Ten Principles for Good Level Design

Level Desgin: 1 2 7 8 10

Exceptional presentation!

A lot of game designers seem to have forgotten these principles nowadays...

Thanks for the insight!

Respect how he handled the first “question”- I’d not be sure how to respond.

Yes.

I guess the game of life is a very well designed game then. The levels fulfill all of these 😅

Love hearing insightful, simple to follow and practical tips from industry pros, thank you as always.

Rockstar should take some notes.
Let's look at RDR2 for an example.
When it comes to the open world of that game, the level design is excellent.
but in main quests it's so on rails it almost feels like QTE.

so far this is one of the better level design videos iv watched, the last video i watch one of the parts told me to stare at old maps... like bruh i looked at camping grounds for 20 minutes, this didnt make me any better. there was some good points in there, but this video was full of things i could write down

Is it me or does Dan sound a lot like Simon Pegg?

10 Principles of good Level design: uses Halo as Thumbnail

That's a weird choice

This is gold

In the year 2040, someone will look back at this video and realise where the worlds fresh water reserves went

Talks about level design for 45 minutes straight and doesn't mention Dark Souls a single time, yet claims the new Deus Ex games has good level design lol. I somehow doubt this guy knows what he's talking about

Feel bad for his jokes, they're pretty good but the audience doesn't have a sense of humour

I think level design would be my dream game dev job

Very attractive

Very interesting! Thank you! :-)

This is a ton of good information. Thanks for the presentation!

*Good level design tells the player what to do, but now how to do it.
*Good level design teaches the player without literally telling them anything.
*"Rollercoaster Design" is when the intensity has peaks and valleys that slowly get more intense, until one final payoff at the end. The problem with this type of design is that it is very predictable.
*Taking risks is important for creative game design.
*When you're designing a region in your game, instead of thinking about what type of area you want it to be and then figuring out whatthe tone should be, figure out the tone first and then choose the type.

"If you want to make the player feel persecuted put an enemy AI into the level that constantly hunts him."

E.M.M.I. has entered the chat

First half of DS1 just peaks everything

This presentation contains an absolute wealth of important information! Thanks for making this available to everyone that wants to learn more about level design <3

If the player does something you don't expect, my friend, that is interesting gameplay

Feel so late to this video. been watching these. although i may not get into game dev super seriously i love the insight. it provides understanding and appreciation for the story telling as well as the thought process in creating these games.

haha, you can really feel the age of this talk when the Q&A begins and he struggles with questions about about games that pursue experiences outside of player empowerment, or how to deal with the paradox of giving the optional bonuses to players who've proven they don't need the help.
Still, a solid set of guidelines, I think. Just don't forget to apply your own critical thinking.

Cod campaign designers should watch this

this guy has crazy CV the amount of big studios he has worked at.

Someone give this man an award for drinking like 5 bottles of water in less than 45 minutes. 🏆

Great talk. I'm unsure why it is so blurry from the audience view.

I was so glad he was my lieutenant

PARA OS BR QUE NUM ENTENDE INGREIS :D

Um bom Level Design...

1. É DIVERTIDO DE NAVEGAR

cria uma linguagem visual clara porém se
sinta livre de colocar um pouco de caos.


2. NÃO DEPENDE DE PALAVRAS

use narrativa implicita e emergente do
que explicita para contar uma história,
sendo a implicita a abordagem que não
deixa claro para o jogador e a emergente
que tem envolvido as ações do próprio
jogador.


3. CONTA OQUE MAS NÃO COMO

Faça objetivos claros para assim o jogadores
completarem de qualquer maneira ou
na ordem que eles quiserem.


4. ENSINA CONSTANTE

Mantem o jogador engajado com introdução
ou subvertencia de novas mecânicas.


5. É SURPREENDENTE

não tenha medo te correr riscos com
estimulação estética ou outros elementos.


6. EMPODERA O JOGADOR

videogames são uma forma de escapismo
então faça o jogador sentir o impacto das
suas ações.


7. É FÁCIL, MÉDIO E DIFÍCIL

use risco e recompensa para então o jogador
setar a dificuldade de forma dinâmica.


8. É EFICIENTE

Feito para modularidade pelo direcionamento
e "não-linearidade" e outros.

9. CRIA EMOÇÃO

começa no final com as respostas emocionais
desejadas e retrocede para selecionar a
mecânica adequada para eliciar a resposta.


10. É DIRIGIDO PELAS MECÂNICAS

Acima de tudo mostra as mecânicas do jogo
através do nível para reforçar a natureza
interativa unica de video games.

"Real life sucks" - tell that to the Farm and euro truck sim players.

I didn't like this talk much. The first question he received was a brutal own lmao.

man GDC crowds fucking suck lmao

Doom 2016 has good level design.

From a hack and slash perspective I think the hub world design is as good as it gets... You can ditch the linearity of games like devil may cry... You don't need to invest aeons of time into designing the next gotham... You can stream in and stream out sections which keeps your framerate in the sweet spot...

It's weird to see Skyrim used as a good example for any form of story telling, but the Dark Brotherhood quest was way above the rest of the game in that aspect.