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
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Layouts |
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Level Concepts |
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Down Below Concept |