Pathwardens - level design exercise

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Period

Oct 2024

My Focus

  • Level design

  • Narrative design

Type

Personal project - Game Design course

Project Links

Game Design Document

Personal Summary

This design exercise was a great opportunity to apply various level design techniques in a practical setting. I learned how to structure environments to guide players, create engaging challenges, and balance pacing within a level.

Iteration played a crucial role in my workflow. I practiced refining my level by gathering feedback from other students and my teacher, then applying their insights to improve the design. This process helped me understand how essential testing and iteration are in level design.

One of my biggest takeaways was recognizing how overall game design directly influences level design. To create a meaningful level, I first had to establish key mechanics and a surface-level narrative. This experience reinforced the importance of aligning level design with the game’s core mechanics and storytelling to create a cohesive player experience.

Period

Oct 2024

My Focus

  • Level design

  • Narrative design

Type

Personal project - Game Design course

Project Links

Game Design Document

Personal Summary

This design exercise was a great opportunity to apply various level design techniques in a practical setting. I learned how to structure environments to guide players, create engaging challenges, and balance pacing within a level.

Iteration played a crucial role in my workflow. I practiced refining my level by gathering feedback from other students and my teacher, then applying their insights to improve the design. This process helped me understand how essential testing and iteration are in level design.

One of my biggest takeaways was recognizing how overall game design directly influences level design. To create a meaningful level, I first had to establish key mechanics and a surface-level narrative. This experience reinforced the importance of aligning level design with the game’s core mechanics and storytelling to create a cohesive player experience.

Period

Oct 2024

My Focus

  • Level design

  • Narrative design

Type

Personal project - Game Design course

Project Links

Game Design Document

Personal Summary

This design exercise was a great opportunity to apply various level design techniques in a practical setting. I learned how to structure environments to guide players, create engaging challenges, and balance pacing within a level.

Iteration played a crucial role in my workflow. I practiced refining my level by gathering feedback from other students and my teacher, then applying their insights to improve the design. This process helped me understand how essential testing and iteration are in level design.

One of my biggest takeaways was recognizing how overall game design directly influences level design. To create a meaningful level, I first had to establish key mechanics and a surface-level narrative. This experience reinforced the importance of aligning level design with the game’s core mechanics and storytelling to create a cohesive player experience.

Goal

We were tasked with conceptualizing a small game and then designing a level for it.

To establish this concept, I created a short Game Design Document defining the setting, narrative, and key mechanics to guide my level design process.

In summary, the game’s premise was inspired by the gameplay of Deus Ex or Observer, while the narrative drew on dystopian themes from George Orwell’s 1984.

Establishing the game’s narrative


Process

During the course, we explored various level design techniques and applied them in our work to understand their practical use; for example, introducing mechanics in isolation before gradually increasing their complexity.

The biggest design challenge I faced was thinking vertically since the level was set in an apartment complex. However, this constraint also pushed me to think creatively, allowing me to create distinct environmental variations between floors.

Defining the flow of each part of the level


To further visualize the design, I utilized Radical Forge’s Blockout kit for Unity.

The courtyard introduces the player to the world, while the atrium establishes the hacking mechanic


To make traversal more interesting, I added a plank between two windows and a hole between floors.


Given the dystopian setting of an old apartment building, I used rubble and structural damage to naturally funnel the player in a certain direction


Result

By the end of this one-week exercise, I had conceptualized a small game and prototyped its first level. I also presented my concept to the teacher and fellow students who challenged my prototype, leading to further iterations and small improvements.

This exercise helped me internalize key level design techniques and practice the workflow of a level designer.