Resources for Level Designers

In this post, I highlight some Level Design resources that I’ve found especially helpful.

Game Maker’s Toolkit

The first set of resources is a series of videos from one of the best game dev analysis channels on YouTube, Game Maker’s Toolkit. Although the videos in this list skew toward 2D and 3D platforming, the fundamental concepts and principles discussed in them are applicable across all genres.

One throughline of the videos is a focus on kishotenketsu, the application of a 4-part structure to levels (or, more precisely, level gimmicks): introduction, development, twist, and conclusion.

This Level Design schema was popularized by Koichi Hayashida of Nintendo, and you can see the evolution of it in Hayashida’s Mario games, each one following the formula more strictly than the last. You can also see it other Nintendo games (for example, in recent Donkey Kong Country entries), as well as in non-Nintendo games (for example, in Rayman Legends and Mega Man).

1. Super Mario 3D World's 4 Step Level Design (2015)

2. Analysing Mario to Master Super Mario Maker (2015)

3. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - Mario's Level Design, Evolved (2017)

4. The Design Behind Super Mario Odyssey (2017)

5. Breaking Down the Best World in Rayman Legends (2018)

6. How Mega Man 11's Levels Do More With Less (2018)

7. How to Make Your First Super Mario Maker 2 Level (2019)

Udemy

For an in-depth course on Level Design from the perspective of a professional Level Designer focused on 3D action games, I recommend the Udemy course Learn the ART of Level Design by Kevin Oxland.

This succinct course covers everything a beginning level designer should know, from the theoretical (for example, basic principles and conceptual tools) to the practical (for example, how to block out a level in engine, and how to place enemies, pickups, and scripted events).

The course first covers ideating and concepting:

1. Brainstorming

2. Writing a Design Brief

3. Creating Reference / Mood Boards

4. Creating Bubble Diagram

It then covers core design principles and concepts:

1. Beat analysis (thinking in terms of beats and the 4 second rule)

2. Designing From the Core

3. Exposure/Priming

4. Layering/Immersion

5. Shaping/Fight or Flight

6. Up the Ante

7. Pacing and Progression

8. Communication / Player Feedback

9. Situational Awareness / Resolution

10. Scaleable Rewards / Difficulty Ramping

11. Foreshadowing

12. Colour as a Design Tool

It then walks through an in-engine example of creating a level blockout, focusing on:

1. Form follows function

2. Composition and color

3. Modular design

4. Focal points

5. Minimizing clutter

6. Storytelling mechanisms

It then walks through iteration of the level blockout:

1. Fixing core problems w/ form

2. Re-focusing on game mechanics

3. Placeholder props

4. Core object placement

5. Enemy placement (w/ focus on pacing)

6. Pickup placement (w/ focus on pickup impact)

7. Game events & traps

Miscellany

Finally, here a few miscellaneous resources that I also found helpful in my journey.

1. "Everything I learned about Level Design, I Learned from Disneyland" Scott Rogers, Walt Disney YT video of a talk given by Scott Rogers at Game Design Conference

2. Level Design: Concept, Theory, and Practice by Rudolf Kremers