Absolutely At a Loss On How To Progress As a Level Designer.

Technical knowledge and how to apply it at quite different things. Technically I know how to write a novel, but in reality I cant. This combined with where you say "developing aesthetics from scratch" could be harming your ability to develop. I can promise you that no one that has made an official or operation map for CSGO has "developed aesthetics from scratch". It all comes from using real world sources for inspiration or outright copying, and using your technical knowledge to make it all fit within a proper working and tested layout.

Pretty much all the work i see in that gallery looks like its been purely off the top of your head, so in many aspects it falls short because a lot of it lacks the realism the human eye expects to see. Parts of the scene just reads as "wrong". Even when making crazy fantasy scenes like the majority of those images, there is more than enough real world reference to utilize.

I don't want to pick on specific details on the images, but although its all quite fantasy, in essence what you have there is a cathedral, a medieval town an underground station. Simply googling any of those phrases will show a plethora of images ripe for being used as inspiration. And ask simple questions about each image. "what shows in this image that people live here?", "What is it that people do here?" and "how does this place function?". Asking simple questions like that will instantly give your cathedral an alter as people come to see some kind of sermon, will give pews for the people to sit on as well as lights so they can see. Keep following those lines of thought and before you know it, you have a perfectly fine looking environment that doesn't look "unflattering".

Quote from Gale

although I don't think it can be applied wholly to a super clean/perfect looking environment.

Of course it can. There are plenty of real life clean environments out there. Shopping malls, offices, labs, gyms, hospitals, airports and even modern apartment complexes. Chances are good that if you can imagine it, there is reference for it. Although doesn't need to be taken whole as the questions I mentioned before apply to every environment. A super clean underground station functions roughly the same as a run down ghetto station or some ultra modern cancer research lab still functions somewhat the same as a makeshift CDC emergency tent. You just pick certain criteria to use as reference and ignore things that don't fit your needs.

I'm glad you are at this stage because asking these questions and wondering where to go is what makes people evolve. What you seem to be lacking, and @Skybex touched on this, is real world inspiration. Taking real world settings and turning them into video game environments while constraining them to the game dynamics they are within. For example, I wouldn't make a true to scale environment of a city I was inspired by but I would size it down based on the scale of the game I was implementing, take bits and pieces of reference, break the level into sections and transition them together with textures, lighting and models. It's okay to have the ability to create "aesthetics from scratch" and many people have difficulty with that, but you need to harness both aspects, reference and creativity. Don't forget to have fun, too.

Quote from Gale

To start off, I've only been mapping seriously for 1 - 1/2 years, and have improved quite a bit over that time period(I'm amazed at how fast you can learn a skill). Right now, I'm working with the Source engine, and I know the next step for me is going to be asset creation(ie. Material Design, Modelling, and much much much later Programming), but as far as level design goes I'm at a loss. I've read all of the articles on the sticky, and even though when I read over them once or twice I notice new things, I really lack in execution. As far as technical knowledge goes in the Source engine, I'm pretty confident that I know 80% of what I need to know for just level design(Never really messed with logical entities, and various unknown unknowns).

The main thing I struggle with is more broad things like developing an Aesthetic from scratch without relying on cliches(powerful tools no doubt) too much, and just coming up with ideas in general. I'm also -really- bad at keeping things basic when I start a level, I can't seem to get any level layouts in my head without actually opening up hammer and working, which in turn, creates some pretty stilted works. I've still got creative juices flowing, no doubt, but due to lacking some basic skills like the one I just mentioned, most of my projects come out pretty unflattering.

Here is some of my stuff, in no particular order in terms of date: My Imgur Album.

Is there anything you can suggest to me? Because I'm plateau-ing hard, and can't think of a way to get better, despite knowing the problems. I feel like I'm applying too many rules to myself, and it's messing with my ability to map, but feel those rules are necessary progress as a level designer, and to create something worthwhile.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated, and thanks for your time!

So for starters what you're doing so far is awesome. Taking the time to teach yourself a level editor or game engine and the source engine is a great start. I want to put your mind at rest a little and try to give you some focus if level design is really what you're aiming for as opposed to full blown indie developer. I'm not saying you shouldn't try to progress your skills in each area, just don't stress about it if you're not that great at one particular thing. I'm going to try to speak broadly and not really specifically about a shooter or CS:GO maps or the source engine.

The role of a Level Designer varies from company to company but it's pretty rare for a LD to master all of the skills you listed as your next steps. Unless you're working on a project by yourself or with a really small team there's little chance you'd ever be expected to design levels, create materials, create 3d assets from scratch and code. That being said, having a basic understand of all of these definitely helps, particularly knowledge of a 3d package and understanding of scripting/programming logic. No one will ever expect you to be as good at coding as a coder or as good at 3D art as an artist, though.

