How to: LEVEL DESIGN - Dev Tips | Myrkur Games

[@Chevifier]

Just watching those timelapses helps me in actually starting.

[@CellarPhantom]

How to level design: "Block it out and try it until it feels good"

[@MyrkurGames]

Hey, glad you liked it! we have another level design video on our channel if you are interested in more level design content from us :) But in general the process goes through a few stages during development. The Horizontal slice(a.k.a. Playable narrative): A level that mostly showcases the mood, feel, and general flow of the level and tells the story of what's going to be happening in the main game. After a bunch of playtesting we bump the levels up to White Box. WB: Thats the stage where we try to finalize as much as we can, concerning gameplay. So thats were we have all the traversal, and player paths properly layed out, we have blockouts of vistas and landmarks. As well as semi finalized puzzles. Form there we playtest A LOT and tweak the level based on feedback (This can lead to us scrapping the level in it's early stages and starting from scratch), and bump it up to Orange Box. OB: Orange box is the last real production stage of the process, where we start adding in final art and removing all temp assets from the scenes. Once this stage is done the level should be "ship-able" but not 100% polished, all gameplay and mechanics, hero-props, and paths should be finalized in this stage. Then once most of the levels have reached an OB status we go back into Hardening. Hardening: Hardening is a polish stage where we do a lot of minor detail work and bug fixing to get a better level of polish. Hope this helps. P.s. here's a link to the other level design video: ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJ6wgWalpdqpl7c )

[@CellarPhantom]

@@MyrkurGames Big thanks for such a quick and elaborate answer! Will check out the other video too.

[@Petru228]

That's actually the level design part, the rest of the vid is level art. Some level designers do both, but more often than not a level designer does the blockout/scripting gameplay and artists do the rest.

[@caseybennett1385]

Good comment, great replies. 🥲 Beautiful.

[@TheRealJDC]

This was fascinating to watch. These types of videos are ABSOULTELY ESSENTIAL to people wanting to enter the gaming industry. They allow us to take what we THINK a job involves into what they actually involve. Thank you.

[@AdScarisbrick]

I love how quick and straight to point the video is! It's humble and gives you information straight up, Thank you! :D

[@connorhale3842]

Very insightful! Thank you for giving us a look at your process! Cant wait for more.

[@dreadxlegionx058]

Gonna be a level designer and this was really helpful. Thank you!!

[@woupsaffle7063]

Good luck with that, its my goal to be one

[@pixelb0i255]

We want more videos like this. We always see the end product, but not the blood , sweat and tears going into it lol. Thank you sir. Don’t even speed through it. If takes 8 hours it takes 8 hours lol

[@MyrkurGames]

That's right! Sometimes the only way is to work really hard at something for a long time...

[@fuzzypanda1684]

I love Epic for making Unreal available for free, and Meagascans and Quixel for making their libraries also available for free. It's really amazing, I've been building and making scenes and games for 6 months now and haven't spent a penny.

[@peterlaanguila5098]

Cool to see the level designer doing also the environment art, looks cool and fun but usually designers do blockouts and artists environment art. Getting people to test level design and art at the same time could make testers be amazed by good art while not considering design aspects or the other way round. I would split up the process on LD then EnviroArt. Megascans assets are amazing but that could also make us fall onto the trap of being the current asset the ones dictating the art direction and narrative instead of us

[@MyrkurGames]

You are very correct! All valid points! Back when we made this video, our Level Team was just Eiríkur by himself. So, naturally, the video unintentionally focuses on the journey of a solo-dev making an arena level, largely focues on assets. Today, our Level Team is around 10 employees, and our technique has changed significantly! It's very tempting to go back and recreate this video with a full team, showing off the workflow we use to develop our game now that we've got the team we want. Perhaps at some point next year? Thanks!

[@MasterMahad]

Absolutely Amazing! As someone who is looking to improve and elevate my narrative design, this is absolutely essential to know and learn about level design. Thank You!!!

[@Draknar]

Great video! It's really cool to see a practice example of Megascans and get a overview of your workflow.

