Level Design: Beware of the Blob
The First Levels made Last
When it came time to design the first two levels in Beware of the Blob, our creative director and I started with a list of what things we needed to teach the player. Since we had already built the rest of the levels, we knew exactly what we wanted the player to know going into level 3, which just needed to figure out the best order.
We used a whiteboard to sketch an initial draft of level 1 where we would introduce elements in a reasonable order and pace while establishing the narrative and tone of the game. We knew the aesthetic was going to be a dank storage basement, which helped in designing the layout.
The list of the things we needed to teach the player about. Green check marks meant they were in level 1 and brown meant they were in level 2
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Exit
A rough sketch of floor 1. Dotted lines depict NPC patrol patterns, and dashed lines indicate tutorial prompt trigger boxes.
Next we took a stab at sketching level 2. Unlike level 1, we weren't sure what the floor of the building would be, canonically. Ultimately, the need to properly introduce researchers, alarms, and stationed robots caused a need for a generous amount of cover to hide behind. Walls would provide such cover, but block vision, making it harder for the player to learn how the different systems work. Shorter environment objects, like desks and tables, made perfect sense, so the level became an office space.
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Exit
The first draft of level 2. This level introduced ramps and elevation; the brown numbers show the elevation in meters. The box marked SDC is a save station. The start and end are at staircases.
Then I drew the level on graph paper to solidify the scale before building it in the game.
This one largely stayed the same when scaled properly.
The elevated orange floor area was converted into a break room of sorts.
The biggest change to the level was the placement of specific pieces of furniture. I gave a version of the level map to our art director that marked where the ideal places for furniture were and where they would conflict with the flow or sight-lines of the level. She would then place furniture in a more visually pleasing way to make the level feel more lived in.