Let’s start with the basics: what exactly is Reward and Denial, and what is its purpose?

This technique is used to enhance the player's experience of moving through a space designed by a level designer. The designer essentially teases the player with a reward or goal, then leads them along a path where the reward is temporarily out of view, only to eventually bring them to the desired objective. At the end, the player is rewarded for their journey and, ideally, gets to see the starting point of the path where the technique was introduced. (In smaller-scale applications of this technique, as in the example below, it's considered good form to provide a shortcut back to the starting point.)

https://reddit.com/link/1h4qusk/video/o5lrixbtge4e1/player

Now, let’s look at an example from the very beginning of the game - don’t worry, no spoilers here! The location: the Arlathan Forest.

1. As we follow the path, we see a bright, large chest appear in the distance, framed by the rocky landscape
2. Looking around beneath the chest, we realize there’s no way to climb up to it from here.
3. Continuing forward, we see the main path leading us along the story, but off to the side, we spot a signifier (a visual indicator) for climbing. (Let me know if you’d like to read more about signifiers!)
4. We climb up and, along the way, find several lootable objects. Breaking them rewards us with in-game resources and currency in small amounts.
5. We navigate the "funnel" to finally reach the desired reward! We grab the loot, feel smart and accomplished, and maybe even a little smug!
6. We take a shortcut back down to the starting point where the technique began.

And there you have it - a neat and effective level design technique! Where else have you noticed something like this? Let me know in the comments!

Here’s a little puzzle for you: what happens if you scale this technique up significantly? Imagine the reward is far more valuable, the path to it much longer, and the challenges along the way much tougher.

Tiny spoiler: there’s a twist to the question!

Thank you for reading!

Hello looking for level designers proficient with assets like Kitbash Cargo/ Quixel Megascans to help finish level design for our indie project. Our game is looking to be released by January and will be a combination of Dark Souls/ Only up.

Send me a message if your interested in helping and communication. We will be moving straight onto another project after this so future work for the right person is avaliable>

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

I’m usually more active in r/gamedev and r/gamedesign, but I’m really curious what everyone here thinks of this environmental storytelling guide by my colleague Brandon Dolinski.

(He was the lead world designer on Minecraft Legends and level designer for Dragon Age: Inquisition and Guardians of the Galaxy, so the whole lore-hidden-directly-in-the-environment thing is really his bread and butter.)

Some of the main takeaways:

• Environments can reflect the game world’s history and cultural nuances, allowing players to piece together the lore by interacting with their surroundings.
  • Example: Every Fallout game is full of patched-up old tech, recycled components and crumbling buildings, revealing details about the world without any direct storytelling.
• Great environmental storytelling means hiding plot fragments for players to discover, blending story with gameplay to make you feel like a narrative detective.
  • Example: The hidden rooms telling you what’s really going on in Portal.
• Designers can use elements like lighting, contrasting color schemes, sound cues, and narrative suggestions to paint a picture using the environment itself.
  • Example: Silent Hill 2’s fog and washed-out lighting help give it that oppressive mood and mirror James’s psychological state. (Try playing it with the fog modded out. It’s like night and day.)
• 5 key types of environmental storytelling:
  • Embedded: Hidden stories in ruins, objects, and scenes
  • Emergent: Stories created by players mixing with game systems
  • Spatial: Architecture and spaces that tell tales through design
  • Interactive: Stories revealed through touching and examining objects
  • Atmospheric: Lighting, sound, and mood that set the scene
• “Designer hugs” are micro-story scenes that enrich the narrative outside the main plot, layering on emotional depth and making the environment more immersive.
  • Example: In Dragon Age, you can find a small camp where a large corpse covers a smaller one that’s holding a blood-soaked teddy bear.
• Great case studies in exceptional environmental storytelling:
  • The Last of Us: Abandoned things (family photos, suitcases) tell stories of loss and survival
  • Dark Souls: Architectural decay and level design reveal a kingdom's collapse
  • Gone Home: Notes, objects and room layouts tell an intimate family story
  • BioShock: Rapture’s lighting, water damage and graffiti show a failed utopia
  • The Witcher 3: Small environmental details (burnt houses, graves) hint at past conflicts and personal stories

Here’s the full guide: https://gamedesignskills.com/game-design/environmental-storytelling

What’s the best example of this kind of level design you've seen? There are so many we could talk about…

Hi,

For many years, I have been working remotely as a Unity Developer – mainly as a programmer. However, I have been planning for some time to transition to Unreal and focus on what excites me the most: level design.

