Level design
My map-making workflow
From intentions...
A good level starts with good intentions. I always take the time to properly think about and write down what I want my level to achieve, and the experience that I want the player to have. Depending on the task needed I will either write a thorough document explaining in detail what my vision is, or I'll use a graphic document maker like Miro to create a big brainstorm / moodboard sheet for my own use.
...through schematics...
Once my intentions are set, I can start brainstorming and start to sketch down some ideas. I often begin with pencil and paper to get a general feel for the geometry and main shapes of the level. Once I'm happy with a solid base I setup my metrics to make sure that everything will fit in my level (It'd be a shame if the player couldn't fit through doors).
As soon as my metrics are defined, and I feel comfortable with my choices I'll use illustrator to make a proper level schematic detailing most aspects of the level, with proper color coding to make it easily readable. At this stage I don't go into too much detail, or get too attached to certain aspects. It's really easy to have a very clear idea of what you want, but be disappointed when you realise that it doesn't quite work like you wanted in-game. I also tend to get some fun ideas while building the level itself, so there's no point in setting everything in stone on the schematics.
...To a proper Blockout!
Now comes the really fun part: turning my ideas into a proper level that can be traversed and interacted with! At this stage, all of my preparations are finished and I can start to model everything properly. Of course, what I make now won't match exactly with what I envisioned on paper. Some geometry might make more sense in another way when converted to 3D, or I might have found a better idea during the process. Either way, I make sure to thoroughly test every interaction that I can along the way, to make sure that my level fits the experience that I am aiming for. I start with the overall geometry of my map, then add some lighting to designate proper zones and contrasts.
I make sure that traversing the created zones feels good and that the map is optimized to work well with every jump, leap, or slide from every angle. Once all of that is done, I add the narrative and environmental details that'll give the artists that go over the scene a good idea of what my vision is. I make sure to leave some liberty of interpretation when possible to give the artists some leeway. I also make sure that I do not use any pretty assets, I don't want one of my blockout assets to be left in the final level by mistake or oversight.
That's pretty much it for my workflow! Of course it is a bit more complicated than this in practice, but this illustrates the primary lines and processes that I go through when designing a level. If you want to see a collection of levels that I have created feel free to check out the Projects page and look at the projects where I worked as a level designer.
The tools that I USe
Over the various projects that I've worked on, I've had the need to use multiple tools. To begin, I usually use Adobe Illustrator to create my schematics and metrics. And once I'm satisifed with the plan I start making the blockout with different tools depending on the engine used and the type of game. If the game is 2D I'll use Unity's very reliable tileset tools. But if the game is 3D, the tool that I use depended on the engine that the game was made in.
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If the team worked on Unity I used the Probuilder add-on to create blockouts, and with Unreal Engine I used the basic BSP Geometry tools. I've gotten really used to those tools and had no problems working with them, but last year I started using Blender during my internship on Elemental Roll, and since then I've continued using it on other projects. Blender is such a versatile and efficient tool for modeling shapes, it makes level creation so much easier. I've found very productive ways of using Blender with both Unity and Unreal that makes it such a superior tool compared to Probuilder and BSP Geometry, and allows me to create levels much more efficiently, precisely and freely. I make all of my basic blockout in Blender and then I go in-engine to do the precise asset placement, this is super efficient and saves me a lot of time and effort.
Bsp
Geometry
Probuilder
Basic Blockout in blender
Asset placement in engine
Testing Makes Perfect!
Of course, a level can't be considered finished if it hasn't been tested. Try as I might, I can't predict every single interaction or wild idea that a player might have. There will always be something that I didn't foresee or something that might seem obvious or easy to me but really complicated to others. Some players see certain things very differently, so it is important that I stay flexible and avoid getting too attached to my decisions if I see that, in practice, it might not work as well as I could have hoped.
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The video above shows some tests that I did for a level based around stealth and camouflage in Towerfall. Being able to see how decorative elements interacted with the player gave me the idea of using them as positional giveaways to enemy players.
