As a Level Designer you are likely to be working as part of a smaller cross-disciplinary team that is responsible for creating a level. These smaller teams are often referred to as level pods and the members are working as collaborators most likely without any strong official hierarchy.
“So who decides what a level pod should work on?”
This is where things can become more complicated as there generally will be a layer of leaders above level pods who are accountable for the day-to-day operation. The specific roles can vary from company to company, but the leads team will generally be comprised from:
Producer or Project Manager
There will usually be one or more people in a production capacity. Their primary role is to ensure that a level will be done on time and that it will live up to the expectations of the target audience.
In companies where these responsibilities are taken care of by two separate people, it’s usually split in a way where one person focuses more on the product side and the other focuses more on the daily operation, timelines and resources. These roles are sometimes referred to as “Product Owner” and “Scrum Master”, since the role separation is fairly similar to those from the Agile Framework. However most game companies do not actually work in accordance with the agile framework, so it’s often a bit misleading.
Lead Level Designer
In most studios a level designer will report to a lead level designer. This person is part of the team that oversees multiple level pods and unsurprisingly represents level design specifically at the leadership level.
“Ok so who of these does the Level Designer work for?”
A Level Designer works, very directly with and for:
- The Lead Level Designer when it comes to the level design quality of their work
- The “Scrum Master” when it comes to finishing their work on time
A Level Designer works, in a slightly more indirect way for The “Product Owner”, since requests often go through the lead level designer in reality.
So when you look at it from a day-to-day perspective a Level Designer generally works for people that have it as their primary job to ensure:
- Overall Product Quality & That things are done on time
- Level Design Quality
Here it is important to note that obviously there is a very big overlap between “Level Design Quality” and “Overall Product Quality” – since Level Design is very much about the holistic experience of the player.
