LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup – Volume 34
Articles & Tutorials:
- MapCore - Source Lighting Technical Analysis: Part One
- MapCore - Source Lighting Technical Analysis: Part Two
- Gamasutra - Incorporating Level Design in Melee Combat Systems by Bart Vossen
- Gamasutra - Level Design For Melee Combat Systems by Bart Vossen
- Gamasutra - Procedural Level Design in Dungeoning
- RPS - How Do You Make a Professional CS:GO Map?
- Open World in Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
- The Way Nintendo Used To Do Mario Levels
- InnerSpace: The Challenges of Open World Design & Player's Choice
- Instructive Level Design
- Stefan Doestschel: The Principles of Level Design
Galleries & Art Dumps:
Tools:
- Jackhammer 1.1.700 Released - Changelog
- Unity 5.1
- Unreal Engine 4.8 Released - Unreal Engine 4.9 Preview
- Trenchbroom 1.1.6
- Doom SnapMap
Videos:
- Great Levels In Gaming #15 - Dark Souls (Part 1)
- Wall Worm Level Design Episode 1
- Wall Worm Level Design Episode 2
- Why de_dust2 Is So Good?
LEVEL-DESIGN.org Reference Database Updates:
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare - Complete SP Campaign
- Call of Juarez: The Cartel - Complete SP Campaign
- Dying Light
- Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne
- Quake 4 - Complete SP Campaign
- Shadow Warrior
- Witcher 2: Enchanced Edition
Station60Ville Mapping Challenge Starts Now!
If you're looking for an opportunity to put your foot in a professional Game Development studios' doors or you just want to try yourself in a challenging competition, then this will be a good chance for you! RunThinkShootLive.com starts a new Half-Life 2 Single Player Mapping Challenge called "Station60Ville". To know more go to the RTSL website and have a look. There, you'll find all the rules, deadlines and prizes. Long story short: Make a resistance station level before August 3rd.
LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup – Volume 33
I'll start with a little announcement related to LD.org Reference Database. The website is no longer on hold, I'm able to continue with maintaining it but make sure to check out new Description and Participation Rules. I've also updated the About LD.org page with more details.
Articles:
- Borderlands and Gears of War Artist Explains Quick Landscapes in UE4
- 8 Secrets of Great Multiplayer Maps From Ben Burkart
- 10 Rules of Building Great Games & Levels Hourences
- Battlefield Environment Artist on Creating Nature in UE4
- Optimizing The Scene and Working With Lighting in Unity 5
- Philosophy of Environmental Design: Crafting a Story in 3D
- Exploring Unreal Engine 4 Scripting: Part Two
- Framing and Centering in Game Design
- Series of Unreal Engine 4 Tutorials on World of Level Design
- How (and Why) CS:GO Works
- Opinion: Breaking Down The Success of Witcher 3's Open World
- Miss-able Collectibles: I Want It But Not So Bad I'll Start The Game Over Again
- Making Agency, The Popular CS:GO Map
- Local Level Design and History/Future of Level Design
Contests and Challenges:
Videos:
- "Fallen From Grance" by Simon "Sock" O'Callaghan - Q1SP Level Commentary by Custom Gamer
- GDC'15 - Making Linear Level Design Feel Non-Linear in Gone Home
- Other Places: Metro 2033 Redux
LEVEL-DESIGN.org Reference Database Updates:
LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup – Volume 32
Hello fellow Designers and Artists! Sorry for the long delay with news. I'm quite busy lately but I haven't forget about the website. Yep, same excuse as always but it's true! Here's what cool Level Art & Design stuff I found in past weeks:
Articles:
- MapCore: Exploring Unreal Engine 4 Scripting - Part One
- Level Design: Building a Scenario
- Designing Great 1vs1 FPS Maps - Part 1: Introduction, Part 2: Examples, Part 3: Conclusions
- How To Design Levels For a Platformer
- Lighting Design Theory For 3D Games - Part 1: Light Sources and Fixtures, Part 2: A Formal Approach Light Design, Light and Depth
