Designing Play: How Spatial Thinking (from Architecture) Informs Game Environments

Hi, I’m Natasha — an architect with a Master’s degree and over a decade of experience designing spaces, and interactive environments. I’ve spent years obsessing over how people move through the physical world. Now, I bring that same obsession to game design.

At Gavzia, our creative tech studio, I’ve taken my background in architecture and blended it with the world of games, play, and interactive storytelling.

Space is Never Just Space

In architecture, every wall, every opening, every material choice tells a story. It influences how someone feels, how they move, what they notice, and what they ignore. When I shifted into game development, I realized something exciting - game environments are no different.

Games aren’t just code and characters. They’re built spaces. And players are visitors — or residents — of those worlds.

As an architect, I’ve learned to think spatially:

• How does someone transition from one area to another?

• What creates a sense of openness or intimacy?

• How does light or scale shape emotion?

  
  

These same questions guide how I design levels, map out flow, and build entire game environments.

Designing Emotion Through Space

A good building makes you feel something. So does a good game environment. In both worlds, you use tools like:

• Rhythm (tight spaces opening into grand ones)

• Materiality (textures, colors, and lighting that shape mood)

• Orientation (using layout to lead someone’s eye or footsteps)

  
  

When we build games at Gavzia, we treat the environment like a character — layered, purposeful, and rich with atmosphere.

From Site Plans to Level Maps

Funny enough, I still sketch game levels the way I used to sketch site plans. I think in zones, transitions, sightlines, and circulation. A lot of what’s considered “good level design” overlaps with what makes a public square, a corridor, or a courtyard work.

Whether it’s a 2D platformer or a 3D simulation, designing play means designing experience — and my architectural brain won’t let me approach it any other way.

A New Kind of Playground

At Gavzia, we build games and interactive tools that feel like real places — grounded, immersive, and full of intentional design. My architectural background shapes every pixel, every spatial decision, every moment of the player's journey.

If you're curious how architectural thinking can enhance your next digital product, simulation, or game — let’s talk.