How to Design Levels/Adventures for Video and Tabletop Games

How to design entertaining episodes for video and tabletop games: levels, stages, adventures, scenarios, missions . . .

This is a class about how to design episodes for games (both video and tabletop), rather than how to program them - no instruction in using specific software, for example, but a lot about what to put in the level (and not put in it). Adventures (for D&D) preceded video game levels, and levels follow the same principles as those adventures.

In games that require episodes (stages, missions, levels, adventures), the episode designer is the person who delivers the enjoyment to the players.

Entire books have been written about level design, though much of the material in these books describes how to manipulate a specific level editor such as Unreal III. There's not so much in these books about the actual design of levels/adventures. This course is strictly about design, not production, though we do discuss documentation.

There are no discounts for this class, or any others on this site. I am actually more likely to raise prices than to offer discounts, because discounts can be disrespectful to people who pay the full price. These classes are already much lower priced than the same classes on Udemy.

Published 12 March 2014.


Your Instructor


Dr. Lewis Pulsipher
Dr. Lewis Pulsipher

Dr. Lewis Pulsipher (Wikipedia: "Lewis Pulsipher"; "Britannia (board game)"; "Archomental" ) is the designer of half a dozen commercially published boardgames. His game "Britannia" is described in an Armchair General review "as one of the great titles in the world of games." Britannia was also one of the 100 games highlighted in the book "Hobby Games: the 100 Best". He has over 17,000 classroom hours of teaching experience including teaching video game design and production, and over 20 years of part-time graduate teaching experience.

His book "Game Design: How to Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finish" (McFarland) focuses on practical advice for beginning game designers, about how you actually create and complete game designs. Three more books about game design are in progress. He also contributed to the books "Tabletop: Analog Game Design," "Hobby Games: the 100 Best," "Family Games: the 100 Best." His game design blog has been active since 2004, and he is a contributor and "expert blogger" on Gamasutra.com, the #1 site for professional video game developers.

His latest published game is the 2011 reissue with additions of "Dragon Rage," originally published in 1982. Three new versions of Britannia, including a 90-120 minute version and a diceless version, are forthcoming

Lew has a Ph.D. in military and diplomatic history from Duke University, from ancient days when degrees in media, computer networking, or game design did not exist--nor did IBM PCs. In 2012 he was a speaker at the East Coast Game Conference, PrezCon, Origins Game Fair, and World Boardgaming Championships. Long ago he was contributing editor for White Dwarf and Dragon magazines, and publisher of various game fanzines.

Website: http://pulsiphergames.com
Game design blog: http://pulsiphergamedesign.blogspot.com/ and http://boardgamegeek.com/blog/435/pulsipher-game-design
Teach game design blog: http://teachgamedesign.blogspot.com
"Expert blogger", Gamasutra: http://gamasutra.com/blogs/LewisPulsipher/774/
former contributing editor, White Dwarf, Dragon, Space Gamer, etc.
former publisher, Supernova, Blood and Iron, Sweep of History, etc.

"Always do right--this will gratify some and astonish the rest." --Mark Twain



Course Curriculum



Frequently Asked Questions


When does the class start and finish?
The class starts now and never ends! It is a completely self-paced online class - you decide when you start and when you finish.
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How does lifetime access sound? After purchase, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.
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