There’s a lot of books that seem interesting but sadly there’s not enough time to go through them all. I’ve created a list of interesting Level Art, Level Design and general Design, Architecture or Psychology books that I would highly recommend to both beginning and experienced Level Creators. Feel free to vote and propose your favorite books!

The list can be found on Goodreads’ Listopia: Level Art & Design – Basics and Advanced Topics

LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup – Volume 51

Hello fellow Level Artists and Designers! This update is a big one! There’s plenty of articles and videos due to a longer break I took. Enjoy!

One more thing! My second daughter will be born this month! I’ll probably stay offline for a longer time but we’ll see how it will go.

Articles:

• Affordances in Level Design: how players interact with your level
• Case Study of 2Fort
• Creating Team Fortress 2 Content – Koth_Courtyard – Blockout
• Developer Diary – Brian Baker (Infinity Ward)
• Designing the Enemy AI of The Division 2
• Engaging Level Design for Combat – Part 2
• Engaging Level Design for Combat – Part 3
• Everspace 2 – Behind The Scenes #3 – Level Design, Station Modules & Creative Rewards
• How Blasphemous’ level design iterates on classic Metroidvanias
• How they levelled up: Jacob Mills – Ubisoft level designer
• How to articulate a visual language system in a level design environment
• How to handle cover placement
• How to use grids
• Level Design by Subdivision of Space
• Level Design Case Study – Recreating the First Level in God of War (2018)
• Methods of creating invisible tutorials
• On Flow: Part 01
• Ori And the Blind Forest: From Prototype to Game (GIF Comparison)
• Pathfinding for three playable characters simultaneously in Path of Giants
• Solasta Dev Diary #6 – What is Level Building?
• Solving Puzzle Design – Puzzle Resource Summary
• Take a look behind-the-scenes with design documents from The Legend of Zelda!
• The Architecture of Fear: Level Design Lessons from Haunted Houses
• The Elements of Modern Level Design
• The Hidden Level Design of Undertale
• The Importance of Level Design: Breaking the Mood
• The Making of Facing Worlds, Unreal Tournament’s most popular map
• The Making of Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, Part 1: The Plan
• The Making of Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, Part 2: Froggy Foreshadowing
• The Making of Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, Part 3: Our Favorite Secrets and More
• The Making of Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, Part 4: The Subtle Art of Backgrounds
• The Making of Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, Part 5: Fin
• Watch Dogs 2 — Automata – A level design retrospective
• What is the effect of the lighting design process on game aesthetics and its influence on the gaming experience?
• What lessons can Action games learn from classic DOOM?
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood: “When it comes to level design, Arkane has shown us the way”

Videos:

• 2 Things for Level Balance (Game Design Analysis Featuring Half-Life 2: DownFall)
• Building Tension with Verticality (Talking Topics on Game Design)
• Coffee Stain Developer Highlight – Level Design
• Designing Open Worlds in Games With Level Design Lobby – Perceptive Podcast
• Designing random GAME LEVELS using BUILDING BLOCKS
• General Level Design Theory – Alberto Carrillo
• Hijacking Flow in Multiplayer Level Design
• How DMC 5 Uses Its Level Design Beautifully
• How Level Design Can Tell a Story – Game Maker’s Toolkit
• How to build GAME LEVELS randomly
• How to Make HARD Levels! – Super Mario Maker 2 Level Design
• Inside – Game Feel and Level Design Analysis
• Level Design Deep Dive – The Evolution of Facing Worlds
• Level Design Lobby – Ep 63: Mitja Roskaric
• Level Design Mysteries Panel, EGX 2019
• Level Design Workshop: The Illusion of Choice
• Level With Me: level design in Black Mesa (Source), Chapter 1 “Black Mesa Inbound”
• Level With Me: level design in Half-Life 2 Episode One, chapter 1B + 2A
• Level With Me: level design in The Long Dark, Episode 1A
• Mafia 3 – Inside Look – Building an Open World
• Mass Effect’s Citadel is One of the Best Locations in Video Games
• Narrative Approach in Games – In Level Storytelling
• Other Places: One Day in Valentine (Red Dead Redemption 2)
• Plot and Parcel: Procedural Level Design in XCOM 2
• The Immaculate Level Design of Dishonored 2
• The Making Of: Tribunal – Level Design Documentary
• The World Design of Hollow Knight
• Tutorial – Science of Level Design
• UE4: What are BSP Blockouts in UE4 and Why Are They So Important? – Tutorial
• Video Game Maps Size Comparison – 2019
• Zombie Army 4: Dead War – Level Design – Inspirations & Concepts (Part 1)
• Zombie Army 4: Dead War – Level Design – White Boxing (Part 2)
• Zombie Army 4: Dead War – Level Design – Using Developer Tools (Part 3)
• Zombie Army 4: Dead War – Level Design – Lighting and more! (Part 4)
• Zombie Army 4: Dead War – Level Design – How Cutscenes Work (Part 6)

LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup – Volume 50

Hello fellow Level Designers and Artists! This update is way bigger than an usual one because of the long break between last posts but also because this one is a special one! It’s the 50th News Roundup! First LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup was posted almost exactly 6 years ago. The idea was to save some of my time on writing single news posts and aggregate all the links into one single update. The result got a lot of praise from you and it became a core part of the website. I’m glad we’ve made it to 50th Volume. Thanks for all the kind words! I hope you’ll find this post interesting. Here’s what I recommend to you this time:

Articles:

• Behind The Scene – Zero G Locomotion And Level Design
• Level Design Metrics
• God of War Level Design Breakdown
• Temple of Haoma Level Design
• Sekiro Ashina Outskirts Level Design
• Developing my Rule book (#1)
• From The Witcher 3 to Cyberpunk: The evolution of CD Projekt’s quest design
• Level Design Patterns in 2D Games
• Playgrounds & Level Design
• Troll Games – Design a golden path
• Generating World Maps for Unexplored 2
• Level Design for Combat
• Creating a narrative focused mission design document: A Last of Us example
• A Prefab Primer
• Event SuperVision
• Event SuperVision PART 2
• How Santa Monica Studio Nailed Exploration in God of War
• Blockmesh vs Art Blockmesh vs Final Art Comparison – Uncharted 4
• My Public Work on Paladins – Andrew Yoder
• On Thief’s Level Design: Maps and Territories
• Making Prodeus Levels
• Remembering Marathon Infinity’s Opening Level
• Shooter Level Design – Tweets
• Skeletal Dance Party – Procedural Level Generation
• How To Guide Players
• Intro To Level Design
• Smart & Casual: The State of Tile Puzzle Games Level Design. Part 1
• Smart & Casual: The State of Tile Puzzle Games Level Design. Part 2
• The Door Problem of Combat Design
• Dos and Donts of CS:GO Level Design
• The Importance of Definitions in Game Design
• Tips on Open World Environments Building
• Developer Spotlight: Kevin Butt – Senior Level Designer at Tripwire
• Urban Planning for Lovecraftian Horror: The First Steps
• Women of Ubisoft – Olga Makarenko – Level Designer

Podcasts:

• Level Design Podcasts (4 Episodes!)

Videos:

• 15 Examples of PHENOMENAL Level Design In Video Games
• Adventures in Level Design: LevelHead #1
• Basic Super Mario Maker 2 Level Design – How to Make GOOD Levels!
• CrossCode’s Brilliant Level Design: Analysis
• Dark Souls 2: A Retrospective—Part 4: World & Level Design
• Days Gone – Landscapes #2 (4K)
• Level Design in God of War | Deconstructed
• F.E.A.R. – Level and Enemy Design
• Level Design Deep Dive- Creating Simplicity
• GDC 2017 – Level Design Workshop: Improving Tool Design Through Editor Triage
• Level With Me: level design in INFRA, part 1
• Level With Me: level design in My Summer Car, part 1
• Level With Me: level design in ШХД: ЗИМА / IT’S WINTER
• MAPS – Episode 1
• Other Places Ambient: Elite Dangerous
• Other Places Ambient: Alien: Isolation
• Other Places Ambient: Subnautica
• Part 1 Procedural Generation of Level
• Part 2 Exploring The Procedural Level
• Polystrike – de_dust 2 level – 4k
• Quick Look: Using Photoshop for level design layouts
• Revealing the Tricks Behind Hitman’s Level Design
• Sketch & Layout | First Person Level Design in Unity (Part 1)
• Designing “Death Factory” by Sam Howels
• Top 5 Dark Souls Level Design Moments
• WRC 8 | Replicating Reality – Level Design Dev Diary

In this episode, Mateusz Piaskiewicz talks about one of the core principles form his design toolbox – Familiarity. Mateusz explores use cases from his experience and from the Half-Life 2 opening sequence.

Soon all the videos will be available in the audio version, in form of a podcast.

LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup – Volume 49

Hello! I’m back with latest level art and design news for you! Thank you very much for visiting!

