Game Level Design (Game Development Series) 1st Edition

by Ed Byrne (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-1584503699

ISBN-10: 1584503696

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As a level designer in the game industry you can determine exactly what the player sees, hears, and feels in the game. The reward of seeing your game on a store shelf or hearing people talk about one of your levels is an incredibly fulfilling experience. If this is a path you want to take, Game Level Design will show you the way.This book is about the fundamentals of level design: it teaches you common procedures for designing, drafting, and creating interactive environments for games. It explains what level design is, where it came from, and, most important, how to plan, design, and construct levels professionally for modern-day computer and video games. Throughout the book, practical explanations and demonstrations use the basic, advanced, and real-world techniques needed to create game levels for hit titles. It also uses historical examples, interviews with outstanding level designers, and a focus on professional level design, to teach game developers of all levels, from amateur "mod" mappers to seasoned multi-title veterans, how to implement these techniques into your own projects. Although the content in the book uses many examples from popular genres, such as first-person shooters (FPS), action adventures, and real-time strategy (RTS) games, the approach is designed to teach level design as a genre- and platform-independent craft. All games need to take place in environments, and by extension, the rules of level design apply to all games to some degree, so with the skills and techniques you learn here, you'll be ready for any level challenge.

Christopher W. Totten
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From the Author

Ed Byrne (Kirkland, WA) is currently lead designer at Zipper Interactive in Redmond, WA. He has also worked as a level designer for Amaze Entertainment and for prominent games such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Ubisofts Splinter Cell.

About the Author

Ed Byrne is currently lead designer at Zipper Interactive in Redmond, WA. He has also worked as a level designer for Amaze Entertainment and for prominent games such as Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and Ubisoft's Splinter Cell.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Charles River Media; 1st edition (December 21, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1584503696
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1584503699
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.8 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.5 x 1.5 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,652,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #470 in Computer Programming Logic
- #992 in Computer & Video Game Design
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BPElectricJojo

Fair book for beginner to intermediate level design

Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2008

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This book offers a solid foundation for the planning stages and a good overview of the implementation stages of level design. Good for those who are looking for general strategies for level creation and wanting to get up to speed on terminology/workflow for this type of work. It's all fairly theoretical with only one chapter on actual nuts and bolts level design, where you make a single room in the Unreal editor. If you're wanting something covering more specifics for a given level editor (like 'how do you create water?' or 'how do you make displacements') you should probably look for something more in a technical bible or a video tutorial series for the tool in question.

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15bit

Double meh all meh way!

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2011

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Meh... <<< As defined by the Simpsons. Good thing it's out of print!

a few more words to meet the requirement like the fact that it's behind in the times and doesn't properly convey modern game design let alone level design in the best way possible not that everything is outdated but a good majority of it is and no I won't use punctuation because I don't care about this portion I shouldn't be required to give a full indepth review of an outdated book that doesn't bother to give me decent information screw you amazon!

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Razor Shultz

The level design process explored

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 23, 2012

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I think it is acceptable to forgive the book's age; the theory explained within the pages of this succinctly written and insightful book withstands the test of time given the nature of level design - it is a craft and a lot of this information will be applicable to levels no matter how far into the future you decide to purchase this book. Fundamental aspects of an industry standard approach include paper designs, and a period of brainstorming and refining - all steps discussed in some depth, which was nice to see. I used to think I was someone who could open up an SDK and start slapping down textured walls and floors and placing props to create a level without any prior thought, and after having read this book I understand how overexcited I was getting! No wonder I was never happy with anything I made. Maybe some people CAN do this, but for those looking for direction, you won't be disappointed.

The book illuminates real technical issues that amateurs moving to an industry scene MUST be aware of ; understanding the roles of other members of the team (such as programmers and artists), team dynamics, working with the restrictions of game engines (which is to say, performance considerations are talked about at excellent length, the same can be said for optimisation issues, and these are not things that amateurs pay much attention to because they are typically not very fun, although they are very important and especially so for commercial projects). I could bore everyone by listing all the vital things we should be aware of during the actual implementation phase; z-fighting, floating geometry, structural holes and overly complex shapes, scale, volume and quality considerations when constructing a level, but I'd rather not.

From napkin drafts to initial paper designs to "blocking in", building and ultimately polishing your level, the book talks readers through how to pace levels appropriately, suggests methods for tracking pacing and progression through the use of cell diagrams, how to use lighting and audio for proper effect, different ways of creating and balancing difficulty in a level, foreshadowing and other tension-inducing techniques, and a lot more things than it is polite to include in a written list.

The book has a VERY outdated section that takes you through setting up a basic level in UnrealEd 2, which is not going to be useful to anyone today, but as mentioned before it is the theory that is still perfectly applicable to anyone today hoping to gain an understanding of how an industry professional might go about designing a level - all given in context you are an industry pro in the middle of a team of other pros, and that is a very useful perspective from which to learn. That said, this book is also an ideal starting point for anyone wanting to break into the discipline of level design - from here you could move on to much more advanced books that spend more time (multiple chapters entirely) on issues such as creating atmosphere with lighting/audio/events/architecture - but if you're looking for that primer from which to branch out, look no further.

Interesante, pero un poco anticuado

Reviewed in Spain on January 5, 2017

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El libro presenta dos partes: teoría del diseño de niveles y práctica, orientada sobre todo a tecnología un poco antigua ya, en el día de publicación supongo que estaría actualizado.
La parte de teoría está bien, tratando temas generales, distribución de espacios y algunos conceptos interesantes que en otros libros sobre el mismo tema no existen. Todo desde un punto de vista meramente introductorio.
Si bien es cierto que el diseño de niveles se puede abordar de múltiples formas, dependiendo de la empresa, estudio y tecnología, el libro introduce al lector al diseño de niveles de forma sencilla y fácil de leer.
Si buscas un libro que te introduzca al diseño de niveles, con algunos ejercicios a modo de ejemplo, el libro está bien; si necesitas un libro que profundice en aspectos técnicos al margen de la tecnología, o que trate a fondo los pipelines de diseño de niveles, etc., este no es tu libro.
En líneas generales, me ha parecido interesante el enfoque.

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