Designing Levels Like Adrian Newey Designs Cars: The Power of Retrospection

“Innovation isn’t born from a blank page—it’s born from relentless reflection.”

I first heard this on the High Performance Podcast featuring Adrian Newey, the F1 design genius behind countless championship-winning cars. What struck me wasn’t just his brilliance, it was his method. Every innovation he creates is grounded in retrospection: analyzing past failures, iterating relentlessly, and learning from every detail.

Early in my career, and for much of my life, I wasn’t good at this. Reflection didn’t come naturally. I wanted to build, create, and move forward but rarely paused to look back. It was only when I became a Level Designer that I was forced to confront the power of retrospection. Designing levels taught me a simple truth: skipping reflection leads to repeated mistakes, frustrated players, and stagnated creativity.

The Problem: Forward-Thinking Without Reflection

In game development, retrospection is often undervalued. Designers and developers rush from one level to the next, focusing on features, visuals, or mechanics rather than asking:

• What worked?

• What didn’t?

• How can we improve the player’s experience next time?

Without this step, even brilliant ideas can fall flat. Levels may feel disjointed, players may get stuck unnecessarily, or gameplay loops might fail to engage.

Think about it: skipping reflection in level design is like a racing team ignoring telemetry after a race. You’d never expect an F1 car to dominate if the team ignored where the brakes locked, where the tires overheated, or which corners lost time. Yet in game design, this happens all the time.

Adrian Newey as a North Star

Newey’s approach to F1 design is a masterclass in reflection:

• Telemetry as Feedback: Every car produces mountains of data: lap times, tire wear, airflow efficiency. Newey studies it to understand failures and successes.

• Iterative Improvement: Small adjustments, like tweaking a wing angle by millimeters, compound into championship-winning results.

• Learning from History: Every car carries lessons from past designs. Mistakes aren’t just avoided, they’re transformed into stepping stones for innovation.

For level designers, these principles translate beautifully:

• Player Analytics = Telemetry: Track where players struggle, spend too long, or get frustrated. Every death, misstep, or pause is data waiting to be read.

• Iterative Tweaks: Adjust platform placement, enemy behavior, or pacing in response to feedback. Even minor changes can dramatically improve flow and player satisfaction.

• Postmortems: Review completed levels to understand what made a section fun or broken. Document lessons for future designs.
  

F1-to-Level Design Analogies

1. Cornering Techniques → Level Flow - In F1, how a car approaches a corner determines speed, safety, and time gained or lost. Similarly, how a player navigates a level (the pacing, sightlines, and obstacles) determines engagement and enjoyment. Observing where players “overshoot” or hesitate in a level is like analyzing braking points and entry lines in a race.

2. Aerodynamics → Environmental Design - Newey tweaks airflow to maximize performance. In level design, the environment itself directs player behavior. Lighting, landmarks, and object placement subtly guide players. Just as airflow guides a car. Retrospection helps you understand when your “environmental aerodynamics” failed to lead players intuitively.

3. Pit Stops → Iterative Adjustments - A well-timed pit stop can make or break a race. In design, iteration is your pit stop. Pause, adjust, and deploy improvements before moving on. Skipping this stage is like racing with worn tires and outdated suspension, you’ll inevitably hit walls (sometimes literally).

4. Race Debriefs → Playtesting & Analytics - F1 teams spend hours in debriefs, analyzing every corner, tire choice, and lap. Game designers should do the same with playtests. Each player death, pause, or confusion is a piece of telemetry waiting to be studied.
   

Lessons for Level Designers

1. Analyze Your Past Designs - Keep a log of successes, failures, and player behavior. Reflection is a muscle and the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes.

2. Let Data Drive Reflection - Measure player behavior: where they hesitate, fail, or disengage. Retrospection without data is guesswork.

3. Iterate Relentlessly - Like adjusting a car’s aerodynamics millimeter by millimeter, tweak your levels in small, meaningful ways. Micro-improvements compound into better experiences.

4. Learn From Others - Study competitor games, mods, and community creations. F1 engineers learn from other teams, so why shouldn’t designers?

5. Cultivate a Retrospective Mindset - Make reflection part of your daily workflow. Regular postmortems and reviews prevent repeated mistakes and fuel innovation.
   

My Personal Journey

Writing this blog is part of my own journey to become better at retrospection. Level design forced me to look back, analyze, and iterate. Even now, I’m actively striving to improve: to critique my work honestly, to refine, and to learn from missteps.

Retrospection isn’t a destination, it’s a discipline. This blog is a checkpoint, a reminder to never stand still in the pursuit of better design, better levels, and better player experiences.