Level designer

A level designer is the person who creates levels, challenges or missions for computer and/or video games using a specific set of programs. These programs may be commonly available commercial 3D or 2D design programs, or specially designed and tailored level editors made for a specific game.

In addition to actually making the environments the player inhabits in the game, the level designer also works on enemy or Non-player character placement or scripted story events.

Responsibilities

While developing a game, the level designer is responsible for producing scenarios that the player will enjoy. The designer will work on a level from design to completion, though he is not usually the sole editor of the level. For each level in a modern game, this task involves documenting its design, modeling or laying out its environment, and placing game entities in it. To perform these duties, many level designers have skills as both a visual artist and as a game designer.

History

A number of individuals have made significant contributions to the field of PC First Person Shooter (FPS) level design are: John Romero, responsible for a great deal of the level design for Doom, and Richard "Levelord" Gray, creator of a number of levels for Duke Nukem 3D and SiN.

In the field of console game design, examples of notable contributions would come from the level designers on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64 - Makoto Miyanaga, Hiromasa Shikata, Hiromu Takemura, Shinichi Ikematsu, Takeshi Hosono and Kenta Usui (who also worked on Super Mario 64), and Craig Filshie, Andrew Duthie, Chris Rothwell, Imran Sarwar, Ross A.J. Wallace, Jim McMahon and William Mills for work on the Grand Theft Auto series.