This is the summary of Emilio Padulo's Level Design Master Class.
· Types of Dcumentation
· Game Designer Role
· Level Designer Role
1. Types of Documentation
· One paper:
- Core-loop: the main actions that are taken by the player.
- Main Charactior: background, who they are.
- Settings: What’s the law behind the game, main goal.
- Game Genre: FPS, RPG.
One paper is basiclly a one page little document that covers pretty much all the essential information. Needed to understand what the game is about.
· Pitch: bit more details than one paper.
- Key selling points: Financing.
- General idea of the game.
- 2, 3 pages.
- Elevator pitch: 30 seconds.
· High Level: is pretty much in between a pitch and GDD.
- 10 pages.
- Rough draft of the game.
- Summary of systems and features: Core-loop, Mental loop, Economy, Sound, Art.
· GDD: is basiclly a whole level iteration of the high level document.
- All the rules, mechanics, ingredients, systems, narrative, economy, controls, gameplay.
- The game’s bible.
- Can be any length.
Basiclly using the high level document as the skeleton, framework of the GDD, we are able to deep dive and explain throughly what each one of these different types of sections really mean.
· LDD
- Everything that will be inside the level: Pacing, NME list, NME breakdowns, etc.
- Designed and created before prototyping the level.
- Gain a better understanding of what resources will be required.
2. Game Designer Role
· The Game Designer creates the world that the game takes place in.
· Their main job is to create all the mechanics, rules, characters, power ups, and items.
· Once created, they then begin balancing these types of features and system.
3. Level Designer Role
· The level designer takes all those systems, features, mechanics that the game designer made, and creates levels with them.
· Their main job is to continuously PULL NOT PUSH the player.
· Level Designers build the scene that the player will play through, and must carefully layout all the ingredients to allow for proper pacing and flow.
· Most of time, they must follow a strict pace to not disturb the flow that the Game Designers want to create.
· But they have more or less free will in what they want to show the players.
· Composition is basiclly the layout of different types of level design tools and techiques in order to guide the players through our level using objects and using visual weights.
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