BattleBlock Theater

Design Portfolio

BattleBlock Theater is a puzzle-platformer developed by The Behemoth that I had the pleasure of crafting level content for as one of three Level Designers. Using The Behemoth’s proprietary editor, I owned the creation of hundreds (not exaggerating) of levels from concept to completion and ensured mechanics were taught, difficulty was scaled, and fun was had throughout the over 480 levels in the game. In the below sections I’ll go through my process for taking levels from just a gleam in my eye to the end result that millions of people have enjoyed.

BattleBlock Theater’s wildly inventive stage design is undoubtedly its greatest draw. It offers up some of the most clever, satisfying, and varied 2D platforming in years. - IGN

The spot-on challenge level is one of the best things about Battleblock Theater. I always felt as if I was learning and progressing. - Polygon

It's no exaggeration to say that this is platform game design that can stand alongside Super Mario Bros. and Rayman Origins as an example of how the genre should be done. The game never stops introducing new ideas, and always does so in a way that means progress is a learning curve, building on what came before and pushing you to do better. - Eurogamer

Lots of great, expertly crafted levels. - Gamespot

Designing a Solo Campaign Level

Before diving into my specific level creation process for BattleBlock Theater, there are a few ubiquitous design principles that drastically influence a completed level which I want to briefly cover.

Difficulty

Knowing the general target difficulty for the level I’m working on helps a huge amount to direct the kind of sequences I want to design, and minimizes the amount of tweaking needed at the end of the process. This is primarily determined by which Chapter the level will be going in, as well as the level’s placement within that Chapter and relative to levels around it. From the game all the way down to moment to moment sequences, we tried to ensure a peak to valley difficulty progression in order to maximize the variety of gameplay and minimize the difficulty walls a player might encounter.

Level Pacing

A level with a constant breakneck pace will fatigue the player, just as a level with only a slow and deliberate pace will bore the player. To combat this, I do my utmost to vary pacing and give the player hectic areas to challenge and excite, puzzle areas to slow down a bit and think, and generously distributed safe areas to pause and take a breather. The end result are challenging and engaging levels that excite without causing fatigue and puzzle without causing boredom; at least that’s the goal.

Teaching the Player

There are over sixty blocks in BattleBlock Theater, each with different functionality and an insane amount of possible combinations. To ensure the player wasn’t drowned in an endless sea of strange blocks, we introduced each block in a focussed section to teach core functionality and limited other distractions, before gradually scaling up the challenge and complexity of encounters. This was still happening well into the late game and was a major consideration when designing a level. Below is an example of how we introduced the Buzzsaw block and wove it into more advanced sequences.

Directing the Player

It can be easy for a player to get lost in a BattleBlock Theater level if care isn’t taken, especially in the late game where there may be various routes to choose. I have a few tools at my disposal to limit the occurrence of “where the heck am I?” that I incorporate into every stage of my design process.

Solo Campaign Design Process

Now that I’ve covered some of the principles I use when designing a level, I’ll give you an overview of my design process for a Solo Campaign level, from concept to completion.

Blocking In the Level

It’s easier and more efficient for me to start big and work progressively smaller, so I’ll usually begin with brainstorming thumbnails of the player’s route through the level. Calling them thumbnails makes them sound far more developed than they actually are; they’re squiggles in a box, but they help form the skeleton of the level and give me some sense of direction.

Once I pick a squiggle box (for the below examples I’ll use the top left thumbnail) I’ll bring it into the editor by blocking in the squiggle, then play with the shapes and spaces that start to emerge. I’ve found that beginning things this way helps me create a more interesting and varied level faster than if I were to pick a corner and start adding things from there. It also helps the level be more efficient in how space is used, and less wasted space from efficient design means more awesomeness can be fit into one level.

All this is done with the position of the level in the Chapter loosely in mind, as well as any Chapter-specific design goals. For example, Chapter 7 needed to have more level spanning puzzles, and Chapter 4 needed more boulders. For most of the Chapters this comes into play more when you get into the specific sequences, but it’s always a good thing to keep in mind.

Gameplay Iteration

Once I have the block-in complete, I begin add gameplay sequences. I do this both off the cuff and with any previously prototyped sequences, and I’ll let myself be loosely guided by the spaces and shapes that emerged post-squiggle block-in. If there are any specific sequences or mechanics that need to be implemented, this is where I start to add them. These prototyped chunks help focus completed sequences; It also helps tremendously to see how the entire level is structured. Seeing these larger relationships allows me to more easily create sections that interact in interesting ways, while at the same time ensuring that space is used efficiently.

When creating more finalized gameplay sequences, Chapter positioning comes into play much more. I need to consider desired mechanics, difficulty, and any player lessons that need to be introduced or emphasized. These are mostly guided by where this level will go in the Chapter, as well as any other design goals already in place (level-spanning puzzles, etc). These considerations are also limited by the fact that this is still a prototype; sections and levels will inevitably be moved around in the next design stage to ensure the Chapter flows well, so it’s important to stay flexible. Difficulty is also something that will get finalized in the next stage, but I at least have an idea of the desired difficulty and try to incorporate that now.

Polish Until it Shines

This final stage requires numerous steps, the first of which is positioning within the Chapter. This is primarily determined by difficulty relative to the other prototypes. Sometimes there’s a level that fits perfectly in a certain position except for one sequence, in which case we switch the sequence with one from another level. Other times a sequence is so great we want to expand on it, requiring changes to following sections and levels. During this step there are many small tweaks and changes aimed at achieving the desired sense of difficulty and progression through the level as well as the Chapter as a whole.

The second and most time consuming, but critical, step is playtesting both the level and the Chapter to ensure they have the desired difficulty progression. Although we’ve been playtesting internally since the start, this stage involves a full Usability Lab pass, which allows me to see where people might have problems that have been overlooked and adjust things accordingly. I cannot overstate how important this step is. Playtesting levels repeatedly with multiple people and making adjustments from what was learned is what makes the final level feel smooth, clean and complete - like the one pictured above.

Conclusion

I hope this gives you a good understanding of my design process, specifically for a Solo Campaign level. Throughout the project, collaboration was a constant, creative problem solving was required around every corner, and the consideration for the player’s experience was at the forefront of everything.