Below is a collection of the projects I completed for the Level Design for Games course at CGMA, instructed by Shane Canning with lectures by Emilia Schatz. During the course, I was able to learn and refine my skills in level design theories such as; shape composition, architecture and player psychology. Each week, I was tasked to create a new or iterate on a previous level to explore the lessons taught in the lectures that were presented that week.
Link to the course: https://www.cgmasteracademy.com/courses/46-level-design-for-games/
Course description:
In this course you will learn to approach 3D game level environments from a design perspective. The lectures will explore theory of games, shape composition, architecture, and player psychology. You will design and iterate on level setups from the initial planning phases to playable prototypes in Unity. The course will focus on crafting immersion and modeling shapes that intrigue, surprise, and inspire players. We’ll explore how to design for game mechanics and narrative, creating level progressions that support character development and player experience.
Projects
━━ Time Traveling Through Space ━━
In this project, it was required to make a level to explore the “volume of space” using a limited amount assets to articulate a complicated, but readable volume.
While working within the project constraints, I initially focused on recreating a small series of Roman temples by using limited objects such as broken columns and walls to articulate a three-dimensional volume while keeping in mind how each shape connected with each other to form an invisible shape in the player’s mind. While creating these volumes of space I also thought about how the player’s view would be impacted as well as how they would move and flow between each volume.
Once I felt I had an understanding of the lessons of the project, I decided to push things a little further by implementing some simple 3rd Person Narrative Shooter gameplay mechanics. In the end, I created a level where the Player must collect pieces of an artifact to open a time portal/gate in order to cleanse an alternate dimension of evil beings and restore the ruined temples to their former, intact state.
I definitely had a blast with the assignment and feel like I learned a lot about working between multiple levels, passing/referencing variables between objects, implementing rudimentary shooting mechanics, and building upon an idea of a goal for the player in this type of environment. Looking forward to coming back to this project and cleaning it up. Things got a little hacky near the end and I’d love to tidy up a few of my more spaghetti-esque looking blueprints and make everything flow a lot more smoothly, add some additional things to find, etc. As it is now, it’s very much focused on the gameplay loop I implemented and I regret not spending a bit more time on the environment.
━━━━ Megastructure Exploration ━━━━
Using the principles of image composition (ex. rule of thirds), I was tasked to create an enticing spatial composition with shapes that was used as an establishing shot for the level.
I kicked off this project by adding some focal lines to my scene that I used to guide my placement of surrounding geometry. This helped immensely as I was able to craft an enticing view that pulled the player’s eyes towards the goal through the use of leading lines, light placement, and some elements of negative space. As I was placing the composing geometry, I was inspired by thoughts of how the player would move through the space and kept thinking of fun platforming and exploration moments that could be incorporated as playable spaces.
Pushing beyond the assignment’s scope, I decided to explore those ideas and blocked out some additional areas and crafted some interactive moments (basic mantling/platforming, unlockable doors, secret locations hinted at with signposting/breadcrumbs) to prepare for future iterations.
If I had more time, I’d incorporate more platforming focused challenges like you would find in an Uncharted or Assassin’s Creed game that lead to collectibles or rewarding vistas/views. I would also like to include some more alternate and interwoven paths as I feel what I created was quite linear and didn’t give the Player too many options when exploring a space.
Full project breakdown can be found [HERE]
━━━━━ Windy Ascension ━━━━
This project focused on how different types of spaces, shape languages, contrasts, and story/environmental values contribute to the emotive design of a level.
Using emotive design techniques, I created a 3D Platformer where the player could embody the seemingly weak apprentice character and move from feelings of insecurity to confidence as they make their way up a series of floating islands to reach the Castle of Wind. I interpreted Confidence/Insecurity as feelings the Player would have in their abilities and knowledge of the game and it’s mechanics to overcome the challenges they’re faced with. For example, a positive beat trending towards the Confidence value would be completing a platforming challenge. Completing the challenge makes the Player feel more confident in their ability to control the character and should give them more confidence to face more difficult challenges.
This was a fun exercise and was incredibly helpful in allowing me to plot out gameplay situations before I even opened the editor. If I had more time, or did things differently, I think I’d try to pay more attention to the amount of space I have to work with and try to craft some more clever puzzles. I’d also like to spend more time implementing more secrets for the Player to discover via emergent gameplay. What I was able to implement here was fairly basic, but still manages to feel rewarding, I just feel they could be better.
━━━━━ Cover-based Basics ━━━━━
This project focused on concepts of cover interaction, strategic contrast, flank routes, dead zones, backboards, and screen walls in 3rd Person Cover-based Shooter games (ex. Gears of War).
This was my first time putting together a more traditional combat space as my previous projects either lack combat or have more non-traditional combat scenarios. I took my time here to ensure I was taking the knowledge from the lectures into account and tried creating spaces that felt good to move through by jumping between different points of cover to explore the space, but also offered a multitude of vantage points that could be utilized by both Player and AI to create a fair combat scenario/space.
I found it was easy to end up with a crowded battlefield, so I tried my best to take my choice of shapes into consideration while ensuring spacing between objects felt comfortable to move between.
━━━━ Abandoned Mecha Escape ━━━━
This level is a compilation of everything learned throughout the course, output as a full, single player level that followed a specific level flow/structure.
Following the structure of Exploration > Valve, then Small Combat > Exploration > Valve, then Big Combat > Level Goal, I blocked out a level that utilized the combat spaces I made in the previous assignment, but strung them together to create an overarching narrative. Essentially, the player assumes control of a robot that boots up in an abandoned factory and needs to advance through the facility to figure out what’s going on in order to hopefully find a way out.
Players eventually reach a large hangar with a gigantic Mech inside. Interacting with a nearby panel reveals that the Mech needs a couple of parts to get up an running so it can be used as a means of escape. The Player must progress through various floors of the factory, defeating waves of Security Bots in order to find the missing Mech parts and restore power to the Mech and escape the facility.
This was a pretty ambitious project idea so it’s pretty rough in some areas, but it’s an idea I’ve had in my head for awhile and I still like how it turned out! I really want to revisit this and address the feedback I received as well as polish up a few areas and make them more fun and enticing to move through.