List of level design references
From Henry's personal library
Landmarks
- Landmarks in leveldesign
- Videogame Landmarks and Real Life Architecture - Courtney Raine
- Meaningful geography in breath of the wild - Tom Battey
- A taxonomy of Weenies: the landmarks that define Ghost of Tsushima - Bryant Francis
- Facilitate Mental Mapping - Clement Melendez
- One Level Design Mistake I Learned to Avoid From Playing "Mirror's Edge" - World of Level Design
Environmental storytelling
- Evironmental storytelling- Bart Stewart
- An Examination Into Environmental Storytelling - Josh Bycer
- How to use a game's level design to tell a story - Fern
- How Arkane Studios' Prey Perfects The Art Of Environmental Storytelling - Jade King
- Dabble in Design: Until Dawn and Environmental Storytelling - Michael Hancock
- A Visual Feast: Learning the Movements of Environmental Storytelling - Nick Jones
- What you Give is What you Get: Environmental Storytelling in Games - Caleb Compton
- ‘Destiny 2’ Is Finally Doing Solid Environmental Storytelling, But Everyone Is Missing It - Paul Tassi
- Environmental Storytelling and Gone Home - Adrew Yoder
- Environmental Storytelling in Games - Jethro Jongeneel
- Level Design: Enhance Games with Environmental Storytelling - Prakash Gautam
- Dishonored got it right, The Order got it wrong - Ashley Reed
- How Level Design Can Tell a Story - Game Maker's Toolkit
- Environmental Narrative: Telling Stories in Spaces Without Saying Anything Aloud - Laura E. Hall
- The Art of Dear Esther – Building an Environment to tell a Story - Robert Briscoe
- Environmental Storytelling, a Bloodborne Crash Course - Lux Noctis
- In Level Storytelling - 7 Level Design Tips - Art of level design
- Intro to Environmental Storytelling Video Game Design - The last bacon
- Advanced Environmental Storytelling in 'Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon' - Randy Smith
- What Happened Here? Environmental Storytelling - Matthias Worch
Guiding the player in the level
- How to Guide Players through Games – Game Design Tips - Lindsay Schardon
- Level Design Tips and Tricks - Tom Pugh
- Level Design Workshop: Invisible Intuition: Blockmesh and Lighting Tips to Guide Players and Set the Mood - David Shaver, Robert Yang
- Uncharted: The Lost Legacy's Rooftop Chase Is An Example Of Perfect Level Design - Issy Van der Velde
- My problem with classic 90s FPS - Getting Lost - Reddit user
- Dealing With Navigation & Players’ Behavior - David Shaver
- Wayfinding: player navigation, how to "guide" the player through a level - Open Source, many authors
- Level design: Tricks of the trade - Jonathon Wilson
- How the Uncharted games implement player navigation - Abhishek Iyer
- The Ingenuity in Ghost of Tsushima's Guiding wind - Player's Narrative
- Ghost of Tsushima guide: How to use the Guiding Wind - Jeff Ramos
Architecture and design
- Interior Design and Environment Art: Mastering Space, Mastering Place - Dan Cox
- Level Design Workshop: Architecture in Level Design - Claire Hosking
- An Architectural Approach to Level Design: Creating an Art Theory for Game Worlds (and So Can You!) - Christopher Totten
- Level Design in a Day: Level Design Histories and Futures - Robert Yang
- Learning Lighting for Video Games - Gabe Betancourt
- The Theory of Lighting - Commander Keen (wayback machine)
Procedural world generation
Scale and proportion
- Level Design: Scaling and Best Practices - Epic Games
- GDC 2002: Realistic Level Design in Max Payne - Remedy Entertainment
- Level Design Principles and Whiteboxing - Scott Morin
- UE4: Guide to Player Scale and World/Architecture Dimensions Tutorial - World of level design
- Metrics: The proportions and distances of the level, how big the level feels - Open source, many authors
