Level Design Philosophy

[Mariotroid]

What is your guys level design philosophy? For Mario Holidays, I am using the simple four sentence structure from Super Mario 3D World. A poem that goes: introduction, develop,a twist, and mastery. Also, for the graphics or themes of the worlds I brainstormed and wrote 5 to 10 words that described the holiday, and based my level around these words.

For an old Metroid Fangame I was making, I decided to make the whole game's progression revolve around my life's events. It was definitely a more creative process and I'm missing some of that creativity in Holidays.

So, what is your philosophy on level or game design?

[GeneralGuy]

Start off with simple levels, then get creative and design more complicated, intricate levels. At the end of the game, design some hardcore courses ala Funky and Tubular from Super Mario World.

[VinnyVideo]

I've tried a few different things over the years.

When I made Revenge of the Walrus, pretty every level is built around a specific enemy, obstacle, or gimmick - SMW timed platforms, a rocket ship, or darkness and a giant ghostly walrus, to name a few. Some of these were original concepts, while others were interesting ideas that appeared in official Mario games but never got used much.

Course clear! You got a card.

[Vert]

I just do the 3D World thing where I introduce a gimmick, add some variations that get increasingly more complex/difficult, then add a climatic finish. Then when I touch up the level I move things around to make things flow better or throw out sections that don't work. I'd like to start designing more complex levels like TF's sometime when I feel like I've got more of a grasp on level design.

[The Dark Warrior]

When making Mario platformers, its essential to read these:
http://thegamedesignforum.com/features/RD_SMW_1.html - Reverse Design of SMW
https://gamedevelopment.tutsplus.com/art...-cms-25177 - follow-up to the above
http://www.significant-bits.com/super-ma...n-lessons/ (recommended to read all parts)
https://www.anatomyofgames.com/2013/08/0...the-ropes/ (recommended to read all parts)

and watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBmIkEvEBtA - Mark Brown's 4-Step Design

Additionally watch gameplay videos and play the levels of each Mario games (and yes, I do include fangames and ROM-Hacks of Mario in this as there are tons of creative levels made by fans worth your time) to study their level design structures. If you can understand how they are made, you are armed to make good Mario levels. Personal philosophy doesn't really matter to me as-is what the games objectively teach from how they are constructed.

[Evan.F]

Although I'm not that great at it, game design for any platformer revolves 3 parts (I'll use the set-up, conflict, resolution writing model for this)
Set up - Introducing new mechanics and maybe some recurring ones. The main mechanic (most likely the new one)
Conflict - Expansion of what the mechanics can do, both alone and together. These should get more challenging
Resolution - A final test of the mechanics

Conflict is typically made of 3 more parts
Beginning half - Buildup of the new mechanics
Midpoint - Good place to put the checkpoint, serves as a break between the 2 other phases
ending Half - New mechanic is introduced and the two mechanics are combined into a more interesting challenge, builds up yo the climax

Mario level design also has another part
Breathing Room - occurs frequently between challenges in Mario games. I recommend Ceave Gaming's video on Mario level design seen Here for how it works

Other parts that are used in certain areas are
Bonus areas - Areas away from the main path, mostly for fun
Challenge areas - Areas away from the main path, mostly for challenges with a collectible item at the end (think Celeste's challenge areas)
Pre Boss Areas - Quiet areas before a boss fight, usually with a checkpoint/savepoint and/or power-ups. Doesn't have to lead to a fight, mostly a major challenge.
Secret areas - Areas with secrets, such as alternate exits and Easter eggs (think the Keyholes in Mario World)
Setpeices - Parts of levels made to show off action, usually short with little gameplay. (think the lava chase scene in Sonic 1)
Scripted Events - Similar to setpeices, but with no gameplay (think the Orca chase in Sonic Adventure's first level, or any other modern Sonic level)
Transitions - Seen in open world / Metroidvania design. Areas connecting locations for easy travel between them, can contain other sections in it (The only one that comes to mind is the Glass Straight from Iconoclasts, it's also an example of adding more sections too a transition, as it has a secret boss and other challenges inside it)
Boss arena - Rooms for Boss fights, sounds simple but is probably the harder of them to design as it has to make the boss interesting and challenging (not all boss ideas work in a flat area)
Auto-Scroller - Sections/Levels where the screen moves without player imput (think airships in SMB3)
Ending challenges - Challenges at the end of a level, usually based on the main gimmick (think the goal pole in Mario games)
Cutscene Areas - some games will often have cutscenes mid levels, a unique looking area can help make this moment important

Hope this list helps people!

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[Vert]

Breathing Room - occurs frequently between challenges in Mario games. I recommend Ceave Gaming's video on Mario level design seen Here for how it works

I wanted to single out this part in your post in particular because breathing room is so underrated. I've seen so many games, even commercial ones, that are just non-stop action. It's super overwhelming if you get nothing but enemies around every corner, it gets really tiring and boring quickly. You need to have both highs and lows.

That goes for every piece of media, really, now that I think about it.

[Evan.F]

Breathing Room - occurs frequently between challenges in Mario games. I recommend Ceave Gaming's video on Mario level design seen Here for how it works

I wanted to single out this part in your post in particular because breathing room is so underrated. I've seen so many games, even commercial ones, that are just non-stop action. It's super overwhelming if you get nothing but enemies around every corner, it gets really tiring and boring quickly. You need to have both highs and lows.

That goes for every piece of media, really, now that I think about it.

I'm mostly referring to parts where the level takes a break from the main gimmick. I feel I should remake the list to refer to it as a Break and what your referring to as Breathing Room. Having time to rest between action pieces. It is important to have a balanced amount of action and breathing room. (too much action can make things overwhelming if you don't have something like Celeste's checkpoint system (or the game is centered around action in a way that makes it work), and too much breathing room can result in boring and unmemorable levels)

Thanks for reminding me about Breathing Room in that context. It is a very important part of level design and it I feel that I should have put it in. I probably also mention other important things. Might make a full version at some point with more detail on Setting and Enemy design.

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