level-design

• SKILL.mdcore · 15,073 bytes
• evals/README.mddoc · 2,009 bytes
• evals/cases.yamlasset · 6,587 bytes
• references/blockout-to-art.mddoc · 6,215 bytes
• references/guidance-and-readability.mddoc · 7,849 bytes
• references/pacing-and-encounters.mddoc · 7,201 bytes

# Level design — space that plays before it's pretty

*Shape the space, the rhythm, and the encounters so the player always knows where to go, never gets bored, and feels smart for exploring. Prove it in grey boxes; add art last.*

This skill owns the **craft of physical space and its play**: how a level is laid out, how it reads, how its intensity rises and falls, how encounters teach, and where reward hides. It is **engine-agnostic** — every technique here is validated in a blockout, then handed to an engine skill for the actual tooling.

## The pipeline: blockout -> greybox -> playtest -> art (never art-first)

**Lock the player's metrics first** — height, jump, reach, cover, door/corridor widths — and build all geometry as multiples of them. Guessing widths breaks traversal after the space is full of dependent geometry, which is why this comes before the first box. → `references/blockout-to-art.md`

| Stage | You build | You answer | Gate to next |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Blockout** | Primitive geometry only (boxes/planes at true metrics). No materials, no props. | Does the space flow? Are timings/distances right? Can I find my way? | Layout & traversal feel right. |
| **Greybox** | Blockout + temp neutral materials, placeholder lighting, stand-in enemies/interactables. | Does it *read*? Does the fight/encounter work? Is pacing right? | Encounters and readability hold up in playtest. |