Algorithms that generate computer game content require game
design knowledge. We present an approach to automatically learn
game design knowledge for level design from gameplay videos.
We further demonstrate how the acquired design knowledge can
be used to generate sections of game levels. Our approach
involves parsing video of people playing a game to detect the
appearance of patterns of sprites and utilizing machine learning to
build a probabilistic model of sprite placement. We show how
rich game design information can be automatically parsed from
gameplay videos and represented as a set of generative
probabilistic models. We use Super Mario Bros. as a proof of
concept. We evaluate our approach on a measure of playability
and stylistic similarity to the original levels as represented in the
gameplay videos.