Welcome to the massive November News Roundup update. I was able to collect around 80 links to articles, videos and tutorials about level art and design! This should keep you busy for a while. Enjoy!
Art Dumps:
- LawBreakers: Grandview, Mammoth, Promenade, Reactor, Redfalls, Trench, Vertigo, Gateway, Namsan, Station.
- Dishonored 2: Death of The Outsider – Level Design
- Dishonored 2: Death of The Outsider – “Curator” and “Ghost Town” (MapCore)
- For Honor Environments
- Gears of War 4: Mercy, Forge Blitz, Dawn, Fuel Depot, DLC All Images
- Horizon Zero Dawn – Mountain Landscapes
- Ruiner Parking Garage, Rengkok City
- World Of Tanks Environments
Articles:
- #Blocktober
- 8 Tips & Techniques for Designing Levels
- A Beginner’s Guide To Crafting Video Game Cities
- Analysis on Level Design in Banjo-Kazooie
- Architectural enemies and making the player blame themselves: the level design of Dead Man’s Trail
- Breath of the Wild – The Great Plateau | Level Design
- Building the Level Design of a procedurally generated Metroidvania: a hybrid approach
- Carney’s Crash Course: Map Design 101
- Defining Environment Language for Video Games
- Designing a Game Around Art Styles
- Designing the giant battle royale maps of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds
- Do Your Research: Where’s the toilet? (Level Design)
- Environment art isn’t about ‘making pretty things’…so, what’s it about?
- How to design a great Metroidvania map by Wes Fenlon (PC Gamer)
- How Does Blizzard Make Maps?
- How Halo: Combat Evolved encourages learning and exploration through design
- How Prey succeeds in giving players space to tell their own stories
- Landscape and Material Pipeline of Ghost Recon Wildlands
- Lessons from Suzy Cube: Level Design Breakdown
- Lessons I’ve Learned From Setting Up a 2D Framework For Level Design
- Level Design as Writing
- Level Design First Blocks: Part 2 – LD Theory
- Level Design First Blocks: Part 3 – Personal Skills
- Level design lessons learned building Deus Ex: Mankind Divided’s Prague
- Level Design Philosophy
- Making Hardcore levels for Casual
- Open World Level Design: Spatial Composition and Flow in “Breath of The Wild”
- Practical Guide on First Person Level Design
- Playful Teaching: How to Create Fun and Immersive Tutorials
- The art of the chase: Level design and player orientation in Outlast 2
- The Level Design of Tacoma
- The lovely disasters of Make a Good Mega Man Level (RPS)
- The Quest for the custom quest system
- Thief: tense narrative through level design and mechanics
- Game Development Advice
- The Procedural Nature of the Horizon Zero Dawn
- UE4 Shelling System for Level Designers
- Who Are Level Designers?
Podcasts:
- Level Design Lobby – Ep1: Intro
- Level Design Lobby – Ep2: Rime
- Level Design Lobby – Ep3: Reading Materials – How Games Move Us
- Level Design Lobby – Ep4: Main Menus In Video Games
- Level Design Lobby – Level Design Lobby – Ep5: Breaking into the Industry
- DGC Ep 70: Half-Life Interview with Dario Casali
- Stealth & Safety Zones
- Take Aim: An in-depth look at the Level Design of Sniper Elite 4
Videos:
- “Man Vs. Machine” WD2 Level Design Breakdown
- Behind the Scenes of Nex Machina – Level Design
- Bloodborne – Enemy & Level Design Discussion
- CrossCode’s Brilliant Level Design: Analysis
- Dishonored 2 –Clockwork Mansion Gameplay Trailer (High Chaos)
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze – Mario’s Level Design, Evolved | Game Maker’s Toolkit
- Fortnite Battle Royal – Level Design Analysis/Commentary (Part 1), (Part 2), (Part 3), (Part 4), (Part 5), (Part 6).
- From Abstract Layouts to Specifics – Bauer Design Solutions
- Get some great tips to improve your level design skills
- Hunt: Showdown | Dev Diary #3 | Hunting Grounds | Level Design
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance – Video Update #1: Our World
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance – Video Update #4: Combat
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance – Video Update #5: Living world
- Lessons Are Strange 1: Level Design of Life Is Strange
- Level Design Featuring Prey!
- Level Design in TF2 (Part 1), (Part 2)
- Level Design: Hinting in NieR
- Level Design: Modular Levels in Nier
- Nex Machina (2017) – Behind the Scenes: Level Design
- Open World Maps
- Prey – A Guided Tour of Talos I
- Speed mapping in Hammer Editor – Source 2 “Chinatower”
- Star Citizen: Around the Verse – Level Design
- The Abstract Deconstruction of de_dust2 – Bauer Design Solutions
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword’s dungeon design | Boss Keys
- Titanfall 2 – Level Design Player Guide
Videos – GDC Talks:
- 360 Approach for Open World Mission Design in Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed byPhilippe Bergeron (GDC 2016)
- Adding Life To Your Level by Seth Rosen (GDC 2016)
- An Approach to Holistic Level Design by Steve Lee (GDC 2017)
- Applying 3D Level Design Skills to the 2D World of Hyper Light Drifter by Lisa Brown (GDC 2017)
- Procedural Level Design in Eldritch by David Pittman (GDC 2015)
Videos – Scenes and Timelapses:
- Horizon Zero Dawn Time-Lapse: World in Motion
- Half-Life 2 – Apartments (Unreal Engine 4)
- Other Places: Hitman
- Uncharted 4 Madagascar Timelapse