Slashdot Mirror
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
That's the Half-Life editor. It's been tried and tested. Lots of tutorials to be found on the net. Easy to use and learn.
However, being an excellent architect is never easy:)
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.
I'd try bouncing a couple of levels off the fan community first. As far as games to develop go, I'd develop primarily for FPSs, and maybe a few strategy/adventure games. I don't play many of the latter, so here are the FPSs: Q3 and anything that uses it's engine (i.e. has Radiant editing tools) -- very easy to use, allows for lots of creativity. (Other Q3 engine games: JK2, RC Wolfenstein, Call of Duty?) The unreal games also have a nice bundled set of editing tools that would aid your portfolio. Best of luck!
as to what they found the easiest
:)
The Cube Engine allows you to edit maps right in the game on the fly. There is also a cooperative edit mode, try and beat that
Candle burns its brightest in the dark
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 -
Most of the mapping tools I have worked with, if you want more in depth features, it will have a harder learning curve. It also depends on what game you are designing levels for. Neverwinter Nights is completely different than Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (RTCW:ET), so the tools for the respective packages will be just as diverse. I personally like GtkRadiant for RTCW:ET.
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.)
First of all you have to have lots of experience in how the gameswork, and an artisticside. Good levels are very hard to do and they are done with lots of sweat from their makers, you have to weight in all the diffrent things in the game so that the level is a fun one, and beautiful.
This is not something you will get from getting a couple of tools that are easy to use, but from your own mind. That mind must also be able to adjust itself to the new tools, i.e. going from the worldcraft to new Radiant, and that will only be done if you have the time to do it.
The two biggest are Q3A and UT, check out the dev tools for them, they are equally good, just choose the one that suits you. If you want to dev for linux then you can get a very good start with GtkRadiant (the Q3A tool), but UnrealEd is very good as well alas only with windows support.
I think that Unreal Tournament came with an excellent level builder, and is worth taking a look at. (At least if you're interested in FPS games.) There are also lots of great tutorials and resources available for it, seeing as the game has been around for so long.
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
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
What is your personality like? Do you like all games equally? Is there something you wish to make just floating around in your head?
You should be looking something suitable for you not other people. Everyone likes how things work differently. Also go take a look at Gamasutra for some good reading.
Personally, try out Valve Hammer Editor and QuArK. They are standards that can be used for many games.
1: steal decent levels from web sites
2: say there your own
3: get job
4: Stab manager in back, get his job
5: golf with the producers backers
6: back stab producer
7: get backer for YOU game
8: SHip it when it's half done, retire.
I figure about 8 month worth of work.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
UED (Unreal Ed) is only really meets two of his "criteria".
:( ). ;)), but eventually some of it starts to stick. Maybe one day you'll even be half decent, if you keep at it. Funny how a lot of things in life work that way, no? :)
In depth? Extremely.
Impressive? Well, maybe Intimidating is a more appropriate word, but sure.
Fun? Depends on how much of a sadist you are. It can be fun, but it can also be a lot of friggin work.
Easy? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAHAAAaaaaaaaahhhh... good one!
Ok seriously now though. UED is a pretty damned fine level editor if I may say so. Powerful as all hell, but its not exactly idiot proof. Its not impossible either. I managed to learn the ins and outs of UED (and to a lesser extent, the Unreal engine) just by reading tutorials, dissecting other peoples maps, and screwwing around... but it took a while. Months really. Even after three years of occasionally booting up UED, i'm still learning new things. Though to be fair, a lot of it is stuff that changed from UT99 to UT03 (haven't had the urge to map as much for the new game
But hey, if people really want to learn, there isn't much stopping them. Most people just dive right in. You'll probably be frustrated and attempt to quit (repeatedly
Real designs are crooked.
paintball
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 see a few posts here as I write this about this level editor for that game... whatever.
I suggest you get down and dirty with the game, and use a hex editor to write your level files!
Really! It's not so hard, (after all, there's only 16 possible combinations in hex, and English has 26 in the alphabet!)
Just open a file or two in a good hex editor, and start tweaking. I'm sure it'll "come to you" after a bit of experience...
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
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.
