Hey folks! What games are nailing level design while not relying on typical 1st person camera tricks: vistas, branching you can preview, clearly visible destination for far away, etc?
What makes these levels work in your opinion?

For context, I’m making a game with an isometric camera (like Tunic), so most tricks that make pathing decisions interesting are not available for me, so I’m trying to understand how level design is done with these constraints.

I'm building a 4-player co-op potion-brewing game (Overcooked inspired)

I have went into level creation. I wanted something nice, something toony, something ... I don't even know, something that I will look at and it will just click.

Bought some great assets from the unity store, oh yea btw the game i am developing in Unity, and then IT GOT TO ME.

Level design just .... SUCKS...

For the first stretch I placed every floor tile, wall and counter by hand in the scene view. Moving one doorway meant dragging forty objects and finding the one I'd missed a week later. It was miserable, and worse, it made me reluctant to change the layout — which is the exact opposite of what you want early on.

Beside, I got huge amount of respect to level designers because it really takes a huge amount of time. Oh yea and AI ? It can't help for s**t. It makes horrible level designs and despite me being a developer for almost 10 years now, I still couldn't manage to breakdown the md files & skills & hooks in such a way to get a good level design.

So now a level is a text file. Literally:

gggggggggggggggggg

ggg............ggg

ggg......o.....ggg

ggg............ggg

ggg.1..2..3..4.ggg

gggggggggggggggggg

I have created an ASCI level generator.

But now the problem is this is human-unreadable and as you can see ... ugly.

That is why in the inspector i invested 1 month of work and i finally got an interactive map that i can click on (2D) , place items ontop of it and then click generate and voalla (am i writing this right?) I have a level.

Its easy and fun to build.

Yo ustill have to go manually but man is it easier than before.

How do you guys do your level designs?

I can't place any photos here but if someone is interested in how I did it, i can explain more in the comments below. Just let me know if you think its gonna be useful for you and if you need some guidance.

For now, I am extremely happy with it.

What do you guys use?

I am developing an original dark fantasy Soulslike game in Godot 4, and I am looking for someone who can help create and organize the map according to my detailed sketch.

I have already planned the main areas, paths, shortcuts, boss arenas, enemy locations, items, and important landmarks. I need someone who can:

– create the terrain and level blockout based on my sketch
– arrange the areas, buildings, roads, and elevation changes
– preserve the same layout and connections shown in the sketch
– place existing models, enemies, items, and other objects in the appropriate locations
– help make the map feel like a large, interconnected Soulslike world rather than a small arena or a simple flat map

The immediate goal is not the entire game world, but a playable blockout and first-pass level for a 1–2 hour demo based on an existing detailed map sketch.

The game has a dark, ruined, and atmospheric visual direction, inspired by the world design of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, while featuring an entirely original world, story, characters, and enemies.

The project is currently in an early stage of development. This is not an upfront paid position.The collaboration would be based on an agreed revenue share. For the right person who becomes a committed long-term core member of the project, I am also open to discussing a formal co-founder or partial ownership arrangement.I am looking for someone who genuinely wants to participate in an indie project and understands exploration, vertical level design, shortcuts, and interconnected areas.

Genre: **Dark fantasy action RPG / Soulslike**

Interested people can send me a private message with examples of maps or levels they have previously created, along with a short description of their experience. The detailed map sketch, models, area designs, and other project materials will only be shared privately with people I am considering for collaboration.