Level-Design
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Artcraft Level Design Part 4 features Nagrand
Part four of the latest series of Artcraft was released this week, and this time, five different level designers are featured in the segment, all talking about the development of Draenor's version of Nagrand. Nagrand is pretty unique in that Outland's version of the zone is one of the most pristine parts of Outland -- it's been virtually untouched by corruption, although chunks of the zone have obviously broken off and floated away. Which makes for the interesting task of keeping those familiar landmarks of Outland's Nagrand, while seamlessly adding those missing areas that were lost in the Twisting Nether. All of the designers talk about that particular hurdle, as well as delivering a lot of other really interesting facts about Nagrand and the Highmaul Raid included on the western edge of the zone. The development of Highmaul and the Highmaul ogres vs. the Warsong orcs is particularly cool. This is the final installment of this particular series of Artcraft -- honestly I think it's been one of my favorites to date, simply because it highlighted so much of the stuff behind those zones we spend all our time in, but hardly ever think about in terms of how they came to be. You can check out the final installment on Blizzard's website, as well as all other posts in the series.
Artcraft continues with a look at development tools
The excellent Artcraft series continues with a look at the tools used to develop zones, as well as how the Level Design team works with Environment Artists to craft a zone's many areas and make them all seem like natural parts of an area. Artcraft - Level Design Part 3 The environment artists make the models and textures, and the level designer sculpts and paints the terrain, places the trees, rocks, and bushes-all the while considering gameplay and both the art and design direction. A typical day for our level designers will include decisions about the overall look and feel of a zone, as well as paying finite attention to detail, like how one plant looks when placed next to another plant in the scene. source So far this has been one of my favorite Artcrafts - while it was fun to get to see the various new models for playable races, getting to see the tools that craft the World of Warcraft we experience as players is nothing short of amazing and I'm very much looking forward to part four. Just getting to read about how they vary the shade of green to bring out different elements of the zone has me super excited. Nagrand is beautiful and diverse, and we're getting to see how elements of the game we've already known are referenced and incorporated in its creation.
Artcraft continues with Nagrand and level design
One of my favorite zones to just look at in The Burning Crusade was Nagrand, it was a beautiful zone with just enough strangeness to feel alien and different. Now in the latest installment of Artcraft by senior level designer Michael McInerney, we're getting a look at how Blizzard's level designers created a Nagrand that felt like the natural predecessor to the zone we already know. Artcraft - Level Design Part 2 Nagrand also had some equity we wanted to explore; players have experienced a shattered version of the zone in Outland, and this was a unique opportunity to provide a contrasting look. Giving places a sense of history is high on the list of zone design philosophies. Some of the more obvious ways to tell a zone's history are with ruins, when they make sense. The Highmaul ogres were once a great power in Nagrand. Now they are on the edge of oblivion. All that's left of their once great civilization is scattered remnants, as evidenced by their crumbling towers and roads you find throughout the zone. It's not a coincidence that the area they occupy in the zone doesn't exist in Outland. source How'd they do? Well, having been there on the beta, I have to say the new Nagrand is magnificent and definitely feels like it could have been the place we know, before the destruction of Draenor. Mister McInernery's point about the various races in the zone telling a story by how they interact with the environment is also spot on - you can tell a lot about the various people you encounter in Nagrand by how they live. Head on over to the official site for more, it's definitely worth a read.
Latest Artcraft covers exterior level design
One of the things I love about the Artcraft series is how it covers an aspect of World of Warcraft that's critically important and yet often overlooked, namely the look of the game. This week, Blizzard has a new Artcraft for us, covering level design out in the world. As presented by Julian Morris, lead level designer for World of Warcraft's exterior level design team, we get a glimpse into what goes in to giving us the lush visuals of zones like Shadowmoon Valley or Nagrand. Artcraft - Level Design Part 1 Exterior level design is the process of designing and constructing the zones of World of Warcraft, from Azeroth to Draenor and everything in between. Our team has planned, plotted, and designed the rise and fall of ancient cultures, as well as shaped mountains, forests, seas, lakes, rivers, roads, ruins, and every land feature imaginable. In addition to the land itself, we also design and create cities, towns, and Battlegrounds (with the random exterior dungeon or two in there every now and then, too). source One of the things I remember thinking when I first arrived in Shadowmoon Valley on the beta was how amazing it was that they managed to create a zone that actually felt like a living place, yet you could believe it could become the ruined hellscape of Outland's SMV. Reading about how the level design team works with artists and designers from all over WoW to create these zones is something we've not really gotten much exposure to in the past, so I'm very excited to see how the series continues.
