Top products from r/leveldesign
We found 16 product mentions on r/leveldesign. We ranked the 13 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
1. Level Design for Games: Creating Compelling Game Experiences
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 2
2. An Architectural Approach to Level Design
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 2
AK Peters
3. The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, Second Edition
Sentiment score: 2
Number of reviews: 2
AK Peters
4. Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
5. The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
7. A Game Design Vocabulary: Exploring the Foundational Principles Behind Good Game Design
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
8. Environmental Psychology
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
NewMint ConditionDispatch same day for order received before 12 noonGuaranteed packagingNo quibbles returns
10. Level Up! The Guide to Great Video Game Design
Sentiment score: 1
Number of reviews: 1
John Wiley Sons
Buying him computer hardware might be nice, but there's a lot of other ways to give something related to games and game design.
There's always a great big pound of dice. It's full of dice of assorted numbers of sides, and a game designer remotely interested in tabletop (which should be all of them) can use a healthy supply of dice for making tabletop games. There's always the fun of just rolling dice giant handfuls of dice.
I'm out right now but I'll add the link when I get back home.Here's the link: Pound of diceI'd also look into games he hasn't tried. BoardGameGeek has a lot of board games listed and reviewed that you could get, and of course there's always steam. For board games I'd recommend:
There's also a lot of books on game design you can get him. You may have to check to see if he owns some of these already, but I've found them to be great reads that I can recommend to anyone interested in game design.
making maps in source landed me my first level design job :) you can definitely learn much by creating your own level for a popular game. but I'm not sure if learning unreal engine would be more valuable today.
I can also recommend this book here https://www.amazon.com/Level-Design-Games-Compelling-Experiences/dp/0321375971/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1537244630&sr=8-7&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=level+design&dpPl=1&dpID=51%2B%2BTIueTAL&ref=plSrch
also a bit old but still .. oh man I think I'm old lol
I'm already 13 years in AAA games industry. I went through the answers and I agree that Level Design books are not really great if you want to create something more than a tiny indie game. If you want to learn from the "sources", I highly recommend you:
- Environmental Psychology - You can skip parts about noise but perception and decision making in space is a crucial knowledge in Level Design.
- Architecture: Form, Space and Order - This book tells you all about how space is made and how it affects people.
This is a great start. When you'll be done with these books, come back for more ;)
I'd recommend this massively:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Game-Design-Vocabulary-Foundational-Principles-x/dp/0321886925/
It's really clear and helps you understand what you are using the levels for.
I'm about half way through this:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Level-Design-Concept-Theory-Practice/dp/1568813384/
It's good so far.
Chris Totten has an excellent book you may find helpful.
https://www.amazon.com/Architectural-Approach-Level-Design/dp/1466585412/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502562900&sr=8-1&keywords=architectural+approach+to+level+design
I can certainly recommend you
The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses
by Jesse Schell. Also, this book has a companion app in Play Store and App Store
I found these helpful
https://www.amazon.com/Art-Game-Design-Lenses-Second/dp/1466598646/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481045565&sr=1-1&keywords=game+design
https://www.amazon.com/Level-Guide-Great-Video-Design/dp/1118877160/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481045521&sr=1-5&keywords=level+design
https://www.amazon.com/Level-Design-Games-Compelling-Experiences/dp/0321375971/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481045538&sr=1-3&keywords=level+design
Immensely popular book, however a little outdated: https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Virtual-Worlds-Richard-Bartle/dp/0131018167
I've bought this one : https://www.amazon.com/Architectural-Approach-Level-Design/dp/1466585412/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482021984&sr=1-2&keywords=level+design
I'm a beginner too, and this book is really complete. I think it's a must read.
(EDIT: I just discovered "An Architectural Approach to Level Design" by Christopher W. Totten mentionned below and it looks great)
Hello, I don't know any book on "general" level principles (which exist, as any experimented LD can confirm).
Most books focus on specific genres (mostly 3D games) and tiny details about those genres (3d models, textures, sounds, etc.). I don't know any book encompassing various common genres (including 2d platformers, puzzle games) and dealing with common issues: how to introduce new objects, how to teach the player how to use them, how to balance difficulty progression, how to add multiples layer of goals and complexity, approaches to procedural LD...
The closest I've found is this blog: http://critical-gaming.squarespace.com/gamedesign101/
There are many other interesting articles on gamasutra.
This book by Tanya Short is specifically about procedural content generation.