ABSTRACT

In this book, veteran game developers, academics, journalists, and others provide their processes and experiences with level design. Each provides a unique perspective representing multiple steps of the process for interacting with and creating game levels – experiencing levels, designing levels, constructing levels, and testing levels. These diverse perspectives offer readers a window into the thought processes that result in memorable open game worlds, chilling horror environments, computer-generated levels, evocative soundscapes, and many other types of gamespaces. This collection invites readers into the minds of professional designers as they work and provides evergreen topics on level design and game criticism to inspire both new and veteran designers.

 

Key Features:

  • Learn about the processes of experienced developers and level designers in their own words
  • Discover best-practices for creating levels for persuasive play and designing collaboratively
  • Offers analysis methods for better understanding game worlds and how they function in response to gameplay
  • Find your own preferred method of level design by learning the processes of multiple industry veterans

part I|98 pages

Experiencing Levels

chapter 1|16 pages

Kamuro Nights

A Personal Retrospective of the Yakuza Series

chapter 3|26 pages

From Construction to Perception

Three Views of Level Design for Story-Driven Games

part II|84 pages

Designing Levels

chapter 5|20 pages

Hell, Hyboria, and Disneyland

The Origins and Inspirations of Themed Video Game Level Design

chapter 8|25 pages

Procedural Content Generation

An Overview

part III|90 pages

Constructing Levels

chapter 9|20 pages

P.T. and the Play of Stillness

chapter 10|12 pages

The Illusion of Choice

How to Hide the Linearity of Levels from Players

part IV|85 pages

Testing Levels

chapter 13|20 pages

Play-Personas

Mental Tools for Player-Centered Level Design

chapter 15|14 pages

The Rule of 27s

A Comparative Analysis of 2D Screenspace and Virtual Reality Environment Design

chapter 16|33 pages

Expression Versus Experience

Balancing Art and Usability Needs in Level Design

chapter |2 pages

Conclusion