Myth & Legend

Cellar

Shield Room

Tavern

Wireframe and Elevation

This project was a lot of fun to work on. I was able to use my original concept from earlier in the class to move forward with an overall level design layout for the first couple sections of the level. I realized through this process that although I would be able to work as a Level Designer I do not have a passion to strive to become one. I would rather work with the initial concept development rather than the Level Designs. However, I would be willing to help out any team if they needed assistance with the Level Design portion of their development.

Dungeon

I designed a multi room medieval dungeon that would have the player searching for treasures below a tavern. Hidden deep in the depths of the dungeon lies a room filled with riches beyond any dream.

2 Room Greybox

Overview

Temple Entrance

Temple Corridor

Put together a two room greybox level with connecting hallways. Out keyword when going into this project was "Crash." Therefore, I decided to go with the story of a pilot who crashes down into a bog and seeks refuge in an old temple until his team arrives. From there the player will end up getting trapped inside of the temple. They will have to fight their way out, but they will continue to move further into the temple.

9 Area Level

Rough Top Down & Flow

Refined Top Down & Legend

  We are tasked with creating a level document that encompasses a level with 9 areas. I decided to go with a side scroller dungeon crawl. I want the player to be interested by the amount of depth in the levels. The world dangers that you encounter will hinder your progress through the level, and they must be overcome by different methods. You start in a tavern and make your way through a system of dungeon areas and eventually end up on a floating platform where you move onto the next level.

Importance of Concept Art

Concept Art & In Game Screen Cap from Top Left
(Guild Wars 2, Bulletstorm, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, Darksiders 2, and Trine 2)

The importance of concept art in design is something that I am very familiar with. I have wanted to be a concept artist since I joined IADT. I studied what concept art was and the importance of it in the development of Video Games. However, at the time I did not know that concept art was heavily used in a wide variety of industries.

The study that I did on these pieces pertained to Level Design. Having a great concept can relieve a lot of the pressure put on the Level Designer. They can look at the concept and determine where they need to place specific pieces, and game play aspects. They can also get a feel for the depth and mood of the level. Therefore, the importance of concept art is something that should NEVER be overlooked.

History of Level Design

Reading the chapter about the history of game design has made me understand Level Design as a whole a lot better. The chapter talked about how one of the very first places level design was actually being implemented  by MUD's 1991 game ZZT. It allowed players to build their own levels with editors.

These level editors continued to ship with games and hobbyists began to learn how to create interesting levels. These hobbyists were later being hired by companies to design levels for them. However, as level design grew, more complex Level Design software began to be used. Now most of the levels are created in an outside program and then implemented into a game engine. Now Level Editors have evolved from simple editors to a place where you can composite a scene to show off your pieces.

I've had experience with Level Editors in previous computer games that I have played. The most notable one that I remember was from a game called Age of Mythology. You could use tools in the game to alter terrain, add buildings, and units. This allowed you to create scenarios that players could actually play out, and you could tell them that you designed it in the editor.

Age of Mythology: Ensemble Studios

Level Design

Today in class we went over the difference between being an Environmental Artist and being a Level Designer. We found out that the Environmental Artist is there to make the level look pretty. Whereas the Level Designer is there to design the gray box of the level and design the flow of the level.  The Level Designer works on creating experiences for the player. They think up different events that occur throughout the level to make interesting and original game play.

In the first chapter of "The Hows and Whys of Level Design: Second Edition" the author talks about how the beginning of the level is one of the most important aspects. If a player jumps into a game and the beginning of the level is boring, they may not want to continue playing the game.  He also goes over balancing your workloads and going through a basic checklist so you get a well rounded level.  (Time, Tech, Limitations, Requirements, Purpose, Gameplay, & Theme are all part of the checklist.) Each of these has their own importance when designing a level. Overall starting in level design you will need to practice to come up with good level designs.Work as efficiently as possible and try to be as original as you can without impeding your progress.

5 Levels Designed

Using the information I learned from Yesterday's class and the first chapter of the book, I designed 5 unique levels.  I focused on designing my levels to make them interesting to the player. What helped me create the levels was thinking of a story in my head and drawing out some concepts. From those concepts I started to rough out top down maps to understand where I want the player to encounter enemies and world dangers.  I focused on trying to make each level unique in style and game play. I will use what I learned from chapter one about managing your resources and being original when creating my gray box levels.

Concept Sketches

Layouts

Level Concepts

Down Below Concept