Lead Level Designer at @HalfMermaid, previously Dishonored 2, @BreachWizards, etc. Follow me on Bluesky instead: https://xitter.cf/t.co/xjokNjhyi6
London
Joined November 2008
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My 4 most popular #leveldesign vids:
My Dishonored 2 / Arkane level design test: youtube.com/watch?v=8cEccZCP…
Speed Level Design videos = misleading: youtube.com/watch?v=IcCFto0u…
How I design levels in text first: youtube.com/watch?v=0FSssDWE…
Why LD is hard to practice: youtube.com/watch?v=-T73pq9Y…
4 more of my #leveldesign vids you might enjoy:
Holistic LD for Immersive Sims: youtube.com/watch?v=NO1lvc3i…
Getting past the blank canvas: youtube.com/watch?v=fv8i4IBd…
Designing Alba's mini open world: youtube.com/watch?v=TfmcQrKC…
Make a Portal 2 level in 60 seconds: youtube.com/watch?v=ky7T0dki…
Not defending games being overly handholdy / patronising / spoiling things, mind. It’s about trying to do it the right way. Helping the player isn’t a bad thing when they want / need it.
But it’s also kinda impossible to get this “right” for 6 million players at the same time
Our 2nd #leveldesign jam kicks off in 7 days, y'all:
- 1 month long
- Making short, fully playable levels
- Themes: "Non-Violence" + "Verticality"
- Any editor or engine
- It all happens on our Discord server
- Here's a short video about our first jam: youtube.com/watch?v=km2v0Ss-…
In Part 3, I design, blockout and script a basic version of the final act of the level, after catching myself almost heading down a direction that was way out of my comfort zone, and would've probably ended in tears / a very awkward video series. Watch: youtube.com/watch?v=5SSBNNaB…
Here's a follow-up with 15 more questions for #leveldesign / #gamedesign peeps to ask themselves - regarding simplicity, narratively-interesting gameplay objectives, gender representation, whether it's important to challenge the player, etc - watch here: youtube.com/watch?v=IpXm2crQ…
Video 11 is an updated version of my GDC talk on Holistic Level Design in Dishonored 2 (and immersive sims in general) - analysing the game and the discipline through the lenses of Player Intentionality, World Building and Interactive Narrative: youtube.com/watch?v=NO1lvc3i…
In video 4 I give detailed #leveldesign feedback on my old HL2 student project, as if I was mentoring myself at a studio, and we were trying to ship the level in a real game.
I’ve crammed 19 topics into 14 minutes - layout, clarity, drama, process, etc: youtu.be/K2kUQPJEot8
(With @leveldesignfm’s blessing) I uploaded a 12min excerpt of me talking on the podcast, about some of the fun stuff Dishonored 2 level designers had to think about to make sure players can’t “break” the level (with Blink, Possesion, Bend Time, etc):
youtu.be/fPOh75O7Mtc
