Recommended talks
List / archive of level design talks and presentations, with links to videos and slides
Last updated
List / archive of level design talks and presentations, with links to videos and slides
Last updated
Below, we recommend level design talks that are: (1) from experienced designers, (2) aimed at other level designers, (3) free to access.
Talks are grouped by topic, more recent at the top. ⭐ = especially influential / famous
see also:
2022
2022
2016
2015
2009
see also:
2016
2015
by Shawn "FMPONE" Snelling and Sal "Volcano" Garozzo; sightlines and readability in PvP maps for Counter-Strike.
2010
Designing the Museum Flashback: 'The Last of Us Part II' (, )
by Evan Hill; and for a walking sim level, and an overview of the level production process at Naughty Dog.
Just Me & My Pitch: The Confused Art of Showing a Layout ()
by Simon-Albert Boudreault; abstract production process theory for iterating on , how to run a design meeting.
⭐ Modular Level Design of Fallout 4 (, )
by Joel Burgess and Nathan Purkeypile; an authoritative primer to , essential for environment artists.
Wayfinding and Storytelling ()
by Brendon Chung; and , but maybe more about . Lots of videos, slides not recommended.
⭐ Everything I Learned About Level Design I Learned from Disneyland ()
by Scott Rogers; the original theme park level design talk. Despite its influence, we disagree with much of it, see: .
Creating Conflict: Combat Design for AAA Action Games ()
by Michael Barclay, Pete Ellis, Sam Howels; three talks on combat , , and open world combat.
Community Level Design for Competitive CS:GO (, , )
⭐ Design in Detail: Changing the Time Between Shots for the Sniper Rifle from 0.5 to 0.7 Seconds for Halo 3 (, )
by Jaime Griesemer; influential and tuning workflow talk, not directly about level design but still relevant to any combat game. See also: .
2019
2019
2019
2016
Designing Radically Non-Linear Single Player Levels (, )
by Aubrey Serr; affordance theory for systemic non-linear sandbox via immersive sim examples.
'Hitman' Levels as Social Spaces: The Social Anthropology of Level Design (, )
by Mette Podenphant Andersen; for non-linear sandbox maps in Hitman 2 (2018) as sociological spaces.
'Mooncrash': Resetting the Immersive Simulation (, )
by Rich Wilson; and progression for Prey (2017) DLC adapting the immersive sim into a semi-proc-gen roguelike.
Level Design in 'Hitman': Guiding Players in a Non-Linear Sandbox (, )
by Mette Podenphant Andersen and Jacob Mikkelsen; tutorial and for Hitman 1 (2016) Paris chateau level.