Level Up.pdf

T
LeveI 9
Everything I Learned About
Level Design, I Learned
from Level 9
You can ’ t expect a book called Level Up! not to have a chapter on level
design. But what do I mean by level? Much like the word score1 , its
definition changes when used in different contexts. Observe:
Level: an environment or location where game play occurs. “ If you are on
the Death Star level then you are near the end of the game. ”
And
Level: a term favored by developers that describes how to break up
physical space based on a specific gameplay experience. “ I must have died
a dozen times on the mine cart level. ”
And
Level: a unit of counting the player ’ s progression, especially, when
repetitive gameplay is involved. “ I ’ m up to level 20 on Tetris. ”
And
Level: the rank of a player based on their earned score, experience, or
skills. A term for marking character progression and improvement as in: “ I
finally leveled up my third WoW character to 70. ” The most common use of
level in this context can be found in RPGs.
1 Score: (1) To gain something (as in “ I scored a battle axe off that weapon drop ” ), (2) to
calculate a total (as when a high score is tallied), (3) to cut without cutting all the way
through (like scoring metal with a lightsaber), (4) to “get lucky” with a … but hey, this
isn ’ t a dictionary.