RFC - Invaded Mine Level
by Dave Sanders · in General Discussion · 05/24/2002 (11:21 am) · 3 replies
Starting to write up Level Design Documents as I think them up, so that I can have some good basis to sketch out and work on levels. I've posted this one up for comment, link below.
Question: does anyone have any good level design doc templates available? Something that covers the basic write ups that are good to get down before really starting on a level. I tend to be very process oriented, so I like having good templates to mold my ideas into, rather than random chaos. If you have something, point me to it, or put it into the resources. In the meantime, I drafted my own.
Level Design Document: Invaded Mine
Question: does anyone have any good level design doc templates available? Something that covers the basic write ups that are good to get down before really starting on a level. I tend to be very process oriented, so I like having good templates to mold my ideas into, rather than random chaos. If you have something, point me to it, or put it into the resources. In the meantime, I drafted my own.
Level Design Document: Invaded Mine
About the author
#2
Work out the details of texture budget, requirements for buildings etc.
Try and be as specific as possible in terms of requirement, nothing hurts design more than wishy washy terms.
For instance, "a nasty looking villian" says nothing useful, but something like "A villain model, in a style similar to rune with a polycount between 1000 and 1800 poly's for the model alone, with 5 details levels equally spaced between 1000 and 1800 poly's to be supplied in DTS format with all skins in .png format" says quite a lot.
As a programmer, I want to know specifics. I'm sure artists need that as well.
How much, what of, how detailed, when for etc.
If you can nail down specifics, then its chances are youve thought it through enough. If you can ask yourself questions about specific "How does this work" and not answer, then youve more to do.
Phil.
05/24/2002 (12:37 pm)
I'd say a sketch speaks volumes more than a billion words when working out a level. simply sketch out the major parts of the level.Work out the details of texture budget, requirements for buildings etc.
Try and be as specific as possible in terms of requirement, nothing hurts design more than wishy washy terms.
For instance, "a nasty looking villian" says nothing useful, but something like "A villain model, in a style similar to rune with a polycount between 1000 and 1800 poly's for the model alone, with 5 details levels equally spaced between 1000 and 1800 poly's to be supplied in DTS format with all skins in .png format" says quite a lot.
As a programmer, I want to know specifics. I'm sure artists need that as well.
How much, what of, how detailed, when for etc.
If you can nail down specifics, then its chances are youve thought it through enough. If you can ask yourself questions about specific "How does this work" and not answer, then youve more to do.
Phil.
#3
Its a 5 minute typed sketch... not a full design spec. Guess I should title it that. :)
I WOULD like to see other, similar types of things for level design. If anyone has anything with this type of stuff that they'd like to share, point me to it. Just kind of winging it right now.
05/25/2002 (9:30 pm)
Yup - I'm working on sketches now - but do things in phases like I said. I like getting down what the mood, the history, and the overall feel of how the level is going to be set up. Plan out the major features, in writing, and then have those to start from as a base for further refinement. Hundreds more ideas will come from that base, as I dig deeper, but I find it good to keep the base level stuff consistent, until they are completely irrelevant.Its a 5 minute typed sketch... not a full design spec. Guess I should title it that. :)
I WOULD like to see other, similar types of things for level design. If anyone has anything with this type of stuff that they'd like to share, point me to it. Just kind of winging it right now.
Torque Owner Dave Sanders