From The News:

• The best levels, maps, and locations 2018
• Metro Exodus’ Spider Bunker Shows the Importance of Level Design
• The Joy Of crap weather in Metro Exodus
• The Division 2’s Level Design Is Its Secret Weapon
• NoClip.Website

Articles:

• When level design goes awry
• FPS and TPS Multiplayer Basics
• What videogame maps can tell us about their worlds
• An Analysis of Call of Duty WW2: Operation Cobra
• An Analysis of Gears of War 4: Act II
• Savannah’s symbiosis: Sahrim and Kso
• New biome teaser: Jungle
• Level Design and Shaping a Cogmind Experience
• Roguelike Level Design Addendum: Procedural Layouts
• Incorporating level design in Melee combat systems
• Highlighting Chokepoints
• Original design doc for Halo 2’s Colossus multiplayer map
• Shape Theory in Level Design
• Breath of the Wild Open World Analysis: Gravity to go Forward
• Mapping out the subtle social cues throughout Hitman’s level design
• Designer’s guide to Unreal Engine keyboard shortcuts

Videos:

• DD2018: Piotr Mistygacz – Ten years, ten lessons learned
• 6 Instant Level Design Flow Tips as Seen in “Mirror’s Edge”
• 8 More Practical Level Design Ideas from “Mirror’s Edge”
• Level Design Saga: Creating Levels for Casual Games
• Level Design in Hitman: Guiding Players in a Non-Linear Sandbox
• The Making of Hitman 2’s Miami Level | Game Maker’s Toolkit
• Level With Me: level design in Fugue In Void
• Level With Me: level design in Paratopic
• Level With Me: level design in Underworld Ascendant, part 1 (tutorial)
• Assassin’s Creed: The Illusion of Scale | Farlands In Focus
• Cave Story – Retrospective & Level Design (No Spoilers)
• Creating a Sonic FanGame#2 Level Design And Putting Musics
• Photoshop Level Design in Unity using Houdini Engine | Luiz Kruel | GDC 2019
• How to Create a Dungeon in Unity – Level Design Tutorial with AwesomeTuts and HDRP

LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup – Volume 48

Hello fellow Level Designers and Artists! Welcome to the 48th volume of LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup. This update is a bit rushed, I could probably find more links but I wanted to post what I already had for you before the winter season break.

My Level Design book is still coming and getting better every week. Sadly, I have no time for recordings but hopefully, this will change next year! By the way, did I mentioned that recently I got hired a Senior Level Artist & Designer at Techland? Yep, I’m back! :)

I wish you the best in upcoming year 2019! I hope that during winter season break you’ll have a chance to relax and recharge your creativity, so 2019 will kick-start with fresh ideas for great levels! Thank you for your support and donations via Patreon! This website exists thanks to you, guys! Raised money allows me to move the website to a better, faster and bigger server that is available world-wide!

Articles:

• Space, Place, and the Art of Designing Deep Levels
• Level Design: Tricks of the Trade
• Half-Life 2’s Animated Architecture
• Designing Omnidirectional Levels for Lightfield
• Realism and Legibility in Open-World Level Design
• Runick – Level Design
• The ultimate guide to videogame tutorial design
• No More Tutorials! How to Convey Information Through Design
• Q&A: Inside the tools and techniques used to build The Crew 2’s open world
• Simple Thoughts For Artistic Level Design
• How Battlefield’s Most Iconic Team Deathmatch Map Was Made
• HUNT: Showdown – Lawson Delta Compounds Concept
• Hitman 2: Stealth Redefined
• How We Built an Entire Universe in a Year and a Half
• Ready Player One: Working on Level Design for VR
• Telling a Story Through Environment
• How Santa Monica Studio Nailed Exploration in God of War
• Blocktober: The Levels of God of War

Useful Links:

• Metrics and Dimensions Library

Videos:

• Other Places Walks: Athens (Assassin’s Creed Odyssey)
• Hunt: Showdown – Developer Diary – Making of Lawson Delta
• Intro to Environmental Storytelling – Video Game Design
• How to do Linear Game Design: BioShock
• The World Design of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – Boss Keys
• Map Theory: Positive and Negative Space
• Level With Me: level design in Return of the Obra Dinn (2018)
• Level With Me: level design in The Light Keeps Us Safe (2018)
• Level With Me: level design in NaissanceE, chapter 2
• Red Dead Redemption 2’s Greatest Achievement Is Its Responsive World
• GDC ’12 – Level Design Case Studies: Trainyard and Cut the Rope
• GDC ’13 – The Art of Dear Esther – Building an Environment to tell a Story
• GDC ’16 -The Living World of The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt
• GDC ’18 – Level Design Workshop: Blockmesh and Lighting Tips

LEVEL-DESIGN.org Reference Database Updates:

• Destiny 2
• Enslaved
• HUNT: Showdown
• Killing Floor 2
• Tom Clancy’s The Division
• Warhammer: Vermintide 2