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Trying Your Hand at Level Design?
Utawoutau asks: "As a student nearing graduation with high interest yet no game industry experience I have been taking a serious look at the position of Level Designer. In order to apply for such a position of course, I would need an impressive portfolio. I am aware that a number of games, Neverwinter Nights for example, come packaged with level development tools and that a number of other games have tools (official or not) that are readily available on the Internet. I am interested in hearing opinions from others that have experimented with the level design tools for a number of games as to what they found the easiest, the most fun, the most in depth, and the most impressive to work with. In particular, I am interested in a game whose tools strike a good balance between all four of the above criteria."
But the friends of mine who are do not find the industry all that they expected it to be. The fun and games that you would expect from a game company is actually politics and stress in reality.
You end up working long hours on a game that will be released when you know it's only half done, only to be laid off the week after the game ships.
Do yourself a favor and buy a Vanagon and go on a long road trip instead.
I have been pwned because my
Just play a ton of mods (Half-Life and the forementioned NWN for example). You end up with a pretty good idea what works and what does not.
Whatever you decide to design start with pen and paper and a good idea first. Pointless mods that merely throw a bunch of monsters at you feel pointless.
Check out some classic mods for Half Life like They Hunger for HL.
Remeber if you work as a level designer in a company making a game. I can not expect to work with tools that are full fledged.
The tools you are going to work with will constantly evolve, your tools availble will be added and removed as the game moves on.
To create an impressive portfolio that will pop eyes where you apply. Design very good levels for a wide area of games. And last but not least, they have to. Absolutly HAVE to be well balansed. Especially with a multi-player game. I have seen some very pretty levels done for counter-strike but that was very poor balanced. So they where never played.
Another big thing when you design a level. Make sure you make your own textures. If you have solid texturework you will have a far better shot at the job.
-L
- To understand recursion, we must first understand recursion -
I recommend that you'd also take your time to learn a little about:
Programming
Scripting
Photoshopping (Sorry! I said GIMP'ing, of course)
3d modelling
Sound editing
Everything is attainable but you've got to be passionate about attaining it - Utawoutau the poster seems not very passionate about mapping if he failed to produce any maps, mods, models, etc, so far.
Map designing takes a lot of skill, passion, and interest in a huge variety of subjects such as architecture, interior decorating, gaming experience, multiplayer, psychology... the works.
Of those to whom much is given, much is required.
You may be barking up the wrong tree. Level design, particularly for modern 3D engines, is more of an art than a science. There are many mappers who have been working at it for years, for various games. In particular, you might look at some of the maps released for Quake III and even the original Quake, along with more recent games like Unreal Tournament 2003. The problem with assuming that you can just "jump in" and become immediately skilled is that it completely ignores the skillset which is unique to that position. Quite honestly, almost no programming experience will transfer to the field. If you are still interested--and it is truly a hobby/profession which requires interest--Half-Life is actually a good place to start. Try not to get overwhelmed with concern about newer features at first--learn about brush layout, visibility occlusion, et cetera. These will help you with any engine. Also, I think that these skills are more transferable than something like Neverwinter Nights or other, simpler level editors. Making a level in a 3D game like the FPSes I listed above is very similar to 3D modelling, so you can transfer skills between the two. Func_Msgboard is somewhat dead these days, but you might find things of interest there--and there are some truly great mappers who hang out there. :) Good luck.
having recently tried a number of Q3A mods that really did nothing to balance the game.
Most of the really good things that define a highly playable mod from a 'cool, lets try something else' one are in the basic mechanics of the game.
Where are the weapons and are they appropriate for the playspace? Do they work well for a few players? Lots of players?
What about the playspace itself? Does one side have a clear advantage? How about a particular path? Many of the classic levels avoid dead end ways making it tough for players to just sit and wait for others to show.
For games like capture the flag, where is the balance of power? Is it possible for a team to cover all their bases without being forced to venture off for new weapons/ammo?
