Level Design

Additional Information

Level design is something I have always found fascinating in the Games Industry. I remember the days I used to watch the behind the scenes of Halo 3 and how they made their multiplayer maps or how in Star Wars: The Old Republic an artist showed how they were detailing windows on Nar Shaddaa. Since then, level design intrigued me as something I really wanted to look into on my game design journey.

I have designed various levels through my projects and I am so glad to be able to show some of them off to you! Below you will find various project levels with pictures and even some playable levels to boot!

Dissertation

In University I wrote my dissertation on what makes good level design. I looked into three games and showed the ways that each differ for their intended uses. If you wish to read it please contact me.

About "The Pit" (Download Below)

The images above show my work on a level I dubbed "The Pit". The idea behind this level was to create a multiplayer FPS map using the "Shooter Kit" available in Unreal Engine as a stand in for a FPS game.

From the start of the design I wanted to keep a level of verticality to the design as well as have a layout that allowed players to move around in a complete loop when playing.

I started with jotting in my notebook before sketching out how I'd like it to look. I made some mock up diagrams that showed the critical paths that each player on each team could take going into a match, thus giving me some insight on how to place cover and pickups on the battlefield.

From my designs, I created a whitebox level block out to get my scale and general layout feeling just the way I needed it to. In a multiplayer map it is important to keep an eye on just how players may interact with each other due to there not being a traditional "right way" to traverse the level, this lead me to design with a combination of a wide open area as well as smaller rampart sections which provided more cover but at the cost of the route being more linier.

Once I had played in some matches with bots, I looked to finalise the layout with cover pieces and pickups before building a version and moving on to making it look pretty. My theme was a "simulation game" which would be played like laser tag and possible broadcast on TV, so the arena looks futuristic with the environment props looking more like a modern day paintball field.

I imagine that this level could be used in game like "King of the Hill" using the centre tower as the proverbial "Hill" due to its central nature and multiple entrances. I believe the layout of the level offers a lot of choice of how to engage the opponent. Feel free to download the versions below to give it a go! Pick either Team Deathmatch or Free For All and add how many bots you want, its better with more!

Download for Whitebox version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OETvJW-Tf06Tax6iSjJLaBPDN6XuY8G0/view?usp=sharing

Download for Pretty version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WJBzRPPd-DFYwC2FugUbbwSYOmA8Y0jx/view?usp=sharing

Steps to Great Level Design

What type of game is your level intended for?

The first step to making a great level comes with understanding the exact kind of game you're making that level for. For example, a Mario game will require thought about a different set of mechanics compared to Destiny 2.

Planning

What type of game is your level intended for?

Does your level need to include a specific mechanic that needs teaching to the player? Questions like these must be asked to ensure the level fits the criteria. Once that is established, very simple sketch work can help to understand what the level will consist of.

Mock-ups

What type of game is your level intended for?

White-box

Once an idea has been established, it's time to make a few variations for peer review. Remember, good ideas are never just from one mind, collaborate to improve the work and select the mock-up that best suits the end product.

White-box

Great, we have an idea, now we must create an outline in our programme of choice to give us vision of what the level will look like in 3D (or 2D for that matter). This is when we can truly get the scale of what we need to create.

Test

White-box

Improve

Testing is a huge part of design overall, for levels it is important to test whether the work up until this point conveys what it needs to. This can include if it feels at the right pace, size, feel or even if there is anything else that could be added to improve the experience.

Improve

White-box

Improve

The next step is improving the level and its design from the testing feedback. It is important to keep testing the new improvements to make sure they hold up to exactly what they need to for any given level.

Detail

Once the level is working in its intended mechanics background, it's time for the task of clutter! Give the level detail, obviously depending on the product depends what that detail is. Is it a magical forest that requires old ruins and ancient trees? Or is it an abandoned high street in Durham that will need dilapidated cars and old broken shop fronts? Each is going to need attention in different ways.

Level Design

Additional Information

Dissertation

"The Pit" Level Design

About "The Pit" (Download Below)

Steps to Great Level Design

What type of game is your level intended for?

What type of game is your level intended for?

What type of game is your level intended for?

Planning

What type of game is your level intended for?

What type of game is your level intended for?

Mock-ups

What type of game is your level intended for?

White-box

White-box

White-box

White-box

Test

White-box

Improve

Improve

White-box

Improve

Detail

Detail

Detail

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