Top-down level design refers to both an organizational approach to designing any game level, and the methods for designing levels with a top-down visual perspective. Designers who find level design complicated are able to benefit from using a top-down level design approach. The approach allows them to break a complicated project into smaller parts that are easier to manage. Each piece combines to make a cohesive and intentional level.
Designing a top-down level comes with its share of complexities. Early design decisions impact how well the level looks and functions. Choosing whether to stick with traditional top-down perspectives versus isometric perspectives impacts everything from mechanics to art assets, for example. Read on to learn the definition of top-down level design and how to use its principles to design a top-down level that’s fun to play and performs well.
What is the definition of a top-down level design?
Top-down level design is an approach that focuses on the big picture, then breaks the picture down into smaller and more detailed parts. The process involves defining a level or system’s purpose, determining the boundaries or parameters of that level or system, filling the level or fleshing out the system with pathways, puzzles, or components, then finally focusing on detailed additions.
The top-down level design approach follows four major steps, although each of these steps is able to be broken down into sub-steps to finalize a level’s design. The steps are laid out below.
- Determine the level’s purpose or concept.
- Build boundaries or parameters to block out the level or set a system’s bounds.
- Fill the level with gameplay systems and elements, such as player and enemy spawns, checkpoints, and obstacles.
- Add details by switching out generic shapes with finalized art assets, VFX, SFX, and other elements that bring the level to life.
Advantages of top-down level design approaches include handling complexity with ease, setting clear goals, providing easier work across the team, and giving designers more control and oversight of the level. Creating a large level is overwhelming at first, but the top-down level design approach takes the complexity and breaks it down into manageable pieces and steps. Designing a fun level that challenges the player is a broad and difficult task to map out. Breaking the level down into smaller parts, such as its purpose, theme, and obstacles, makes a complex design task simpler.
Setting clear goals across the team through top-down design makes level design less complex. Designers set a defined end result that they want to reach, and everyone across the team understands what they need to do to reach that goal. A level with an end result of the player defeating the boss and feeling victorious is a clear goal that helps the team make design choices, assets, and systems to help achieve it.
Top-down design makes working across the departments of a game development team easier. Different teams are able to work on independent parts of the level while avoiding getting lost in all the details and straying from the overall design. When an element does seem out of place, the top-down level design approach allows designers to immediately notice it and get the design back on track.
Disadvantages of using a top-down level design approach includes risking an overly rigid structure, costly reworks to fix late-stage problems, a sense of sameness across the level, and reduced experimentation. A common problem designers face when using a top-down level design approach is locking in on a design choice instead of trying different ideas. Major decisions are made early, and when those design choices aren’t giving the results the team wants, it’s costly to go back and start from scratch. Teams risk falling into a situation where they’ve already committed so much time and money to the level that they feel obligated to stick to their plans. The obvious problem here is that falling victim to the sunken cost fallacy leads to levels that aren’t fun to play.
Levels end up looking the same when designers aren’t careful about their top-down design approach to level design. When designers end up using the same standard room layouts because they’re too focused on getting to the next stage of the level’s design, their levels end up playing or looking the same way. The over-similarity doesn’t provide a fun experience for the player.
Senior designers handle early design decisions during game development, and with top-down design, these choices direct the rest of the game’s design, reducing creativity and innovation. Since so much is at stake with top-down design approach, such as a level not panning out and having to rework the whole thing, it makes sense that a studio wants to put riskier decisions in the hands of experienced designers. Junior designers with incredible ideas aren’t always given the opportunity to voice them, so the level misses out on potentially unique and special elements.
How to design a top-down game level?
Design a top-down game level by determining the level’s purpose, blocking out the level’s boundaries and rooms, adding gameplay elements, detailing the level’s theme, playtesting and iterating, then finalizing the level’s assets and systems. A top-down game level requires special design choices since the POV is unique to first-person or third-person perspectives. Inadequate top-down level design choices risk players losing interest because of staleness or dysfunctional elements..
Designers must determine the level’s purpose when designing a top-down game level. Tutorial levels, stealth levels, boss fights, and hubs are just a few of the many options. Once designers know its purpose, such as being a stealth level, they know the type of skills and obstacles to design, like abilities and areas that help players evade powerful enemies. Skills and mechanics help players navigate through the level, while obstacles test the player’s mastery of them.
A designer making a top-down game level needs to block out the level’s boundaries and rooms. When using a game engine, designers are able to start blocking out boundaries with boxes and other generic shapes. The major difference between blocking out a top-down game versus a first-person or third-person game is how the blocking guides the player. Unless the game uses a fog-of-war system, top-down games reveal everything to players as soon as they’re within sight. FPS or TPS games, in contrast, don’t let players see past walls. Keeping the top-down POV in mind helps designers block out the level naturally while maintaining the element of surprise.
Designers are able to add gameplay elements once they have a general layout of the level. Starting with a blocked-out level makes it clear where to place enemies and patrol routes to provide players with a challenge. Designers must consider how to incorporate loot and interactables into the level, too. Combining loot with hazards, such as requiring players to jump over a pit of lava to receive a special reward, is a consideration to keep in mind when sketching these elements out.
Designers must start detailing the level based on its theme once the level is laid out generically with boxes and symbols indicating enemies, spawn points, and rewards. The level’s theme relates to the game’s setting and narrative. A level with the player running through a haunted forest has a scary theme, so its art and aesthetic must reflect that. Dark colors, warped and twisted trees, and fog VFX are all details that make a level feel more spooky.
Playtest the level throughout the design process and iterate based on feedback from players and QA teams. Long before finalized art assets are put in place, have players and the QA team play the game in its most basic, but functional, form. The test helps ensure that the mechanics are working properly and the level is serving its purpose. When gameplay systems aren’t providing the intended experience, iterate the level until it does.
Designers must ensure the assets or ideas that they’re considering match a top-down POV and not an isometric POV. Isometric POVs have a different angle to them, using 3D models instead of 2D. The choice between traditional top-down or isometric impacts the final art assets used in the level. After that decision is made, designers must swap out any remaining generic shapes with the final art assets and models. The level must go through a final testing phase to ensure all gameplay systems function and the overall experience of the finalized level is a hit with players.
