List of level design references

Landmarks

• Landmarks in leveldesign
• Videogame Landmarks and Real Life Architecture - Courtney Raine
• Meaningful geography in breath of the wild - Tom Battey
• A taxonomy of Weenies: the landmarks that define Ghost of Tsushima - Bryant Francis
• Facilitate Mental Mapping - Clement Melendez
• One Level Design Mistake I Learned to Avoid From Playing "Mirror's Edge" - World of Level Design

Environmental storytelling

• Evironmental storytelling- Bart Stewart
• An Examination Into Environmental Storytelling - Josh Bycer
• How to use a game's level design to tell a story - Fern
• How Arkane Studios' Prey Perfects The Art Of Environmental Storytelling - Jade King
• Dabble in Design: Until Dawn and Environmental Storytelling - Michael Hancock
• A Visual Feast: Learning the Movements of Environmental Storytelling - Nick Jones
• What you Give is What you Get: Environmental Storytelling in Games - Caleb Compton
• ‘Destiny 2’ Is Finally Doing Solid Environmental Storytelling, But Everyone Is Missing It - Paul Tassi
• Environmental Storytelling and Gone Home - Adrew Yoder
• Environmental Storytelling in Games - Jethro Jongeneel
• Level Design: Enhance Games with Environmental Storytelling - Prakash Gautam
• Dishonored got it right, The Order got it wrong - Ashley Reed
• How Level Design Can Tell a Story - Game Maker's Toolkit
• Environmental Narrative: Telling Stories in Spaces Without Saying Anything Aloud - Laura E. Hall
• The Art of Dear Esther – Building an Environment to tell a Story - Robert Briscoe
• Environmental Storytelling, a Bloodborne Crash Course - Lux Noctis
• In Level Storytelling - 7 Level Design Tips - Art of level design
• Intro to Environmental Storytelling Video Game Design - The last bacon
• Advanced Environmental Storytelling in 'Spider: Rite of the Shrouded Moon' - Randy Smith
• What Happened Here? Environmental Storytelling - Matthias Worch

Guiding the player in the level

• How to Guide Players through Games – Game Design Tips - Lindsay Schardon
• Level Design Tips and Tricks - Tom Pugh
• Level Design Workshop: Invisible Intuition: Blockmesh and Lighting Tips to Guide Players and Set the Mood - David Shaver, Robert Yang
• Uncharted: The Lost Legacy's Rooftop Chase Is An Example Of Perfect Level Design - Issy Van der Velde
• My problem with classic 90s FPS - Getting Lost - Reddit user
• Dealing With Navigation & Players’ Behavior - David Shaver
• Wayfinding: player navigation, how to "guide" the player through a level - Open Source, many authors
• Level design: Tricks of the trade - Jonathon Wilson
• How the Uncharted games implement player navigation - Abhishek Iyer
• The Ingenuity in Ghost of Tsushima's Guiding wind - Player's Narrative
• Ghost of Tsushima guide: How to use the Guiding Wind - Jeff Ramos

Architecture and design

• Interior Design and Environment Art: Mastering Space, Mastering Place - Dan Cox
• Level Design Workshop: Architecture in Level Design - Claire Hosking
• An Architectural Approach to Level Design: Creating an Art Theory for Game Worlds (and So Can You!) - Christopher Totten
• Level Design in a Day: Level Design Histories and Futures - Robert Yang
• Learning Lighting for Video Games - Gabe Betancourt
• The Theory of Lighting - Commander Keen (wayback machine)

Procedural world generation

• Procedural world generation in path of exile

Scale and proportion

• Level Design: Scaling and Best Practices - Epic Games
• GDC 2002: Realistic Level Design in Max Payne - Remedy Entertainment
• Level Design Principles and Whiteboxing - Scott Morin
• UE4: Guide to Player Scale and World/Architecture Dimensions Tutorial - World of level design
• Metrics: The proportions and distances of the level, how big the level feels - Open source, many authors
• Importance of Small Scale FPS Level Design – Mainstream Development - Alex Cicala
• Real scale doesn't work in games - Nikolay Shamaev
• Design Tips: In-Game Proportions and Scale - Yuriy Sivers

