Moving Mountains: Speedy Level Creation as a Desperate Indie Dev

24,188

876 0

Published 2023-08-25

Creating a game as a solo indie developer requires a great deal of cunning tricks to do the work of an entire team as one person—especially when it comes to building levels. In this 2023 Level Design Summit talk, DinoBoss CEO Edward Kay dives deep into the development of the mountain swinging game Hang Line to explain how to extract the maximum amount of gameplay variety from a single core mechanic, and how to build levels as efficiently as possible through clever use of tools.

GDC returns to San Francisco this March 18-22, 2024! For more information, be sure to visit our website and follow the #GDC2024 hashtag on social media.

Subscribe to the GDC newsletter and get regular updates via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or RSS.

Join the GDC mailing list: www.gdconf.com/subscribe

Follow GDC on Twitter: twitter.com/Official_GDC

GDC talks cover a range of developmental topics including game design, programming, audio, visual arts, business management, production, online games, and much more. We post a fresh GDC video every day. Subscribe to the channel to stay on top of regular updates, and check out GDC Vault for thousands of more in-depth talks from our archives.

All Comments (21)

@subbu6572 11 months ago

as a solo dev trying to make my first game knowing that you succeeded in the end made me very happy. I hope your next game does well. good luck and lets be stupid.
@zionen01 11 months ago

I remember reading your post in gamasutra it really lit a fire in me to develop my own game.
@andrewzuo86 11 months ago

I love games that have varied level designs. It makes them so much more engaging.
@MerryMac1000 9 months ago

I'm trying to make this year my last year at my deadend minimum wage job and get my game out there. I will follow the advice of the dinosaur.
@jeffjupiter9475 4 months ago

Tough crowd great talk! Thank you very much for your insight!
@CurtisJensenGames 9 months ago

Used to think procedural generation was only for games like minecraft, but it seems that most games need it to some degree, interesting!
@astro_case 11 months ago

A lot of helpful info here! Way to power through the flickering lights haha
@joyfulfishman5445 3 months ago

Amazing talk, thank you so much!
@Gastonblues_ 11 months ago

Love this guy! very ispiring speech! he recharged my ambition, im going to continue my indie game with a new set of mind! And im going to add goats ahahah
@yonjuunininjin 11 months ago

I'm very interested how much the game made and how much the chinese company took.
@ScottDunbar 11 months ago

loved the talk. thank you!
@ExexDiablo 11 months ago

Great talk!
@uziao 6 months ago

thank you from Brasil :)
@TheOrian34 11 months ago

Very interesting.
@DarthBiomech 11 months ago

Pirating a free-to-play game, that's just... wow.
@TheSharkasmCrew 11 months ago

Good talk
@adrianbelzebut525 11 months ago

Reminds me of the rope from Worms.
@nadiasemprini8459 11 months ago

Always useful making thumbnails (little drawings, like in the creation of a comic book, to make sure there's variety in the visuals), I totally agree. I wanted to ask: even if some of the "ingredients" are free and available, so it's logic and efficient to use them, what was your real ambition? did you ever desire to create the game all by yourself, from scratch?
@kyuuketsukikun420 3 months ago

Gotta say adding the "I promise" after "completely free" really doesn't help fight the allegations.
@edogb22 14 days ago

It's so funny to me that you mention at the beginning how much of a worrier you are, and then at 26:35, you inadvertently prove it. 😂 Edit: After finishing the video, this is one of the most inspiring talks on any subject that I've ever watched. Well done