---
name: level-design
description: Use when planning or reviewing a level, map, mission or encounter space. Covers intent, flow, pacing, teaching, landmarks, encounter placement and greybox validation before art.
---

# Level design

Draft from the Game studio skills library by THE DREAMING JESTER. Adapt it to your game, team and engine.

## Goal

Build spaces that guide players without telling them where to go, teach mechanics in safe conditions, then test them under pressure.

## Before you start

- Confirm the mechanics, movement metrics and camera that the level must respect: speeds, jump heights, sight lines and ranges.
- State the level's job in the wider game: what it teaches, tests or reveals.

## Process

1. Write the intent: one sentence for the experience and one for what the player should leave able to do.
2. Draw a beat chart: introduce, develop, twist, test, release. Mark intensity over time.
3. Sketch the flow: critical path, optional routes, loops, choke points and points of no return.
4. Place landmarks and lighting so the player can orient without a map or marker.
5. Introduce each mechanic safely before combining it with threat or time pressure.
6. Place encounters with clear approach, cover or space, and an exit or recovery moment.
7. Greybox it, play it at real speed, and watch others play before any art pass.
8. Mark metrics the level relies on, so later mechanic changes can be checked against it.

## Quality bar

- First-time players find the critical path without hints at least most of the time.
- Every encounter can be read before it starts.
- Rest beats exist after high-intensity moments.
- The level still works with placeholder art.

## Output

Intent statement, beat chart, annotated top-down map, encounter list and a greybox build with playtest notes.

## Avoid

- Decorating before the layout is proven.
- Relying on UI markers to fix unclear spaces.
- Difficulty spikes caused by unclear information rather than skill.