[@sophialiles9707]

Thank you so much for this video, Level Design is explained great, I’m currently learning these skills at university and it’s really cool to see them in practice. I didn’t know about the customisable grid and definitely would be using that in my practise for size reference, I’m sure it’s still in UE5 as I believe this is UE4. Can’t wait to see the game! :))

[@AhviMa]

Bruhh, I don't know how but this video helps alot. I guess watching a professional do it helps, let alone a good teacher.

[@amyaw98]

Incredibly helpful! Thank you for your time :)

[@frosti8787]

Thanks, great video! Really good stuff. I hope development is well, keep up the great work!

[@MyrkurGames]

Thanks! :D

[@josephvanwyk2088]

FINALLY a game developer that talks sense. Trying to figure this out for a year now, and you've beautifully explained the pipeline process in 8 minutes, where other's beat around the damn bush. So can I ask, with all these environment assets you mentioned (15 or whatever), when adding people, and buildings - how hectic is the draw call then? I'm struggling to understand the mix between environment detail and then the detail required for a building and it's props all together. I guess it's also an optimization question.... Do you use Blender to build your models and then import them into unreal/unity ? And if so, how to do you manage the vertices control? Is there like a golden rule to follow (for example, a building shouldn't have more than 1000 vertices or something)?

[@MyrkurGames]

Hey happy to be of assistance, a few things were pretty vague in this dev tip video like that draw call point, we are using some instancing to lower draw-calls and keeping the number of materials on a given mesh to its lowest possible number. But if you want to dive into these things there is a super useful course over at Learn Unreal called: "An In-Depth look at Real-Time Rendering". It's a pretty solid baseline for most things concerning rendering expenses: draw-calls, tri counts, lighting etc. Course link: learn.unrealengine.com/course/2436622

[@Okir09]

I wish i could see those fast forward videos but in real time so we could see all the steps :)

[@Sickmave72]

This video is such a gold mine!

[@dexxxterrr908]

❤ thank uou for sharing your exp

[@Cazametroides]

Thanks for the insights guys!

[@HydroxXTV]

Take a shot each time he says megascans. Disclaimer: youll be dead before the end of the video.

[@yellow13_]

Finally a good fucking video

[@KalisCZ]

I like how level design can be really easy, you just have to use your imagination and download the assets haha, this video makes me really start some project. Amazing job, subscribe!

[@corriedotdev]

Loved this! Inspired

[@777SFINN777]

This is very cool. explained well!

[@TheBugB]

Do you use BSP brushes or just like a regular 3D mesh?

[@MyrkurGames]

I use all of them :)

[@TheBugB]

@@MyrkurGames so when you do your block out you use normal 3D meshes like cubes and what not? I see people saying like “BSP only!!!!” But I find them annoying to work with cause in unreal you can only select one at a time (maybe that’s a bug with 4.27 not sure) anyways thanks!

[@swat37]

Modular design is very speedy indeed!

[@cubeflinger]

So after you add the assets do you delete the block out?

[@MyrkurGames]

Usually I like to dump it into a sublevel, so I can still toggle it on and see it for reference

[@Sto08]

Very Cool!! Thank you~

[@chankulovski]

I would like to ask regarding collision . How did you managed to apply the collision ? Was it automatically " Use complex collision as simple ", or you've done it manually per each asset before throwing it to the Level ? Amazing work btw !

[@DhrumilDoshi2002]

Hey brother, this video really helped me to get an idea of how to work with a level, but I have a question, Is it necessary for a level designer to know coding ??

[@Francking47]

Thanks for that video! Was wondering where the level designer job ends and where the environment/level artist job begins? Are the megascan assets you use in your level are first approved by the art team? Or you are provided complete freedom to pitch your level? In other words : how much is reused as is in your level by environment/level artists? It seems like blocking++ that we wouldn't normally think of doing because "level art" at this phase by designers might be seen like a waste of time by somes, but with the pipeline you propose, it seems faster than ever.

[@MyrkurGames]

This usually depends on team size. Here at myrkur we have a melding of sorts, where level designers and Environment artist work closely on all aspects relating to the level. So bumping levels up from White box over into Orange Box is a joint effort between departments since the level still has to read as well after being beautified. This will definitely not be the case at every company, and some level designer only work in block mesh.

[@KutsenkoCG]

Very useful, thanks :)

[@MyrkurGames]

Glad it was helpful!

