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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.
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.
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
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.
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.