Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Level Design
Level design can be as simple as designing one room in your game or as com-
plex as designing an entire continent or galaxy. Essentially, the level designer is
creating playable content for the core features to be used inside the world.
Start by imagining yourself in the world (which is another word for
level
). As
the designer, determine where you want to go, where you'll start, where you'll end
up, and what you'll do along the way. Couple all those experiences with what you'll
see and hear as you travel, and those are the basics of level design.
W
h I C h
l
e v e l s
a
r e
W
e
t
a l k I n G
a
B o u t
?
Let's clear up the difference between levels and leveling up. In this chapter,
level
refers to the map or areas designed for the game.
Level
can also refer
to the degree of difficulty related to any part of a game.
Leveling up
has
to do with gaining points or skills to reach a new level with a character
during gameplay.
Our focus in this chapter is level design: how to map out the worlds where
your game will take place and what happens in them.
Determining Waypoints
Don't feel that you have to begin the level design with the start point. Some design-
ers do; others begin with the key event in the level. For example, if you have a
critical battle to fight, a quest to complete, a puzzle to solve, or treasure to find,
that is the highlight of the level. A good approach is to decide where that event will
occur and work backward, or out, from that point. Determining waypoints tends to
relate more to RPG types of games, but any game you design will have start points,
endpoints, hookups to other levels, and areas where more intense or less intense
play occurs. Plotting out these areas of varying intensity is part of designing the
pacing for the game.
In order for gamers to find these waypoints, they needed to be guided in the
correct direction. Planting guideposts to help the player, such as giving them a
quest, is also part of the level designer's task. As the player heads out into the
level, the designer also needs to provide clues so they don't get too far off track.
This is a delicate balance during the design phase, because clues that are too
weak, obtuse, or far apart may leave the player lost and frustrated. Too many
