What is 'level design' in games?
The term
What is level design | The Level Design Book
https://book.leveldesignbook.com/introduction
In level design, a level is a space in a game, often called a map, such as Fortnite's 'island' or Roblox's 'Obby'. In addition, sports stadiums such as basketball courts and athletics tracks, Monopoly boards, crossword puzzles, and coloring books are also considered levels in a broad sense.
Below is an image of Blood Gulch, a multiplayer map from the Halo series, overlaid with a basketball court.
— Neilson (@neilsonks) May 16, 2023
Level design is the method of planning and constructing the space of a game. There are narrow and broad definitions of level design, the former being purely structural work that does not consider the visual aspect, and the latter being the work of creating everything that exists in the level, including environmental art.
The exact division of roles varies depending on the game development studio, but level designers are primarily responsible for shaping player behavior. In larger studios, level designers are often responsible for creating documentation, drafting layouts, creating blockouts (the basic structure that forms the basis of a level), observing playtests, and balancing maps and encounters.
In contrast, an environment artist is primarily responsible for focusing on graphics and polishing the visuals of a level using art path models, materials, set dressing, and lighting. This isn't just about making it look pretty, good environment art supports the design goals of the game experience and can aid the player in their playthrough.
The scale of level design varies from game to game, and it can take days or even weeks to design a single room, but this is impractical for a vast open world, battle royale, or MMO game. World designers who build the settings for such games think about flow and navigation in terms of regions rather than houses,
For example, here's the Pleasant Park map from Fortnite, where the layout of the rooms in the houses is less important than the overall layout of the town.
Practice makes perfect, and the Level Design Book is aimed at creators who want to become level designers. 'When you ask a map creator on a Q&A site, you're likely to get a blunt reply: 'Make a map.' This bluntness can sound rude, but it may be hiding a message: 'You'll get it, so don't put it off. Just do it. You're ready.' After all, the only way to become a level designer is to make levels. Ideally, lots of levels.'
In addition to the basic explanation of level design, The Level Design Book also provides a comprehensive explanation of level design methodologies with concrete examples, as well as details of tools useful for level design.
The Level Design Book
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