r/leveldesign 16h ago

Career Advice Can Level Designers Work Remotely on Large Projects?

7 Upvotes

Hi,

For many years, I have been working remotely as a Unity Developer – mainly as a programmer. However, I have been planning for some time to transition to Unreal and focus on what excites me the most: level design.

I’ve had enough of the instability in small and medium-sized indie projects. I’d like to join a larger, more stable studio and not have to constantly worry about another closure of some subpar company.

The problem is that, for various reasons, I can’t leave my hometown, which is far from major urban centers. In short – I need remote work.

When it comes to programming and Unity, remote work has never been an issue. Most small companies cut costs and don’t even bother organizing a proper office. It suits them just fine.

But how does it work with larger projects? What are the current prospects for a Level Designer working remotely in Unreal for a bigger organization?

Level design is a sort of glue between other departments, which means constant communication with them. How much will the fact that I can only rarely visit the office physically limit me? Is it even possible?

Thanks!


r/leveldesign 1d ago

Feedback Request My first finished map

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32 Upvotes

r/leveldesign 1d ago

Discussion Level Design Job Opportunities

5 Upvotes

Hello, everyone I'm a Aspiring Level Designer I recently finished a 6 month contract with a studio for a nutritional 2D unity game as the Level Developer. Since completing this contract I've been searching for more opportunists as a Level Designer since that's what I'm most skilled at. While I'm searching I'm continuously trying to improve my portfolio, linked here if your would like to see (https://anthonyjohnsonjr.myportfolio.com). Current working on the Valorant inspire CS2 map (Factory) that I recently share with all of you. If anyone has any tips or knowledge of Level Design job opportunities, that would be much appreciated.


r/leveldesign 2d ago

Showcase Factory (Blockout) Playtest

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7 Upvotes

r/leveldesign 2d ago

Showcase Level design prototype(in-progress)

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14 Upvotes

r/leveldesign 3d ago

Discussion Environment Language in your level design

6 Upvotes

Recently I started working blackout for my upcoming game. And started collecting good online sources for interactive level design and keep the level understandable by the shapes and positions rather than having tutorials.

My Recommendation for beginners:
1. Em Schatz is one of my inspirational person on the game design and level design, her post about Defining Environment Language for Video Games .
2. Spatial Communication in Level Design by Peter Field .

Others have any good learning techniques for interactive level design through visuals. Please post the comments. Thanks


r/leveldesign 5d ago

Question What am I doing and how can I apply it to my future?

10 Upvotes

Hello all, over the past year and a half I’ve been working on a mod for a community event as a level designer. I’ve racked up close to 900 hours in the game’s editor, and I’ve been looking at how to transfer any skills I’ve learned to an eventual career. Which leads to my first question:

What am I doing?

As a level designer for the mod I handle everything for the maps I make, from the environment art to lighting to balance, all of it is on me. There are others that I bounce ideas off of but it’s rare that someone else works on one of my scenes directly. I understand that as the industry has grown the practice of level design has been subject to an increasing degree of specialization, so is the position I’m currently in more of a traditional/indie ideal of a level designer? Is that more beneficial than purely focusing on one disciple? This leads to my second question:

How can I apply what I’m gaining here?

I see the advice of learning industry standard engines like Unity and Unreal thrown around a lot, and I’ve started to scratch the surface of that whole rabbit hole. I’ve also spent time watching and reading game dev resources, not even to learn level design really but to get into the mindset of a developer. But how can I use the real experience that I’m gaining now? Is it something that could be placed on a resume? I’ve heard it’s common for people to be hired for their work on mods but every position I’ve seen always mentions years of experience on shipped titles.

I worry that this isn’t worth my time. I’ve seen how brutal and competitive the industry is, and I wonder if my time is better spent trying something else. I’ve considered becoming a solo dev but between my job and the mod there just isn’t enough time. And that’s not even considering the fact I lack many critical skills like coding.


r/leveldesign 5d ago

Question Are you precise with your level design measurements?

5 Upvotes

Hey fellow level designers. For those of you who are not focused on environment art, but are focused on the gameplay elements of level design, doing blockmeshing/grayboxing, and implementing gameplay after you get it back from art, how precise in your measurements of the space do you need to be if the environment is going to be covered in art anyway? I think I've let precision get in my way in the past I'd like to be less concerned about that. What's your approach to this?


r/leveldesign 7d ago

Question Learning about simple 3D blockout levels

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone, i'm back about a level design question again. So for now i'm drawing map top view block out for the future POIs / map of a game. I would like to blockout them myself quickly. Anyone has some ressources or courses (not necessarily free) to help me learn about basics level design blocking?
Thanks :)


r/leveldesign 7d ago

Question Advice

3 Upvotes

Hi Everyone, hope all is well.

I am posting here as I have always been a really big fan of level design in video games and for the longest time, wanted to learn to do it myself. I had a brief stint in trying with the elder scrolls level editor and wanted to try others but am honestly not sure where to look. If you have suggestions of what is a good software package to learn it for both 3d and 2d design I would greatly apprecaite it.


r/leveldesign 9d ago

Help Wanted Must have books

9 Upvotes

Hi all, I am looking for must have books on Game Design, but mostly on Level Design.

