First thing would be to decide on what position you would be mostly interested in. Some are easier than others, but you can always branch out to other areas once you get your foot in the door.
Agree with radu, no point in learning tools just for the sake or learning them. That's a waste of time.
First set a course, then plan what to do to be able to get to your destination.
If making maps is your goal (pure level design) you don't need to know 3dsmax at all, or any other package. You'll be working with pre existing modular kits, or with simple bsp geo, or even just cubes. A LD job is gameplay, and design, maybe try and help out the theme a little bit too, it depends from person to person.
Quote from Tisky15 hours ago, Tisky said: Thanks for the tips! I thought bsp was old school and everything was made by 3D models nowdays ?. I guess i gotta read up on how things work nowdays to begin with haha!
If you want to pursue Level Design, you need a portfolio with about 2-3 levels + documentation and be up to date with a few level and game design concepts. Also, given our current trends, you should have something that's multiplayer and open world in your portfolio. I mean, that last bit can vary depending on which studio you apply to, but you never know what games they have planned for the future.
What worked for me to get an ld job at Ubi was having one Wingman map for CS:GO and an open world map in FarCry 5 Arcade, properly documented (well, and prior 9 months of QA work). You can also look at @grapen's portfolio. He had one Wingman map and one Defuse/Bomb map for CS:GO, two FarCry 5 Arcade maps and one small UE4 greyboxed puzzle when he applied at Fatshark.
You don't need to stress about having a large sample of maps or know a lot of tools (other skills are bonus). What's important is to show that you have a solid understanding of design fundamentals, which will be challenged during the interview and ld test.
Quote from Radu12 hours ago, Radu said: If you want to pursue Level Design, you need a portfolio with about 2-3 levels + documentation and be up to date with a few level and game design concepts. Also, given our current trends, you should have something that's multiplayer and open world in your portfolio. I mean, that last bit can vary depending on which studio you apply to, but you never know what games they have planned for the future.
What worked for me to get an ld job at Ubi was having one 2v2 Wingman map for CS:GO and an open world map in FarCry 5 Arcade, properly documented (well, and prior 9 months of QA work). You can also look at @grapen's portfolio. He had one 2v2 Wingman map and one Defuse/Bomb map for CS:GO, two FarCry 5 Arcade maps and one small UE4 greyboxed puzzle when he applied at Fatshark.
You don't need to stress about having a large sample of maps or know a lot of tools (other skills are bonus). What's important is to show that you have a solid understanding of design fundamentals, which will be challenged during the interview and ld test.
Thank you, this helps alot! Im glad CS:GO works since i hopefully still know alot of hammer! Didn't know you were a fellow swede also ,@grapen 
Quote from Tisky5 minutes ago, Tisky said: Thank you, this helps alot! Im glad CS:GO works since i hopefully still know alot of hammer! Didn't know you were a fellow swede also ,@grapen
It works, but people want to see that you can also manage in a modern engine. That's why I recommend fc5 arcade. It's super basic and easy, but gives a good idea of what to expect from a full fledged editor.
Quote from Radu1 hour ago, Radu said: It works, but people want to see that you can also manage in a modern engine. That's why I recommend fc5 arcade. It's super basic and easy, but gives a good idea of what to expect from a full fledged editor.
Stupid question but, you have to buy FC5 to use it i guess?
Yes, but I'd say it's worth it. If you haven't played many open world games, FC5 is pretty easy to pick up. The setup it uses for outposts and missions is pretty common, so you'd also get a good relevant design knowledge.
On 11/16/2019 at 9:10 PM, [HP] said: If making maps is your goal (pure level design) you don't need to know 3dsmax at all, or any other package. You'll be working with pre existing modular kits, or with simple bsp geo, or even just cubes. A LD job is gameplay, and design, maybe try and help out the theme a little bit too, it depends from person to person.
Not entirely true HP! I started working in the industry making racing games, and purely using 3DS Max to design /whitebox the tracks (this is still the case at both Codemasters and Playground Games on their racing projects). At Crytek I was using CryEngine to make multiplayer maps, but it helped to know 3DS Max to add my own models to some of my whiteboxes (granted, it wasn't as beneficial during some of the projects in this period). Same thing when it came to whiteboxing in Unreal for the projects I was involved in before moving to Playground Games. Here at PG, I again currently use 3DS Max as my primary tool for whiteboxing content, and our level design test is currently based in Max as well. So I'd say having the ability to whitebox in such a program would be beneficial, not least because the tools within a lot of contemporary game editors are similar to what you'd find in Max anyway, when it comes to manipulating blockout geometry.
Quote from PaulH1 hour ago, PaulH said: (...) and our level design test is currently based in Max as well.
Wow. No other tools allowed?
Quote from FrieChamp6 minutes ago, FrieChamp said: Wow. No other tools allowed?
Not currently no. Our level design job role description specifies that the user will be working with Max so we expect applicants to have knowledge of modelling programs.
Quote from Tisky1 minute ago, Tisky said: I actually know basic 3Ds max, i guess it doesn't hurt to know it to a degree where you can make your own assets if needed. Knowledge is power ?
Sure, it's still by no means a requirement for many places of work I would think, but definitely doesn't hurt to have working knowledge of it.
Your original question is of interest to me too. When I was learning I too used Hammer/Worldcraft and early versions of Unreal to create levels for things like HL2, Unreal Tournament and the SWAT series, but I found myself wondering recently what games people use to learn nowadays. Seems like CSGO is still an option, but what else...