I’ve had enough of the instability in small and medium-sized indie projects. I’d like to join a larger, more stable studio and not have to constantly worry about another closure of some subpar company.

The problem is that, for various reasons, I can’t leave my hometown, which is far from major urban centers. In short – I need remote work.

When it comes to programming and Unity, remote work has never been an issue. Most small companies cut costs and don’t even bother organizing a proper office. It suits them just fine.

But how does it work with larger projects? What are the current prospects for a Level Designer working remotely in Unreal for a bigger organization?

Level design is a sort of glue between other departments, which means constant communication with them. How much will the fact that I can only rarely visit the office physically limit me? Is it even possible?

Thanks!

Hello, everyone I'm a Aspiring Level Designer I recently finished a 6 month contract with a studio for a nutritional 2D unity game as the Level Developer. Since completing this contract I've been searching for more opportunists as a Level Designer since that's what I'm most skilled at. While I'm searching I'm continuously trying to improve my portfolio, linked here if your would like to see (https://anthonyjohnsonjr.myportfolio.com). Current working on the Valorant inspire CS2 map (Factory) that I recently share with all of you. If anyone has any tips or knowledge of Level Design job opportunities, that would be much appreciated.

Recently I started working blackout for my upcoming game. And started collecting good online sources for interactive level design and keep the level understandable by the shapes and positions rather than having tutorials.

My Recommendation for beginners:

1. Em Schatz is one of my inspirational person on the game design and level design, her post about Defining Environment Language for Video Games .
2. Spatial Communication in Level Design by Peter Field .

Others have any good learning techniques for interactive level design through visuals. Please post the comments. Thanks

Hello all, over the past year and a half I’ve been working on a mod for a community event as a level designer. I’ve racked up close to 900 hours in the game’s editor, and I’ve been looking at how to transfer any skills I’ve learned to an eventual career. Which leads to my first question:

What am I doing?

As a level designer for the mod I handle everything for the maps I make, from the environment art to lighting to balance, all of it is on me. There are others that I bounce ideas off of but it’s rare that someone else works on one of my scenes directly. I understand that as the industry has grown the practice of level design has been subject to an increasing degree of specialization, so is the position I’m currently in more of a traditional/indie ideal of a level designer? Is that more beneficial than purely focusing on one disciple? This leads to my second question:

How can I apply what I’m gaining here?

I see the advice of learning industry standard engines like Unity and Unreal thrown around a lot, and I’ve started to scratch the surface of that whole rabbit hole. I’ve also spent time watching and reading game dev resources, not even to learn level design really but to get into the mindset of a developer. But how can I use the real experience that I’m gaining now? Is it something that could be placed on a resume? I’ve heard it’s common for people to be hired for their work on mods but every position I’ve seen always mentions years of experience on shipped titles.

I worry that this isn’t worth my time. I’ve seen how brutal and competitive the industry is, and I wonder if my time is better spent trying something else. I’ve considered becoming a solo dev but between my job and the mod there just isn’t enough time. And that’s not even considering the fact I lack many critical skills like coding.

Hey fellow level designers. For those of you who are not focused on environment art, but are focused on the gameplay elements of level design, doing blockmeshing/grayboxing, and implementing gameplay after you get it back from art, how precise in your measurements of the space do you need to be if the environment is going to be covered in art anyway? I think I've let precision get in my way in the past I'd like to be less concerned about that. What's your approach to this?

Hi everyone, i'm back about a level design question again. So for now i'm drawing map top view block out for the future POIs / map of a game. I would like to blockout them myself quickly. Anyone has some ressources or courses (not necessarily free) to help me learn about basics level design blocking?
Thanks :)

Hi Everyone, hope all is well.