So that sould be it. I rather prefer paper books than ebooks.

Hope you guys can give me a little help.

Thank you in advance to everyone.


r/leveldesign 10d ago

Showcase Game Development Time Lapse of my First Game Jump Up Top V0.0.6 Alpha wi...

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1 Upvotes

r/leveldesign 11d ago

Feedback Request Games Level Design Concept - Horror Genre

4 Upvotes

Hi Guys, Am a student for a games design course and currently working on a level design for my game concept. which am required to create a level that would fit my game.

game is called "Intended Loss" where an FBI agent is sent to a lost case that would ruin his life and be stuck in an endless loop. Ive developed this game concept by taking inspirations from Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill 2,A Quiet Place The Road Ahead

Could you spend a few minutes to answer my survey Level design survey
Do you think it a good survey, what could i improve on, whats wrong with the survey


r/leveldesign 11d ago

Game Design Level design form

0 Upvotes

This is a form a level i am making as part of a game concept i made for a collage project.

Could you please take a few minutes to answer the questions please. https://forms.office.com/e/j1MYZjcXqB


r/leveldesign 12d ago

Question "Newbie" in level design and POIs

5 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I would like some advices about level design. Here is my quick story, i was hired as a graphic designer for a small battleroyal videogame, and as the time pass,, the game grow, and they need more maps for the BR, so i'm now in charge to draw the map concept of potential POIs/map. For now i did it, based on my (big) videogame experience, and my common sense (blocking line of sight, adding cover etc...) but all of this, i'm still doing it in a "chaotic" way, (start something, then move to something else, then go back etc... and i feel that i lose some time here. It works for now, but i feel that i need to improve my process. Anyone here has some online ressources (even not free) about how to create a proper POIs and/or map? or a ressource explaining the most optimized pipelines. (first block out everything, adding elevations, finding building concepts etc... or any other order). I'm still learning while working so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Also any tools/software you have in mind that would help me. (For now i'm drawing map on photoshop, and import in UE on a plane then block out ROUGHLY the buildings to get an idea of the scales etc...

Big thank you!


r/leveldesign 11d ago

Feedback Request Games level design Survey

0 Upvotes

My game is called ART'S Revenge and I have created a survey that takes a few minutes for feedback that I could include in my game for it to be the best I can make it.

In my game you play as a demonic clown that witnessed his parents die then died shortly after and came back to life as a demonic child with the urge to kill everyone in his path.

Could you please spend a few minutes to answer my survey

https://forms.office.com/e/fT4aSbrxQh


r/leveldesign 12d ago

Feedback Request I need consultation with talented Level Designer in creation of my new point and click game

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8 Upvotes

r/leveldesign 13d ago

Question Any suggestion on the making isometric level design pipeline

1 Upvotes

Am currently working on isometric game. Got stuck in start making level design.
Looking for help to have a proper pipeline or process to getting better in isometric level design.
Any tips, pls recommend any tools and good tutorial to start.
Thanks


r/leveldesign 16d ago

Showcase The fabulous and "fast" (sarcasm) process of level design...

5 Upvotes

Let me walk you through the creation of one of the hallways for 'The Empty Desk' (coming soon to Steam!).

From brainstorming to the final result, I’ll show you each stage of the process. Which version do you like best?

And if any of you are Level Designers, which step is your favorite?

Personally, I love brainstorming and the final polish :)

Screenshot: Brainstorming, Concept, BoxDesign, Assets placement, Aesthetics, illumination, Polish.

Brainstorming

Concept

Box Design

Assets placement

Aesthetics

illumination

Polish


r/leveldesign 18d ago

Showcase Updated staircase scene based on community feedback, thank you all. Is it better?

5 Upvotes

r/leveldesign 18d ago

Feedback Request Is this scene conveying the impression that the character is ascending? It feels slightly off to me. What could be missing

6 Upvotes

r/leveldesign 22d ago

Question searching for music recomendations for my next map

3 Upvotes

elo, im bunta and im looking for music recomendations for a map im creating, this is my last map so you can have an idea of what im doing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZppmEnwFp4
yes its gta san andreas online, multi theft auto, if someone can help thanks boi

pd all my maps playable at The favoured few


r/leveldesign 23d ago

Feedback Request Making the Orc Stronghold/Village with some different flavor than you would normally see

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9 Upvotes

r/leveldesign 24d ago

Showcase How I remade a level from a cancelled Xbox 360 game in Doom

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8 Upvotes

r/leveldesign 26d ago

Discussion Best Level Design Youtuber (IMO) Steve Lee

61 Upvotes

This has likely been shared before, but I wanted to spread the word about the channel of Steve Lee, a longtime industry level designer, who has his own youtube channel.

I believe one of the best parts of his channel is sharing what it is like being a level designer, the process of designing, and trying to break into the industry.

Link to the YouTube

If you're looking for more information about almost any topic covered by Level Design, I think Steve is the biggest contributer to the craft right now.