Level Design - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Level Design

Muhammet

Arda KILIÇSlide2

Level Design

Introduction

Levels inDifferent Games

Components of Level

Elements of Good Level

The Process

Who Does Level Design?Slide3

Introduction

Level

design is where all the different components of a game come together.

I

n

some

ways creating a level is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle; to build the levels,

the level designer must make use of the game’s engine, art, and core gameplay.Slide4

Levels in Different Games

The

definition of a “level” varies greatly from game to game. It most commonly

refers

to

the game-world of side-

scrollers, first-person shooters, adventures, flight simulators and role-playing games.Slide5

Levels inDifferent Games

Level Separation

How a game is broken down into its component levels has a huge impact on the flow of

the game.

Level

Order

The designer should know how the order of the levels will affect the flow of gameplay, and should

be aware of how moving different levels around will affect it.Slide6

Components of Level

Action

Action

is the most obvious component of the levels for many

games

.

-

It is important to understand how much action the level contains.-Are

there “breaks” or intermissions between major conflicts

?

-

The

level designer must consider how the enemy

AI

functions

and what types of maps will lead to

conflicts

.Slide7

Components of Level

Exploration

Exploration

is a major part

of

many

action/adventure

games. Instead of just providing a bridge between different action set pieces, if properly designed the exploration can

actually be a lot of fun for players.Slide8

Components of Level

Puzzle

Solving

Sometimes progressing in a level involves more than just finding a path to the next

area

while

killing the adversaries that stand in your way Slide9

Components of Level

Storytelling

L

evels

are an integral part of telling a game’s

story

.If aim is to create a story based game, it only makes sense for the game’s levels and the story to work in synergy.Slide10

Components of Level

Aesthetics

A

big part of the level designer’s job is to balance appearance with the

other

requirements

of a given level.Too much detailed graphics can result the level running slowly or if the textures on a level isn’t obvious

player isn’t able to see where they

should

or should not be able to

go.

For this reason

the level designer must be fully aware of

the

level’s

appearance

will have on the gameplay.Slide11

Level Flow

-

Level flow of games differs from each ohter according to game genre.Slide12

Elements of Good Levels

Players Cannot Get

Stuck

Sub-Goals

Landmarks

Critical Path

Limited

BacktackingSuccess the First TimerNavigable Areas Clearly MarkedChoicesSlide13

The Process

Step 1.

Preliminary

-

if

the gameplay is in

a

close-to-final state.-Are your game mechanics nailed down?-Will more moves for the character be added?Slide14

The Process

Step 2. Conceptual and Sketched

Outline

What

sort of

challenges

will players face here?What sorts of environments best facilitate

those challenges?

How

exciting and nerve-racking is the gameplay in this level?

Where will

players

need to be rewarded

?

What story elements need to be conveyed through

the

level

?Slide15

The Process

Step 3. Base Architecture/Block

Out

Create

the base

layout with simple graphics

Step

4. Refine Architecture Until It Is Fun Refine a

rchitecture untilyour

level

starts feeling good and

navigating

it

starts to be fun.

Step 5. Base

Gameplay

Implement

the

gameplay your level will use

.Slide16

The Process

Step 6. Refine Gameplay Until It Is

Fun

Step

7. Refine

Aesthetics

Step 8. PlaytestingSlide17

Who Does Level Design?

one designer, one

level

team approachSlide18

Thank You