Level design for multiplayer

• Singleplayer vs. Multiplayer Level Design: A Paradigm Shift - Elisabeth Beinke-Schwartz
• The Holy Grail of Multiplayer Level Design: Casual and Competitive Maps - Andrew Yoder
• Practical guide on first person level design - IronEqual
• Analysis of level schemes to improve multiplayer shooters - Curtis Gaut
• Multiplayer Level Design In-Depth, Part 1: The Specific Constraints of Multiplayer Level Design - Pascal Luban
• Community Level Design for Competitive CS:GO - Shawn Snelling, Salvatore Garozzo
• What makes a good multiplayer level? - Gavin Annand
• Multiplayer level design - Thomas Buijtenweg
• Overwatch and Asymmetric Level Design - What Makes the Maps Fun? - Extra Credits
• Blizzard's Aaron Keller Breaks Down Overwatch Map Design - Ars Technica
• A CS:GO Level Design concept : the pathways - Enzo Menegazzi
• The dos and don’ts of CS:GO level design - Exodus
• Multiplayer Map Theory (Gears of War) - Epic Games
• Deathmatch Map Design: The Architecture of Flow - Game Developer staff

Assorted

• The importance of nothing: Using negative space in level design - Jim Brown
• Learning From The Masters: Level Design In The Legend Of Zelda - Mike Stout
• Open world level design: spatial composition and flow in Breath of the Wild - Radiator Blog
• Breath of the Wild’s brilliant game design, explained - Allegra Frank
• Legend Of Zelda Study : Level Design - TheCGMaster
• The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's dungeon design - Game Maker Toolkit
• How Zelda's Puzzle Box Dungeons Work - Game Maker Toolkit
• Depicting the Level Design of a Legend of Zelda Dungeon - Salim Larochelle
• The Door Problem of Combat Design - Andrew Yoder
• Designing Better Levels Through Human Survival Instincts - Christoper Totten

Platform Games

• Level Design Patterns in 2D Games - Ahmed Khalifa
• Planes of vulnerability in Commander Keen 5 - Pieter Smal
• Rational Design: The Core of Rayman Origins - Chris McEntee
• How Mega Man 11's Levels Do More With Less - Game Maker's Toolkit
• The World Design of Super Metroid - Game Maker's Toolkit
• How To Level Design in 2D Platformers - Let's Talk Game Design
• How to Design Breathtaking 2D Platformer Levels - Tadeas Salvatore Jun
• Designing Fun Platforming Levels: Tips and Best Practices - Alejandro Hitti
• How are the puzzles constructed in LIMBO? - Game Design with Michael
• Dissecting Design -- Super Meat Boy's Platforming Greatness - Game Wisdom
• Good Game Design - Super Meat Boy: Motivational Punishment - Snowman Gaming
• Hollow Knight Review Analysis on Game, Sound, Level Design and Cohesion - dragnerz
• The World Design of Hollow Knight - Gamer Maker's Toolkit

Books

• Game Balance - Ian Schreiber, Brenda Romero
• Architectural Approach to Level Design - Christopher W. Totten
• Level Design: Processes and Experiences - Christopher W. Totten
• Preproduction Blueprint: How to Plan Game Environments and Level Designs - Alex Galuzin
• Game Development Essentials: Game Level Design - Jeannie Novak, Travis Castillo
• Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design - Jason Busby
• Video Game Level Design: How to Create Video Games with Emotion, Interaction, and Engagement - Michael Salmond
• Level Design: Concept, Theory, and Practice - Rudolf Kremers
• The Hows and Whys of Level Design - Sjoerd “Hourences” De Jong
• A Practical Guide to Level Design: From Theory to Practice, Diplomacy and Production - Benjamin Bauer