Quote: "No one can teach you level design"
Wrong! You don't even have to leave this site:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=61947&b=19
is a great resource for the theory behind it, and Phil Co's book "level design for games" is an in-depth resource
on level building (though he focuses on the unreal engine in the practical part it's useful in the theory parts.)One rule of thumb is:
come up with a (can be very short) level narrative before you even fire up FPSC- something in the line of
"Luke switched on his lightsaber as he entered the gloomy maintenance corridors of lord vaders battleship."This little sentence gives you some valuable guidelines of the setting(Scifi-Spaceship),the overall architecture(small,winding corridors full of tech stuff),the lighting(gloomy, greenish,blue,tech style),player and enemy style (close combat with lightsaber). A lot of stuff for one sentence,huh? Now collect reference pics, make some cool textures and start with a rough version of your level, only the main architecture, unlit. then flesh it out with credibility in mind-which entity makes sense in which place, what does this console control, why is this barrel there...set up interesting combat places with enough room to get your player going but small enough to keep him engaged. put in some obstacles in between, and reward him with health,ammo or pickups for overcoming them....then ad lightning and test it, test it again and let some friend or family test it too...until you are satisfied with it. Wow, long speech, I'm thirsty....
I am Jacks complete lack of surprise.
