Imaginary Space: Level Design
(Due week 8, March 9)
What is level design?
Wiki
Level design or game mapping is the creation of levels—locales, stages, or
missions—for a video game (such as a console
game or computer game). This is done using level design
tools, special software usually developed just for the purpose of building
levels.
Level design is a process used in the majority of video
games in a variety of genres, such as platform
games, puzzle games, adventure
games, computer role-playing games and even driving
games. Most of the coverage of the discipline in widely available media
such as the Internet
relates solely to level creation for first person shooter (FPS) or real time strategy (RTS)
games. Only in the last ten years or so has the actual separation of labor
occurred that has allowed the job of level
designer to come into being, and in the last three or four years the job of
level designer itself has often been subdivided into level artist, level
designer and scripter.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_design
Level editors: from Unreal are available. Please see Prof.
Ruiz
Level Design Resource Guide
Super helpful info:
http://www.gamasutra.com/resource_guide/20010716/index.shtml
Level design is the data entry and layout portion of the game development cycle. A level is, for all intents and purposes, the same as a mission, stage, map or other venue of player interaction. As a level designer, you are chiefly responsible for the gameplay. This article will give you insight into developing good levels for any type of game, whether they are military missions for your horde of tanks, aerial encounters for a flight simulator, a dungeon for a role-playing game, a board for a puzzle game, or a map for a world conquest god-simulator. http://www.gamasutra.com/features/19990416/level_design_01.htm