Helping with other team member's maps vs your own projects?

    This is a thread about portfolio development, so I apologize if this is in the wrong section.

    Anyways, I work on a mod that has a good chunk of mappers involved with it. I've taken a small haiatus because of school and moving, but like the idea of getting back on board.

    The issue is, we have a lot of different maps in development, and a good chunk of maps already completed. It's to the point where the mod doesn't really *need* one more person creating all new map content for the mod at this very moment, but perhaps sometime later in the mod's lifespan would be good.

    The quality of the maps being produced for the moment vary in quality, either due to mapper preferences, what the mapper who is making it is particularly good at, and just how much is done with the map. So right now, the team member inside of me is really liking the idea of jumping on board to bring up some quality control, detailing, and polish on these projects to really make them shine on release.

    However, I feel like such things aren't really "displayable" in a portfolio, especially since I've been doing a lot of that type of stuff on this project since I started with them - only one or two maps, both very early in the dev cycle (and as such, a little old/outdated) are completely of my own origin, idea, and creation. I'm worried that, portfolio wise, I'll be wasting my time doing detailing and polishing other people's projects, as I'll have to awkwardly explain that this cool map I am showing was mostly made by someone else, but a good chunk of the polish and detail work was by myself. I feel like it'll just make my portfolio seem weak. But at the same time, I know we don't really need a great new map idea right now with all the stuff we have in production, but the maps being worked on could really use some solid TLC to bring them closer to release ready. And all the big map ideas I have would work better for future game modes or ideas anyways.

    Any input on this? I know in a real studio most level designers or artists are "sectioned off" anyways to focus on a particular aspect in a level, but I feel like it would appear that I am not broad enough in my skillset to people looking at my portfolio to have a bunch of work in there that is mostly polished-up/detail-pass'd versions of other people's work - because that's what I've been mostly doing on the project so far. It's a side effect of me believing in a very high quality bar of the mod, while also being aware that most of the level designers that help out all pretty much only want to work on their own projects, and/or tend to lack the time/effort into solid, cohesive, detail work on their levels (but really good ideas and execution other than that). Even though I KNOW I can (and have) done everything that goes into making a level all on my own.

    Any thoughts?

    I certainly think that when it comes to portfolios, having work that is almost entirely yours is important. Or to put it another way, if you have something visual on display people shouldn't need corresponding text to tell them what exactly you did — they should be able to just assume you were responsible for what they see. As your career develops I think it's less critical, because if you've got something like 'Assassin's Creed' in your portfolio employers are going to understand you wouldn't have worked on it by yourself, but then at that point the fact you've even worked on such a game will give you a huge leg-up as a candidate.

    By all means work on the projects, but I would ensure the stuff you actually use in your portfolio is mostly yours. If you have to choose between producing one or the other, go with the independent stuff IMO. Being able to demonstrate high competency in all relevant stages of producing a level is good because then employers know they can utilise you where they think is best.

    All that said, having some evidence of collaboration is also important as employers will want to know you can slot into a team and work alongside others. Just don't make it the majority of your portfolio.

    Yeah, that's what I was worried about.

    I just hate seeing us release stuff that really lacks in polish or quality compaired to previously released stuff that had a lot of time spent into those departments. I wouldn't be so concerned with the idea of helping out, if it wasn't for the fact that I've been doing that almost entirely for the duration of my time with the project - finishing up abandoned ideas, remaking broken or unfinished stuff from old team members who are no longer on the team, polsihing work from other people, etc.

    We now are at a point where we have a very high map saturation and all with varying levels of quality, since almost all of our regular mappers currently are good at producing maps but maybe not so good at polish/detail/finishing them. When we have 6-8 maps in development, starting a new map project feels pointless to me when there's a lot of work to be done on exsisting projects to get them up to snuff.

    I feel like for my own personal benefit (even though the team member inside of me hates this) is to just take a break/distance myself from the mod and work on my own non-mod related projects, perhaps for different games and engines. Doesn't help I'm halfway distracted with a scripting/game design project I've been working on for Skyrim, which is totally un-related to level desgin

    I would say, to counter Thrink's point (though not necessarily to disagree with it), that polishing other people's base work, making them worthwhile, and being a team player is great resume/CV material. A guy who only works by himself, even if his creations are nice looking and 100% his, is unproven in a team environment.

    I've always helped other mappers with their stuff even during my mod days. It's a good exercise for team work. Also you will benefit from it if the extra polish makes the mod more popular. You also gain respect from your team members and leaders, that's something that can be important later on when they work in the industry and can help vouch for you to land a job at a studio.

    I wouldn't put a map on the portfolio if you only made a minor contribution. But when you made a good contribution to the visual appearence of the map i don't see a problem. Just write that you did the art pass for this map and if it's worth it make a before and after comparison.

    Back to serious responses, I'll echo what Step and Jetset (is that an appropriate abbreviation?) said. Focus on areas that are demonstrably yours, make sure to fully credit everyone else involved, and be very clear about what you did and didn't do. I've worked with Lunaran on a bunch of stuff both personally and professionally and always make it a point to focus the screenshots I take in directions that emphasize my contributions - a good example is looking at the shots I posted of Q4CTF7: http://button-masher.net/content.php?i=744

    The collaborative experience is great for you, even if it makes the portfolio a little trickier to manage. Stick with your team, and keep making cool stuff on your own time. It'll give you a good balance.

    Call me a hippie, but if I were you I really would not care too much about if a certain activity leads to clear portfolio material or not. Do what you enjoy doing and what is the best for the project.

    Career wise you also need to remember that in addition to your portfolio you also have a résumé and a cover letter to explain yourself. Not all work done can be explained in a screenshot.

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