Level design for game jams

Turns out itch didn't save my previous devlog entry. You can't read it, but imagine it was the best one yet, and you feel inspired after reading it. 

So lets talk about level design.

Let's have a look at the second level in this game. You start in a warehouse. The first thing you see, after takin a couple of steps is a semi-transparent wall, with a pentagram surrounded by five red runes. The second thing you see, is that you are under attack by a small group of enemies. You defeat them with ease, and suddenly you hear a gong. Now, one of the runes is white.

This sequence takes about thirty seconds, but it instantly shows you the levels mechanics- you need to defeat groups of enemies (five, because there are five runes), to open the barrier. The level is somewhat open, so you need to look for those groups. Each time you manage to do it, you hear a gong, so you know, that problem has been dealt with, and you can move along to looking for another group.

We are talking jam games here, so the objectives must be crystal clear, but if you can put a bit of feeling of discovery, exploration... just go for it!

But what about the physical aspect of level design?

I like to take inspiration from real physical spaces. In the first game I ever submitted to a game jam (you can play it here) the only level is divided to a number of zones: a small lot behind a warehouse, the warehouse, parking lot, park, patio and garage (needless to say, I had that week off).  Now, it so happens, that area exist less than a kilometer from where I live. Well- not exactly "that" area. In real life, warehouse is smaller, and placed differently in relation to the parking lot. The park is actually elsewhere, and there is an apartment building instead. The patio is bigger, and the garage goes in a different direction. But that's how I did it- I took a real space, and modified it for more interesting gameplay. 

Another game has a river in a valley, and an archeological dig. It so happens, that my hometown is next to a river, and we did have a dig, at least twenty years ago (there also is a somewhat improvised helipad close to the place I lived, so now it occurs to me it's even more inspired by my home).

Of course, whatever your inspiration is, the main question you should be asking yourself is- how to make it fun to play. In my game, you have lots of open spaces with sparse cover. That's because you also have lots of fast moving enemies, and it wouldn't be very fun to see them just get stuck in chokepoints. Instead there is a lot of place to maneuver for both player and the bad guys, with just enough cover to make it interesting.

My favorite example of make a space from real life interesting for gameplay's sake is from F.E.A.R. Substantial part of this game takes place in the offices, and most of the gameplay consists of cool firefights. Now, if you stop for a second you'll notice, that as an office those buildings make zero sense. They are confusing, have seemingly random security doors, and large maintenance areas everywhere. This is what I thought of the level design in F.E.A.R. for years, and now I work at a place that can be described like this. The thing is- you NEVER stop to think about it, because you are too engaged by the gunfights, with all the cool sightlines, and all the places you can be ambushed, or flanked.

So yeah, that's it! Know what you want to do, get inspired, make your level, give a thought to level designers from Monolith!