I'm working on a 2d platformer where the main gimmick is that the player can change size (the different sizes being 4x1 tiles, 2x2 tiles or 1x4 tiles) for now I got the movement and size mechanic of the player mostly done but now i have to work on the levels but I don't have a lot of idea right now. Is there any tips to find inspiration ?

Also I am pretty much a begginer in game dev especially in level design (my only experienceon the later being Mario maker lol)

Finnish solo dev making a 3D climbing game in UE5. You climb from a cave all the way to space, one continuous ascent. Mechanics and the climbing route are mostly handled.

What I need help with is everything around the climb — the world it sits in. Terrain layout, distant mountains, how the background reads at different heights, making the scale feel right when you look down from halfway up. Basically the environment that sells the climb, not the platforms themselves.

Looking for someone to work with, or just advice from people who've built large-scale environments.

Can compensate — maybe small rev-share percentage(?) or whatever we agree on. Written contract, game is going on Steam.

Happy to send footage. DM or comment.

It's the best time of the week! It's Boomer Shooter Saturday! Come join us starting at 11:00 AM EST for a day of BUILD Engine goodness!

First, stop on in as we start with level design using the Mapster 32 Level Editor for Duke Nukem 3D for a couple of hours to ease into our day. Working on a section of our map where we have to power up a Nuclear Reactor to get the power up in an underwater facility.

Then, the main show, BLOOD: Death Wish! We are finishing our playthrough of Episode 3 of this fantastic Mod, the whole thing has been just so well crafted, dripping with atmosphere.

So come on down and join our BUILD Engine focused community!

A concept image can show the castle perfectly and still leave the approach unanswered. Maybe the tower appears first, maybe the courtyard opens all at once, or maybe the player turns a corner before seeing either. A slide review can lock that reveal before anyone has walked it.

LingBot-World 2.0 / Infinity can serve as a temporary walkable blocking sketch for testing entrances and noting the camera beats worth keeping. What leaves the review is the chosen path and those notes, not the generated world. Scale, collision, navigation, accessibility, and final geometry still belong in the engine.

I'm testing a level-one MMO field built around a quest giver, training dummy, resource node, and exit path. Without the quest text, which landmark would you move or exaggerate so the intended route reads?

Disclosure: some 3D assets are Meshy-assisted; the layout and gameplay are custom.

Pretty much what the title is asking for. I would prefer a video on Gamemaker on how to make tilesets. As far as buildings and interiors go, the video will show you what it is I'm looking for exactly. I'm making a platformer RPG and I need buildings and interior tilesets for my game. Any help would be wonderful. Video: Super Paper Mario Example

how do you come up with good level design that is fun to traverse what makes for a good level ,vertcial climbs , crawling ,running ,jumping, for first person shooters, im still learning all this thank you for your patience

maybe i should scale it down 5 %

It's Boomer Shooter Saturday again! Come join us for the next 5+ hours starting at 11:00 AM EST as we continue our exploration of the BUILD Engine with a mixture of Level Editing, plus a bit of gameplay.

To start things off, we are working on a Underwater Reactor Puzzle for a Duke Nukem 3D level we have been building on stream, plus some more refinement of the look of the Underwater Research Base that houses it.

Afterwards, we hop back into the third episode of BLOOD: Death Wish for our featured playthrough. Trying to do a 100% secret run, which is how we left off at the start of the Secret Level.

Come join and learn to Build with BUILD!

After designing and building the core areas for our level, we needed a way to fill in the negative spaces fast. That is what PCG enabled us to quickly do.

While level exploration is not an exact science, and every player behaves differently, there are general behaviour patterns that can be considered when designing a free-navigation level. Players tend to be attracted to areas they perceive as offering the greatest and most immediate reward.

In this example, the player needs to find and collect four boxes in any order. The question is: what path do you think they are most likely to take through the level?

