When I am tasked with a problem space, the following is my process for assessing the project and following it logically through completion.

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My guiding principles when designing a level:

• Player experience comes first

• Address risk early

• Have a solid plan first, build on that

• Understand the overall goal of the area and the way the player needs to feel 

• I look to see where my content fits into the overall game, and make deliberate pacing decisions. To include what challenges are presented to the player

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Note:

• I use the spiral method that identifies the target of the project and plan to be as close to that initial vision as possible so that if anything needs to be addressed it can be done sooner rather than later in the project.

• After the LDD is created I update the document after every milestone and sprint.

• After the map is created in whitebox I playtest at least twice per sprint to inform me of how close I am to the initial vision. 

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1. I establish the parameters of the problem space

   1. This includes any Risks that past games have experienced in this area

   2. I also include the pillars of the title 

   3. Goals that I want to achieve with my project are also established during this point

2. I then plan out the project by creating a document that details the timeline, preliminary paper map, and any references that compile. 

   1. Risk management is addressed​

   2. I start a document revision table at this point, to track any change in the document over the course of the project 

   3. Plan out conveyance, sightlines, and lighting 

   4. I take time to look at how the flow and any encounters will play out

3. At this point, I take my design and implement it into the engine at the white box/grey box level of detail 

   1. I look for ​how the map flows in the engine/game  

   2. I also test the overall "feel" of the map and see if it matches the titles intentions 

4. I then iterate on the design based on player feedback and spiral in on the fun. ​At this stage, I enter into design sprints, two-week blocks that have a certain level of completeness that is the main focus of work.

   1. I logically break down all the parts to determine success for the sprint​ and call those conditions of satisfaction.

   2. Using conditions of satisfaction I determine what smaller actions I need to finish, these are my tasks. I prefer to break my tasks down into 1-2 hour items. If I determine that they will take longer I will break the task down into simpler parts. 

   3. This is all done to maintain momentum and give me a sense of where I am on my projected schedule

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