I am posting here as I have always been a really big fan of level design in video games and for the longest time, wanted to learn to do it myself. I had a brief stint in trying with the elder scrolls level editor and wanted to try others but am honestly not sure where to look. If you have suggestions of what is a good software package to learn it for both 3d and 2d design I would greatly apprecaite it.

Hi all, I am looking for must have books on Game Design, but mostly on Level Design.

So that sould be it. I rather prefer paper books than ebooks.

Hope you guys can give me a little help.

Thank you in advance to everyone.

Hi Guys, Am a student for a games design course and currently working on a level design for my game concept. which am required to create a level that would fit my game.

game is called "Intended Loss" where an FBI agent is sent to a lost case that would ruin his life and be stuck in an endless loop. Ive developed this game concept by taking inspirations from Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill 2,A Quiet Place The Road Ahead

Could you spend a few minutes to answer my survey Level design survey
Do you think it a good survey, what could i improve on, whats wrong with the survey

My game is called ART'S Revenge and I have created a survey that takes a few minutes for feedback that I could include in my game for it to be the best I can make it.

In my game you play as a demonic clown that witnessed his parents die then died shortly after and came back to life as a demonic child with the urge to kill everyone in his path.

Could you please spend a few minutes to answer my survey

https://forms.office.com/e/fT4aSbrxQh

This is a form a level i am making as part of a game concept i made for a collage project.

Could you please take a few minutes to answer the questions please. https://forms.office.com/e/j1MYZjcXqB

Hi everyone,

I would like some advices about level design. Here is my quick story, i was hired as a graphic designer for a small battleroyal videogame, and as the time pass,, the game grow, and they need more maps for the BR, so i'm now in charge to draw the map concept of potential POIs/map. For now i did it, based on my (big) videogame experience, and my common sense (blocking line of sight, adding cover etc...) but all of this, i'm still doing it in a "chaotic" way, (start something, then move to something else, then go back etc... and i feel that i lose some time here. It works for now, but i feel that i need to improve my process. Anyone here has some online ressources (even not free) about how to create a proper POIs and/or map? or a ressource explaining the most optimized pipelines. (first block out everything, adding elevations, finding building concepts etc... or any other order). I'm still learning while working so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also any tools/software you have in mind that would help me. (For now i'm drawing map on photoshop, and import in UE on a plane then block out ROUGHLY the buildings to get an idea of the scales etc...

Big thank you!

Am currently working on isometric game. Got stuck in start making level design.
Looking for help to have a proper pipeline or process to getting better in isometric level design.
Any tips, pls recommend any tools and good tutorial to start.
Thanks

Let me walk you through the creation of one of the hallways for 'The Empty Desk' (coming soon to Steam!).

From brainstorming to the final result, I’ll show you each stage of the process. Which version do you like best?

And if any of you are Level Designers, which step is your favorite?

Personally, I love brainstorming and the final polish :)

Screenshot: Brainstorming, Concept, BoxDesign, Assets placement, Aesthetics, illumination, Polish.

Brainstorming

Concept

Box Design

Assets placement

Aesthetics

illumination

Polish

Adjusted the stair lights, and made the character start darker and gradually get brighter, added char weight at the end of the staircase an added some details.

https://reddit.com/link/1gl6hua/video/x3yi03dgzbzd1/player

elo, im bunta and im looking for music recomendations for a map im creating, this is my last map so you can have an idea of what im doing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZppmEnwFp4
yes its gta san andreas online, multi theft auto, if someone can help thanks boi

pd all my maps playable at The favoured few

https://preview.redd.it/tz63j1xx1myd1.png?width=492&format=png&auto=webp&s=5224779788ae23f27df80f56b2b5d3af2e971669

This has likely been shared before, but I wanted to spread the word about the channel of Steve Lee, a longtime industry level designer, who has his own youtube channel.

I believe one of the best parts of his channel is sharing what it is like being a level designer, the process of designing, and trying to break into the industry.

Link to the YouTube

If you're looking for more information about almost any topic covered by Level Design, I think Steve is the biggest contributer to the craft right now.