Part
Level design
You might say: play-space design, map and level design
Level design plans and builds the playable spaces where a game's rules become movement, navigation and encounters.
- What it does
- Turns mechanics and experience goals into spaces, routes, beats and readable affordances that shape what players do next.
- Ask
- What should this space make players feel, notice and do, and how will the geometry support it?
- Typical
- From tightly scripted rooms and critical paths to open worlds, multiplayer lanes and player-made routes.
- Trouble
- The map feels like decoration or a maze: players miss goals, misread affordances, or fight the geometry instead of the intended challenge.
What to look for
- Playable spaces with movement and navigation
- Routes, beats and readable affordances
- Encounters in a built space
Parts
- Experience goal: An experience goal states what the player should learn, feel or do in a level.
- Layout: A layout is an initial visual plan of a level's structure, areas and key pacing beats.
- Blockout: A blockout is a low-detail playable version of a space made from simple shapes so movement, scale and encounters can be tested.
- Flow: Flow is how movement along paths and between areas feels: its speed, direction, continuity and tension.
- Critical path: The critical path is the main intended route or procedure for completing a single-player level while encountering its important beats.
- Pacing: Pacing is the order and rhythm of activities and events the player experiences across a level.
- Readability: Readability is whether players can understand the space, its objects and where they can or should go.
Sources
- The Level Design Book, What is level design, What is level design
Level designers focus on shaping player behavior.
Use it on your project
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