenie - a tall landmark that you can use to orient yourself in a map. This adds another definition to what a weenie is that should be separated out. I propose naming this third use case a “North star”

Conclusion

I advocate for splitting the weenie terminology into it’s use cases: Weenies, Objectives, and North Stars.