Game level ideas sorted by the job each level does

The four jobs a level can do

World 1-1 of Super Mario Bros. (1985) teaches without a word of text. A Goomba walks at you, so you learn to jump. A mushroom slides toward you, so you learn it is good. Later levels test the same jump over pits, then twist it with moving platforms. Nintendo designers have described this as a four-step shape: introduce an idea, develop it, twist it, then wrap it up.

• Teach. Show one mechanic where failing costs nothing.
• Test. Ask for the same skill under pressure: a timer, a gap, an enemy.
• Twist. Keep the mechanic and change one rule around it.
• Finale. Use everything the player learned, in one place, with a reward at the end.

Level ideas for each job

• Teach: the safe floor. A jump level over shallow water, where falling just splashes you back to the start. Try: "obby tutorial over shallow water, falling just splashes me back, 5 jumps that get longer"
• Teach: the friendly enemy. A horror level where the monster walks past you once to show how it hunts. Try: "horror level, the monster walks past my hiding spot once, then the real hunt starts"
• Test: the timer. Same jumps as the last level, now with rising lava. Try: "platformer level, rising lava, same jumps as before but faster"
• Test: the narrow road. A racing level on a cliff road with no barriers. Try: "kart race on a cliff road with no barriers, 3 laps, rain on the last lap"
• Twist: lights off. A level you already beat, now in the dark with a flashlight. Try: "replay the warehouse level in the dark, only a flashlight, the boxes moved"
• Twist: gravity flips. Every checkpoint flips gravity. Try: "obby where gravity flips at every checkpoint, ceiling becomes floor"
• Twist: you are the enemy. Play the stealth level as the guard. Try: "stealth level from the guard's side, catch the thief before she reaches the vault"
• Finale: the climb. One tall tower that uses every trick in the game. Try: "final level is one huge tower using every jump from the game, a crown at the top"
• Finale: the escape. Run back through earlier levels while they fall apart. Try: "escape level, run back through every earlier room while the building collapses"

Roam games to study level design

Clack Obby has you jump key to key across a giant keyboard. Don't Look Down, Just A Little Higher and KEEP UP! are vertical climbs in the spirit of Only Up!, each a long finale of a level. Blockhop Odyssey has 80 levels on floating islands with a timer on every one, a good example of test levels in a row. Peck the Sky is a sky platformer with 14 seeds to find.

Questions people ask

How long should a game level be?

Long enough to do its one job. For phone games, many levels last one to three minutes.

How do you design a good first level?

Teach one mechanic with no text and no real risk. Let the player discover it by doing it.

What is a twist level?

A level that keeps a mechanic the player knows and changes one rule around it, like darkness or flipped gravity.