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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."
If you've never designed a level before, how did you hit on the idea of designing them for a living?
(I don't mean this as a flame; I'm just curious.)
I have done level design for a few engines and a number of different games. I do it as a hobby, so I am no professional. The most fun I have had designing maps, though, has been with the Torque Engine.
I say this not because it is the most advanced engine out there, but because I have actually done work on games and not mods. A few of my maps will actually be released in the wrapped version of the independent games I have worked on. That is a cool feeling.
By working with the torque engine on an indie game, I also get to work with the engine developers to add needed features.
As far as the tools used to create the maps, QuArk is used to create buildings (that same site has more information) and an in-game map editor.
--Nycto
I'd like to add that it depends on what game you like to play what level design tools you should use. I like NWN, so I use the Aurora Engine, even if the Quake Mod tools are better or easier to use. Good level design means you have to understand what makes the game fun. I could never design a good Quake mod because I don't like Quake.
So, for level design my advice is: pick a couple of games you like and see how the tools for those games are. If they are not too daunting, jump in. It'll take a couple of weeks to get familiar with ANY tool, but there are usually good forums that'll help you along.
I'm in almost the same position myself.
I've talked to a number of 'pros' in the business and all of them have said the you need to learn to use UnrealEd (the level editor that comes with win copies of Unreal). Apparently that is the number one level design app being used by theses houses.
I went out and bought an athlon box just for this cause there isn't an UnrealEd osX port.. and I need the practice..
A number of game companies in Australia have been looking for level designers with degrees in Architecture, not necessarily computing backgrounds.
That said, I agree with the parent, and having had some experience myself, I can assure you that a level designer who understands art or architecture would be a great plus, although most companies employ texture artists seperately to level designers.
Again, familiarise yourself with as many engines as possible, not just the ones that are easy to use, since the development tools available while a game is being made are notorious for being buggy, difficult to use, and slow. Once the game is released, it gives them time to work on the development tools for mod makers and sequels etc.
If, or when, you get to interview stage, make sure you can analyse some of the current games and mods and say why some maps work and some don't. Especially those made by the company you are applying for.
That goes for all games, not just fps.
Even though it might not come across as a full blown "map editor" or even "mod maker" that you might expect - with plenty of time and creativity you can build somewhat primitive but awesome looking and playing maps in the plain deathmatch environment of Cube.
The project is free and hosted here, screenshots are right on the front page.
http://wouter.fov120.com/cube/
The actual editor works in-game, and while playing the game in single player mode, you can press E to switch to editing mode. The README explains what the keyboard functions are. Basically, you mark things in the map and shrink/grow them, and everything is built out of cubes that can be 'bent' to your liking in various ways.
Leopard cub
Cube is great to get started with. I've been playing with it recently.
However, its a very different engine, and as such the mapping is very different from how most modern games do it.
Its actually styled a lot more like how the original Doom worked. It uses height fields, so you cant really construct things like shelves, or bridges.
That said, its still a LOT of fun to play with for its relative ease. Good engine to get started with, to at least get a hang of spacial design. Afterwords, try out some of the more modern engines.
The most important things are a quality filter so we can leave you alone and have you produce good work, ability to come up with a working layout (this is fundamental and oft underestimated), a decent technical understanding and in our case, a love for multiplayer gaming.
Having experience shipping finished maps implies very good things about your ability to manage your own time, and your ability to finish what you start. That's a pretty rare trait. Extra bonus points if youur work gets played. (Probably means it's part of a pack or a mod.)
It also falls into the "nice work if you can get it" category, as mapping careers are relatively tough to find. I don't know of any other companies in Canada who are asking for the same technology experience that Threewave is. Digital Extremes comes close.
You havn't downloaded the BETA?!?!1!
Seriously, Valve has promised to make the migration from HL1 to HL2 as painless as possible. I guess that means some kind of backward compatibility in the HL2 editor.
This sounds a bit like those tales pr0n stars tell about how much it sucks (no pun intended) to work in that business.
Sure, you get to fuck a lot of really hot women, but you have to work long (no pun intended) hours under adverse conditions, and if you fail just once you might never get another job in that business.
I don't think that most of us would expect the video game business to be well, all fun and games, we expect that like most jobs there will be aspects to it that supremely suck ass.
People who want to work in that business have a pretty good idea of what to expect. Though I'll concede that reality can be even more harsh than what they expect.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
I have a number of friends working at well-known game companies, and from what they say, I think it's not my cup of tea (it still could be yours, of course). Their biggest complaints: working 80+ hours a week for what seems forever before the game comes out; dealing with execs; getting stuck working on a lame part of the game for a little while (esp. early levels/concetps); hearing users complain that a certain feature of the game sucks when they worked hard on it and weren't given enough time to do so; and end up wondering if it's really worth it. The biggest joy for them all, though, is when the final version goes out for shipment. There are always parties, and the next few weeks at work sound pretty spectacular (i.e. just playing video games). Like any job, you gotta take the good with the bad. Just know the bad, and you'll probably be fine, but know it.
the main danger of that kind of job, is you'll end up being bored of it, a few months after you start. It's very repetitive, and probably not as creative as you believe it is.