First, read anything and everything by Chris Crawford. I hate most new media theorists, but he's an exception. He's a physicist by education and programmer/game designer by experience. I'd especially take a look at "Chris Crawford on Game Design".
You should also take a look at some of his old game design articles in Next Gen magazine. He had one article on level design in Doom that was quite unique.
Secondly, from a tricks/tools perspective, gamedev.net or xgames3d.com are your best bet.
What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean my sig is repetitive? What do you mean....
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...
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
Probably any game that uses the quake engine, including things like Half-Life, are easiest to edit for. Thing you have to remember is, anyone can learn the ins and outs of an editor, but having good design flair is the biggest obstacle to cross.
Im eagerly awaiting the HL2 level design tool, with the SDK, in whatever form it takes when it's released. I have to make a ton of levels for our mod (Junkyard Corps, see sig) when it comes out.
Some people say the Unreal engine is better for level making. Rather than build a level inside empty space and have to close everything off (ie, checking for leaks, etc) the unreal world is a block, and you carve stuff OUT of it. This seems a harder way of doing things to me, but according to other people, its the most natural way of doing it. As for non FPS games, I have no idea. I suspect it's horses for courses. Liking a particular genre more will make you want to take more steps to learn out to get good at designing for your chosen game.
TheHustler
http://www.elmarko.org/ - Useless bilge
http://www.asylum-games.co.uk/ - Co-Founder
In my personal opinion, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what tools you use, rather the tale you tell and how you tell it (use game design elements to buttress story elements). I could go and on about how stories have been neglected for eye candy and the gee-whiz factor, but I think that horse has not only been beat, but processed and distributed in school lunches. Before you put your head to the grindstone, it might benefit you to check out some books on the basics of writing fiction. Apply those principles to the game world, and I don't see how you can go wrong. Unless of course, it's a bad story :) Good luck.
1: Get a job at some faceless corporation with a name like 'Enron'.
2: Design kick-ass games after hours.
3: Get your work stolen by your sneaky co-worker.
4: Beat the Master Control Program for domination of your codez.
5: Become the newest exec (you even get your own helicopter!)
"Greetings Programs!"
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
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.
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?
and "The Art of Computer Game Design" here
and the related Game Design Wiki
Good luck! -Joel
Where to start...
Well, I guess the easiest, most obvious level editing suite out there (in the realm of FPS games anyway) is Valve's Hammer. It's quite scary just how easy it is to make levels with that util. Upon starting it I was able to figure out pretty much all of the basic features just by looking at the buttons. That's quite an accomplishment, if you ask me. The whole way the editor is layed out, and the process you use to design a level in the editor are both painless and relatively easy. If you're looking for a place to start, and games like TFC, CS, and NS are your forte, might as well start here. I think the only problems you may run into are in the setup options, and true to its oldschool roots, getting down and compiling a map, then tweaking that, can get pretty gritty.
The only other editor I've logged any sort of time on was the unrealed that shipped with UT2003. I missed the whole UT generation, so I can't vouch for the older unrealed, I'd assume it's basically the same. However, after coming from Hammer, learning unrealed is a real pain. The interface is kind of counter-intuitive and the whole logic behind building levels is completely the opposite. It's quite weird. Once you get into the unreal mindset though, creating a level isn't hard at all, it's just that initial hill that you need to climb over. Well that, and unrealed is insanely buggy. I cannot tell you how many times I've lost work due to unexpected quits or fatal errors that seem to make no sense. I guess as it is with every program, save early and save often. This is the editor I eventually found most technically impressive. After learning something new about the editor, or pouring after technical docs and taking a stab at it myself, I am still wowed when I get a new effect (be it graphical or gameplay) working.
Now note I have not logged any significant hours with these editors (read: I have not produced any well known or well thought of maps) as to know the individual quirks and the nuances of each editor. However I can offer the complete newbie's look into it, which I guess is better than nothing. If anything, I say that the Half-Life community has more tutorials and help geared toward my audience than the unreal community, as finding good and easily digestible information is hard. Epic seems to be trying to remedy this with their opening of Unreal Uni, or whatever it is they are doing, which offers video tutorials and forums for developers. (A good thing, but I'm fearing the mod potential is going to waste in these days counting closer to HL2, with potential developers looking for the next big thing rather than weighing the assets of what's out there- which is hard to do for something not quite released)
As for most things tech, I guess slogging through it and exploring is probably the best way to learn either of these.
