level Design book Second Edition + Large Level Design Survey

[Hourences]

Book

I have released the second edition of my book The Hows and Whys of Level Design!

Here is the changelist:

# An all new introduction chapter covering the history and future of level design, and common problems in the profession of a level designer

# New In-depth sections covering composition and floorplans.

# A few dozen small additions on a wide range of subjects such as pacing in singleplayer gameplay, checkpoints, and so on.

# Dozens of all new or updated example screenshots.

# The level Krodan added as a third example level.

# An all new layout and much improved visual style.

# The book is now printed on A4 paper size.

# All the text throughout the entire book was touched up and improved significantly, and certain parts were clarified.

And for those unfamiliar with my book, here is what it is about:

Level design is one of the most important, influential, and complex aspects of video and computer games. It is a fairly new design form and is maturing rapidly. As the available hardware capabilities and associated technology continue to increase in complexity, level design will also become increasingly complex. This book will help both aspiring and veteran designers come to terms with future changes in level design. Rather than addressing the usual ‘how to make a room', or ‘how to place a light', this book tackles how to make that room look good. The book details why certain decisions are made in order to achieve the design goal, and how to plan the route to the goal: the hows and whys.

The chapters within describe all aspects of level design; from the initial design phase, to gameplay for singleplayer and multiplayer levels, to visual aspects regarding lighting and architecture, and more. The overall purpose is to explain the theories behind level design. It covers why light color X or architectural feature Y would work better in situation Z rather than color A or architecture B. It describes why a level is fun and what the level design does to enhance it: the ‘do's and don'ts' of creating environments for games.

A big discount is available on the PDF edition for those of you who already own the first edition. Contact me for details.

More information on my website: http://www.Hourences.com/book

Surveys

Also, I have added a survey section to my website, and its surveys will focus on level design, the mod community, and game development in general. Currently a level design survey is running!

# For both gamers and level designers/artists, and for amateurs and professionals.

# Please note that the term "level designer" is used broadly. "Level designer", in this survey, is defined as someone who designs and creates large parts of a virtual world. This can include the visuals or the gameplay, or both.

# The results are for personal use only. This survey is a personal initiative.

If you would all be so kind to go through it - http://www.hourences.com/book/surveyactive.htm

I will post the results next month.

And also, I started a Level Design group on LinkedIn : http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/154014/7D3EE9616729

[-HP-]

Just made the survey, and joined the linkdln group!

I'm curious to see the results of the survey!

I wont be buying the second edition of the book, since i bought the first of course, but I congratulate you, because having a second edition of a book means the sales were very nice, which is great for you and all the level designers out there!

[Jetsetlemming]

There's one question in the survey I'm not sure on: What does "I create the FX" mean? Also, do you define texturing for this question as creating textures or applying them to geometry?

[skdr]

I've never read your books but I'm sure they're interesting. One thing bugs me though. Your book cover design is not attactive and doesn't make me want to read it at all. Streched fonts just like in your website, strong colors and messy overall look.

[-HP-]

This is a dynamic survey, so I didn't saw that question Jetsetlemming, but I think FX stands for Special Effects. (Like the ones on Hollywood movies)

[Jetsetlemming]

I know that's what it's typically used for, but it's an extremely vague term when you're talking about videogames The best idea for what he means I have is placing stuff like sparks and fire in the map, but I can't imagine that's something that wouldn't just fall to the mapper to place in as entities once the effects artist creates them along with the geometry and gameplay scripting. They're basically animated decoration when you get right down to it.

[e-freak]

birthday the day after tommorow and i know what i gonna present myself

[FrieChamp]

I know that's what it's typically used for, but it's an extremely vague term when you're talking about videogames The best idea for what he means I have is placing stuff like sparks and fire in the map, but I can't imagine that's something that wouldn't just fall to the mapper to place in as entities once the effects artist creates them along with the geometry and gameplay scripting. They're basically animated decoration when you get right down to it.

Yes I think he means particles and such.

The "how many levels have you made?" question could also be renamed to "how many levels have you completed", if that's what you meant.

[2d-chris]

Neat

[Hourences]

Yes FX are particles and such, and I don't mean just placing them, but also really creating the particles and all that stuff.

[Jetsetlemming]

Yes FX are particles and such, and I don't mean just placing them, but also really creating the particles and all that stuff.

Did you mean the same when for the "modeling the environment" and "texturing" questions? Creating models and textures? I answered both of those thinking it was creating the architecture in editor, and applying textures to geometry.

[Hourences]

Yes, making the actual geometry and texturing it. Whether you do so in an editor or 3D package doesn't matter to me, result is the same: you doing geometry.

But really, there are so many different ways of building and organizing levels, the options given can never reflect every single possibility and way of doing things. Just pick the things that come closest to what you mean.

[Minos]

Awesome hourences. I was planning on purchasing the book but it was offline since you were working on the second edition. I'm totally getting it now =)

I also agree with skdr: the cover is very unappealing.

[Zacker]

That's great Hourences! It's no more than a few days ago that I last gave a lecture on level design which was highly inspired by your book.

[Punky]

I did your survey too, I also sent you a PM with a question about your book.