Level Designer
My level design process
Hello dear visitor!
This article shows you what my process looks like when I am designing a level, that being said I always adapt it depending on the project I work on. In this example I am talking about a linear game, the process would need changes to work on a more open designed game.
To illustrate the steps I will talk about a first-person shooter.
Step 1 - Requirements and Ingredients
I start off with listing the requirements I need to fulfill when creating the level.
The requirements look like these:
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The level should take between 10 and 15 minutes to play.
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It is the third of a total of 12 levels.
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It introduces the shotgun as a gameplay mechanic for the player.
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It takes place in a sewer
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It has to contain Boss XYZ
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In the end of the level a cutscene is shown where the love interest of the main protagonist dies.
Then I create a list of ingredients I can use within the level and split them into different themes that fit the game I am working on.
Exploration
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Health pickup
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Armor pickup
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Rifle ammunition
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Shotgun ammunition
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Hidden path
Combat
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Melee Enemy
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Shotgun Enemy
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Rifle Enemy
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Mine
Narrative
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Audio-log
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Readable note
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Dialogue
The example list is short to keep it simple
Step 2 - Brainstorming Ideas
Now I take the requirements and ingredients to brainstorm as many ideas for the level as possible, the idea is that I can use these scenes that are separated from each other and arrange them however I want later. It is also important that none of these ideas have to be put into the game, sometimes ideas don't work like I imagined them or because of time, budget or technical difficutlies they cannot be implemented.
Examples:
- The shotgun gets introduced, so I want to provide a good gameplay moment for this weapon:
A room with small and tight hallways and melee enemies that attack you from different sides.
- A reward (shotgun?) will be in a room with a big glass window that cannot be destroyed, and the door is locked. Somewhere in the room is a vent hidden that is used to get in the room.
- A room with a flood gate that must be opened to increase the water height so the player can reach a higher point
- Two parallel catwalks with a big gap between them, on one side the player and on the other side long range enemies to create a long range fight scenario. Halfway through the fight melee enemies spawn on the side of the player to surprise them and change the dynamic of the fight.
Step 3 - Put it into an order
Now that I have a full list of ideas I have to put them into an order. To ensure a good gameplay experience I focus on 3 important elements when deciding which ideas get into the level and what order they have: Variety, pacing and difficulty.
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Variety: An interesting level provides a lot of variety in its content. A series of combat encounters without anything in between can become tedious, X minutes of pure narrative can be boring, and so on. I keep the level interesting by switching between all the different game aspects within a level.
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Pacing: With pacing I am describing the "speed" of that particular section in the level, a note to read or a puzzle can slow the pacing down while combat often (but not always) increases it. Good pacing involves switching between fast and slow paced moments, ensuring that the player has room to breath and calm down after high pacing moments.
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Difficulty: A good difficulty looks a lot like a pacing curve. I have high difficulty moments to challenge the player, followed by a less difficult situation so that they can "lower their guard" and relax as a constant raise in challenge without easier moments will lead to exhaustion and frustration. That being said the overall difficulty of those high difficulty challenges should rise over the course of the whole game.
I visualize the order of the ideas with the help of a spreadsheet so that I have a good feeling on how the level would play out. It is also important to me that every "scene" I plan has a purpose noted, it serves as a goal when iterating on the level.
An example on how that would look like.
Step 4 - Making the blockout
Now that I came up with ideas and put them into an order I have to actually build the level. I personally don’t do much sketching before I jump into the engine, I only briefly scribble out a quick concept on a physical piece of paper, and then I start building the architecture. When building the level I always have my timeline ready to look it up, so I get a sense how it should be built. From there I start placing blocks, jumping into the editor, checking the playability and the feel of it. While the process is very straightforward I do want to mention some things that I always consider when building a level:
The architecture has to support the idea
When the encounter has the purpose of providing a fun gameplay with the shotgun the space where the encounters takes place should support exactly this and not for example feature big empty rooms without any cover and enemies with long range weapons.
Navigation has to be fun
There is almost no game without any kind of movement in it, even if it is just a generic first-person shooter that doesn’t feature any specific mechanic for the movement in the level expect normal walking, running and jumping. Those things are part of the gameplay and therefore should be fun. Just walking in a straight line does not make things interesting, it is important to break sight-lines, change room sizes, add curves, different heights, etc.
Self testing
I personally jump a lot into the editor and play my level, even after a small couple of changes. I value my own gut feeling and experience as the designer a lot.
After all, if I don’t want to play my level after I tested it a couple of times, is it really fun?
This is an example from my first Half-Life 2 map how a late iteration of a blockout would look like.
Step 5 - Iteration
There are two types of playtesting for me, when I playtest and when others playtest:
When I want to iterate on my level I focus on a list of “lenses” what good level design is and evaluate how good they are applied to my level. The list is made with the help of talks, books and my own experience. The lenses are nothing more than a short reminder what the lenses are about and what questions I should ask about my level to improve it. They are inspired by “The Art of Game Design” by Jesse Schell.
I also listen to my gut feeling by just playing the game and taking notes on how I feel and what I like or don’t like.
This is an example from my lense notes
When others playtest I watch how they feel and how the scenes I planned play out, checking if they have the intended experience. Afterwards I ask them about how they felt about the level,what they liked the most and what the worst parts were. Players always know best how something feels, my job is to listen correctly and find the cause of bad and good feelings.
With these two approaches I can always find things to improve!
Closing words
Thank you for reading my little overview on the basics of how I operate as a level designer. I hope you enjoyed it and it gave a bit of an insight into my process. If you have any feedback or just want to talk about level design feel free to contact me!
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