Post by a Chunk on Jun 8, 2019 1:23:04 GMT
The Principles of Level Design
By Stefan Doetschel
Read article at our new site: www.nextleveldesign.org/index.php?/featured-content/articles/the-principles-of-level-design-r3/
This article is an in-depth autobiographical interview with level designer Stefan Doetschel, whose work has been featured in some of the most acclaimed video game IPs of the last decade.
Starting out with community modding scenes as a student of architecture, Stefan eventually decided that he was more interested in applying what he'd learned from his experience with architecture to the player experience. After leaving the world of architecture and working at some smaller game studios, he got a position with 2K Australia, which gave him access to renowned IPs like Bioshock and Borderlands, among other 2K-published, Unreal-based properties.
By discussing his work on these games, notable for their single-player campaign level design, game design, and art styles - not to mention commercial and critical acclaim - Stefan is able to explain the kinds of challenges native to such an environment, and the kinds of principles he had to develop in order to tackle them. We're only able to reproduce some choice sections here, so go give the [full version] a careful read, and check out some of the sections he refers, if you can. I'm certain that by examining his ideas and their concrete form, you'll come to understand more fully why he made the choices he did.
What Does It Mean to Be a Level Artist
In the old days the level designer was also the level artist. But with every new generation games are becoming more complex. Today I think most companies have Visual Designers on one side and Level Gameplay Designers on the other side.
What the exact difference between these two roles is depends on the company you work for. Some companies leave most of the level layout work to the level artist while other companies let designers build a grey box for the initial layout before the artist takes the visual side over.
The major difference is that the visual designer is responsible for the visuals in the level while the gameplay designer mostly works on enemy placement, objectives and most actions the player can do. Every company I worked on had a slightly different process. Sometimes the responsibilities can be a bit blurry.
The environment artist doesn’t design anything. He just builds the environment to the requirements given to him by a designer.
What the exact difference between these two roles is depends on the company you work for. Some companies leave most of the level layout work to the level artist while other companies let designers build a grey box for the initial layout before the artist takes the visual side over.
The major difference is that the visual designer is responsible for the visuals in the level while the gameplay designer mostly works on enemy placement, objectives and most actions the player can do. Every company I worked on had a slightly different process. Sometimes the responsibilities can be a bit blurry.
The environment artist doesn’t design anything. He just builds the environment to the requirements given to him by a designer.
On Verticality in Level Design
I’m not totally sure if this is true for many games. Borderlands 2 for example has huge height differences. Maybe they are not so visible to the player. Dishonored, Mirror’s Edge and Assassin’s Creed are examples were the game play is specifically designed to use verticality. Other good examples are Uncharted, Tomb Raider or God of War which use a lot of verticality. But for a very realistic game it might not make much sense to climb up walls.
Some levels are unnecessary flat. The only explanation that comes to my mind is that designers often start a level on paper. It’s difficult to design a 3 dimensional space on a 2 dimensional medium.
For The Pre-Sequel we based our initial design too much on the Borderlands 2 gameplay. How we would use low gravity wasn’t always that clear until late in the project. So some of the areas are not as vertical as they could be. We did a better job in The Claptastic Voyage DLC.
Some levels are unnecessary flat. The only explanation that comes to my mind is that designers often start a level on paper. It’s difficult to design a 3 dimensional space on a 2 dimensional medium.
For The Pre-Sequel we based our initial design too much on the Borderlands 2 gameplay. How we would use low gravity wasn’t always that clear until late in the project. So some of the areas are not as vertical as they could be. We did a better job in The Claptastic Voyage DLC.
Overall, it's a very interesting and punctual read, especially for those who are curious what kind of choices can lead to a successful career in the world of video games and level design.
-icyhot
Source: 80.lv/articles/stefan-doetschel-the-principles-of-level-design/
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