Visuals have never been as important as play mechanics are, but they do play an important part. A dark spot or interesting texture placed just so, might allow a player to hide for a bit, or clash horribly with the target, making for either a sneaky element of challenge and tension, or a frustrating experience...
Spawn points should be in areas where players have a fighting chance at actually spawning without being camped too often. Best ones are those where the player forms near the action while campers always are watching their back.
All of this is specific to Q3A --hey, I still play the game because it is well balanced and interactive, but other games have similar issues. The parent is right, you gotta play.
If it were me, fun first, beauty later, but that's just me.
Having played Q3A a lot, I have been thinking about this too. Be sure to check out other mods and play them. You will get a great sense of what you want to do. --Then do it!
Blogging because I can...
A thing that struck me when reading through the other posts is that a lot of people seem to say "use the newest and most advanced tool available". That is definitely something you will have to do in order to get a good portfolio.
But for learning the basics about the different aspects of level design you might want to try your hand at something simpler. Try finding "old" games like Doom or Warcraft2 (I think there was an editor for that?) and try your skills at designing levels that are only two dimensional. Believe me, there's a lot that can go wrong even without the extra options available in the 3D editors.
I know it may sound like a waste of time, but it will give you a few good experiences, I think. Due to the simplicity of e.g. Doom's level structure you can spend a lot of time working on the small details like how to align two platforms so a player just barely can (or, if you're wicked, can't) move from one to the other. You can experiment with how to let the player use different objects/walls/etc as cover when shooting large monsters and so on.
One of the other posts mentioned that you would undoubtedly be forced to learn to adjust to using new/different tools that what you're used to so another benefit of "working your way up" from the old games is that you will eventually have to move on to new tools. Make sure you focus on learning the fundamental parts of what level editing is rather than memorizing the exact functionalities of a single level editor.
Oh, and after having made levels for 2D games you'll definitely appreciate 3D editors and the freedom they give you.
A last piece of advice is to try and come up with something original instead of "yet another multiplayer map". Some years ago me and a friend designed a series of "Quake Hinderbahn" levels. It's basically an idea we got for a LAN party where we wanted to host a different kind of competition - and we made an obstacle course and had people record demos of their fastest runs.
I learned a LOT about how Quake works from that.
Good luck with it.
It's 19:11:42. Do You Know Where Your Meat Body Is?
People are answering your question as if the goal is to design the best looking levels, or the easiest way to build them, or other construction related questions. But those are not the right questions you should be asking.
Just as an architect needs to find out what the goal of their building is, a level designer needs to have a goal for a level. An amazing house that doesn't have the rooms a buyer wants is still a failure. An amazing level that doesn't advance a game, or isn't any fun, is also a failure.
Before you start building a level, write it out. Put together a story of how the player will move through the level. Sketch storyboards of interesting challenges that will occur. Start with a rough layout of the rooms you plan to link, and describe whats going to be happening to the player as they move through those areas. Figure out which areas are dull, and either liven them up or cut them out. And once the flow of the level makes sense and seems enjoyable, a level designer passes the documents off to an artist, whose job is to make it look good.
Far too often, the process gets reversed. The levels are designed from an artistic perspective first, without first determining why the levels are there, or where the player will be. Time gets spent fleshing out regions that the player runs through once, hunting for something to do, and never looks at. Those areas may get thrown away in playtesting, or just kept in and bore the players. Not good.
So basically, if you want to be a level designer, design levels. Don't be a CAD designer; that is the artist's job. As a former game developer, I would have appreciated it. As a current game player, I would appreciate it perhaps even more.
Remember that level design, texture design, and even texture application are often three different jobs done by three different people (or, more often, teams). Level design is architecture. Texture design is a very specialized form of 2-D drawing. And texture application is basically interior decorating.
