How To Fail At Level Design

Almost every game needs level design, so it's time to learn how to be really really bad at it. No more of this pretty decent level design stuff. No. I'll show you the way...

Contact:

Music:
Doh De Oh by Kevin MacLeod

[Plide]

A good idea in platformers is to introduce obstacles in an unsafe environment, far from a checkpoint! It's a great idea to make sure if the player doesn't already know the complex workings of a stage gimmick, they must go really far back just to get another try to figure it out. Bonus points if your game has limited lives, so if they just don't figure out the gimmick within their few lives, they game over!

[geothepoly]

Remember that the key to a well paced level is to have as many slow moving platforms and other mechanics that involve waiting. That means the level is longer, and that's always a good thing!

[IDOLL_Dev]

I actually have a revolutionary new technique for my newest game, instead of putting a quest marker and yellow paint to show the player where they need to go there's an auto-play button and it plays the game for them! I know it's very avant-garde so to prevent the existential horror of a total paradigm shift, I'm thinking of having an optional feature to turn the yellow paint on anyway, just so the player doesn't get a heart attack when they notice it's not there.

[artman]

Sonic 1...gets 1 zone that takes advantage of the game mechanics well, 3 zones that are antithesis of the game's mechanics and 2 that are in between.

[Smiley_]

A great tip is to also add collectibles inside walls so that the player begins to walk onto any wall they see.

[ugib]

"I'm leading by example" god that one got me. The pixelart memes are amazing too. Keep up the failure my friend!

[GoofyNameHandle]

I love this series and I’m using on how to fail my next game and everyone hates it, even me! Thank you

[iexist]

1:38
Its also useful to make sure that the obstacles in a level vary wildy in dificulty. That way people who want casual, or chalanging games get what they want.
And also put the chalanging stuff at the end, while making the easy stuff take a long time. Players will enjoy this high stakes gameplay for sure.

[signodeinterrogacion]

This is the self-aware video, he's finally getting on his own two feet as a youtuber!

[epsilon]

The 7th thing is making sure your level has traps that will blindside the player. Gotta keep them on their toes and artificially drag out the playtime by making sure the player dies and restarts a lot.

[litera_cj]

"You can only pick between these two options, though. There's no in between. Trust me." Wow, I instantly trust him :o

[OtisMysteryMeat]

i’m passively interested in game development, mostly because I can already stop motion animate and i’m interested in making a stop motion game, but these videos have been interesting even with my almost non existent experience with game development

[meowymeowz]

im using these tutorials and making my friend play my games

[TheMamaluigi]

- When making a Metroidvania game, you want to design your world to maximize backtracking as much as possible. Avoid making shortcuts, placing areas you go to next near the one you’re in right now, or incorporating any sort of fast travel option whatsoever, so anytime the player wants (or has to) get anywhere, they need to go through the same, tired paths countless times. That won’t get tedious at all! 😊

- When making a platformer or some other game in general where you fight enemies, there’s one rule you *must* abide by at: The bigger the swarm, the better. Cram as many enemies into a single room as possible, no matter how redundant or unfair that makes the experience. In fact, why aren’t we doing this with everything? Variety *is* the spice of life, after all. Cram as many gimmicks into your levels, overcomplicate them so they kinda look like the Brawl stages you made when you were 9 and felt compelled to fill every space with a tile. Program as many different gameplay styles as possible into your game. This will not only make the player have to learn a whole new, incompatible set of mechanics at a rapid pace, but more importantly, that’s basically another game you have to put time into not polishing, which helps ensure your game cannot reach a finished state in time for its release.

[concerningindividual]

I think something also important in level design, particularly for incredibly large levels in things like collectathons and metroidvanias, is having some sort of map so you don't have to memorize the level manually. So naturally, not having any map is the best idea, since that gives your game extra challenge for no work at all, which is always welcome! You should also throw in some required hidden areas with no actual hints to where they are just to make sure the player is REALLY getting the entire map memorized mentally.

[buzzlightyearpfp]

his episodes are already starting to get convoluted. i love it

[sverxrazum]

You either make a linear levels that extend only in one direction with arrows pointing towards it every 5 meters or you make huge non-linear levels only with one point of interest without any map and indication where you should be going. Nothing in between.

[WokeandProud]

This is like terrible writing advice but for video games lol love it keep it up.

[artman]

More things to fail at: Don't like where the player is going? Add invisible walls! Add them everywhere! Bonus points if your game has secrets that are harder to get to than invisible walls! More bonus points if player has an impressive moveset.
If you don't want invisible walls, you can settle with classics like rubble, road construction barrier, a suit of armor you could clearly slip past or whatever.

[spitfire]

You can also bypass the need for good level design by making all levels a flat plane with randomly placed pitfalls and fill as much space as possible with enemies
Then if someone complains just say the game is "combat focused"