level design, need advice

[Thekkur]

if I were you, I'd make some in-level walk around movies and combine them into a flashy reel. I think game-company's prefer you being good at working in one of the more conventional programs than at one of the dozens of special game-specific level design packages.

Show the special things you put into your levels, parts you're particularly proud of.

succes

[Kralle]

I dont really have any crituqes,
but I have a few suggestions on lvl desgining, which i think are the most annoying parts in a lvl when I play a game, and boring too. So ill jsut list a few things which ~I~ think you should look out for.

Mazes:
Dont make mazes. They are some of the most annoying lvls in every game. I hate it when Im running around back and worth looking for a switch to open a door, but cant find it, and i run in a circle but acually its just 1 door I have to enter and hit a switch in. But it takes me 3 days to figure out.

Puzzles:
In alot of games you have to find switches to open doors, I hate that. I mean that they make it so hard to find, make it obvious, like the switch right behind the door. Something simple.


Those are 2 main points which come to my mind right now, i cant think of anymore but ill post some more if you want to as help or whatever, heehee.
But good luck with that and i hope youll do well! :thumbsup:

[Tylak]

right on Kralle, single player level design is my favorite so I've had a lot of experience with both mazes and puzzles. I tend to get FPS nausea whenever I encounter mazes so I've always stayed away from them. And as for buttons and switches, I never hide them (unless they're secrets) and I usually apply the tactic, make the player get from point A to B, find a switch/trigger/sequence, then back to point A encountering something new on the path they have already traveled.

You can download my latest HL pak/mod off fileplanet:
Infinite Rift (http://www.fileplanet.com/files/120000/125546.shtml)

or check out some of my multi-player mapping for
Firearms HL (http://www.firearmsmod.com)

I guess my main question is whether the above pic is high enough quality for a demo reel. I've been working on a lot of new assets in maya and max to go in the levels. For the high tech world I have space ships, gears, lights, and other tech stuff. I've also been working on a "old world" set that is still very premature.

I hesitate to post a pic, but what the hell.

http://www.angelfire.com/ex/dat/demoshot06.jpg

Like I said, this world needs a lot more work. But it gives you an idea of the range this engine is capable of.

More comments?

[WU2]

As a (non professional) level designer myself, I would suggest you start working with an updated engine. You obviously have talent, but the age of the tech you are working with is going to hurt your prospects. The skill curve is exponentially increasing for the newer engines. I would say a UT2003 or Doom 3 environment is like 10 times as much work as a half life or quake 2 engine environment. The level of detail required has significantly increased. If you do not like learning completely new editors, then I would suggest an Id software engine. I started mapping for Quake 2, which used QERadiant. Quake 3 used Q3Radiant (later to progress to GtkRadiant) which is essentially the same editor with some enhancements. Doom3Radiant (or whatever it is officially called) will be essentially the same editor as Q3Radiant interface-wise from what I understand. Grasping a good understanding of the newer engine texture requirements is important as well. You now need (at least) color, bump and specular maps for nearly every surface. The understanding of texture maps needs to be far above and beyond the single painted-shadow color maps of old. I think that once you begin to learn, you'll be pleased with the new possibilities and control you have with all this additional work required. Hope this helps.

[LowJacK]

Building environments based on game engines is fine and beneficial but most game companies model their environments using 3D software. I can't say where I work or what our company is working on due to a confidentiality agreement but I can say that we are making a extremely popular sports games environments with Softimage XSI.

There are always job postings for environment modelers so making a dedicated reel is a good idea. I think with your talents, you should be able to find work quite easily.

[Tylak]

well that's very encouraging LowJacK. For the momment I'm going to focus on creating game assets because they will prove useful in both game specific renders and 3d package renders. I will continue to explore my options using a game engine but if I'm not satisfied with the workflow or results then I will convert to a full maya or max design.

There are a number of reasons why I'm more inclined to use a game engine. For one, I am very comfortable with brush based level generation. It makes much more sense to me when create large immersive environments when compared to traditional mesh editing. Also I would like to show my ability to adapt to the often obscure (sometimes counter-intuitive) and varied methods of proprietary software.

But in the end the purpose of a demo reel is to display my talent as an artist. My goal is to achieve this by any means.

Thanks for the great advice guys, I'll post more material once it materializes..... or something.

[RmachucaA]

LowJack, did u know EA is coming to montreal too :-) :rolleyes:


Anyways, as mentioned before, it would be best to get yourself off a game engine and model using a 3d program, the core of the level designer is that, designing and if u limit yourself to a game engines capabilities such as Halflife engine your shooting yourself in the foot. Find out how many poly's a level in HL2 takes, or even in the Unreal engine, get up to todays standards and work from there.

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