This is an introductory article covering what level design or mapping fundamentally is and what it involves, the beginnings of the profession and how it is likely to evolve in the future as games become more complex and graphically advanced.

Describing Level Design
How to describe what level design is? If you tell people it has something to do with computer games then the average person will probably struggle to take it seriously. To prove that it is quite a complex topic can involve some quite long winded explanation.

Level design can be briefly summed up as the process of creating gaming environments that the player can interact with and be drawn into. It’s in many ways can be viewed as an art form (as much as anything from a computer can be viewed as art) with similar practices and methods to making films or writing novels. It’s easy to learn, but very, very hard to master.

As previously said, ,aking a film has similarities to making levels, however where the interaction with a film is primarily just on a visual/aural basis, with a level or map, it’s through the gameplay elements as well. Besides creating the right architecture for the scene, having the right atmosphere and sound effects, you also have to create the right  mix of in-game events to engage the player, and ultimately to make it fun to play.

The Past
Originally you would have found level design - in the basic form that we know today - in 2D games like Sonic or Mario. Some of the key issues of mapping applied but they were certainly not as complicated or critical as nowadays. Laterwe got 3D revolution in games like Wolfenstein 3D and Doom, which took level design to another level. It essentially involved creating maze like structures to play through and the placement of objects became much more important. Nowadays, level design is part of the bigger process of telling a story within the game. The Half-Life series is a classic example of this.
As the technology has advanced, restrictive maze like map construction has given way to much more open and immersive environments and not only is object placement ever more important the designer now has to script in behavior and actions in response to the player.

The Future?
Certain aspects of making levels, like texturing and detailing of the map will become specialized. For instance, detailed objects like tanks or railings are generally now made by modelers rather than built from brushes by the level designer in the map editor. This epitamizes the increasing detail expected of maps.

Likewise, as graphics become more advanced, texturing of the map will end up being solely down to the texturer who will be able to use his artistic edge to create much more appropriate and highly detailed textures for each setting. Ultimately, the job of the level designer will become primarily that of constructing the map and working on gameflow, lighting, atmosphere and object placement.