____
nico
Nico-Live
Doesn't matter. Proficiency with tools is not important. Employers are looking for someone who knows how to create a good game.
On that note... if you actually like to play video games consider a different industry. I used to enjoy games on my own time, but working with them ruined that for me. Now, when I play a game, I can hardly have fun... I just see bugs and bad design.
You see, you haven't really beaten a game until you can crash it reproducibly.
A friend and I just 'finished' an UnrealEd project recently. www.netscene.org/BC3D/
This was our first experience with level 'design'. We were simply modelling a section of our school; it was a challenge to keep things acurate. We barely scratched the surface of UnrealEd and it was a humbling experience. UnrealEd has it's fair share of bugs, hopefully most will be gone in UT2K4. I have a newfound respect for level designers. The tools have come a long way since I played with level design in Duke Nuke'm 3D.
You're right on the money, but the good news is that you can make games as a hobby, and if you ARE god, you'll be able to turn it into a living. You don't have to work your way up through the ranks if you don't want to. You can have fun making your own games, and if they take off you'll either be able to form your own company or get work at one. Personally, I think the ideal situation is to form a mod team with some guys you like, and churn out mods in your free time for popular games. If stuff like Valve's Steam really takes off, it may even be that you can remain independent mod makers and make money off of it by selling your games online only.
The most brilliant developer I know works in game development, and he is frequently between jobs and looking for work. This is a guy who's got the answer to any question I've ever seen asked of him off the top of his head. I wish I could give you examples of his over-the-top brilliance, but I'll have to just say that his screen name has become a synonym for "wisdom" and leave it at that. If this guy can't hold a steady job in game development, I don't know how anyone can expect to.
--- 11 meters/second, or 24 miles per hour - the airspeed velocity of an unladen European swallow. Really.
I believe the term comes from the art world. There, texture means marks made with a pencil or brush in a drawing or paintnig to
give the illusion of texture.
You might also ask why do they call it 3D when in reality it is a two dimensional image
giving the illusion of 3D.
"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." -- Albert Einstein
Yeah, except people don't realize that being a game programmer is pretty much the same as being a word processor programmer, the only difference is in the functions that you call. You probably won't even get to play the game you're working on until it's almost done, and by then you'll be so sick of working 80 hour weeks on it you'll probably never want to see it again.
You get a lot of idealistic kids coming out of high school/college thinking they want to write video games because they like to play them, which is about as stupid a conclusion as you can draw. Nevermind most game production houses are really small, hire maybe one or two people a year, and when they do you've gotta be a guru. Christ, you practically need a master's degree in mathematics to mess with the 3d engines these days. Besides, in 5 years, they'll probably replace all the programmers with people in India.
It's surprisingly easy to get noticed by the industry as a level designer. For the past few years I have made custom levels for Quake III: Arena (see my website above), and after having created only a few successful levels, I started gettings job offers. I've been using GTKRadiant for all my work, and I think its been fantastic. As far as what the next big "editing" game will be, look to Doom 3. id software has ALWAYS been in the business of developing game engines due to Carmack, so once you learn how to use the editor in D3, you will be set for a NUMBER of games which will trickle in after D3 using its engine.
Nothing disturbs me more than blind loyalism towards some unrealistic and over-idealistic notion of one's nationality.
I'm a Level Designer working on an Xbox title using the Unreal Tournament 2003 engine. I got my job by doing just what you seem interested in; I went online, grabbed the free Quake3 editor, read some tutorials, and learned how to make game levels. All employers want to see is great work, and a decent work ethic, degrees are seldom necessary in the artistic fields.
But as others have mentioned, making videogames is a JOB, not playtime. Its like any software development, hard work, often long hours, stress, etc. That's not a bad thing, that's just the JOB.
The Unreeal Tournament 2003 game is $30 or so now, and comes with the editor and a working version of Maya, which gives you access to ALL of the tools and levels and art that went into the game. Go online to www.PlanetUnreal.com and you can find plenty of links for mod communities, art tutorials, other people's work, etc. I'm 33 years old, but I'm quite sure that most of the tutorials that got me my dream job were written by 14 year olds. Unreal's a good engine to use, its the prettiest right now, easy to pick up, lots of other people are using it. And its a lot cheaper than a $3000 copy of 3DMax, yet you could totally get a job based on your work in that free tool.
This year, it gets even more fun. Whenever Half Life 2 and Doom3 come out, they're releasing the editors along with the games, so anyone can play with the absolute cuttingest edge.
I'm not saying school is useless, just [opinion alert] schools tailored for videogames. Go to school, study architecture, art history, 3d design, psychology, general stuff that will be useful to you for you whole life. If you want to make videogames, tho, go online and read what the 14 year olds wrote today.
Thas' all