How do you design levels for different games and devices?

As a generalist game designer, having a well-defined game concept is essential. This foundational vision directs the level design, shaping structures and challenges. For example, in a stealth game, not only do you focus on elements like hiding spots and detection zones, but the locations where players hide can also be crucial to the game's narrative. Storytelling often serves as a guiding pillar for me, adding depth to each level's tone and mood. Before going digital, I sketch out levels using paper prototypes or free software like Miro, targeting specific player objectives. This early planning aligns levels with both the game mechanics and the overarching story.

Before starting any level design you need metrics, you need to know how tall your your MC, how large is the MC, same goes for NPCs, enemies and the camera type and the camera distance. Without these info, you will not be able to do any level design, because the first thing about LD is traversability, if you cannot move in your Level, then the level doesn't work. Once you have the metrics you need to build a traversability gym, in which you crate different type of spaces for each of the main movement mechanics of the game for example Walk in crowded place Walk in large space Run in crowded Run in large So on and so forth. Once you have this info you can start LD

You should never ignore technology (is one of the elements of the Schell's rhombus). The first element that you need to consider of technology is: limitation. I know that you are thinking why I shouldn't start with the strength of the tech ? Because the tech limits is really what is going to create a problem not the tech strength... So start with the tech limits, how many polygons, the streaming algorithm, the power and etc. Once you know the tech limits, you know what you cannot do, which means is time to know that you can do, which is the tech strength. Yo understand what is the strength of a tech ask yourself What is something that I can do only with this device ?

As a designer, I focus on leveraging each device's unique strengths, while acknowledging its limitations. It's not just about adapting to the constraints; it's about elevating the gameplay within them. Collaboration with technical teams is essential to ensure your vision is feasible and optimized. Regardless of the platform, considerations like load times and performance cannot be overlooked as they impact player engagement. The device should not limit your creativity but serve as a canvas that presents its own set of challenges and opportunities, allowing for diverse experiences across the gaming spectrum.

Understanding your audience is like unlocking a cheat code in game design. It allows you to craft levels that not only challenge but also resonate with players emotionally. I've found that integrating feedback loops early on—such as alpha or beta testing with a sample of your target audience—can provide invaluable insights. This isn't just about difficulty or complexity; it’s about the small, surprising moments that make a level memorable. Perhaps it’s a moment of comic relief or an unexpected plot twist. These are the moments that get talked about and shared, and they can only be engineered if you understand who you’re designing for.

Level design starts on paper or a low complexity drawing tool like paint, you need something that is fast to use and can be used to iterate quickly. You should start by thinking about the golden path (the sequence of actions that leads from the start of the level to the end of it). Having a solid golden path is your top priority, if that work the level can be finished, once you have that you can expand the level based on the game and player needs. When you have your map is time to create a white or grey box of the level, even without anything else the level should feel good (at least for traversal).

In the tooling phase of level design, I begin with greyboxing for quick, foundational iterations. Once this stage is complete, I find it crucial to involve artists. They often excel at visually expressing ideas and can bring a level to life with set dressing in ways that sometimes surpass a designer's vision. Their talents especially shine when refining elements like lighting and ambience. While deep technical skills aren't a must, there are intuitive tools to help integrate interactions and events, making the level a compelling experience. The cross-disciplinary collaboration at this stage elevates a level from merely functional to truly captivating and magical.

Never, EVER, get into a level editing tool before planning your level. It will only cost you time. 1) Define the progression of your level: mechanical (learn a gadget), narrative (unveil a secret), environmental (go from a cave to an enemy base). You'll have at least 1, sometimes all 3, often 2. You might have to make your own or get them from Game Designers, Narrative Designers and Art Directors. 2) Understand the level layout: is it open, linear, or a web? 3) Start with a Molecular Plan: make big bubbles that represent the areas of your level and connect them specifying if you can see, reach or move one way from one bubble to another. 4) Iterate with a top down and/or side view map. 5) Finally start blocking out the level.

In my experience, testing and iterating are absolutely vital to successful level design. It's tempting to rely on my own gameplay for evaluation, but I recognize that I'm not the best judge; knowing the level inside out robs me of a fresh perspective. Hence, I prioritize gathering external feedback. Observing someone else navigate the challenges and narrative elements often reveals insights I couldn't have spotted myself. For example, a player might interact in unexpected ways, offering opportunities to refine the level. Qualitative feedback, particularly from first-time players, is invaluable. This iterative process turns a good level into a captivating experience, ensuring it resonates with a broad audience.

It’s not just the last step, but an ongoing step throughout the entire process. When you reach any playable milestone, whether it’s a first pass of your whitebox or the final delivery of your whitebox, you must have others playing your level to ensure it’s hitting every goal you set out for it as it’s designer. Iterating is nigh on impossible without feedback, and you won’t get good feedback from playing it yourself. Get others to do it, especially those from outside the level design team. Don’t tell them what to do, don’t interfere, but simply watch. Are they spending a few minutes wandering aimlessly? Are they trying to open doors they can’t use? Observations like that are invaluable, and provide unbiased feedback.

Level design is about using the ambient to guide the player to cool moments and the end of the level. My suggestion is that you need to think your level less as an ambient and more like a game of sharade where the level (without using words) wants to telle something to the player and guide it. At the same time the player needs to understand what the level want to tell (so it needs to be clear but not oblivious) because the players need to feel that they have found the solution