An Architectural Approach To Level Design

Explore Level Design through the Lens of Architectural and Spatial Experience Theory Written by a game developer and professor trained in architecture, An Architectural Approach to Level Design is one of the first books to integrate architectural and spatial design theory with the field of level design. It explores the principles of level design through the context and history of architecture, providing information useful to both academics and game development professionals. Understand Spatial Design Principles for Game Levels in 2D, 3D, and Multiplayer Applications The book presents architectural techniques and theories for level designers to use in their own work. The author connects architecture and level design in different ways that address the practical elements of how designers construct space and the experiential elements of how and why humans interact with this space. Throughout the text, readers learn skills for spatial layout, evoking emotion through gamespaces, and creating better levels through architectural theory. Create Meaningful User Experiences in Your Games Bringing together topics in game design and architecture, this book helps designers create better spaces for their games. Software independent, the book discusses tools and techniques that designers can use in crafting their interactive worlds.

Good or bad level design can make or break any game, so it is surprising how little reference material exists for level designers. Beginning level designers have a limited understanding of the tools and techniques they can use to achieve their goals, or even define them. This book is the first to use a conceptual and theoretical foundation to build

In this book, veteran game developers, academics, journalists, and others provide their processes and experiences with level design. Each provides a unique perspective representing multiple steps of the process for interacting with and creating game levels – experiencing levels, designing levels, constructing levels, and testing levels. These diverse perspectives offer readers a window into the thought processes that result in memorable open game worlds, chilling horror environments, computer-generated levels, evocative soundscapes, and many other types of gamespaces. This collection invites readers into the minds of professional designers as they work and provides evergreen topics on level design and game criticism to inspire both new and veteran designers. Key Features: Learn about the processes of experienced developers and level designers in their own words Discover best-practices for creating levels for persuasive play and designing collaboratively Offers analysis methods for better understanding game worlds and how they function in response to gameplay Find your own preferred method of level design by learning the processes of multiple industry veterans

Level design connects the player to the game through challenges, experiences, and emotions. This book is an invaluable introduction to the evolving practices of Level Designers across the games industry. The increasingly complex role of the Level Designer requires technical and creative skill as it brings together architecture, art, player psychology, interaction design, usability, and experience design. This book explores in detail the principles designers employ when planning levels and building engaging spaces for the player. As well as practical approaches to level design, the book delves into the theoretical underpinnings of the processes and charts a path towards thinking like a Level Designer. Throughout the book you will be guided through the fundamentals of level design: each chapter builds on the types of research, ideation, best practices, and methodologies Level Designers employ when creating prototypes and shipped games. A series of interviews with designers and case studies from game studios examine the application of industry-wide expertise used to create triple-A and indie game titles. By the end of this book you will have gained valuable insight into the role of a Level Designer and be able to devise, plan, and build your own engaging and entertaining game levels.

The Art of Game Design guides you through the design process step-by-step, helping you to develop new and innovative games that will be played again and again. It explains the fundamental principles of game design and demonstrates how tactics used in classic board, card and athletic games also work in top-quality video games. Good game design happens when you view your game from as many perspectives as possible, and award-winning author Jesse Schell presents over 100 sets of questions to ask yourself as you build, play and change your game until you finalise your design. This latest third edition includes examples from new VR and AR platforms as well as from modern games such as Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us, Free to Play games, hybrid games, transformational games, and more. Whatever your role in video game development an understanding of the principles of game design will make you better at what you do. For over 10 years this book has provided inspiration and guidance to budding and experienced game designers - helping to make better games faster.

The Digital Gaming Handbook covers the state-of-the-art in video and digital game research and development, from traditional to emerging elements of gaming across multiple disciplines. Chapters are presented with applicability across all gaming platforms over a broad range of topics, from game content creation through gameplay at a level accessible for the professional game developer while being deep enough to provide a valuable reference of the state-of-the-art research in this field. Key Features: International experts share their research and experience in game development and design Provides readers with inside perspectives on the cross-disciplinary aspects of the industry Includes retrospective and forward-looking examinations of gaming Editor: Dr. Roberto Dillon is a leading game studies educator with more than 15 years of experience in the field of game design and development.

Salary surveys worldwide regularly place software architect in the top 10 best jobs, yet no real guide exists to help developers become architects. Until now. This book provides the first comprehensive overview of software architecture’s many aspects. Aspiring and existing architects alike will examine architectural characteristics, architectural patterns, component determination, diagramming and presenting architecture, evolutionary architecture, and many other topics. Mark Richards and Neal Ford—hands-on practitioners who have taught software architecture classes professionally for years—focus on architecture principles that apply across all technology stacks. You’ll explore software architecture in a modern light, taking into account all the innovations of the past decade. This book examines: Architecture patterns: The technical basis for many architectural decisions Components: Identification, coupling, cohesion, partitioning, and granularity Soft skills: Effective team management, meetings, negotiation, presentations, and more Modernity: Engineering practices and operational approaches that have changed radically in the past few years Architecture as an engineering discipline: Repeatable results, metrics, and concrete valuations that add rigor to software architecture

A guide for leveraging SketchUp for any project size, type, or style. New construction or renovation. The revised and updated second edition of The SketchUp Workflow for Architecture offers guidelines for taking SketchUp to the next level in order to incorporate it into every phase of the architectural design process. The text walks through each step of the SketchUp process from the early stages of schematic design and model organization for both renovation and new construction projects to final documentation and shows how to maximize the LayOut toolset for drafting and presentations. Written by a noted expert in the field, the text is filled with tips and techniques to access the power of SketchUp and its related suite of tools. The book presents a flexible workflow method that helps to make common design tasks easier and gives users the information needed to incorporate varying degrees of SketchUp into their design process. Filled with best practices for organizing projects and drafting schematics, this resource also includes suggestions for working with LayOut, an underused but valuable component of SketchUp Pro. In addition, tutorial videos compliment the text and clearly demonstrate more advanced methods. This important text: Presents intermediate and advanced techniques for architects who want to use SketchUp in all stages of the design process Includes in-depth explanations on using the LayOut tool set that contains example plans, details, sections, presentations, and other information Updates the first edition to reflect the changes to SketchUp 2018 and the core functionalities, menus, tools, inferences, arc tools, reporting, and much more Written by a SketchUp authorized trainer who has an active online platform and extensive connections within the SketchUp community Contains accompanying tutorial videos that demonstrate some of the more advanced SketchUp tips and tricks Written for professional architects, as well as professionals in interior design and landscape architecture, The SketchUp Workflow for Architecture offers a revised and updated resource for using SketchUp in all aspects of the architectural design process.