3D Level Design

I wanted to make a short game entirely focused around one mechanic, in this case wall jumping. To start off, we have two short platforms the player needs to hop on and learn how to jump. Next, I placed a very basic set of walls for the player to bounce off of and get to grips with wall jumping.

Wall jumping isn't just for vertical ascension, however, so next I created a small tunnel for the player to jump between the left and right walls. It's just long enough that the player needs to wall jump at least once, but if they fail they're still totally safe with a floor to land on down below and a roof to stop them from jumping too high. At the end is another platform, which represents the training wheels coming off as progressing beyond it means the player won't be able to rely on the safety platform at the bottom.

I wanted to combine the two things the player just learned for their first real challenge: vertical and horizontal movement through wall jumps. Before that, I thought it best to introduce a bit of danger with smaller, disconnected walls the player needs to jump between. Once the player is familiar with that, the challenge begins proper with a series of ascending walls the player must jump between.

For the big finale, the player needs to combine everything they've learned so far with a new but approachable twists. First the player ascends, then moves forward all with wall jumps. This is just like the start of the level, but a bit tougher, without the safety nets, and directly in sequence rather than having a break between them. Then I placed a disconnected wall that the player needs to use to round a corner, leading to another vertical ascension. At the top of this shaft is another, perpendicular wall, and jumping off of that will lead to the goal.

It's all pretty simple, but I think it turned out well. We start by teaching the player what they can do, then test what they've learned in various ways before combining it all for one final challenge. When designing levels, I like to follow this pattern to fully explore a level's mechanics or ideas.

You can watch a playthrough video below.