Level Design 101- A short guide to building RD levels

Building levels for games is always a challenging proposal. Core Games is making a strong effort towards having users create their own levels and I figured some insight from a level designer might be useful.

For me, when I think of a game level it’s like a part of a story. The overall game has its theme, but each level should have a purpose or directive as well. When I design new levels I always try to pick a theme or a single event that I want to be the focus of the level. Now this usually will evolve as you’re making the level and sometimes you’ll have several ideas that work well together and create a fun level.

Where games run into problems is when levels have so much going on that there’s no cohesiveness. My first suggestion would be keep it simple and pick a small number (1-3) of ideas/events/themes you want your level to have. Once you have your list of ideas you can begin trying to map out a floor plan that best executes your list. I usually attempt to design a level from the ideas/themes I’ve chosen and a floor plan that works best. I try to figure out if there’s a particular floor shape or size I want, and then I adjust my list accordingly. If I had a list of 8 themes I’d need a HUGE floor plan, which takes a really long time to create. By starting small and thinking from the ground up it’ll make the initial part of level design much easier.

The next part of level design is one of my biggest stumbling blocks. You’ve got your ideas; you’ve got a basic floor plan: now where the heck do you start putting things? I usually put walls in last because it allows me freedom to expand and contract the level as I see fit. If I want a spider to chase me, but he eats Rich too quickly I can add more floor tiles, or add a nook in a wall to allow Rich to stay alive for a few more paces.

Once I get my first idea down on the screen integrating it with the next idea is also difficult for me. I try really hard not to have large open spaces in levels. Some space is needed (for spider avoiding, etc) but you don’t want your whole level to be a prairie. Again, staying simple in design allows one puzzle element to flow with another. In the original level set for RD there are plenty of levels that have different regions that teach you different things about the game. Some have only rocks, and some only arrows, then both are put together at the end to show how they interact. Feel free to use this strategy in your levels, if it applies. I recently made a level involving a robot that chases me. I used walls and spacing to keep the robot at bay, and at the end I used the same idea of spacing with rocks to round out my level. Using similar tricks with different obstacles allows the gamer to get the “feel” for a level and how to beat it.

These are just some of my intro ideas for level design. I just recently began making new levels for Core Games so my building skills will hopefully improve with time. Be sure to post your own levels in the Forums under “Rich Diamond Levels.” Also, feel free to share tid bits or ask questions about how to finish or start a level. The online community is there to test your levels, but feel free to bounce ideas off of each other. Jonathan and I are always happy answer any questions you might have. I hope this has been helpful and feel free to post tips or questions here. Thanks for reading, and happy level building!