Pipeline

I get an initial brief from the game director about what level/s I’m working on and what gameplay and story beats need to be included. I will also get a brief from the art director about the location they want the levels to be in, as well as any accompanying reference material or concept sketches.

When I start designing the level I start off making a good plan – planning is super important but can be the most boring part for most people when they start out as they just want to jump straight into creating something 3D! I’ve learnt to love this part as I can set out the structure of what I need to include in my design so the level isn’t just an incoherent jumble of independent ideas forced together. For example, in the opening level of ‘Killzone Mercenary’ we had a boss fight against a tank which you destroyed using D-charges. I knew I needed the player to know how to use it so I planned in an isolated period of downtime that used the D-charge as a progression blocker to ensure they learnt this mechanic before being challenged with it.

Once I’ve got a good idea of my gameplay beats I start creating a greybox in Maya and get it into the engine as early as possible. This way we can assess how big the level is and get a general idea of the flow and pacing. If it’s too big or my initial blockout is going to be too empty then it’s really easy to adjust at the start before it’s had any investment from the art team. During the greybox phase I also get the combat encounters included as well with all the necessary scripting for this to work. The combat shouldn’t be forced in afterwards when a level is locked down as the environment should be sculpted at the start to support the desired gameplay.

After the greybox has been signed off, the art team start making it look great. During these phases there are always changes and iterations that are needed, so the disciplines involved collaborate together to start improving the level to make it the best we can; playing great and looking great.

Eventually as the level progresses and changes with the implemented improvements we then finally get a level signed off. We won’t change anything from then on unless it’s absolutely necessary (and this always happens even in the very last stages of the project!). Then we are on to the final stage of bug fixing and polish before release!

Tips and Tricks

If you’ve just started as a designer in the games industry, or you’re beginning to make your own indie games, some advice I’d give is don’t be too precious over your work. In the interest of improvement your levels will always go through iterations, things will be chopped and changed and at times whole sections can be completely scrapped. If you’re too precious over your work you’ll never want to change anything and ultimately the level will suffer. Changing sections doesn’t mean that you’ve done a bad job; in fact the team will have learnt a lot from the first design and although it’s not the angle they want to go with, you’re getting ever closer to what the game should be. Work is never wasted as it provides much needed lessons for finding the tone and experience of the game. Additionally, if you’ve got a great idea that’s a lot of fun but unfortunately doesn’t fit for the game or area you’re currently working on, you can always come back to it in the future.

If you’re trying to get into the industry and you’re focusing on building a portfolio I’d urge you to make something achievable – you don’t have to create a whole level that has an art pass, you just need to create something that demonstrates your design knowledge. This can be done in one simple area of a level, such as including a landmark for your goal, a combat encounter with enemy waves and perhaps a simple puzzle for progression. This is all you’d need to demonstrate your ability and knowledge and it’s something achievable; if you bite off too much not only will it be daunting but you’ll probably never finish it either.

Also, don’t bother writing design documents, or your ideas for games as unfortunately no one will ever read them. People don’t want to read (which is a good design mantra to know as well!) and they don’t have time allocated to read your document. You also won’t be doing that much document writing in your job, yeah you’ll do the odd specification but you’d mainly be creating and implementing content into the game, so make sure you demonstrate you can do that!

Level Designer at Guerrilla Cambridge

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