Recently I've been trying to improve as a level designer. Whether thats been by analyzing games or reading articles or grayboxing some of my own levels. And it turned out to be a profound exercise! So I thought I'd share three things I learned to improve my levels. Id also love to hear some of your own experiences or thoughts as well!

1. More interesting than what you can see, is what you cant see. In a horror game you might have sharp turns rather than gradual ones for a jump scare. Or make the player walk down a hallway with adjacent rooms. By not showing the player upfront you can build tension and fear. Or take the Dark Souls franchise how the level will spiral around back in on itself and suddenly youll find yourself right back where you started but now with a convenient shortcut. There's just this insatiable pull in those game to check every corner. The possibilities of what MIGHT be around that corner is often more interesting than whats in front of you.
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2. The best level design is "invisible". And I dont mean literally invisible but rather the player isnt aware of the developers nudging hand. It leaves the thrill of discovery and exploration to the player. If it was all just big flashing arrows saying "check this corner over here" or "look behind the waterfall" it robs the player of the fun. The very existence of the waterfall is enough to compel me to look. One recent example of this theme that comes to mind is the game Jedi Survivor. Theres one instance where some rats scamper past Cal and then through one of the games MANY squeeze spaces. Catching the players attention with movement and then implicitly pointing them the way they should go. Another way is they'll lead the player into a dead end forcing the player to turn around and see that the path doubles back on itself. Theres also "breadcrumbing" items in the Souls games, or clever use of lighting, landmarking, locked doors, etc. Or just recently I learned about this thing called Go-Away-Green at Disneyland. Its this unassuming and muted green color on everything that they dont want to draw attention to like trashcans, employee doors, fences, etc that nearly renders it invisible to all but the most attentive visitor.
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3. Good level design is doing several things at once. Beyond being a corridor that leads the player from point A to point B it should be synergizing with the other aspects of the game. You can enrich your level design with enviormental storytelling. During my first playthrough in Elden Ring one of my standout experiences was encountering these soldiers who were cannibalizing each other on the battlefield. It was a shocking! Something so small did a lot to make this area memorable. And this makes for much more compelling storytelling than expressly telling the player. Level design can also lean into the gameplay and mechanics. Too often levels just feel like a static canvas where gameplay happens to take place. Racing games have ramps, metroidvanias have platforms, FPS games have cover, stealth games have bushes, etc. Or consider the great amount of control level design gives you over the games pacing. The journey IS the story. Each encounter or experience is a little micro-story within the overarching narrative. You create the ebb and flow of the experience and contribute indirectly to the rising action.