Level Design Tips 01: The Building Pie
Hi! Following a recent discussion in this subreddit, I’m going to start posting some of my old level design tips material here.
Most of this already exists elsewhere, mostly from a couple of years ago and on other social networks, but I think it could help spark some discussion and bring more level design content into the subreddit.
I’ll start with around five posts like this, one every few days, and then maybe I’ll continue sharing older work, sketches, or small breakdowns. Some of you may already know this material. Most of my educational content is normally in Spanish, but if anyone is interested, it’s easy to find with a quick search.
This first one doen't really talk about creating spaces yet, but it introduces the concept of scale, readability and landmarks. It's the one that actually sparked the idea for the ld tip series, is about very simple building readability.
The first sketch is the basic idea:
1. Box
2. Box with holes
3. Building
It came from a conversation about how players recognize urban environments, even when the art style is very stylized, simplified, or cartoonish.
A plain box is not a building yet. A box with holes starts to suggest one, but it can still feel abstract, like a generic volume with windows. What usually makes it read as a building is the way we structure it into recognizable architectural parts.
That is where “The Building Pie” comes in.
It is a simple framework I use to think about buildings in urban game environments. Whats the least you need to think when crating a urban environment that it still reads as urban, buildings etc...
A - Street Level
The most important part for gameplay and player interaction. It defines entrances, shopfronts, doors, scale, cover, navigation, and the negative space of the street around it. In many games, this is the part the player actually reads and uses the most.
B - Floors
The repeated middle layers. They give the building rhythm, height, scale, and silhouette. Even if they are not interactive, they help the player understand what kind of building it is and how big the world feels.
C - Top
The crown of the building. It helps make the building recognizable from a distance and can also become an important gameplay surface, especially in games with rooftops, climbing, parkour, vantage points, objectives, or vertical navigation.
The useful thing, for me, is that with only these three elements you can make very simple buildings read clearly without relying on lots of detail.
This is especially helpful during blockout, stylized art direction, or early environment design, where you don’t want to solve everything with decoration.
When you design urban buildings for games, what do you prioritize first: ground floor interaction, silhouette, interior layout, navigation, or something else?