[@MDSZilla]

Hi, I saw your Timelapse for the Level Build posted recently, I saw you using Splines for the Placement of Assets, could you kindly share how I could setup the nodes for that? I already tried using some tutorials but they tend to not connect them properly and cause gaps between the assets. Also, LOVED THE TIPS, I always have to add a new post process whenever I setup a scene, I'll from now on be using a template, and I can see how that can save time over time.

[@MyrkurGames]

If the meshes are not connecting properly in a spline actor you should set up an offset, that you can tweak so the actors overlap in a nice way. And glad you enjoyed it! :)

[@MDSZilla]

@@MyrkurGames Appreciate your input, thanks a lot.

[@expl0itr]

Amazing!

[@Juri-xz8qv]

but how can you make it that its not lagging with so many objects in this scene?

[@Atezian]

This isnt about designing the greybox level though. This is about level workflow from start to finish. Seems there is very little content about designing 3D levels for the mechanics of the character

[@MyrkurGames]

We really, really, want to make one of those videos, but it's hard because we don't want to spoil anything juicy either. Maybe we can make one sometime after release?

[@Atezian]

@@MyrkurGames That would be awesome. I understand what you mean and I had not considered that. It's like a mystery area between design and landscaping: very intagible to the immediate mind. I find it very hard to create a good balance of size for the movement speed and mechanics of the character controller. Perhaps overly so for 3D platformers.

[@karthikvedantham1258]

Great presentation and very interesting to watch ✌🏻😁

[@DarknessChronicles]

Great work. Do you keep BSPs under the terrain and behind the rock assets or delete them afterwards?

[@MyrkurGames]

Since most of the assets only have one face we like to put super simple geo, like boxes or planes, behind assets that are being lit from behind to prevent light bleeding through the asset

[@DarknessChronicles]

@@MyrkurGames Thank you for your kind reply. They say it's bad practice to leave basic geometry shapes in your scene but what you say is makes sense :)

[@MyrkurGames]

@@DarknessChronicles Yeah definitely keep them to a minimum and only use them if the serve a purpose :)

[@Cloroqx]

Loved this. What is the name of the tiled grid material you are using? Cheers!

[@MyrkurGames]

It's called Customizable Grid by Zaroa.net and it's $16.61 on the Unreal Marketplace. www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/customizable-grid

[@hakametal]

Can those grid materials be applied to BSPs or are they all static meshes? Thinking of buying this.

[@wy7393]

You could use this free pack www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/item/098c446d42674c89af00f692bf071fce

[@MyrkurGames]

You can put that material on all meshes!

[@OllieHall98]

Hey Eiríkur, nice walkthrough, thanks for that! Is the blocking out essentially the beginning of a level design process, or do you sketch out designs on paper/drawing software beforehand? I'm trying to understand the intentions/approach to the area you created. Thanks!!

[@MyrkurGames]

Hey, so for an arena like this the most important thing from me is that the combat feels good and that the way forward, post combat, is clear. But in general the process goes through a few stages during development. (re-using a previously posted comment here hehh) The Horizontal slice(a.k.a. Playable narrative): A level that mostly showcases the mood, feel, and general flow of the level and tells the story of what's going to be happening in the main game. After a bunch of playtesting we bump the levels up to White Box. WB: Thats the stage where we try to finalize as much as we can, concerning gameplay. So thats were we have all the traversal, and player paths properly layed out, we have blockouts of vistas and landmarks. As well as semi finalized puzzles. Form there we playtest A LOT and tweak the level based on feedback (This can lead to us scrapping the level in it's early stages and starting from scratch), and bump it up to Orange Box. OB: Orange box is the last real production stage of the process, where we start adding in final art and removing all temp assets from the scenes. Once this stage is done the level should be "ship-able" but not 100% polished, all gameplay and mechanics, hero-props, and paths should be finalized in this stage. Then once most of the levels have reached an OB status we go back into Hardening. Hardening: Hardening is a polish stage where we do a lot of minor detail work and bug fixing to get a better level of polish. Hope this helps.

[@OllieHall98]

@@MyrkurGames thanks this is a lot of v helpful information! 2 questions... 1. Any idea why it's called "orange" box? 2. Is the horizontal slice essentially a very rough whitebox then? Does it include rough combat encounters or is essentially more of a walking simulator with narrative beats?