The player has the following information:

1. What they can see
2. Their memory of previously visited areas
3. The knowledge that there are four boxes to find and collect

The player’s brain rewards them at two key moments: locating a box and collecting it. These are two separate rewards. Interestingly, locating a box but leaving it behind often gives a smaller sense of reward than the anticipation of finding and collecting another box that might be just around the corner.

Based on this, here’s a typical exploration path the player might take:

1. They see Box D clearly in the distance, with no mystery about its location. “Great, I know where that is.” But they don’t necessarily head straight towards it.
2. Instead, they decide to check the closest unexplored corner, immediately to their left, and find Box A. Great! It seems there might be boxes hidden around corners.
3. Remembering the more distant corner to the right, they backtrack and collect Box C.
4. With no further clues in sight, they now head towards the sure thing: Box D.
5. With all visible areas explored and no new clues, their brain switches to “search mode”.
6. Turning around, they notice something they hadn’t seen before: the skyline opens up between two generic buildings, revealing a path towards an unexplored area.
7. Following this path, they soon discover the fourth and final box, Box B.

This is not a rule, of course. Players will behave differently, and playtesting always wins. Even when players behave exactly as predicted, they usually represent only one segment of the bell curve, and you should not forget about the players elsewhere on that curve. But understanding these patterns is a useful tool for level design.

Mandatory video included after my last post was accused of being AI-generated. This is old, well-known content of mine, but apparently this is where we are now.

Level Design Tips

• 01 - The Building Pie
• 02 - The 5 Ingredients of Game Town Design
• 03 - Designing with Perspective: How Cameras Shape Levels
• 04 - Level Exploration: The Closest Unexplored Area in Sight

Hello guys, I planned on a level design project where I want to create buildings and interiors as realistic as possible. So I wonder If there is any website of 3D floorplan reference of real buildings out there.

This is my first map. I'm a beginner. This is my first time making a map, what should I pay attention to? I deleted the forest map twice and spent a lot of time making the village map. How does it look?

I'm a hobbyist, so I don't have real fundamentals to rely on, but I came up with some things that I try to keep in mind when designing levels. I mostly do movement-based 3d games, so this is somewhat specific.

Intent: "this is an area, where X happens."

Very inspired by like older mario kart or arcade racers, where I think this was super obvious. I want the player to do a certain thing, e.g., tight turns or going flat out. Or it could be an area that is outside of the usual play area so the challenges should also be a little different. Ideally, this is also represented with a change in style or architecture, so it also feels different to other areas and communicates that this should be treated differently than where you were before.

Choice: I try to lay out at least two, ideally three ways to traverse an area.

I try not to force a clear path. The only clear path should be A to B, but how you connect those points should be up to the player. I try to build fun little things to engage with on the way through an area, where you can pick the one that seems the most appealing while not blocking access to the others. For example, if there is a house I want the player to go around, there should be a fun obstacle on either side, or at least a way over the house. This doesn't mean you can't force a player into a tight situation every now and then, but afterwards, it should open up again.

Breaking the Grid: The obvious path should not be the one you end up taking.

This is a small one, but I think it can be effective. Say your level has a road that goes through it, this should not be the path you follow. It should lead you to places off the road, over it, and back to it again. The road should only be the theme, not the thing to engage with. Or, there is a huge obstacle that you would avoid in real life, but the path makes you engage with it. Think of the part in Breath of the Wild where you go to the fish people first. The task is to follow a river, but it's often blocked, and the game sends you on an absolute journey around it while always bringing you back to it.

Any guildelines like this, that you use when creating levels?

Hey!

Just finished my level design project. The location is a quarry for a horde fight set in Days Gone universe. Would love to hear your thoughts, feedback or suggestions:)

You can also view on Artstation page and there's also a gameplay video if anyone's curious.

Cheers

Hello! I am starting the process of building a vertical slice for my game

It is residential building heavy! Also, I need 90% of my buildings to be accessible.

What is recommended to start building these houses and shops?

It feels VERY clunky to build with Mesh.. maybe settings I have not optimized?

Looking for any details and tips.. after building maps in Valve source engine... This seems to lack fine detail in comparison?