How I design levels in text first, and why (HL2 level Part 1)

Channel:
United Kingdom Steve Lee (Level and Game Design)
Subscribers:
25,900
Published on ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FSssDWEFLc


Half-Life 2
Game:
Half-Life 2 (2004)
Duration: 22:53
24,803 views
1,291

Nope, I don't start with reference photos or sketches... I think and write!
Support the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/stevelee_gamedev
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Part 1: Designing the level in text first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FSssDWEFLc
Part 2: Starting to build the skateboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuCMeH7a_Es
Part 3: Blocking out the final act: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SSBNNaBSrA

00:00 - Why I don't start with reference images or sketching layouts
01:16 - Overview of the final result
02:08 - Starting with Goals
03:38 - Listing the elements we have to work with
05:18 - Starting the level Sequence
07:17 - Keeping track of Questions
07:42 - Drawing ideas from the list of Elements
09:25 - Gameplay Beats
11:17 - Recovering Gordon's Suit
12:44 - The importance of Sequence (door before the key)
16:18 - Improving things after the first draft
17:46 - Reading out the "finished" plan
21:52 - Next time, watch me start making the level

This video is part of my Talking About Level Design video series, which I've collected into this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbBhMQ8qnVWPV2XqMt3m57zQKXp-V2jS9

#leveldesign #halflife2 #process



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Tags:
level design
steve lee
creative process
text
gamedev
level design process
half life 2
how to design levels


Other Statistics

Half-Life 2 Statistics For Steve Lee (Level and Game Design)

Currently, Steve Lee (Level and Game Design) has 96,873 views for Half-Life 2 across 9 videos. About 2 hours worth of Half-Life 2 videos were uploaded to his channel, or 23.31% of the total watchable video on Steve Lee (Level and Game Design)'s YouTube channel.