Last update we talked about level design. This time we are also talking about level development. It sounds very similar but this one is less fun and more about brute force. Our workflow for designing the levels has multiple phases. The first involves using our level editor to move blocks and position objects and represents the more creative side of things, and it is good for making things from scratch and performing small adjustments like moving terrain around if a jump is too far or the path the player needs to take is too ambiguous, etc. That is what we had (more or less) wrapped up last update. Now we move on two phase two: Lamination. I call it lamination but meshing or topologizing would also be good words for it. Our level generator does not create optimal 3d geometry, so the next step is to take the crude forms from the level editing tool and “trace” over them using 3d tools to create 3d meshes that are better suited to our purposes. After that we can move on with lighting them, applying more interesting textures and materials, setting up post processing, and adding decorative objects. In short: the next step is to add some personality. But first each room’s geometry must need to be turned into a 3d asset that is ready to receive all of this. This takes anywhere from five minutes to five hours for each room in Reina & Jericho depending on size, complexity, and how tidy the design work was. The game world of Reina & Jericho consists of around 400 or so rooms (note, in our terminology *everywhere* is a room, even outdoors areas… they are just really big rooms). As of right now we are about 80-90% done that process, and it will be another major milestone when it is complete. It isn’t the most enjoyable work – it requires a rare combination of 90% of your attention but only 10% of your brain power, but it’s an important intermediate step in creating the game world. Either way: we are very close to being done it all. The level design won’t be 100% set in stone at that point, as we are still making micro adjustments and adding secret passageways to help tie the world together, but we will be at a point where we *could* be done whenever we wished. It’s good to have the practical needs entirely met so all future work becomes more about polish rather than meeting functional needs. I’ve focused largely on visual components this update, but these rooms also are the canvas upon which we place our gameplay mechanics – particularly platforming ones, and we’ll be talking about those in greater detail soon.