Level Design Talkthrough
Murktid
Salzman Level
Murktid is a co-op focused FPS multiplayer horde shooter where players fight waves of enemies and choose between two distinct weapon, range and melee to shape their playstyle.
In the Salzman level you play as a human tasked with destroying cursed nests that power and rebirth the dead into twisted creatures fueled by dark magic. Get in, shut them down, fight off hordes of enemies - and try not to get killed.
5 weeks
2 members
Unity
Github
Figma
Codecks, Google Docs
Side project
December 2025, prototype
Contribution
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Research: theme and metrics for an environment that makes sense
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Defined the core spatial design philosophy: focusing on shaping the playable space and player flow rather than static structures
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Level Layout: flow, pacing, and verticality design
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Gameplay focus: designed the level to complement and support the combat gamplepay
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Multiplayer: spatial metrics and co-op activities
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Designed combat arenas that encourage circling, movement, and spatial awareness
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Player guidance: through geometry, enemies, and vistas
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Conducted Playtesting: feedback analysis, and iterative refinement
Fork Funnel Spiral Release
The Space in-between
Concept & Design Intent – Defining the Playable Space
Inspired by Ruth Asawa’s idea that “a line can enclose and define space”, I focused on shaping the space in between rather than the structures themselves — the playable space. I think of this space like a flowing river: the player should keep moving, circling, and returning, never face-planting into dead ends, but instead being forked, funnelled, spiralled, and released.
Corridors and Cathedrals
I wanted to shift my focus to the playable space Im shaping when placing structure, rather then the structure itfelf
Movement & Pacing
The level is designed for 2–4 player co-op, which meant ensuring enough room, traversal options, and engagement opportunities for multiple players simultaneously. As player movement evolved — especially with dodge mechanics and sprint slides — the initial layouts proved too cramped. Adding enemies and dynamic combat further highlighted the need for larger encounter spaces.
Playtest also showed that encounters where places to much back to back. To breakup the intense patteren and give players a breather I added traversal paths between the encounters.
Procedural Content Generator
Adding enemies and dynamic combat also showed the importance of larger encounter spaces
Level Events
To add structure and replayability, I designed a simple encounter-puzzle: organic nests that block progression. Each nest’s tentacles must be destroyed to move forward, and they are placed apart to encourage players to circle the arena. This reinforces the core movement philosophy of continuous flow. I added roots going from the "mother- nest" to the tentacles for guidance, play-test feedback showed this visual language worked well also during intense combat.
In the last arena the boss is enclosed inside 3 nests with tentancels spread over the enitre space inculding 4 height diffrences, this ensures all players have enough to do and must plan together to cover all spots.
As I will continue working on this project my next step will be to have the tentacles spwan in diffrent possitions to enhence replayability.
Guidance
I designed the puzzles to be easy to understand, their purpose is to give the players goal to work towards and to provide structure to the rythm of the level
Take aways
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Create metrics early together with gameplay/ combat designer and stick to it - helped me alot itterating and rebuilding the space
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Play-test often and in builds
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Build small, self-contained chunks that can be recombined in different ways
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Clear metrics allow for faster iteration and greater flexibility
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Keep spaces clean and simple for readability — avoid cluttered skylines and unnecessary height variation
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Focusing on the playable space rather than the structures placed within it led to a much deeper understanding of player movement, flow, and pacing