[@MyrkurGames]

@@OllieHall98 So to answer q1 it's Orange box, because there we start adding in the color (and assets) and q2: Yea, it's mostly a walking sim, kind of, with very simple nods at gameplay, so we might add an enemy or two or just have floating text that screams “COMBAT” and a few A posing models standing around. It's there to get a sense of pacing, what type of environments we envision and how the story feels as an experience rather than just being text on paper.

[@OllieHall98]

@@MyrkurGamesAwesome - that sounds like a great way to design levels and world without getting too bogged down in the details at the beginning

[@sunriseeuw7363]

So the mega scans from ue5 xan u use in ur own game? Did i got that correct?

[@abdelhaksaouli8802]

He answered every thing about level desing but left the most important one which is : HOW DID YOU GOT THE IDEA OF THE BLOCKED OUT LEVEL IT SELF x')

[@MarsalEntertainment.]

Hello, I have a question. Does a level designer have to program the AI in the level that he has created?

[@Petru228]

This video is a lot about level art and very little about level design, like rational design. Yes a LD does the blockout and scripting which includes the AI stuff.

[@MarsalEntertainment.]

@@Petru228 So a level designers job is only creating a white box arena/level and programming the ai in that level? Is there a chance you could send me a good video explaining exactly what a level designer does instead of explaining over and over again? (Thanks btw)

[@MyrkurGames]

​@@MarsalEntertainment. The answer here changes wildly from project to project. But by and large, a level designer creates the game-level from pieces created by other talented people. LDs use a player, enemies, and gameplay elements (climbing, puzzle-pieces, etc.) created by gameplay designers, programmers, and others. This includes creating an arena (like in this video) and creating a fun encounter using enemies created by other team-members. And in this video, our LD populates the level with assets created by environment artists, but today, we'd expect our Environment Artists to populate it. I can't think of a video explaing specifically this, but maybe we can make one... 🤔

[@MarsalEntertainment.]

@@MyrkurGames That would be great. Thanks a lot! Btw Echoes of the end looks really good!

[@BarakaGameDev]

Hello, was asking if you could do another level but without timelapse. I just want to know your thought process when making the game.

[@MyrkurGames]

That would have to be a live stream of some sort, which we have not planned on doing. But it's not a bad idea, so we'll definitely think about it :D

[@nothingspeaks]

how did you get the assets to have collision did you just use ue4s auto convex collision tools, becasue MS doesnt have collision naturally

[@MyrkurGames]

We use the convex collision on most of them, the rest we do by hand either in engine or in modeling programs, our Art Director says this tutorial is very similar to her process for manual collision when she's dissatisfied with the auto collision: kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6m5d3aed5iirrs

[@TheEraindil]

Hi, nice video, really helped me. Do you use bsp to block out the level are do you use static mesh from start?

[@MyrkurGames]

I mostly use just basic cubes (so yeah mostly static meshes) to block everything out and sometimes I use a landscape with a grid-material. But if I'm blocking out a set piece I will go in and use the box brushes to create more complex details to help the environment artists to create the meshes needed for the fleshed out level. The only BPs I use are mechanical BPs, that is gameplay actors like interactable objects etc... , and then the occasional static mesh spline to save time

[@TheEraindil]

@@MyrkurGames OK interesting. I though that you used bsp at the beginning of the video but then you "wrapped" the cubes with static meshes and I was not so sure anymore. Thanks for the precision!

[@samuelkilik8233]

Do you use world composition in your game level

[@MyrkurGames]

We have bee using traditional level-streaming for our levels, since they are quite linear in nature :)

[@samuelkilik8233]

@@MyrkurGames Do you suggest using WC in a medium scale map with no backtracking

[@MyrkurGames]

@@samuelkilik8233 It totally depends on the game, I would just try setting up 2 scenarioes using either levelstreaming or WC, and see which type you like working with :)

[@rowanchandlee437]

Mega scans is INSANE!!!!

[@MyrkurGames]

And with UE5 Quixel is just in Unreal! These are crazy times we live in!

[@lazyturtle61]

Do level designers use code too?

[@MyrkurGames]

Depends on the team size. Level designers in small teams will most of the time need to code a lot, but in bigger teams the level designers will, usually, still be expected to at least script for their levels.

