6.Level Design Process Part 1

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.