I guess on the RTS front, nothing is easier than Blizzard's warcraft 3 map editor. The thing is incredibly simple to use, though not quite as intuitive to the newbie's eye as hammer. I was able to get up and building levels (after finding I was unable to figure the tools out myself I went to the documentation) in about 10 minutes after reading the rather friendly documentation that comes with the toolset. I guess the thing is that the tools take 10 seconds to learn, but to master them and build a balanced and fun map, will probably take you a life time. (not to mention a keen understanding of the game.) The tools are fun to use, and going from the editor to a game to a multiplayer match you're testing with friends is quite easy and gratifying.
Neverwinter Nights, I found, was rather easy. Scripting seemed to get kind of nightmarish quick, but I quickly lost interest with building with those grossly simplified tools. I guess the real challenge was figuring out a way to make and import your own tilesets, but in the beginning when I had just spent 50 and tax on the game, it was a disappointment for it to have such poor mod support right off the bat.
I have heard good th
Hey, it's my OPINION that dogs have eight legs and make a sound like a car horn every time they take a piss.
If you want to try something different (and altogether more fun, although I -may- be biased ;), try Jedi Knight. The editor/game is based on sectors as opposed to brushes, so you edit in negative space. You basically have a block of clay and you carve your world out of it. Of course, my site's tutorials section is the best place to learn it :) http://www.massassi.net/
THe most experience I'd have with game editors is the Aurora Toolset for NWN. I think it's one of the more flexable yet easy to use game editors out there.
Back around Feb 2003 I started an online module called Mandrake that went well over 90+ areas when I decided to move on. I had a good base of players too, not near as much as some places but a good base. Since then I've worked on about 4 other module designs of my own including an arena one for the PVP section.
I'd say the scripting language and the flexability to created hundreds of possible paths for a module are it's greatest power over all the other editors out there. It's also relativly easy to use, the only thing is you don't get a nice print bound manual for the scripting though the script editor in there has a nice help reference side bar. It's also really nice to be able to script in counter measures for cheaters.
I'm not sure I'd ever want to do this professionally though. Seems it would make a better hobby then a job but thats my opinion.
~~ Behold the flying cow with a rail gun! ~~
CryTek has a video you can download - towards the end, they demo the level design mode! It's sooooo cool!
Any technology distinguishable from magic, is insufficiently advanced.
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.
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.
Speaking as a player, I'd encourage you to seek out any competitive communities built around the game(s) you're interested in designing for. While Neverwinter Nights is a cool enough game, I'd also reccomend you check out getting some experience with the "Quake-related" FPS games.
One of the tools that's used to create maps for several game is Radiant (supported on both Linux and Windows) and supports a bunch of games. Mappers familiar with Quake3 were able to transfer that knowledge to RtCW when it came out, and in turn that was transferrable to ET. Plugins for other games (Half Life, Soldier of Fortune, and some others I'm blanking on) is also available.
Couple that with experience working with 3DSmax (or gmax if you're on a budget) creating models, and you should be good to go.
If you're also looking for ideas on what to make maps of, I'd suggest trolling around and seeing if you can find a competitive community for the games you're interested in designing for. Stuff like Half-Life and its mods (most notably Counter Strike), Quake3/RtCW/ET, and the MOHAA/CoD stuff are going to be hot ticket items right now. Organizations like The Team Warfare League or the Cyber Athlete League might be worth a look to get an idea of how people are using the games and what kind of maps and what features they'd benefit from.
Looking to the future, everyone's pointing at stuff like Doom3 and Half-Life2 (obviously). But it might be worth taking a look at games like Far Cry and Painkiller as possible sleeper hits coming up on the horizon.
Good luck in your efforts. :)
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
In case no one's mentioned them, I really enjoyed Mark Saltzman's Game Design: Secrets of the Sages. May be a bit dated (1999), but good reading on the genre. I understand he had a new one out in 2003 called Masters of the Game - don't know what it's like though.
