Recommended talks

List / archive of level design talks and presentations, with links to videos and slides

Below, we recommend level design talks that are: (1) from experienced designers, (2) aimed at other level designers, (3) free to access.

If it's not here, that doesn't mean it's bad. For example, GDC paywalls talks for 2 years, so many recent talks aren't here.

Talks are grouped by topic, more recent at the top. ⭐ = especially influential / famous

• General level design talks

• Combat / encounter design talks

• Non-linear / sandbox / open world design talks

General level design talks

see also: How to make a level

Talk Name	Year	Talk Description	Slides PDF
Designing the Museum Flashback: 'The Last of Us Part II' (YouTube, GDC Vault)	2022	by Evan Hill; storytelling and pacing for a walking sim level, and an overview of the level production process at Naughty Dog.	LastOfUsMuseum_EvanHill.pdf
Just Me & My Pitch: The Confused Art of Showing a Layout (GDC Vault)	2022	by Simon-Albert Boudreault; abstract production process theory for iterating on layouts, how to run a design meeting.	JustMeAndMyPitch_Boudreault.pdf
⭐ Modular Level Design of Fallout 4 (YouTube, GDC Vault)	2016	by Joel Burgess and Nathan Purkeypile; an authoritative primer to modular kit design, essential for environment artists.	Fallout4Modular_BurgessPurkeypile.pdf
Wayfinding and Storytelling (GDC Vault)	2015	by Brendon Chung; wayfinding and storytelling, but maybe more about flow. Lots of videos, slides not recommended.	WayfindingStorytelling_BrendonChung.pdf
⭐ Everything I Learned About Level Design I Learned from Disneyland (GDC Vault)	2009	by Scott Rogers; the original theme park level design talk. Despite its influence, we disagree with much of it, see: Disneyland.

Combat / encounter design talks

see also: Combat

Talk Name	Year	Talk Description	Slides PDF
Creating Conflict: Combat Design for AAA Action Games (GDC Vault)	2016	by Michael Barclay, Pete Ellis, Sam Howels; three talks on combat pacing, encounter design, and open world combat.	CreatingConflictCombat_BarclayHowelsEllis.pdf
Community Level Design for Competitive CS:GO (YouTube (2014), GDC Vault, Archive.org)	2015	by Shawn "FMPONE" Snelling and Sal "Volcano" Garozzo; sightlines and readability in PvP maps for Counter-Strike.	CompetitiveCSGO_GarozzoSnelling.pdf
⭐ Design in Detail: Changing the Time Between Shots for the Sniper Rifle from 0.5 to 0.7 Seconds for Halo 3 (YouTube, GDC Vault)	2010	by Jaime Griesemer; influential balance and tuning workflow talk, not directly about level design but still relevant to any combat game. See also: Chill Out.	DesignInDetailSniperHalo_Griesemer.pdf

Non-linear / sandbox / open world design talks

Talk Name	Year	Talk Description	Slides PDF
Designing Radically Non-Linear Single Player Levels (YouTube, GDC Vault)	2019	by Aubrey Serr; affordance theory for systemic non-linear sandbox layouts via immersive sim examples.	RadicallyNonlinear_AubreySerr.pdf
'Hitman' Levels as Social Spaces: The Social Anthropology of Level Design (YouTube, GDC Vault)	2019	by Mette Podenphant Andersen; layouts for non-linear sandbox maps in Hitman 2 (2018) as sociological spaces.	HitmanSocial_MettePodenphantAndersen.pdf
'Mooncrash': Resetting the Immersive Simulation (YouTube, GDC Vault)	2019	by Rich Wilson; pacing and progression for Prey (2017) DLC adapting the immersive sim into a semi-proc-gen roguelike.	Mooncrash_RichWilson.pdf
Level Design in 'Hitman': Guiding Players in a Non-Linear Sandbox (YouTube, GDC Vault)	2016	by Mette Podenphant Andersen and Jacob Mikkelsen; tutorial and wayfinding for Hitman 1 (2016) Paris chateau level.	HitmanGuiding_AndersenMikkelsen.pdf

See also

• GDC Extras archive at Archive.org

• YouTube playlist: NYU Practice talks