Introduction to Level Design

This course will be retired on September 30, 2023.

There are many categories of video games, often classified by their characteristics or goals—not by the type of gameplay they contain. Are you curious to learn about the growing variety of genres and subgenres? Want to discover which game genres appeal to you? No matter what your interest, this course takes you through what you need to know about genres in the game world.

In this course, you will learn about the types of games that exist in the industry and their unique characteristics. You will explore platforming, racing and strategy games, and identify the factors and requirements that level designers must consider when designing these video games.

Game genres can also have subgenres, and many games fit into multiple genres! We will explore the subgenres of games that branched off from other genres, taking advantage of their mechanics to create entirely new genres, each with their own level design considerations.

This course will be retired on September 30, 2023.

This course introduces you to the fundamentals of game level design—a crucial aspect of video game design that centers around the creation of playable spaces.

As a level designer, you will be required to create well-designed levels that direct the movement of the player(s) through the game—often without the player consciously recognizing they’re being directed.

This course will introduce you to the core concepts involved in designing a game level, along with important steps in the design process. The course explores what a level is, who is responsible for designing levels, and the different roles involved in game level design.

Using different sample designs, such as dungeon design and other popular genres of roguelikes and adventure games, we will identify the elements of the various stages of the design process used in the game industry and how they have evolved through time.