

BioShock 2 Secrets of a level designer - sp332
http://fullbright.blogspot.com/2010/02/bioshock-2-seeeeeeecrets.html

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spatulon
The author, Steve Gaynor, is one of my favourite video game bloggers, one who
frequently argues with perfect clarity views about gaming that I nebulously
felt internally but could never articulate. However, this particular post
isn't a particularly interesting fit for the HN audience.

But while we're here, I'll link to a much more interesting post of his from
last year, in which he gives some insight into what makes for interesting and
engaging level design:

[http://fullbright.blogspot.com/2009/02/basics-of-
effective-f...](http://fullbright.blogspot.com/2009/02/basics-of-effective-
fps-encounter.html)

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pmichaud
Curio and easter eggs from specific levels in the game, not advice about how
to design good levels. Pity.

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teamonkey
There are very few level design resources out there in general.

As a side note, the designer responsible for Fort Frolic in Bioshock 1 and The
Cradle in Thief 3 (if you haven't played these games these are highly
acclaimed, innovative levels) took the role of Creative Director in Bioshock
2.

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sjsivak
Good level design is a closely guarded secret, but you can break-down and
study all the great levels yourself. However, some really interesting stuff
can be found on the World Creation chapter of the World of Warcraft: Behind
the Scenes DVD. Chris Metzen starts by talking about how important it was for
them to get the trees to feel right before they could really do anything else.
It is pretty fascinating.

A note somewhat related to level design that I am always reminded of is
OldManMurray's Time to Crate review system for games:
<http://www.oldmanmurray.com/features/39.html>

~~~
teamonkey
Actually, that OMM link reminds me of the developer commentary in Valve's
games (the people behind OMM write for Valve), such as Portal. Quite often
they explain the thought processes behind areas of the map. I think the free
Lost Coast tech demo explains a lot about the fundamentals.

Looking through my collection of links, I've found this one which is pretty
good at describing how to pace a level.
[http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4024/examining_game_pa...](http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4024/examining_game_pace_how_.php)

~~~
sjsivak
Good point. The dev commentary for Half-Life 2 and Portal is really awesome,
and very useful for level designers. For Half-Life 2 they talk a bunch about
setting up dramatic scenes and in Portal they cover a lot of the ways they had
to stop people from cheating. The Portal one is great for really learning how
to do a great interactive tutorial. I remember a specific part where they talk
about why they had to place a wall in a certain spot so that people would
learn to use the portal gun in a specific way.

