This is the summary of Emilio Padulo's Level Design Master Class.
· Mind over matter
· Soak up everything
· Track your concept
· Brain them to life
· Different ways to sketch
· Bounus Round: Let the hamster run
· Collect your references
· Final Boss: Choosing a concept
· Summary
1. Mind over matter
· No matter where we look, everything was once a concept.
· Art, buildings, products… All of these was an idea formed in someone’s mind.
· Same goes for level design.
· In order to create a stellar level or environment, we must become architects of our idea.
· There is nothing better than observing everything around us.
2. Soak up everything
· The main thing is changing our perspective of what we see.
· Take any environment in your space.
· Think how you can make into a level for a player.
· See everything as a playable space.
· By doing this, you will start training your mind to generate few ideas.
· Exp: Take this piucture.
· What we see is a pothhole.
· It could be a path to a castle.
· This is something that should be practiced daily.
· Not only your environment but in books, movies, shows and even games.
· Once you get a hang of changing the way you look at things, the ideas will start flowing.
· So how do remember all these fantastic concepts?
3. Track your concepts
· We do this by writting down everything.
· There are a few ways we can do this:
- Taking a picture.
- Scribbling it down in a journal.
- Drawing a map.
- Bookmarking what you see on the Internet.
4. Bring them to life!
· One of the best ways is writting it down in a journal of sketchbook.
· This is going to be something that you will carry with you daliy.
· By doing this you will be able to:
- Remember your concepts.
- Capture unique ideas.
- Helps with analyzing different environments around you.
5. Different ways to sketch
· When it comes to sketching your ideas, its one of the best ways to hone in on your level design skill.
· It’s not a prerequisite for level design though.
· Sketching helos you map out your concept so it can be used later for when you greybox it.
· You can be amazing or terrible, as long as you understand your own sketches.
· One way is to sketch from your imagination.
· A great practice one you have trained your brain to capture environments is to build on them.
· Take any environment and think of something otherworldly to add.
· Make it unique and pop out from the rest.
· Another is drawing Top-Down maps.
· This is a common practice among level designers.
· Looking at aerial views of city’s or towns helps create more ideas.
· The concept of creating these top down views is significant.
· Drawing this will help others understand:
- The player’s path through it.
- The location of objectives.
- Enemy patrols.
- Important story scenes.
- Type of architectures.
6. Bonus Round: Let the hamster run
· Now we know what to look for and how to do it. So Where?
· Books: this resource is useful because this always offer a visual idea through literature.
· Comic Books: An older style yet effective in so many ways.
· Music: Listening to different genres will create different emotions.
· Visiting new places: Seeing a new place and being in another area will help flow the create jucices.
· Art: Modern and comtemporary are are always a great conduction of ideas.
· Boss Guides: These game bibles created by dev team offer great reference images and pointers.
7. Collect your references
· Now it’s time for the how.
· Best way is to curate all these references into one area, like a folder on your desttop/laptop.
· Here you should have collected reference images/videos/documents of things that inspired you.
8. Final Boss: Choose your concept.
· With all these ideas you have generated and curated. It’s time to choose what you are going to create.
· Draw your concept from something what is personal to you, make it your own.
· Don’t feel forced to choose something you know will not motivate you.
· Your idea must inspire, create a passion and drive you from start to finish.
· Draw from your past experience playing your favourate games.
· Always iterate on your idea if you feel it can better showcase your individuality.
9. Summary
· Make sure you have something to write with always.
· Always change your perception in accordence with your environment.
· Take one idea that inspires to as the catalyst for the entire course.
· Choose if it’s playable or an environment.
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