Unreal Tournament 2003 ships with the Maya Personal Learning Edition (high end 2D package, used by ILM f.e.) and the Unreal Editor which is a high end industry strength IDE for gaming enviroments.
Not that UT runs on Linux and Windows alike, the editors though only on Windows.
If you want to get into FPS level editing this is absolutely the first choice.
Note that there are other games and other genres using the same engine.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
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.
Download the tools, experiment with various games, Halflife, Quake3 and Unreal Tournement are key ones for the FPS design, look at other peoples work and such forth.
:)
Games like neverwinter nights are a whole diferent kettle of fish, but it does require one thing in common.
You need to have a decent artistic and creatave ability, you need to decide what looks good, what doesn't look good, and you also may need for many games a passion for the mind-numbingly boring.... once youve aligned one texture, the next one is just dull
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.
It is really hard to get into the gaming industry, my brother knows a guy who now makes maps for a living. He was involved in American McGee's Alice. He also worked in Ritual, Rogue, and Gearbox. I think he was also working on Counterstrike:CZ, but go canned when they stopped developement, which is another issue all on it's own. This guy who I'm not mentioning names, only got a job in the industry because John Carmack played his map.
Another issue is job security, you have to make your own, but then again pretty much in every job today you have some degree of doing that. However, even if you have made your job security there is nothing that can protect you from being laid off when you finish the game your working on(ie Ritual employees after Elite Force 2). Those people were quickly hired by others but I don't know if you want to be moving around so much.
So to wrap things up, you better be good at what you do, you better have a contact in the industry, or hope someone recognizes you. Lastly, your going to always run the risk of being let go and have to move somewhere else.
What has puzzled me since the days of Wolfenstein (1) was why they are called textures, and why it's called texture mapping. They aren't textures at all - they are wallpaper, and it's wallpaper mapping. Go up to a "texture mapped" object in a game, and you'll find the texture is completely smooth wallpaper over the underlying object.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
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.
If you want to be a game developer, whatever else you do...DON'T GET MARRIED.
assert(birth_date<time-86400)
If you are serious about learning how to use UnrealED, take a look at what 3dbuzz.com has to offer: free video training modules (VTMs) on how to use the thing. Some of the modules are pretty hefty -- weighing in at 100+MB on some lessons. These can be found here.
On a somewhat related note, if you pre-order the special edition of UT2K4 you'll get the VTMs on a DVD.
Here's an idea....get a real job with a decent paycheck and some job security.
Then do level design on weekends for fun and give 'em out for the whole world to enjoy!
I suspect you'll be much more fulfilled that way.
After all, aren't you interested because you want people to see your work? You want to create something for people to enjoy? I've had more fun downloading NWN mods and playing Natural Selection, Team Fortress, operation flashpoint, and desert combat than buying new games.
"You cannot find out which view is the right one by science in the ordinary sense." - C.S. Lewis on Intelligent Design
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.
One of the things that I think is getting missed in this thread is the Level Designer's knowledge of the game community and game itself. For example, the people who concistently write great modules for NWN are people who've played the game its based on (D&D) for years. One of the things you may want to take into consideration is how much you know about the game itself and the community that plays it. If you've played D&D since 1st Edition (and especially if you've been a DM), then NWN would be a natural extension of your existing knowledge and skills. For example, some of the best NWN levels I've played have been those that take the "standards" of the game and turn them completely upside down. If you didn't know what the "standards" for the underlying game are, you'd have no way of doing this.
Do *not* try to get into the game industry because you think the job would be fun.
That's like say, oh, it would be fun to be a writer, because they travel and drink whiskey.
Making games is damn hard work, and frequently frustrating, and frequently physically damaging, a frequently made unpleasant by dinks in suits.
If you want a job in the game industry, make sure it's because you damn-well *love* making games.
If you don't, then it will end up being "Office Space" with nerf-guns.
We do this job because the only thing that sucks worse than making games is not making games.
What were you expecting?
Ill bite, but no doubt this will remain hidden in obscurity at 0 so good luck finding it.
I have been a level designer for almost 7 years now.