- Gamasutra: Balancing Multiplayer Games: Opportunity, Power, Relativity
- Gamasutra: Designing For Exploration and Choice in Firewatch
- Gamasutra: Deathmatch Map Design: Architecture And Flow
- Gamasutra: How To Make a Rapture
- 80.lv: Building Temple of Utu: Blizzard Devs on Great Environment Design
- 80.lv: Everett Gunther: Secrets of Environmental Design in UE4
- 80.lv: Sunday Environmental Design Showcase: Nature in Unity 5 and UE4
- The Making of Outpost 23
Art Dumps:
Tools & Technology:
- Dying Light Developer Tools Released on Steam Workshop - Video Tutorials
- Crytek's Back To Dinosaur Island VR Demo
- 80.lv: Epic's Open World is Free To Download
Videos:
- Game Maker's Toolkit - Super Mario 3D World's 4-Step Level Design
- Good Game Design - Donkey Kong Country: The "Hidden" Reward Principle
- Custom Gamer: The Hell That's Coming by Warren Marshal - Quake 1 Single Player Level Commentary By Daz
- Great Levels in Gaming: Destiny's Vault of Glass
- Medieval Inn - Speed Level Design In Unity
- PolygonFragments: Grand Theft Auto V - Los Santos Beach
LEVEL-DESIGN.org Reference Database:
The good news is that we have more that 100 games in the database. The bad news is that I have to put LD.org RDB on hold until I'll find a person to help me with publishing the screenshots. The last update I was able to upload contains:
LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup – Volume 31
LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup - Volume 31:
Artices:
- Visual Development by Epic Games in UE4 by Mortiz Weller
- Gamasutra - Level Design In a Day: An Expert Roundtable Q&A
- Gamasutra -How To Reduce Visual Confusion In Your Game
- Gamasutra -Making Gameplay More Engaging by Using Animated Cover
- Gamasutra - 2D Art Team - How To Manage Level Background Assets
- Building Levels In Unity - A Three-Part Tutorial by Matthias Zarzecki
- Level Design: Doom's "Horseshoe"
- Creating a More Dynamic Battlefield
- Familiar and Unfamiliar Space
Art Dumps:
Videos:
- Speed Level Design in Unity - Winter Road
- How Rayman: Legends is made
- Hellblade Development Diary 4: Creating The World
- Dragon Age: Inquisition - Creating Game World
- Spelunky - Custom Level Editor
- Unreal Engine 4 Speed Tree Environments
- Unreal Engine 4 - Intro to Level Design
- Why Is Dust2 So Popular? Veteran CS:GO Map Makers Answer
Tools:
LEVEL-DESIGN.org Reference Database Updates:
- Return To Castle Wolfenstein - Complete SP Campaign
- Vanishing of Ethan Carter
- Transistor
LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup – Volume 30
LEVEL-DESIGN.org News Roundup - Volume 30:
Hello! Sorry for a long delay. I'm still busy and this won't change soon. I've made one big change on the website. All the articles from Wiki version of Knowledge Base has been moved to Articles page on LEVEL-DESIGN.org main page. Wiki was fun but it started to get messy over time so currently LEVEL-DESIGN.org Knowledge Base is in Articles sub-page of the main site.
Articles:
- Guide to Player Scale and World/Architecture Dimensions - World of Level Design
- 16 Recommended 3D Game Engines (Updated) - World of Level Design
- Brilliance in Level Design: Wind Waker’s Dragon Roost Cavern by Theodore Homdrom
- Designing Procedural Dungeons for Torgar's Quest by Rasmus Rasmussen - Gamasutra
- Modular Building Breakdown - Polycount Thread
- Scary Level Design - Mr. Boss' Design Lair
Videos:
- Liberation by LifeLost - HL2EP 2 SP - [Part 1, Part 2] - CustomGamer Commentary Video
- Death by a Thousand Cuts by Sock - Q1 SP CustomGamer Commentary Video
- Alien: Isolation - Sevastopol - Polygon Fragments Environment Presentation Video
- Game Maker's Toolkit - Half-Life 2's Invisible Tutorial
- Far Cry 4 - Natural Environment
- Greatest Levels in Gaming - Batman: Arkham City
Tools:
Other:
- Quake Maps - Tumblr image feed
LEVEL-DESIGN.org Reference Database Updates: