In Level Up roundtable events, top Roblox developers discuss the game design best practices that contribute to their enduring success on the platform. Viewers are invited to learn from the experience of these developers and apply their insights to their own games.
Level Design Roundtable Discussion
In this Level Up Roundtable, Erythia (Dragon Adventures, Creatures of Sonaria), MiniToon (Piggy, Piggy: Intercity) and Cullen & Tohb (Riotfall) discuss the processes and techniques that they use to produce iconic levels and engaging environments.
I loved that theme park example around 1:03:00. I feel like simulator games are a major example that show that off greatly, my first thought is Pet Sim X.
From my own research in level design, I learned that having memorable land marks is a big deal. Guiding the player through the experience while also letting them have options is a true testament of level design. An example of this sort of thing being nicely done is Banjo-Kazooie.
Some more examples of level design that I enjoy:
Mario games use a constant level design tactic that teaches the player something and challenges them. Here is a video on that by Game Maker’s Toolkit that talks about it: Super Mario 3D World's 4 Step Level Design - YouTube
Something to keep in mind is that movement brings context to the level design. If you have a jump, make the player use the jump to get to some areas. Same thing for a sprint button, double jump, or something random like a sword that lets you fly on top of it.
Player speed might also be something to consider. Some like to go through things fast, but some like to look around and go slow.
I’d love to learn more about MiniToon’s main idea with level design. I personally struggle with telling a story with an environment and feel many do to. Maybe a video on that might be good.
Anyways, this Level Up was great and gave me so many things to think about. I enjoyed all the perspectives and overall enjoyed the video.
Hi! This is an ongoing event series, and there are a bunch of videos from past events on the Developer Relations YouTube channel, including roundtables with developers (like this one), workshops on game design best practices, and short videos on foundational game design topics. You can find them all here: https://www.youtube.com/c/RobloxDeveloperRelations/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=2