FalconGames

The Block out

Level design is one of the challenges that I had thought of before and not paid any great attention to, thinking that when I get to that point I’ll be fine, just make a cool, fun and interesting level right? I’ve played plenty of games in my lifetime and I know what makes a good level!

Today I began on the block out of a game I’m making to improve my skills and hopefully share. To kick this off I made some basic roads and alleyways before I started to look at some learning material on level design only to realize that I had fallen into the Dunning-Kruger effect, now knowing that there is so much more that goes into level design. Falling into this common effect is discouraging, but understanding that skills can and will improve with dedication is what makes it possible to push through. Time to start the studying again.

The Basics:

• Guiding the player towards clear objectives
• providing interesting challenges that fit in with progression
• Providing a coherent and fitting thematic environment/story
• Have a clear and noticeable sense of progress
• Introduce game mechanics and iterate upon them

From the above, I have already started to form in my mind what I want to try and do for the level I’m working on. First off, I want to make it clear at the start what the player is working towards: six collectibles that need to be found in order to beat the game. These collectables will be found in an open area with clear set pieces for the player to explore with the harder challenges being further from the starting zone which will play into the sense of progression and the challenges will each have unique game play mechanics.

Since this project is intended as a learning piece for me, I don’t want to spend too much time making the perfect level with perfect balance, but I would like this to be something I’m proud of showing so I don’t want to rush this and I think the 6 unique zones will be a great way to show off and practice my skills as I want them to be quite unique from one another. I am only just starting this journey, and I am sure I will run into many challenges along the way. Documenting them and detailing how I overcame them will be an invaluable learning experience.

Above I have begun to block out some level ideas and start implementing a small puzzle for the first sequence. When it comes time to model, I plan to export to blender and make some models to replace the placeholders.