Christopher W. Totten – författare

Written by a game developer and professor trained in architecture, An Architectural Approach to Level Design is one of the first books to integrate architectural and spatial design theory with the field of level design. It explores the principles of level design through the context and history of architecture. Now in its second edition, An Architectural Approach to Level Design presents architectural techniques and theories for you to use in your own work. The author connects architecture and level design in different ways that address the practical elements of how designers construct space and the experiential elements of how and why humans interact with that space. It also addresses industry issues like how to build interesting tutorial levels and how to use computer-generated level design systems without losing the player-focused design of handmade levels. Throughout the text, you will learn skills for spatial layout, evoking emotion through gamespaces, and creating better levels through architectural theory. FEATURES Presents case studies that offer insight on modern level design practices, methods, and tools Presents perspectives from industry designers, independent game developers, scientists, psychologists, and academics Explores how historical structures can teach us about good level design Shows how to use space to guide or elicit emotion from players Includes chapter exercises that encourage you to use principles from the chapter in digital prototypes, playtesting sessions, paper mock-ups, and design journalsBringing together topics in game design and architecture, this book helps you create better spaces for your games. Software independent, the book discusses tools and techniques that you can use in crafting your interactive worlds.

Written by a game developer and professor trained in architecture, An Architectural Approach to Level Design is one of the first books to integrate architectural and spatial design theory with the field of level design. It explores the principles of level design through the context and history of architecture. Now in its second edition, An Architectural Approach to Level Design presents architectural techniques and theories for you to use in your own work. The author connects architecture and level design in different ways that address the practical elements of how designers construct space and the experiential elements of how and why humans interact with that space. It also addresses industry issues like how to build interesting tutorial levels and how to use computer-generated level design systems without losing the player-focused design of handmade levels. Throughout the text, you will learn skills for spatial layout, evoking emotion through gamespaces, and creating better levels through architectural theory. FEATURES Presents case studies that offer insight on modern level design practices, methods, and tools Presents perspectives from industry designers, independent game developers, scientists, psychologists, and academics Explores how historical structures can teach us about good level design Shows how to use space to guide or elicit emotion from players Includes chapter exercises that encourage you to use principles from the chapter in digital prototypes, playtesting sessions, paper mock-ups, and design journalsBringing together topics in game design and architecture, this book helps you create better spaces for your games. Software independent, the book discusses tools and techniques that you can use in crafting your interactive worlds.

This book explores the principles of level design through the context and history of architecture. Written by a game developer and professor trained in architecture, it is one of the first books to integrate architectural and spatial design theory with the field of level design.Fully updated for this third edition, author Christopher W. Totten presents architectural techniques and theories for you to use in your own work. The book connects architecture and level design in different ways that address the practical elements of how designers construct space and the experiential elements of how and why humans interact with that space. The new edition maintains a focus on player-focused design in handmade levels while addressing the ever-evolving technical pipeline.Throughout the text, you will learn skills for spatial layout, evoking emotion through gamespaces, and creating better levels through architectural theory. This third edition contains a brand-new chapter on how to build levels that better connect with players and hold their interest over longer periods of gameplay, in addition to fully updated references, brand new industry perspectives, as well as a greater emphasis on practical elements of level design throughout.KEY FEATURESPresents case studies that offer insight on modern level design practices, methods, and toolsPresents perspectives from industry designers, independent game developers, scientists, psychologists, and academicsExplores how historical structures can teach us about good level designShows how to use space to guide or elicit emotion from playersIncludes chapter exercises that encourage you to use principles from the chapter in digital prototypes, playtesting sessions, paper mock-ups, and design journalsBringing together topics in game design and architecture, this book helps you create better spaces for your games. Software independent, it discusses tools and techniques that you can use in crafting your interactive worlds.

