Ten Principles for Good Level Design

In this video design director and level designer, Dan Taylor provides a breakdown of what makes good level design. He states that good level design doesnt rely on words to tell a story with three types of narrative at play within a games level:

Explicit - Anything that calls out to the player through cutscenes or text.
Implicit - Anything the player figures out by themselves.
Emergent - Anything that the player makes up in their own head.

He says the best way to explain these last two types of narrative is through a technique called Mise-en-scène. This is the art of telling a story through an environment and this is the element I am trying to emphasise throughout my major project.

GDC (2018) Ten Principles for Good Level Design [Online Video] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNEe3KhMvXM [Accessed: 28/02/2018]

He goes on to break down his principals of level design into a list of ten points. I found these to be quite helpful as it highlighted certain aspects of environment design that I am interested in. Some of these points are related to game mechanics but others concern the visual design.

A good level design:

1. Is fun to navigate
2. Does not rely on words.
3. Tells what but not how
4. Constantly teaches
5. Is surprising
6. Empowers the player
7. Is easy, medium and hard
8. Is efficient
9. Creates Emotion
10. Is Driven by Mechanics

I am especially interested in points 1,2,8 and 9 as I feel without these elements the game elicits no emotion. Without some kind of emotional interest, I won't feel as though my environment art is successful.