Level Design Fundamentals: Get Good At Making Game Levels
Design video game levels that guide players, create tension and actually feel fun to play - with both theory and practical techniques you can apply straight away.
Your Path Through Level Design
Stop Hoping. Start Designing.
Trade "I just throw stuff together and hope it works" for a process you actually trust. By the end of this course you've got a checklist you can run on any level - yours or theirs - and you stop guessing what makes a level good.
Read Any Level Like a Pro
The levels that stuck with you weren't accidents. You'll learn to look at any level - yours, theirs, a classic - and instantly clock the moves: how the path leads, why a decision feels meaningful, where the wow moments come from.
Immerse Player In Your World
Forgettable levels deliver mechanics; memorable levels deliver experiences. You'll learn to lay paths that pull players forward, place beats that make them care, and tell stories without saying a word. Remember, "less is usually more".
Build Levels. Don't Just Plan Them.
The plan is the easy part - building it is where most people stop. This course culminates with you building your own level using all of the principles you've learned. You can even watch over Rick's shoulder as he shares a time lapse of the level he creates.
What you’ll learn
Learn the fundamentals of level design and why they make your game feel great.
Understand what separates a forgettable level from one players can't stop talking about.
Build a solid design instinct you'll use in every game you make from here on out.
Analyse real levels from popular games to reverse-engineer what makes them tick.
Use proven design frameworks to structure levels and avoid guesswork.
Create compelling player journeys using layouts and flows you can swipe for your own games.
Greybox your levels fast to test and prototype ideas before you commit to anything.
Plan, iterate and improve your levels with a clear step-by-step workflow.
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Never get stuck with our teaching assistants on call.About the course
"My levels feel... fine. But fine isn't fun." "I don't even know where to start." "I just throw stuff together and hope it works."
Sound familiar? You're not alone. And it's not because you lack creativity - it's because no one taught you how levels actually work.
Good level design isn't magic. It's a craft. And like any craft, once you learn the fundamentals, everything clicks.
Think about the levels that stuck with you. The ones that felt tense, exciting, surprising - like the game just got you. That didn't happen by accident. Someone designed every beat of that experience on purpose.
This course shows you how they did it. And how you can do it too.
We dig into real levels from real games to reverse-engineer what makes them great. Then you take those lessons and apply them to your own levels - using frameworks, workflows and greyboxing techniques that actually work in practice, not just in theory.
By the end, you won't just understand level design. You'll feel it. You'll look at a level and immediately know what's working, what isn't, and exactly how to fix it.
Here's what's inside:
- Level design frameworks to help you create interesting, structured player experiences with confidence
- Deep dives into levels from popular games - so you can see exactly what makes them tick
- Layout and flow patterns you can steal and use in your own games
- A 10-step workflow so you always know what to build and when to build it
- Greyboxing, brainstorming and variety techniques to make every level feel fresh
- Challenges and exercises to flex your design creativity and actually practice the craft
Whether you're an indie dev building your dream game, a hobbyist heading into your first game jam, or someone who's always loved games and wants to understand them better - this course has plenty to level you up.
Stop hoping your levels turn out okay. Start designing them to be great.
Grab the course and see the difference a bit of theory and a solid workflow can make.
Please note this course is still under development and new content is being added regularly.
Curriculum
Instructors
Rick Davidson
Hi, I'm Rick, nice to meet you all.
I've been making video games for a living for more than 2 decades as a Game Designer, Producer, Creative Director, and Executive Producer, creating games for console, mobile, PC and Facebook. I founded an Indie game studio, called Inspirado Games, which was acquired in 2012 by Electronic Arts / PopCap. I also worked on cool IPs such as Mario, Transformers, Captain America and Mortal Kombat and created successful new IPs from scratch (such as "GardenMind" which was nominated for Canadian Game of the Year in the social / mobile category).
As a qualified Career Coach, I've helped thousands of people achieve their dream of making games for a living - both as Indie Game Developers and as valuable game industry employees.