- Importance of Small Scale FPS Level Design – Mainstream Development - Alex Cicala
- Real scale doesn't work in games - Nikolay Shamaev
- Design Tips: In-Game Proportions and Scale - Yuriy Sivers
Level design for multiplayer
- Singleplayer vs. Multiplayer Level Design: A Paradigm Shift - Elisabeth Beinke-Schwartz
- The Holy Grail of Multiplayer Level Design: Casual and Competitive Maps - Andrew Yoder
- Practical guide on first person level design - IronEqual
- Analysis of level schemes to improve multiplayer shooters - Curtis Gaut
- Multiplayer Level Design In-Depth, Part 1: The Specific Constraints of Multiplayer Level Design - Pascal Luban
- Community Level Design for Competitive CS:GO - Shawn Snelling, Salvatore Garozzo
- What makes a good multiplayer level? - Gavin Annand
- Multiplayer level design - Thomas Buijtenweg
- Overwatch and Asymmetric Level Design - What Makes the Maps Fun? - Extra Credits
- Blizzard's Aaron Keller Breaks Down Overwatch Map Design - Ars Technica
- A CS:GO Level Design concept : the pathways - Enzo Menegazzi
- The dos and don’ts of CS:GO level design - Exodus
- Multiplayer Map Theory (Gears of War) - Epic Games
- Deathmatch Map Design: The Architecture of Flow - Game Developer staff
Assorted
- The importance of nothing: Using negative space in level design - Jim Brown
- Learning From The Masters: Level Design In The Legend Of Zelda - Mike Stout
- Open world level design: spatial composition and flow in Breath of the Wild - Radiator Blog
- Breath of the Wild’s brilliant game design, explained - Allegra Frank
- Legend Of Zelda Study : Level Design - TheCGMaster
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's dungeon design - Game Maker Toolkit
- How Zelda's Puzzle Box Dungeons Work - Game Maker Toolkit
- Depicting the Level Design of a Legend of Zelda Dungeon - Salim Larochelle
- The Door Problem of Combat Design - Andrew Yoder
- Designing Better Levels Through Human Survival Instincts - Christoper Totten
Platform Games
- Level Design Patterns in 2D Games - Ahmed Khalifa
- Planes of vulnerability in Commander Keen 5 - Pieter Smal
- Rational Design: The Core of Rayman Origins - Chris McEntee
- How Mega Man 11's Levels Do More With Less - Game Maker's Toolkit
- The World Design of Super Metroid - Game Maker's Toolkit
- How To Level Design in 2D Platformers - Let's Talk Game Design
- How to Design Breathtaking 2D Platformer Levels - Tadeas Salvatore Jun
- Designing Fun Platforming Levels: Tips and Best Practices - Alejandro Hitti
- How are the puzzles constructed in LIMBO? - Game Design with Michael
- Dissecting Design -- Super Meat Boy's Platforming Greatness - Game Wisdom
- Good Game Design - Super Meat Boy: Motivational Punishment - Snowman Gaming
- Hollow Knight Review Analysis on Game, Sound, Level Design and Cohesion - dragnerz
- The World Design of Hollow Knight - Gamer Maker's Toolkit
Books
- The Art of Game Design - Jesse Schell
- Game Design Workshop - Trace Fullerton
- Game Balance - Ian Schreiber, Brenda Romero
- Architectural Approach to Level Design - Christopher W. Totten
- Level Design: Processes and Experiences - Christopher W. Totten
- Preproduction Blueprint: How to Plan Game Environments and Level Designs - Alex Galuzin
- Game Development Essentials: Game Level Design - Jeannie Novak, Travis Castillo
- Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design - Jason Busby
- Video Game Level Design: How to Create Video Games with Emotion, Interaction, and Engagement - Michael Salmond
- Level Design: Concept, Theory, and Practice - Rudolf Kremers
- The Hows and Whys of Level Design - Sjoerd “Hourences” De Jong
- A Practical Guide to Level Design: From Theory to Practice, Diplomacy and Production - Benjamin Bauer