Assuming that you want to lay out levels, then study architecture. You want to be able to make things that look real, atmospheric, and cool. A good exercise is to find a dynamic and interesting space in real life and model it as precisely as you can in a game engine. This will give you a feel for the level of detail needed to build a truly immersive level.
Also, don't limit yourself to one tool or even one game. Some of the more full-featured and late-generation editors have a huge amount of crutches that you can easily get dependent on. Make an RPG dungeon and an RPG city. Make several RTS maps (these are great for gaining a macro-level understanding of balance and flow) for single-player and multi-player games. And, of course, make a lot of FPS maps. Even a dippy little fragfest map can show off your talents if you put a lot of work into it.
Finally, be aware of industry trends. For instance, single-player FPS campaigns are starting to veer away from the strictly-linear style of the genre's forerunners (look at MOHAA for an example of why... the levels are very stale and scripted). Play, play, play. And take lots of notes.
1st, realize that making games is not the rockstar job that lots of people make it out to be. The game industry keeps itself alive on the blood and sweat of people who love making games. You will work 10-14 hour days for weeks at a time (or years, as some cases may be). You probably won't get a bonus when the game is done. You probably won't be paid very well. You'll have to work with people who think they are god's gift to the world, and they will probably be your boss.
But, you will also work with really cool, creative people. You will get to do something you (hopefully) love to do. You will get to create games. If this small paragraph sounds better than the larger, first paragraph, then by all means, pursue a career in the game industry.
So... the nutshell I can come up with at 4:45 in the morning (yes, I've been working since yesterday morning).
Get a day job first. It's a different path for everyone, but odds are you won't break into the industry anytime soon (it took me a couple years). You might be able to get in as a tester or intern, but it's almost as hard to make the jump to the dev side as it is to just break in.
Grab the whatever latest version of Unreal2KX XMP Super Mega Championship Edition is out. Epic has done a good job of marketing their engine and tools to devs, and a lot of places have picked up the Unreal engine and it's editor, UnrealEd. This can give you a slight advantage just because being familiar with the tools can be a big selling point to some companies.
Next, learn how to use it. Not just part of it, all of it. How to make and import textures. How to make and import meshes. How to make and import sounds. Even learn the basics of unreal script. You may not be actually creating art assets/code in the position, but as level designer you are where 'the tires hit the road'. Everything has to come through you at some point to go into the level so you have to understand everything that is going on behind the scenes.
Make a few multiplayer maps of whatever flavor you want. Focus on a few key areas:
1. Look and feel. No BSP holes. No meshes intersecting each other at weird angles. Everything lines up. There is a good sense of 'space'. Lighting is good and reflects the mood appropriately but isn't overboard. Textures are aligned properly.
2. Wiring. Doors open and close when they are supposed to. Switches work the 'right' way. Events happen when they are supposed to. Areas are zoned or antiportaled correctly.
3. Gameplay. For learning, I put this last at this point. These maps your learning how to use the editor and trying to make them look as good as possible. In general, in gameplay the player shouldn't get lost or stuck anywhere. The next area to explore should be obvious. Paths are clearly marked. Framerate is good at all places in the level.
Now, you need to make some single player experiences. You probably won't get a job making multiplayer maps (I've never made one professionally) so you need to be able to create good single player experiences. This is the hard part (learning the tech just enables you, this is the actual work!). Even moreso than understanding the technology, you have to understand the game you are making and understand the game design.
To learn how to create good single player experiences, don't just play other games, analyze them. Watch how they create tempo and how the flow of the level works. When is the player challenged? How often? When is the player rewarded? How often? What types of challenges are present? How difficult is the game? Why were certain game and level design decisions made for that game? How would the level design be different if the character could jump twice as far? Shoot twice as fast? Once you start playing games with these sorts of questions in mind, you'll start to have a better understanding of what it takes to create a level. It will take awhile, as long or longer than it takes to learn all the tools. I'm still learning and I've been making levels since Q2 days.
Good luck.