[@lazyturtle61]

@@MyrkurGames i see, im learning code rn and wanna be a lvl designer later

[@MyrkurGames]

@@lazyturtle61 It's definitely a good skill to take into a level design role, and helps you communicate with your programmer peers, since you will be able to understand most of the terminology related to the programming side of the games development :)

[@9ubagurbi6]

what's happening to this game? I've been on your website and it's not even shown there. Is it cancelled?

[@MyrkurGames]

Far from it! We're still working hard on it! We're deep in development now, and we'll start sharing game footage again when we're ready, but that's not yet.

[@9ubagurbi6]

@@MyrkurGames Happy to hear this! Wishing You much patience though, I know how game dev is demanding, best wishes to all in the team : )

[@ValdiCoolGaming]

Are you guys planning on releasing the game on steam or on the epic games store? Or is that yet to be decided?

[@MyrkurGames]

We are still too early for that to be decided :)

[@przemyslawmoleda2067]

Hello, nice tutorial all looks grate as level disainer , but I have a question. I made 1 map and it takes 1 GB after optimization, it takes 700 MB and if there will be, for example, 10 maps, it will take up 7 GB of memory. And I don't understand how, for example, the game "real racing3" takes up 800mb of memory on a smartphone and has a lot of nice looking graphical maps. Can you explain to me how they do it or give me a link where I can find out something about it I would be very grateful

[@MyrkurGames]

Hey, So looking at that game you can see they use very few unique assets and they use low res textures. You can lower your game size by re-using textures and as well as cutting out all unnecessary assets in your game and levels. Hope this helps

[@rathore3991]

And as well real racing have ingames download maps and cars and for mobile you should go with 512 or 256.

[@ameeaty4088]

awesome video,would you please tell us the specs for your computer ?

[@samuelkilik8233]

sir how do you delt with the poly and triangle count for the assets .... do you use lod or just use like lod 3

[@MyrkurGames]

we use the inbuilt lod-ing system in UE4, as well as reducing the try count as much as we can

[@samuelkilik8233]

@@MyrkurGames sir do you guys made a tutorial on how you delt with it

[@lucastotton9330]

Does a level designer draw anything or is that another job

[@MyrkurGames]

That totally deppends on the company, but at Myrkur, the most a level designer will draw is the level layout as a map. Other environmental/ mood design drawings/ artwork are done by concept artists.

[@lucastotton9330]

Thanks the reason I asked was because I wanted to become a level designers

[@robertzavaglia28]

Thanks a lot for the great explanation, I always wanted to work in the videogame industry but it's unclear what's the best first step, have you got any advice?

[@MyrkurGames]

GMTK has an excellent video called How to be a Game Designer; kzbin.info/www/bejne/hn67l2ObbdNlhcU

[@avistryfe4534]

My advice now would be get the best pc you can. Cuz its demanding af. You can dabble and make linear games with lower specs. But the serious stuff will definitely require a decent pc. I recommend 4080 with at least 64gb ram. Im getting away with learning on 2070super. But sometimes youll hit a ram spike that takes more than 16gb i have and it crashes. This has mainly only happened during my attempts at larger really detailed maps. I have since moved to smaller maps and it is more stable but sometimes it will crash still. I also dont get fancy visuals that a player with a nice pc/monitor would see. So the game would end up maybe hideous looking to those people and you would never know. Still. Theres alot to learn in it. So i take that time to learn and save money for a really good computer.

[@cretek3957]

did you have a degree to get your job? went to school for graphic design and I don't find it that appealing anymore, im sure it's somewhat of a niche market for game design unless im mistaken

[@MyrkurGames]

So, Eiríkur has a computer science degree, but through other projects he has worked on as well as a natural progression within the company he moved into the position of lead level designer so he did not have a prior degree in level design per say. That being said, having a degree is certainly a way to get into a job interview but not the only criteria people look at when acquiring talent. So don't let not having a degree stop you, just put in the work, create a portfolio and keep working on it and getting feedback. That's the best way to get into the industry

[@cretek3957]

@@MyrkurGamesthat's cool. I believe I have the capability to become a good level and environmental designer but with a new full time job underway it seems like it could be impossible to get motivated with learning the software and creating content for my portfolio. thanks for the insight though ill keep it in mind, he has some good work!

