How To: Level Design

Hello everyone,

Today I will be showing you my process for how I design a 3D level in Unity.

What I first like to do is make a couple of drawing of what I want the basic design of the level to be based on references images found on Google. This includes the length and width of the walls as well as where all the assets we plan to make are going to be placed in the scene. These designs don't need to be super detailed as they are just the basic outline of what you want the level to look like. This is an example of room designs I came up with for our first mechanic build:

The next thing I do is go into Maya and make a white box of the design that I have chosen to model. This means that I am going to create a simple, blocky model of my level that I can base my fully modeled design around. Just like the sketches, this doesn't need to be super detailed. It just has to show how the models are going to be sized and placed for things such as the walls and the floors. You can use other modeling software if Maya isn't your preferred method, but I like to use it for its geometry tools which as you can see below is what the white box is primarily made of.

Next is the modeling stage. This is where you take the design of your white box and create modular assets that both have textures and UVs applied to them so that the level can look fully refined and detailed. I use Maya to create and UV the assets, then take them  into Substance Painter to be textured. I then import those assets and textures into our maya project to be placed within the scene.

For these assets, I would recommend making 1 asset each for things like walls and floor tile so that they can be duplicated, snaped together, and mirrored from the back using Unity's Step Snap tool so that you don't make large objects with a lot of z fighting and stretched textures that you must fix later. Make sure that these assets and textures are the exact same general design, length, and size as one another so that they all don't look completely different, unless that's what you are going for. Things like entrances and doorways must also follow this same rule too when it comes to connecting them with walls. Remember, you only must make these once and not multiple times to make the process easier.

Lastly is the building stage. This is where all the pieces that you have created for your level come together to form one or multiple structures that all combine to be your game’s layout. The way. As I said before, the Step Snap tool in Unity is perfect for making walls and floors for your levels as well as for ceilings and rooms. Once this process is finished, you'll have a great layout to build you're level upon!

I hope you all have learned something today with the tips and information I have given on how I do level design step by step!

-Tyler Gromow (Level Designer)