Quote from PaulH41 minutes ago, PaulH said: Sure, it's still by no means a requirement for many places of work I would think, but definitely doesn't hurt to have working knowledge of it.
Your original question is of interest to me too. When I was learning I too used Hammer/Worldcraft and early versions of Unreal to create levels for things like HL2, Unreal Tournament and the SWAT series, but I found myself wondering recently what games people use to learn nowadays. Seems like CSGO is still an option, but what else...
FC5 Arcade is a good option to some degree. It's super limited, but accessible to most people. And you can make your typical open world location in it.
Scripting something in UE4 is also a viable choice.
I think Portal 2 is also relevant? I know some students in Sweden were using it for their portfolio.
You could probably get away with doing something purely just in Sketchup and presenting it like you would during a meeting.
Quote from PaulH2 hours ago, PaulH said: Sure, it's still by no means a requirement for many places of work I would think, but definitely doesn't hurt to have working knowledge of it.
Your original question is of interest to me too. When I was learning I too used Hammer/Worldcraft and early versions of Unreal to create levels for things like HL2, Unreal Tournament and the SWAT series, but I found myself wondering recently what games people use to learn nowadays. Seems like CSGO is still an option, but what else...
Yeah i mean, it was easier back in the day when HL-engine dominated everything ?. I starded doing maps in the Build engine, good old Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior.. Back then i didn't read tutorials, it was all trial and error until it worked. Just as i've learnt that, i started using Quark (Quake Army Knife) and i remember in the beginning, i had no idea you could use different textures on one bsp block. My house map for CS was so laggy due to all walls having several blocks with different textures. I still feel ashamaed when i think about it ☺️. It was fun having alot of free-time and getting things to work. I had a mod for Quake 1 with flying hover-vehicles (stole some code) and imported Q2 models. I made all skins and sounds and i was so proud. Gameplay was awful but still, i made it!
I was at a LAN-party the weekend before i was going to release the mod and my raid-hdd died on me. I had no backups. So that is lost forever and after that incident i worked on an x-com UFO enemy unknown mod for Half-Life 1. Infogrames shut us down back then haha! After that i met a girl and got kids and so on, always thinking what could have been I miss those days sometimes.
Also don't make my mistake, if you want to apply for a LD job, try to learn to make maps for both singleplayer and multiplayer (and maybe different type of games as well) Both are not the same way of thinking and you will learn a lot about Scripting on solo maps.
Quote from ElectroSheep1 hour ago, ElectroSheep said: Also don't make my mistake, if you want to apply for a LD job, try to learn to make maps for both singleplayer and multiplayer (and maybe different type of games as well) Both are not the same way of thinking and you will learn a lot about Scripting on solo maps.
Good tip!! You have an awesome surname haha.
Quote from PaulH15 hours ago, PaulH said: Not entirely true HP! I started working in the industry making racing games, and purely using 3DS Max to design /whitebox the tracks (this is still the case at both Codemasters and Playground Games on their racing projects). At Crytek I was using CryEngine to make multiplayer maps, but it helped to know 3DS Max to add my own models to some of my whiteboxes (granted, it wasn't as beneficial during some of the projects in this period). Same thing when it came to whiteboxing in Unreal for the projects I was involved in before moving to Playground Games. Here at PG, I again currently use 3DS Max as my primary tool for whiteboxing content, and our level design test is currently based in Max as well. So I'd say having the ability to whitebox in such a program would be beneficial, not least because the tools within a lot of contemporary game editors are similar to what you'd find in Max anyway, when it comes to manipulating blockout geometry.
Every studio is different, inhouse tools are diferent, even when studios use the same engine the workflow changes entirely. Studios using a modeling package like 3DsMax or Maya for their level designers to blockout their levels are rare these days though, for many reasons, one of them being that it increases the iteration time. If you wanna move a block 2 meters to the side, you need to boot the modeling package, export your geo, boot the game editor, import geo, wait for file to import. At the end of the year, you're probably talking hours of man hours wasted. Some people use it sure, I can actually see it being the prefered way for a racing game due to the tracks being so organic, you need a really good modeling toolkit.
BUT, that's not even why I said what I said. If you're starting out, and learning the ropes of level design and the first thing you do is grab 3DsMax and learn to model, for me it's just feels like going to the gym and start lifting more weights than you're capable of pushing. Odds are that you're gonna give up, and you're never gonna get into the routine of going to the gym. You wanna start with the fundamentals.
UE4 has a basic modeling toolkit, more than capable of blocking out levels, and there's modular kits in their store as well. (Same for Unity)
@Tisky so you wanna go design or art? Those are two very different paths with their own set of priorities...
Personally what I did after finishing school until I found my first gig was shipping a ton of small level design projects on various editors, with a quick turnaround (1 project per week on average including pre-prod, documentation, etc) to build a decent LD-focused portfolio and replace the cringy school projects asap. Most of them were be pretty bad at first but they slowly got better and better. I recommend doing this because that way you not only build a portfolio, but also invest on your knowledge which is wayyy more important on the long run.
When it comes to tools/games/engines etc. I'd say it just depends on what you wanna aim for with your portfolio. The truly crucial thing at the end of the day is the intent, thought process and presentation. A level that just "looks really kewl" without the right purpose to back it up is just worthless, unfortunately.
Although if you wanna go for art it's a completely different story, one which I can't give advice on... other than you gonna have to get on the ArtStation rat race haha
btw you have a portfolio already or are you starting from scratch?
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