[@TheRealJDC]

@@MyrkurGames thank you for this reply. I am currently through a similar scenario to the OP and liked your in depth reply.

[@marcuslane6289]

Do you have to pay to use mega scans in your game? Or do you use mega scans just for art direction?

[@MyrkurGames]

You can use them for free on Unreal, just get them from the market place! However if you are using another platform then you have to pay to get the assets

[@shifugurugaming]

I WANNA KNOW WHERE HE GOT TREES FROM!!!!

[@MyrkurGames]

The vast majority of our trees we make in-house, but you're in luck! These specific trees are altered versions of the ones from the Book of the Dead Unity pack. unity.com/demos/book-dead

[@mahendrabhatia7598]

can i be a level designer by using other people assets?

[@АкимПанов-д1ж]

Yes,it is much harder than you think. Now i'm using textures from the 'Texture Paradice',you can find it easily in Google. I also make objects in Blender,for example,few weeks ago i created my modern room in Unreal Engine 4 with my own materials. I made bed,tables,chairs,balcony and etc.I also took photos of textures,for example,in Ikea with my phone.Yes,it's not as cool as Quixel Megascan or Poliigon,but it helped me to understand this process better,because i'm always wanted to know,how game companies work with the textures for their games. But,anyway,you can calmly use textures from the sites like i do. It will help you with your level designing journey,overall,you will learn how to work with the different types of textures.

[@MyrkurGames]

It really depends on your project, your experience and most vitally; your team! Eiríkur here uses the assets created by Megascans and by our Art Department - not ones he creates himself. If you're just getting started consider playing around with publicly available assets to create a portfolio which you can try to shop around to get a job.

[@xitsjinxbtwx]

Hi! I’m looking to do just this. Would you suggest a bachelors degree in Game Art or Game Design?

[@MyrkurGames]

When hiring, most companies will look at experience above anything else. A degree in Level Design, or similar field will give you experience, so will working at a company. But the degree isn't worth anything unless you produced something cool while at school! The best way to get started is by making games, small games, in a game-jam or over a week. Most of us at Myrkur Games have a wide backlog of various projects like that, we could show them off during the hiring phase, that right there is gold!

[@wearestrong3650]

I guess if you want to work with those guys you need a blond hair greate video thanks

[@MyrkurGames]

We are always looking to add new colors into our hair color lineup, got any great ideas? :'D

[@TheBugB]

To be fair most people from Iceland have blonde hair. So its not like they have to go out of their way to find a bunch of Icelandic game devs with blonde hair.

[@Mark-nm9sm]

POV : You searched for tips on map design

[@MyrkurGames]

Welcome to our channel! Hope we're helpful!

[@majorbarnulf2608]

[people] : * uses unity/unreal engine * [epic] : you want modules to import and use megascans? sure! [me] : * uses godot * [epic] : haha, nope.

[@wagwan0]

Same bruh

[@ilypavan]

zank you.

[@haynedev7631]

It terrifies me I never heard of the game or the awesome team

[@davewood6868]

I really enjoyed this until I realized it was a Megascans advertisement.

[@MyrkurGames]

This video was indeed made in partnership with Megascans, if you want a similar video without the product placement, check out this other one we did! kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJ6wgWalpdqpl7c

[@eaglenebula2172]

Wait is that Thor doing level design 🤔 ?

[@MyrkurGames]

I noticed you've copied my beard!

[@jimmyryan5880]

Show the damn screen

[@TheP1x3l]

I guess if you cant use megascans because the realism is the wrong style for your game, you have to work a lot harder? 😅

[@K3vyB]

This isn't level design my guy...

[@spinechiller567]

Yea it is

[@TheRealNirox]

​@@spinechiller567Nope. It's more of Level Art. Designing Levels is kinda different.

[@Lukifah]

asset flipper lol

[@svenrawandreloaded]

mega scans is going to destroy creativity in level design.

[@MyrkurGames]

Our experience is the opposite, instead of spending our resources on making rocks, cliffs, and generic props. We spend our efforts on unique props, detailed structures and one-of-a-kind assets. As a time-saving resource, that time can instead be invested in the game-identity, boosting our creativity!

[@keithlarsson4264]

Amazing