I started with Quake (qbsp) and then moved onto Halflife (worldcraft) and eventually to Unreal (Ued). I have turned out over 50 maps and worked on 2 mods using several different engines.
Level design is fascinating, the skills that you need are diverse. 2D skills with Gimp and Photoshop are essential to create custom signs, textures, intro screens and so forth. Then you need to become profficient at a 3D package. Ultimately 3D Max and Maya are the tools you should aim for expertise in, but this in itself can take 1 to 3 years to fully master. Then you should learn animation skills, how to make and articulate skeletons, kinematics, skinning, uvw wrapping and so on. An ability with sound would also help, basic waveform editing, normalisation, converting between formats. Lastly you should gather some decent coding skills, you need to master at least one language, Java or C++ is probably useful.
OK - now you have all these skills - what does it actually take to be a GOOD level designer?
Tp be a good level designer you have to
1) Play the game. Some people who never actually play the games they design levels for think they are level designers, they are not, no more so than a deaf guy who never listens to any tracks is a music producer. It is essential you actually play the game.
2) Through (1) you learn that a level is like a program. It is a finely balanced collection of attributes involving geometry, timing, lighting, and often a complex array of game logic such as pathnodes and triggers which all interconnect in space and time.
3) Games level coding is actually HARD, its usually implemented with polymorphic asynchonous stateful objects which have a complex emergent behaviour, but sometimes we like to look at single player levels as a pure state machines - whatever way you will see that large levels with many variables and objects become huge programs in their own right with complex issues such as network replication to solve. All of this is without getting grubby with the 'engine' and doing actual physics or rendering code.
4) Level design is also an artistic (thats why _I_ do it, for relaxation) endeavour. You can work from photos or just your pure imagination. However because it is 'artistic' you have to be prepared that audiences and critics will hold unquantifiable, subjective views, they may well think the level you spent weeks making is shit because they don't like the lighting color or the theme offends them.
5) Culture. By playing games you will understand specific knowlege like why you never place spawn points which are visible to each other, why you never use dynamic lighting with fast moving objects, why you have to check chains of causality in instigator traces, why you have to make bots not too greedy or they will get stuck on a tasty cookie. Games specific stuff.
Recommendations:
UnrealScript by Tim Sweeny and Mark Rein is a beautiful way to start , I wish it had been around when I started games design.
For real open architecture to work on at a _low_level_ then Crystal Space is probably a good engine.
Making money: I have only ever made levels for pleasure, although I may be so bold as to say many are superior to official levels I have seen in commercial games. I think the industry is growing and there should be plenty of paid work.
However - I would also say that given the _range_ of skills you need to be a good level designer you would expect them to be paid very well, this is not the case, from what I see level designers are considered a lowly position in games companies despite the fact they understand more about the software as a working whole than any other person in the company (including the engine coders)
And good luck, I find level design very rewarding hobby, and you will enjoy it as a job too.
About three years ago (mostly because of Project Greenlight), I got involved with a group of people that also wanted to make short movies. So we did. Through the course of our first project, we became known as Lime Wrangler Productions. I've been a Prop Master, Script Supervisor, Best Boy, Editor, Gaffer and on two occasions, Director. My second directing job was for Caribou Moving Pictures and we premiere it here in Phoenix, AZ on February 13th.
I had twenty-three years worth of kindling under my ass before I found the match to start it. But now that it's going, I've been running at top speed, 'cause it's burning hot! I haven't made any money at it yet, but that's not really what's important to me at this point.
It doesn't matter when you start, just that you go for it when you're ready. Level designing does take knowledge in a huge variety of subjects, and so does directing. I personally feel fortunate that I was able to learn a lot of that stuff before I ended up in the big chair. Who's to say that our Question Asker hasn't been studying or even merely interested in the kind of stuff he needs to be a good designer?
There's skill and then there's talent. Skill, you can learn, but talent? That's what you're born with. If you've got both of those and determination, you can do anything you set your mind to. If you've got a good attitude it just makes things easier.
Moekandu
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius. -- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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
1) lots of dots
2) at least one tunnel
3) pop up some fruit, or keys from time to time
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on