Creating your Visual Style

Make clear where the player can go. You can use a grid to highlight or even color for it:
- Grass with green
Take colors into the account:
- Indicate goals and treasures for the players
- Make everything relevant for players obvious

“Its up to the designer to define how they want to present their work”

Regulations and Metrics

Gyms: Test levels where the level designer to show case and investigate what are the mechanics and metrics are
Examples of gyms: Combat, Foot IK (to simulate the animations), Mechanics ( Jump distance and height, Climbable Ledges, Crawling)

Planning a Level

Level design documentation is visual documentation
Get references or generate using AI
Analysis of Gameplay beat breakdown and pacing of the level:
You can use color to highlight areas of the map on top down block out maps:
Use grid and sketch’s to help during the planning using the known metrics:

Useful Tools for Planning

Bubble / Flow Charts
Vizio / Whimsical Doc
2-D Maps / Sketches
Pure Ref Board
Design Document
Mission Beats

Relatable Game Levels

“You should took more can than to create a hallway to make the player goes to A to B”
Always take screenshots from the players perspective
Abstract geometry can be difficult to understand
Don’t over use the same material
“Squint the eyes!” to check how readable

Positive and Negative Space

Negative: Everything that is not interactable on the stage

Spacing and Comfort

Its important to create spaces to make the player engage considering the metrics for comfort
Take note about:
- The camera shouldn’t be bumping or clipping while the player is moving around
- The player shouldn’t be hitting a wall when jumping between platforms
- Consider the space between the walls and the end of staircases

Scale is Key

Object Hierarchy: Hierarchy is a visual design principle which designers use to show the importance of each your scene’s contents by changing these elements. In this case, we mean size or scale - players recognize larger elements more easily.

Find the scale that works for your game and the world and stay consistent

We not are always saying that the scale will be the real world scale!!!
- Real World: Accurate proportions / realistic
- Stylized : Super small/big/exaggerations
Take a special attention to:
- Collision not matching
- Prop scaling
- Building heights
- Ceiling heights
- Crowded spaces
- Player Metrics
Scope is the world size

Do I have enough detail?

Game’s Complexity
Team’s preference
Designer’s choice
Cohesive LD presentation

“The level block out should accurately represent the mechanics the best you can”

Don’t forget to challenge players
Make me pressed buttons
Add as much detail as you need to sell your level ideas

How to use Reference Material

“Get from photos, images, drawings and organize it”

There are many specific types of references that a level designer may want to collect, depending on the type of game and environment they are designing
By collecting and referencing to these types of references, you can create a more detailed, immersive an visual interesting game level space that supports the game’s story and mechanic
Do not underestimate the planning stages, research and collecting solid reference for your work. It makes a big difference

Week 02 - Assignment

During the week 2 the objective was to make an Ancient Egyptian Tomb. Should be take inspiration on the movie “The Mummy”.

The goals for week 2 are:

Make your own PureRef Reference Board

Get more familiar building LINEAR spaces

Start identifying key shapes

Imagine a story or gameplay taking place

Blocking out a simple level to move around in

Continue getting familiar with Blueprint Character (ALS V4)

Link to original