In this 2013 GDC session, Square Enix Montreal’s Dan Taylor provides a Ramsian-style breakdown of how to create world-class levels, which distills the art and science of level design down to a concentrated set of fundamental principles for innovation, engagement, and immersion.
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Mmm.. no comment about Dark Souls in the talk?… mmmm…
once you notice how many times someone says uh while speaking, you can unhear it.
Shit. Don't read this comment.
uhh
Dark souls 1 blow my mind with lvl design
Brilliant run-down on how things are done cenceptually. Loved every minute.
Very much appreciated, thanks!
30:10 back-tracking is definitely not cool, and what's even more not cool is charging a person $20 to back-track. In Destiny's House of Wolves DLC they had you revisit an area you'd already been through in the main campaign only in reverse, with the same enemies as before, the only thing that was different was you got to use a special rocket launcher that was no different than a regular rocket launcher.
This was awesome! A real lesson by an experienced designer AND speaker. The way he connected each point of the presentation was gold.
1 hour? :O
This is my dream job
1. Is fun to navigate
2. Does not rely on words
3. Tells what but not how
4. Constantly teaches
5. Is surprising
6. Empowers the player
7. Is easy medium and hard
8. Is efficient
9. Creates emotion
10. Is driven by mechanics
I'd add
Has no microtransactions
Be honest about your products
Stay true to yourself, what you enjoy making, don't follow trends
Prototype, prototype, prototype
I enjoyed watching the whole thing but if you want to jump straight to his ten principles 4:21
If I hear Uhhhh….. one more time.
Halo 3 thumbnail, Final boss of clickbait 😀
for someone who knows alot about design you'd think he'd have a better slideshow :p
No hate towards this level designer (I'm sure he's a great guy), but I honestly wasn't that impressed with this talk. The 10 principles he gives are good guidelines… I guess I agree with all of them, but I can also think of exceptions for each one, so I'd hardly call them principles. He didn't really offer any justification for any of the principles other than just name-dropping a different game for each one. I would have much rather seen him go over how he applied all of these principles to a single level in Hitman (or one of his previous projects) than trying to think of a unique game for each example. It almost gives the impression that you have to be thinking about all ten of these principles when designing a level, but it's also impractical to actually apply all of them in a single game.
29:50 is when that Halo 3 thumbnail you came for comes into play.
Uh uhm eh
I got really bored with Red Faction there, it really just got so samey.
This remains one of the most important and relevant game design talks I've seen. I find it useful to see the recap at 41:50 from time to time, but once in a blue I'll watch the whole thing again to catch small but very useful things I might have neglected in my recent designs.