Guided resource · Level Design
The Level Design Book
A free, critical and practical online book covering process, layout, blockout, scripting, lighting, level studies and teaching notes.
The Level Design Book · Robert Yang and contributors · The Level Design Book
Open original resource ↗Free. Checked 9 August 2026.
Before you start
Read the page status and credits. Some sections are deliberately unfinished and externally credited examples retain their own rights.
Key things to watch for
- Level design as an iterative process rather than environment decoration
- The distinction between layout, blockout and environment art
- Examples that connect theory to a specific level
- Where the author signals debate, context or an unfinished section
Don’t worry about this yet
Do not send beginners through the whole book. One short page plus one practical observation is enough to start.
Try this afterwards
Choose a familiar game space and sketch its critical path, optional routes, landmarks and pace changes from memory, then check against footage or play.
Teaching idea
Give groups different pages—layout, blockout, lighting or studies—and ask each to produce one testable question for the same greybox.
Next step
Apply the question in Bad Level Challenge or No-HUD Navigation.
Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 ↗ applies to The Level Design Book except separately credited material.
Keep moving
Useful next steps.
Greybox before art
Use simple geometry to test scale, route and timing while changes are still cheap.
Teaching player flow without objective arrows
A practical sequence for showing how composition, contrast, landmarks and space guide attention.
Unreal Level Designer Quick Start
Epic's practical introduction to viewport navigation, levels, actors, basic geometry, lighting and playtesting.