This is the summary of Emilio Padulo's Level Design Master Class.
· Concept
· Rough
· Build
· Refine
· Place
· Create
1. Concept:
· Before anything is done in an engine, we need to design the concept of the level first.
· This can be multiple things such as:
- Gameplay of the level
- The story
- Events
- OCRs
- Layout: maze, liner, non-liner, open world.
- Gameplay Blocks.
- Ingredient Distribution.
- Rough model of the layout.
2. Rough:
· Once the core concept is done and is approved, it’s time to create a rough 3D level.
· This is considered Garyboxing.
· Once it’s done, export it to the engine, and get a feel for the level layout you desire with the concept.
· If you can walk around with a final game camera, that would be exceptional as well since you can get a good idea of what the player will see.
3. Build
· At this process, the level designer builds as much as the level as possible, making sure all core gameplay areas are defined.
· It’s imperative that all key parts of the game are laid out and defined. This allows the artists to create the level efficiently and effctively.
4. Refine
· At this point, once you have the level from the artist, you can do a pass over the design.
· Make sure that the design is solid by looking for any areas that are bad, boring, breakable, or hard to complete.
· This is a quick review before moving to the next step in the design process.
5. Place
· Once a quick review is done, you can now place all the ingredients in your level.
· This will allow you to see a good first pass of what the level looks like filled with assets.
· As mentioned before, ingredients can be:
- Objects.
- Characters.
- Enemies.
6. Create
· At this point, the level design is complete, the artist takes what was created and begins to build the artwork for the level.
· The artist will take the level to a half finished state, but not fully polished.
· Their main foucus isn’t on the minute details, but rather the level geometry rather than textures that be fixed later.
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