The level I made to work on Dishonored 2 at Arkane Studios

If you happen upon a key without knowing it's a key and only putting two and two together after you run into the door, is that first encounter still considered a 'key' encounter?

Great work. It was really interesting to see how you approached and met the brief using a non-stealth based game and how you even managed to work some small stealth-like elements in (e.g. placing guards with their backs turned). Was good to hear you feedback some self-critism about a mistake you made with the possibility of the player hitting the switch before they see the locked door too and how you were honest with Arkane about it. Thanks for the video.

Oh, man. Your videos have been a tremendous help, especially in terms of design theory. Call me technologically illiterate, but the scripting you’ve implemented in this level makes it feels like lightyears away for someone who hopped into Hammer/SDK to make a room for fun! Hope to see more helpful vids in the future.

One of the most powerfull video about level design i have seen

I potentially might be having a level design test come up for an interview and I can't thank you enough for uploading this. It makes the thought process so much easier for me

Even though your level was made for a single-player game, how would you go about doing a level design test for a multiplayer map? It would be a small Quake-style arena map meant for deathmatches. How could I potentially playtest the map for balancing issues when I only have a couple weeks to create, test, refine it?

Thank you so much for the video!

this is so cool!!! thank you so much for sharing, incredibly informative and useful :)

Awesome content!

this was fascinating, thank you so much for sharing!

This is perhaps one of the best videos I have ever watched about level design. Thank you for making this, it helped me a lot with my own thinking process.

Did you code every think or did they send you items (Like the AI, building, and small items) to use for your test?

Thank you so much for sharing this design process, it's incredibly valuable!

This is extremely insightful! Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge of level design! :D

Ty for sharing the knowledge

Thanks for an informative video, I have one question. As far as I understood there is no guarantee that the player will look at the bridge at the start of the game, lets say for 95% of the players the bridge did catch their eye and they saw the cutscene happening, but 5% of the players just instantly looked for a way down and missed the cutscene. Wouldn't be better in this case to script the player looking at the bridge? since seeing the cutscene is very important for understanding what is going on.

When passing the turret bridge, don’t forget about the 3rd option where you can command your ally to rush first right in front of you, and use him as a meat shield. This is more cruel yet working solution

Played Deathloop recently and so it felt really great watching the video and putting two and two together, absolute jewel of a video actually, thanks!

I watched this video to compare it with tabletop RPG scenario design. above all it occurs to me that video game level design is much easier and simpler, if simply doors and keys are the most important thing! And especially because the players choices in a video game are harshly limited.

Man, this was super interesting to watch! I have 0 plans to ever get into any kind of game design, but it was still fascinating to watch, great work!

That's a great explanation! Thank you!

Amazing. Do you have any experience with "minimalist" horror level design like PT or Devotion?

Looking Glass all the way. You are a legend.

I'm moving my first steps into level design and this video helps a lot! Hope I'll be able to put out something this cool some day

Great video Steve! Comprehensive and thoughtful as always.

Really inspiring. The depth you go into is very compelling. I hope one day to be lucky enough to make something fun to play at this level.

Really great video, highly appreciated as an aspiring level designer. To ask a really picky question: at the very beginning, where the player exits the starting room, and you were trying to draw their attention to Alyx being taken away, would it not have been better to place the ladder to the left, at the end of the walkway? It would seem to me that, by putting the ladder on the right, the player might potentially miss Alyx by focusing on the the ladder. I understand there's an audio cue to draw your attention, but still. Again, I'm probably being too picky.

This gives off fallout vibes. Just the look not the gameplay nice prototype

The internet is awesome, Dishonored is one of my favorite games because of the level design and now I'm here, learning from the man himself.

I'm glad to see an immersive sim level done with Half Life 2's game mechanics. Also nice to know my experience with Doom mapping can still be useful for making immersive sim levels.

no wonder I love that game so much lmfao, your first level portfolio item was my favorite game, half life

The Dust District was one of the finest levels in D2. I remember finding the bloodfly keeper’s lair above the Crone’s Hand, and thinking how fucking cool it was to stash it that high. Rewards the exploration that D2 players no doubt undertake.

This was great. Thoroughly feel as though I’ve learned something :)

I watched this and I was wondering, could you use the gravity gun to pile some stuff and go over the force field instead of going over the bridge? thank you!

Do you use your own 3D or already provided? Nice vid! 🎉

Were you paid for working 2 weeks for a test for them??? I did an environment art test for them for one week, didnt get paid for that, i had a negative answer 1 month after i send them the render, with a very little feedback, the brief was very abstract for me, it was super hard and frustrating
But its art and not level design

no such thing as conversationx or conversation pointx or goodx or rightx or first or so don't worryx or ask perfx or oppresx or tightx or worryx about it x or punish x or have x or otherx or etc, do, be, outx, can do, be, outx etc any nmw and any s perfx

great video i regurarly return to for inspiration. Did you actually send the level or a video just like you're showing us now?

Hi @steveLee I loved this video, it gave me a few ideas of my own, one thing i am struggling though getting started as a level designer is how i can get access to and manipulate different engines like you have in this video, do you have another video explaining the tools available to start to construct levels like the one in your video. I'm not well versed in modding and digging up program files to manipulate existing games, what would you recomend to start my search?

Perfect explanations Steve. I work professionally on the Level Art side for games, but I'm working on getting a holistic grasp on making engaging levels from both the design and visual needs. This was invaluable for me.

Having so much of your level showcase blurred out was frustrating. But still extremely valuable information.

Did you just provide the level as-is and they play it, or do you send any kind of video/document that describes your thinking in the way you've done here?

Awesome vid, Steve. An in depth explanation of level design right there :) Thanks for sharing it (makes me wanna go play H-L 2 all over again :D ).

it's 5:23 in the morning, and I'm making notes
really good video, thank you for that

Do you think game engines such as Fortnite unreal engine and Roblox can be used for level design projects?

I was expecting more alternate paths, like vents, which the Deus Ex HR & MD teams loved to have very noticeably.

Edit: So would a path that skipped combat altogether be bad design for a Half-Life 2 level?

This was so awesome

Really enjoyable breakdown. I'm subbed. 😁

I miss the old arkane. Some of the best games ever made. Plenty of games that were decent that I have started and never finished. Dishonored and prey I played every last drop out of them. It seems to me the esg centric laws and push, are ruining the industry and once great studios. Maybe I'm wrong but it definitely feels like less and less games are being made by people who love games, and more by people who love money and have an agenda to push. Hopefully more gamers wake up so these companies can go under, and the market can produce companies run by people who love games again.