This book explores the principles of level design through the context and history of architecture. Written by a game developer and professor trained in architecture, it is one of the first books to integrate architectural and spatial design theory with the field of level design.Fully updated for this third edition, author Christopher W. Totten presents architectural techniques and theories for you to use in your own work. The book connects architecture and level design in different ways that address the practical elements of how designers construct space and the experiential elements of how and why humans interact with that space. The new edition maintains a focus on player-focused design in handmade levels while addressing the ever-evolving technical pipeline.Throughout the text, you will learn skills for spatial layout, evoking emotion through gamespaces, and creating better levels through architectural theory. This third edition contains a brand-new chapter on how to build levels that better connect with players and hold their interest over longer periods of gameplay, in addition to fully updated references, brand new industry perspectives, as well as a greater emphasis on practical elements of level design throughout.KEY FEATURESPresents case studies that offer insight on modern level design practices, methods, and toolsPresents perspectives from industry designers, independent game developers, scientists, psychologists, and academicsExplores how historical structures can teach us about good level designShows how to use space to guide or elicit emotion from playersIncludes chapter exercises that encourage you to use principles from the chapter in digital prototypes, playtesting sessions, paper mock-ups, and design journalsBringing together topics in game design and architecture, this book helps you create better spaces for your games. Software independent, it discusses tools and techniques that you can use in crafting your interactive worlds.

In this book, veteran game developers, academics, journalists, and others provide their processes and experiences with level design. Each provides a unique perspective representing multiple steps of the process for interacting with and creating game levels – experiencing levels, designing levels, constructing levels, and testing levels. These diverse perspectives offer readers a window into the thought processes that result in memorable open game worlds, chilling horror environments, computer-generated levels, evocative soundscapes, and many other types of gamespaces. This collection invites readers into the minds of professional designers as they work and provides evergreen topics on level design and game criticism to inspire both new and veteran designers.Key Features: Learn about the processes of experienced developers and level designers in their own words Discover best-practices for creating levels for persuasive play and designing collaboratively Offers analysis methods for better understanding game worlds and how they function in response to gameplay Find your own preferred method of level design by learning the processes of multiple industry veterans

Award-winning action-adventure designers Christopher Totten and Adrian Sandoval guide you on a quest to create levels for different styles of 2D action-adventure games, from top-down dungeon-crawler adventures to side-scrolling non-linear “Metroidvania” titles. Blending theory and practical analysis, this book shows how principles of game and level design are applied in some of your favorite 2D action-adventure games. It uses examples from popular games such as The Legend of Zelda and Hollow Knight, while also providing insights from the authors’ own experiences creating independent games in the genre.This book also intersperses these examples with practical exercises in 2D action-adventure world design using the free and easy-to-use GB Studio engine, allowing readers to practice their skills and see how lessons from the theory chapters apply in real game development environments. These practical chapters cover the basics of using GB Studio and related software, such as Aseprite and Tiled, to help readers create their own action-adventure characters, monsters, quest systems, switches, keys, and other mechanics - all the way up to designing their own dungeon!World Design for 2D Action-Adventures will be of great interest to all those looking to improve their level design skills within this genre.

Award-winning action-adventure designers Christopher Totten and Adrian Sandoval guide you on a quest to create levels for different styles of 2D action-adventure games, from top-down dungeon-crawler adventures to side-scrolling non-linear “Metroidvania” titles. Blending theory and practical analysis, this book shows how principles of game and level design are applied in some of your favorite 2D action-adventure games. It uses examples from popular games such as The Legend of Zelda and Hollow Knight, while also providing insights from the authors’ own experiences creating independent games in the genre.This book also intersperses these examples with practical exercises in 2D action-adventure world design using the free and easy-to-use GB Studio engine, allowing readers to practice their skills and see how lessons from the theory chapters apply in real game development environments. These practical chapters cover the basics of using GB Studio and related software, such as Aseprite and Tiled, to help readers create their own action-adventure characters, monsters, quest systems, switches, keys, and other mechanics - all the way up to designing their own dungeon!World Design for 2D Action-Adventures will be of great interest to all those looking to improve their level design skills within this genre.