Watch the evolution of Titanfall's DLC map 'Swampland'
Respawn Entertainment's first DLC pack for Titanfall is due this month, and offered insight on the creation of the game's new multiplayer levels. Designer Chris Dionne elaborated on the development of one of the Expedition levels called "Swampland" in a recent blog, which features a large cluster of redwood trees in a murky area. The developer also included a video showing the stage's (over)growth since its inception, seen above. The concept for the level first came about in the summer of 2011 while Titanfall was still in development, and was tabled for nearly two years before being considered again as a multiplayer DLC stage. Dionne said Swampland started out "almost completely flat with yellow fog and towering redwoods," which became crucial to its overall design. At one point, Swampland was overrun with IMC buildings, temples and a massive infrastructure, which caused it to lose some personality, as the designer put it. The focus shifted to the towering trees as playtesters found it enjoyable to bounce off them as pilots and dodge around them as titans, leading to the decision to place the trees in the center of the action. Announced last month, the Expedition pack includes the "War Games" and "Runoff" maps and will cost $9.99. Those that pick up the $25 Titanfall season pass will receive Expedition in addition to two other map packs down the road. [Image: Respawn Entertainment]
Star Wars: The Old Republic explores the design of starfighting stages
It might seem as if designing a stage for Star Wars: The Old Republic's upcoming expansion is pretty easy. After all, Galactic Starfighter doesn't ask for much -- just throw some stuff in a field and let ships shoot at each other, right? According to a new development blog by designer Chris Schmidt, it's not nearly that easy, starting with the rather obvious assertion that just flying around in a blank arena would be boring. Stages need to replicate the feel of a pitched battle, and that means careful design. Schmidt explains that each level starts off with brainstorming about the environment, followed by a 2-D mockup to give a rough estimation of where various points of interest will be located on the final map. From there it's up to the art and modeling teams to fill in a rough layout with interesting visual elements and things to fly around for interesting gameplay. Take a look at the full blog for a deeper picture at what it takes to design these elaborate dogfighting arenas.
Two Tribes invites seven-year-old to design Edge level, warms hearts
Two Tribes received a request for EDGE swag (Two Tribes made the PC/Mac version of the iOS game) from the father of a six-year-old superfan about to turn seven. Instead of simply handing over some material, however, the developer invited Zias to come in and build a level in Lego, which would then be put into the game.Zias then came in, built a level out of blocks, and spent the day working with Two Tribes' level editor to implement it into the game. "It's not the way we normally design levels," said designer Hessel Bonenkamp, "and it might not be the best experience for the average player but to me it is fascinating. It also reminded me of my past self fiddling with levels for Wrecking Crew or filling pages and pages of grid paper with my own overworld for the original Legend of Zelda on the NES."The level is available for the Steam version of EDGE today. Try it out, but be warned: if you don't say you love it, you're a monster.
New ArenaNet dev diary outlines the making of the Battle of Kyhlo
ArenaNet's last Guild Wars 2 blog post explained the ins and outs of the Battle of Kyhlo PvP map, which will be playable later this month at PAX Prime. The team is now following up on that with a new blog post that outlines what went into the creation of the capture point-based battlefield. The post notes that "collaboration and iteration are the keys to making good games," so with that in mind, we get to hear from a veritable legion of ArenaNet devs, each reporting on his or her role in the creation of the map. We hear from Jeff Grubb on the lore of the arena, we hear from Egan Hirvela on the process of map design, and Habib Loew tells us how the programmers make it work. Then it's up to designer Nick Mhley and his designers to say things like, "You know what's cool? When you shoot the [trebuchet] and blow stuff up. But you know what would be cooler? Blowing up even more stuff!" Outstanding. Then Peter Fries, Scott McGough, and the rest of GW2's writers whip up some dialogue for the announcer and oversee the recording of the lines. Lastly, it falls to Shen-Ming Spurgeon, Mclaine Diemer, Tirzah Bauer, Chuck Knigge, and the rest of the team's visual and audio artists to bring the area to life with their super-artistic magics, followed by Tyler Bearce and the other folks in QA to make sure it works as intended. Phew, what a crowd! At any rate, for the full, uncensored details on the process involved in bringing a map such as the Battle of Kyhlo to life, head on over to the ArenaNet blog.
