作者：Geoff Ellenor

有时候我会遇到一些总是希望将自己的工作做得更好的设计师，但事实上他们却未曾发生改进，或者觉得自己现在所拥有的技能水平远远不够。不断的迭代能够成就更出色的设计师，但并不是所有人都能从自己所从事的事中获得价值。以下便是能够帮助任何关卡设计师获得提升的4种习惯。

利用你所拥有的每一个创造性自由

在AAA级游戏中，我们往往没有足够的自由去创造我们想创造的内容，有时候你能够自由发挥创造性的空间总是非常小。这就是说：如果你能在你所拥有的自由空间里充满自信，你便可能变得更好。

在早期制作过程中，你可以尝试许多不同理念。与你所合作的美术师保持同步，亲身投入创造性过程中并推动某些让人惊讶的内容的创造。

有时候你可能分配到一些很平常的任务，这时候你便应该竭尽所能地让它发光发亮。如果地图上的一个空间充满了本不该存在的机筒和板条箱，你便可以尝试一些不同的内容去完成任务，将其变成是自己的创意，即创造出让自己感到骄傲的内容。

不要只尝试一个理念

你的第一个理念可能是你最喜欢的理念，但这也只有在你尝试了其它不同理念时才能知道的事。致力于一张地图布局？不要只创造一次关键区域。你应该创造三个变量，如此你便能从中选择最出色的一个。（游戏邦注：是的，我的方法意味着你要丢掉其它布局，而如果你不能果敢地按下删除按键，你便不能获得你所需要的自由。）

你必须记得，没有人能够强迫你提交每个理念到每日构建中，但如果你未能尝试一些不同变量，你便只能深陷于你的第一个理念中，甚至更糟糕的是，你可能会遇到别人说着“这部分看起来不怎么样，请展示其它内容给我看”的情况。

如果你在PC上尝试了4个不同的理念，你便能在回家前自信地提交最佳选择，至少你在这过程中不断练习，学习并完善着。

学习从所有人那获得反馈

feedback(from baike)

是的，即使是你们团队中的成员也几乎很少会去表达自己的看法。而各种类型的玩家对于你的设计的看法总是能够更好地完善你的内容。

有些人不善于提供反馈，有些开发者只是将反馈当成是自己在会议上发挥聪明的表现，但不管怎样你都应该去听取所有人的反馈。在开发中，你的第一个用户便是与你共事的人。你应该尽可能地获取反馈，礼貌地听别人说话，然后再自己判断这些反馈的含义。

就像有人说：“我在这里左转，但前面却是个死胡同，我很郁闷，不知道为什么这里会有个门道。”这可能是一个负面反馈，但这也告诉了你这位玩家希望能够穿过这条路径。这可能是一个布局问题，也有可能是光线问题，或者你可以在这里添加一个可收集的道具。所以你应该使用反馈去创造更出色的玩家体验。

始终保持“干净”—-修改任何内容

我不能夸大“干净”数据的重要性。如果你的工作方式乱糟糟（即到处都是无用的实体内容，劣质的碰撞网，糟糕的布局安排等等），你的迭代速度将受到很大影响，并会导致你的游戏关卡中充满各种小漏洞。

如果你在关卡中发现一个问题，你应该检查数据中的其它地方是否存在同样的问题。我便曾遇到一个关卡设计师在解决了地图上一个“无效的玩家掉落高度”问题后直接忽视了其它16个位置上出现的同样的问题。

关卡设计师总是需要处理许多数据，而保持数据的整洁是一项很重要的工作，如果你不能做好这点，你便很难发生改变。如果你能够确保你所拥有的数据足够有序，那么迭代便会更加轻松。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Four Useful Habits for Level Designers

by Geoff Ellenor

I sometimes meet designers who want to be better at their jobs, but don’t appear to be improving, or feel like they’re stuck at the skill level they have now. Constant iteration makes better designers, but not everybody really gets value from everything they do. Here are four habits you can give yourself that can make any level designer improve.

Use Every Last Bit of Creative Liberty You’re Given

In AAA games we are almost never given full liberty to make what we want, and sometimes the space within which you can create freely is very small. That said: you will get better if you act confidently within the space you’re given.

Early in the production process you can typically try a lot of different ideas, so make sure you do. Sync with the artists that you work with, stay involved in the creative process, and push for something amazing.

Sometimes your assigned task isn’t thrilling, but you should try to rock it regardless. If one room in one map has to be filled with barrels and crates, that may not be exciting… but try a few variations, take the task and make it your own, and try to create something you can be proud of.

Never Try Only One Idea

Your first idea may be the one you like the most, but you won’t know until you try several. Working on a map layout? Don’t build key areas only once… Build three variations, so you can confidently choose the one that works best. (Yes, my approach means throwing away several layouts, but if you’re not comfortable pressing the delete button, you‘re not going to give yourself the freedom you need to become great at this.)

Remember, nobody forces you to submit each idea into the nightly build, but if you haven’t tried several different variations locally, you’re going to be stuck with your first idea, or worse: you will only iterate when somebody like me says “this part isn’t very good, show me something else.”

If you’ve tried four different ideas on your PC, you’re likely to feel confident that you submitted the best choice before you went home that night, and if nothing else: you’re practicing, learning, and improving.

Listen to Feedback From Everybody

Yes, even that one guy on your team who can barely express himself and seems to suck at video games. A variety of player perspectives on your design is pure fuel to make your content better.

Some people are terrible at giving feedback, and some devs give feedback purely as a way of seeming clever in meetings, and you should still listen to everyone. In development, your first audience is the people you work with. Take all the feedback you can get, listen politely, and then decide for yourself what that feedback means.

Let’s say somebody says “I turned left here, and it was a dead end, and I was depressed, like why is this doorway even here.” This feedback may be very negative, but it does tell you that this player was expecting to be able to move through that path. It could be a layout problem, it could be a lighting problem, or you could have just found a place for a collectible item. Use the feedback to make better experiences.

Work “Clean” All The Time?—?Fix Everything

I can’t overstate the importance of clean data. If you work “filthy” (unused entities hanging around, shoddy collision meshes, badly arranged layers, etc) you are slowing your iteration time down drastically, and making little bug factories all over your level.

If you find a problem in your level, check to see where else in your data the same problem exists. I’ve seen a level designer fix a ‘invalid height for player drop’ problem in one spot in the map and go on to ignore the other sixteen places in his map where the same problem exists?—?don’t be that guy.

Level designers work with a lot of data; keeping it well organized is a big job and if you do it badly, you’ll be afraid to make changes. You should always know what’s under the hood, and you should always feel like you can be proud of it. If you know your data is well-organized, iteration can be painless.(source:gamasutra)