Regarding the topic, there is an area of study in Computer Science called HCI (Human Computer Interaction). Take a look at this article for a starting point on that issue.
The UI isn't the main problem with GIMP. You can teach a person who is willing to learn to use a new app if they are willing to learn and the management is persistent enough.
The problem with GIMP lies however on its speed when working with a larger picture. When an extremely detailed picture is used, GIMP doesn't work as well as Photoshop in terms of speed. With the same computer and same large picture, it takes ages in GIMP to move around or do anything, whereas it is a breeze in Photoshop. Now that is a frustrating experience that would cause people to migrate back to commercial programs.
I think what game developers need most are tools to help them in the long development process in addition to having a good solid game engine to build on. Based on my experience as a shoe-string budget game developer working on a number of products on different game engines, I could summarize that it is rather unfortunate that you can't find the best of both in most open-source and indie game development solutions (I could be mistaken). I think the author might want to figure what features he/she wants from the game engine, and go through the list of available engines in their budget and finds the best fit. If a quick project is required, tools and scripting language might be high on the priority. If it is the wow factor, maybe an engine with a stronger graphical/rendering engine might be a good idea. Just a few more thoughts on this issue.
============== There are other solutions, such as Garage Games, but they take a huge cut out of any money your game makes (used to be upwards of 80%). They also have mediocre network support, placing them as a poor choice in my opinion. Their claim is that they will, however, handle all of the marketing for your game and get others to play (& pay) for your game. Alternatively, you could pay a $15,000 license per game to remove royalty restrictions. There are also several OpenGL game frameworks, but they require all game releases to be under the GPL. ============== If you go to the GarageGames website you can notice that the previous comment is completely wrong regarding royalty restrictions. You don't have to pay royalties for products developed over the Torque Platform. If you earn over 250k$ per year, then you need to switch to a commercial license - which is $749 - which isn't that expensive compared to comparible game engines. Regarding network support, the Torque Platform comes with a decent network engine as it was used in the popular Tribes and Tribes II Game before which has a huge multiplayer base. There is a question about if it would be good for MMOG games, this is still an issue that is debated, but there have been a number of products that have modified the networking technology to allow it MMOG capabilities including Minions of Mirth that has 30k users at the moment and a mod called MyDreamRPG. I haven't tried both so I can't really comment on it.
On a short note GarageGames has TorqueX which is the XNA port of its products. I'm not a big fan of XNA, and I'm quite susipicious to what it offers, but anyway, I'll better keep a wait and see approach.
Though I use tools and development products produced by GarageGames , I'm not associated with GarageGames. It only irks me that and some of the comments have been posted out of context and completely wrong.
By the way, if you are looking for game engines, go over to http://www.devmaster.net./ Its a good place to start looking for good game engines.
After reading through this post, I just have to question if it is a right idea to actually plan for a career in level designing.
What major did this person graduate from? Being a level designer - the career path should be up to the lead designer - which requires some artistic experience - preferably in many fields due to the convergence of technology in games.
Since this isn't the path that everyone can go to, I would like to suggest best to plan for an alternative career - maybe pursuing level design as a part-time/contract job or do it as a hobby while building up your port to the point it is well recognized in at least the mod circles.
Seriously without any experience, I don't think any game development studios/companies will hire this person unless they have extensive personnel development programs - something which is odd in the industry - or either need some cheap labor. Talking about cheap labor this brings back to the point why not hiring someone active in the mod community?
Talking about job security, I don't think level designers are very secure - unless you land a job with one of the MMOG companies that require level designers all around the year. Most of the cases, most game companies will hire level designers/designers on the duration of the project mostly on contractual basis before releasing when they don't need your services any longer.
All in all, just a few observations that I think should be vital if you are planning a career in this industry. If you don't really love it, don't join it because it ain't pretty as it seems and it ain't pays as good as it seems (unless you are those celebraty designers/programmers/developers).
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Regarding the topic, there is an area of study in Computer Science called HCI (Human Computer Interaction). Take a look at this article for a starting point on that issue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-computer_interaction
The UI isn't the main problem with GIMP. You can teach a person who is willing to learn to use a new app if they are willing to learn and the management is persistent enough.
The problem with GIMP lies however on its speed when working with a larger picture. When an extremely detailed picture is used, GIMP doesn't work as well as Photoshop in terms of speed. With the same computer and same large picture, it takes ages in GIMP to move around or do anything, whereas it is a breeze in Photoshop. Now that is a frustrating experience that would cause people to migrate back to commercial programs.
I think what game developers need most are tools to help them in the long development process in addition to having a good solid game engine to build on. Based on my experience as a shoe-string budget game developer working on a number of products on different game engines, I could summarize that it is rather unfortunate that you can't find the best of both in most open-source and indie game development solutions (I could be mistaken). I think the author might want to figure what features he/she wants from the game engine, and go through the list of available engines in their budget and finds the best fit. If a quick project is required, tools and scripting language might be high on the priority. If it is the wow factor, maybe an engine with a stronger graphical/rendering engine might be a good idea. Just a few more thoughts on this issue.
There are other solutions, such as Garage Games, but they take a huge cut out of any money your game makes (used to be upwards of 80%). They also have mediocre network support, placing them as a poor choice in my opinion. Their claim is that they will, however, handle all of the marketing for your game and get others to play (& pay) for your game. Alternatively, you could pay a $15,000 license per game to remove royalty restrictions. There are also several OpenGL game frameworks, but they require all game releases to be under the GPL.
============== If you go to the GarageGames website you can notice that the previous comment is completely wrong regarding royalty restrictions. You don't have to pay royalties for products developed over the Torque Platform. If you earn over 250k$ per year, then you need to switch to a commercial license - which is $749 - which isn't that expensive compared to comparible game engines. Regarding network support, the Torque Platform comes with a decent network engine as it was used in the popular Tribes and Tribes II Game before which has a huge multiplayer base. There is a question about if it would be good for MMOG games, this is still an issue that is debated, but there have been a number of products that have modified the networking technology to allow it MMOG capabilities including Minions of Mirth that has 30k users at the moment and a mod called MyDreamRPG. I haven't tried both so I can't really comment on it.
On a short note GarageGames has TorqueX which is the XNA port of its products. I'm not a big fan of XNA, and I'm quite susipicious to what it offers, but anyway, I'll better keep a wait and see approach.
Though I use tools and development products produced by GarageGames , I'm not associated with GarageGames. It only irks me that and some of the comments have been posted out of context and completely wrong.
By the way, if you are looking for game engines, go over to http://www.devmaster.net./ Its a good place to start looking for good game engines.
What major did this person graduate from? Being a level designer - the career path should be up to the lead designer - which requires some artistic experience - preferably in many fields due to the convergence of technology in games.
Since this isn't the path that everyone can go to, I would like to suggest best to plan for an alternative career - maybe pursuing level design as a part-time/contract job or do it as a hobby while building up your port to the point it is well recognized in at least the mod circles.
Seriously without any experience, I don't think any game development studios/companies will hire this person unless they have extensive personnel development programs - something which is odd in the industry - or either need some cheap labor. Talking about cheap labor this brings back to the point why not hiring someone active in the mod community?
Talking about job security, I don't think level designers are very secure - unless you land a job with one of the MMOG companies that require level designers all around the year. Most of the cases, most game companies will hire level designers/designers on the duration of the project mostly on contractual basis before releasing when they don't need your services any longer.
All in all, just a few observations that I think should be vital if you are planning a career in this industry. If you don't really love it, don't join it because it ain't pretty as it seems and it ain't pays as good as it seems (unless you are those celebraty designers/programmers/developers).