Torchlight 2 level design illuminated
As the latest in a series of Torchlight 2 teases leading up to E3, Runic has posted a detailed look at the game's level design. Levels in Torchlight 2 will be much larger than in the original game, and, for the first time, there will be large outdoor environments to explore. To give an idea of the new scale, level designer Patrick Blank noted that the largest levels in Torchlight were comprised of six to seven "chunks." The overworld areas in Torchlight 2, on the other hand, can contain over twenty chunks. The overworld will be dotted with multiple dungeons, some of them quest-specific and others that are random. Regardless, Blank notes that players should "always feel rewarded" plumbing the depths of any dungeon. Also, players won't have to worry about backtracking out of dungeons, as each will have a portal back to the surface at its endpoint. Runic has also posted a lengthy level design Q&A with plenty of technical details, including information on level-editing tools. The Q&A also confirms that outdoor levels will feature a day and night cycle and random weather. Check out some fresh Torchlight 2 screens in the gallery below. %Gallery-124120%
Hey, you got your BioShock in my Doom 2!
Professional level designer J.P. LeBreton's creativity can't just be contained by the BioShock franchise which his work has appeared in for the last three years. So, he recently exercised his craft in a fairly peculiar way -- by designing a Doom 2 map modeled after the two areas on which he served as lead designer for 2K's underseas adventure: Arcadia and the Farmer's Market. You can download the map directly from LeBreton's site. It comes bundled in a handy little .ZIP file which includes instructions on how to get it up and running on your modern gaming rig. If you're having trouble, just put the original BioShock in, and smear a thick sheen of petroleum jelly on your monitor. [Via Big Download]
BioWare to discuss Mass Effect 2 level design at GDC '09
Though the game has yet to be formally announced (much less as part of a trilogy), BioWare's Mass Effect 2 is set to feature in a 60-minute lecture at 2009's Game Developers Conference, due to be held at the end of March in San Francisco. BioWare project manager, Corey Andruko, and lead technical designer Dusty Everman will treat attendees to a discussion of the EA-owned developer's "new level-creation process, which is focused on maximizing iteration for quality while minimizing rework and cost."The duo will also discuss the level design lessons learned from the planet-hopping RPG's development -- and how those have led to improvements in the sequel. We imagine at least some of the talk will be focused on the benefits of disabling the "copy" and "paste" functions on office workstations.[Via Gamezine]
Joshua Slack demonstrates NCSoft worldbuilding tool
In the course of a technical session at JavaOne, Joshua Slack and Rikard Herlitz showed off the kind of tools you can build using the jMonkeyEngine, and used the NCSoft world-building tool as an example. This video shows Rikard putting together a hasty landscape that comes out quite nicely, given that he is 'just a programmer' rather than a professional level designer. (Self-deprecatory humor for the proverbial win.) Although the video is intended to demonstrate the capabilities of the jMonkeyEngine, it's an interesting look at one of the tools used by a major player in the MMO market. NCSoft has been using jMonkeyEngine for the last two years. Joshua doesn't mention any specific games that have used the tool, though he does hint rather strongly that NCsoft's most recent output might have employed it.The worldbuilding tool presentation follows behind the break.
GoW takes it to the next level
The lovely Tina wood from The 10 Show lends her slightly annoying reporting talents to this otherwise watchable video of a nameless Epic staffer showing off Gears of War level design via the Unreal 3 editor. Did you know they design these next-gen games on "high-end PCs" as opposed to decade old garage sale laptops?[Via Xboxic]