Technical knowledge is great in mainstream game engines such as UE4, Unity, CryEngine as some studios will use these in-house and with solid technical knowledge you'll be able to really hit the ground running with minimal technical training required. A lot of the mainstream game engines have also influenced in-house engine development so it makes it easier to learn engines you've never used before, the skills can be pretty transferable.

Initially when building a level the first thing you'll want to develop is the game play space, rather than try to thing too much about the aesthetic. It's a good idea to think about what spaces could be and what you want the player to be doing in the environment but how it really looks ultimately often won't be down to you, you'll have artists that create the assets and textures and do the majority of the level dressing. Again it varies from company to company on how much or little control you have during this process but it'll also be your responsibility to work alongside one or more artists to make sure everything is going in the right place and not negatively impacting game play. But you'll have to keep in mind it's a team effort, you're not their boss. As an example everywhere I've worked I've been paired up with an environment artist.

A general pipeline to follow:

When creating a level you'll first want to collect a ton of reference for what you're creating. This can be real places, environments from other games you've played, CG renders, concept art or anything that inspires you really.

From there you can start to draw some 2D maps, usually top down, showing all of the key areas of the map and where key areas of game play will be such as quests, enemy encounters, boss battles, pickups, puzzles etc.

After you've got a good 2D map start building your whitebox. You're aiming to build a game play space out of basic geometry which can be interpreted by an artist or anyone else that plays it without any textures or art. At this stage it's important to establish scale and make sure metrics are correct (areas you can jump to, gaps you can crouch/crawl under, walls you could crouch behind for cover etc). Don't worry about textures or making anything look pretty, basic colours will be fine at this point. Think purely about how it plays.

Add in any game play elements or scripting that are important to the level such as AI paths, puzzle logic, pick up locations, spawn points etc. Don't worry too much about getting everything 100% right first time, this is an iterative process based on feedback from play tests and changes that the level will experience during it's development.

I should also note that you'll never get it right first time and even if you think you have you'll iterate on it until you're finished, often this will be out of your control but in many cases it will make your level stronger. Playtesting is important even at an early stage so make sure you get plenty of people to play each iteration of your design like everyone does with their CS:GO maps with the Mapcore playtests. This feedback will be invaluable.

When you or likely your boss is happy that the level plays well you can start to add art to it and this will be a constant process of working alongside artists and some back and forth with the level changing constantly until it is final and gets shipped.

Advice for you:

If you feel like you're confident with the source engine I'd suggest you have a look at some more advanced engines such as UE4 or Unity as it'll be a valuable learning experience. There are tons of tutorials out there and learning how to construct a level by trying to use the pipeline above might give you a bit more confidence.

Personally I'd suggest you try to construct a level in a 3D package such as 3DS Max or Maya and then export that to the engine. As it'll give you some extra knowledge and it helps to know a 3D package.

Practice drawing some 2D maps of existing levels from top down. Think of your favourite CS:GO level and dissect it.

This is all based on my experience so far and talking with co-workers about their previous experiences but will vary a bit depending on company and team size.

I rambled a bit so I hope that was helpful.

Jord.

I can read myself into your post for certain points. I feel like I lack constancy, willpower... the energy to keep building until the end. What I find, unless I'm thinking of a singleplayer map, is getting a layout done/complete/refined. I usually have these glimpses, these scenes and map angles where I can imagine players would do cool things or would just look nice to the eye, but can't put them together.

So I often question if I'm fit for the job at all, if I'm just wasting my time.

Great feedback from the pros that have posted, I just hope I will be able to share something sometime soon and get some ego boost... I think that's all that's necessary.

I can't touch on much that other people haven't alredy elaborated very well, but I can tell you this, if you're not feeling very motivated what tends to help me is look at great works by others (CS:GO related), I run around a lot on FMPONE's maps, I really love Lajron's and Tomm's Havanna for example, for me just wanting to be half as good as them or even outdoing them is a huge burst of motivation. You can't go far anywhere unless you're willing to put in the grind, so keep doing what you're doing and eventually you will find yourself doing great things, in any hobby / line of work that you love. It doesn't come overnight, that's for sure.

I know @Vorontsov, i agree and I tell myself that… part of the problem is that until now the work has been manic (one week rota, lot of overtime – and with a physical job, in a middle/low management position as well, drains you). I'm taking over the rota so hopefully will manage to plan time to practice skills.

another problem is that I get excited for different things and when I look at myself I feel I'm dragged in too many directions and lose focus.

New year resolution is to put in the grind, I even bought couple video courses before Xmas to motivate myself (you paid for it, you have to study it)