IGB321 Immersive Game Level Design

Unit Outline: Semester 2 2024, Gardens Point, Internal

Overview

Level design is a critical, key component to any video game, no matter how abstract or realistic. It is crucial that a level designer has the ability to lay out levels, construct levels within the game engines, plan gameplay scenarios and place non-player characters. This unit will help students develop these abilities as well as skills such as building terrain, building architecture and spaces, balancing gameplay, integrating narrative elements and goals, playtesting and implementing iterative design improvements, designing lighting and atmospheric effects and other genre-specific level design skills using the Unreal game engine. Students are expected to have some degree of high level game design skills and preliminary scripting abilities for this unit.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Apply knowledge and skills in the production of game levels.
2. Apply creativity, critical thinking and problem solving skills to design a level for a game.
3. Use a range of techniques and tools in the game level design process.
4. Evaluate game level designs by implementing an evaluation framework that is appropriate for a given set of objectives including social, cultural and ethical considerations..
5. Work effectively in a team environment to create game levels that utilise an emerging expertise in level design.
6. Communicate effectively level design ideas, concepts and models in written, oral and visual formats to peers and stakeholders.

Content

Learning Approaches

A variety of teaching approaches and activities will be used in IGB321. These include interactive lectures, practical workshops and independent learning. The topics for each week are available on Canvas to guide your learning. The interactive lectures will introduce you to the theoretical concepts, show real world examples of game level design and provide demonstrations relating to game level design. The workshops that follow the interactive lecture are designed to reinforce your understanding of the content through completing authentic learning tasks and providing you with the opportunity to collaborate with your peers and tutor. Many of the workshop activities and your assessment in this unit will be able to contribute to your professional portfolio. The learning process in IGB321 is reliant on you maintaining the discipline of implementing and revising your learning week by week. 

As an emerging professional, studying a second year unit, you are expected to attend all scheduled interactive lectures and workshops. There is an expectation that you will undertake your own independent learning to reflect on the materials presented and to investigate your own solutions to problems through the searching the web and professional online forums as you would be expected to do in industry. Although, the emphasis of this unit is encouraging you to develop your independent learning skills, your lecturer and tutors are available in class, via email or in their normal consulting times should you have difficulty with understanding the materials or need guidance. 

You can expect to spend between 10 - 15 hours per week on average involved in attending all scheduled interactive lectures and workshops, completing assessment tasks, and undertaking your own independent study to consolidate your learning.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

You will have a range of opportunities to receive feedback on your learning and progress in this unit including formative in-class individual or whole-of-class feedback on your work by tutors and peers as well as individual feedback on assessment tasks via a rubric and written feedback. Individual consultations with your tutor can be arranged at a mutually convenient time.Formative feedback will be provided through the return of marked assessment:

Assessment

Overview

There are three pieces of assessment for IGB321, which are designed to give you the opportunity assess how well you have met the unit learning outcomes. Assessment in this unit consists of a collection of Design Process Tasks, a Game Level Design document and an applied design project where you will implement several game levels based on your design documentation. Assessment criteria will be made available to students at the introduction of the report and project assessment.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Design Process Tasks

You are required to complete a series of level design project activities presented in the workshops. These "real-world" activities are aimed initially at developing the core practical and conceptual skills required for the unit, and subsequently at assessing the level of individual contribution to the group project.

You will be assessed on the artefacts generated through involvement with the practical tasks (e.g. level architecture, scripts, design proposals, etc.), and will be required at times to evidence task fulfilment through presentation and/or documentation for formative feedback.

These artefacts will be assessed on their contribution to the project and evidence of active participation in project processes. You will be required to complete presentations, provide descriptions of level designs and participate in implementation (e.g. scripting) and evaluation (e.g. playtesting) activities. Detailed assessment criteria will be provided during class.

The artefacts generated from this assessment task could be included in your professional portfolio.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Assessment: Design Document

You are required to design a series of level components that demonstrate your emerging expertise as a level designer, which will be incorporated into a level design document. This design document will lay the foundation for your group project in the assessment following this one. You will be provided a level design template and methodology you should utilize in the design and planning of the content in this document which should describe the processes necessary for implementation in the assessment following this one. This design document should demonstrate your mastery and understanding of the technology and of all the major concepts covered in the unit. 

The design document could be included in your professional portfolio.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Assessment: Project (applied)

You are required to create a series of game levels that demonstrate your emerging expertise as a level designer. Adopting the lead role for a particular aspect of the level design, you will work from your conceptual documentation to implement your design using the Unreal game engine. You will be required to present your final product to your peers and teaching team. Detailed assessment criteria will be provided during class.

This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.

Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Resource Materials

Reference book(s)

Kremers, Rudolf (2009) Level Design: Concept, Theory, and Practice. Wellesley, MA: A.K. Peters.

Risk Assessment Statement

There is minimal health and safety risk in this unit. It is your responsibility to familiarise yourself with the Health and Safety policies and procedures applicable within campus areas and laboratories.

Course Learning Outcomes

IN05 Bachelor of Games and Interactive Environments

1. Demonstrate broad knowledge of games and interactive environments principles and theory, with an in-depth knowledge of one games-related discipline.
   Relates to: ULO1, Design Process Tasks, Design Document, Project (applied)
2. Apply creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills to generate solutions to design challenges.
   Relates to: ULO2, ULO4, Design Process Tasks, Design Document, Project (applied)
3. Create engaging and meaningful games experiences for specific target audiences in partnership with diverse industry and community stakeholders using industry-relevant software and technologies..
   Relates to: ULO1, ULO3, Design Process Tasks, Design Document, Project (applied)
4. Collaborate effectively in transdisciplinary teams to achieve shared goals and to manage projects in professional contexts.
   Relates to: ULO5, Project (applied)
5. Communicate complex concepts at all stages of the development cycle to specialist and non-specialist audiences in written, oral and interactive visual formats.
   Relates to: ULO6, Design Process Tasks, Design Document, Project (applied)
6. Critically reflect on social, ethical, cultural, legal and accessibility issues in the context of games and interactive environments, including as they relate to First Nations Australians.
   Relates to: ULO4, Design Process Tasks, Design Document, Project (applied)
7. Evidence the development of your learning, professional capabilities and skills through creating a curated portfolio of work.
   Relates to: ULO3, Design Process Tasks, Design Document, Project (applied)