ABSTRACT
324 Level design has elements of both artistic expression and usability design. As a form of expression in game design, level design involves arranging art assets to create visually compelling and emotionally evocative spaces. As usability design, it involves arranging game objects to communicate the functions of the game and reinforce player behaviors (Totten 2014). Often, reconciling the two is not a concern, as developers set their own expressive and usability goals at the outset of projects. However, when the expressive goals of a game are set by external factors, such as during the creation of artful game projects, the designer must find ways to carefully balance these goals with the usability factors that will allow the game to be playable.
