What areas should I focus on as a game dev?

I'm not a pro, but I think that as far as mapping goes, you should try to get solid knowledge on as many engines as you can, what comes to mind, is the big three, Unreal Engine, Source and Doom3.

I wouldn't really bother with programming, do like I did, and learn scripting, since you already got some experience on programming, picking up a new one is a walk in the park, LUA was my first choice.

Texturing is a good thing to know, as sometimes it is not an option for you to get textures because all the texture artists are working on somewhere else, so then you'd have to make the textures, it is pretty simple, what would you prefer? Modeller who just does models or modeller who does models, textures them and animates?

Game industry is pretty known for it's multitalented people, and it will be that way always, so pick up skills, and try to master them.

Yes, multi talented people are good to have. But the way the industry is going right now there will be more and more specialists needed in particular areas (shaders, SFX, physics etc.).

For level design be aware that this can have two meanings depending on the company and project you work on. You could a) be doing all the design and artwork or b) design and scripting only.

a) would be more likely to be the case if you are working on a current gen game

b) is the way it's handled with next gen (at least here at ubi). The art now is way too time consuming to have level designer handle both design and art at the same time.

If you are more interested in creating nice environments, strengthen your modeling and texturing skills and perfectionise them. Good environment artists are hard to find. And most companies are looking for people that can do good env art.

If you are more of a gameplay designer, then focus on that and create a small SP/MP mod and learn as many engines as you can. Versatility is key. You wouldn't believe how different Half-Life is from most other engines out there. And if you can prove to a company that you know how to work in Unreal, Doom etc. you are putting yourself in a very good position.

You should first decide which area to focus in. In my opinion and experience, there are really only two areas to focus in: programming or art. Art would encompass everything from modeling, texturing, concept art, and level design. Programming encompasses, well, programming... but in multiple languages. You'll seldom find a programmer in the industry who only knows one language and refuses to learn a new one.

As far as your editor question, it is best to have experience with as many editors as possible. Not only does it help you learn what's out there and what each engine can and cannot do, but it also makes you more marketable. Devs, imo, do not care if you're a "master" at one editor: if it is not something they're looking for, they will skip right over your CV. If, however, you have experience in something that you've worked with before, they'll be more likely to actually look at your resume and give you a shot. Additionally, learning level editors these days is not really hard at all... all it takes is time to learn, so if you have free time by the boatloads, learn as many editors as possible.

Some studios will require that you know other skills other than just level design. When I worked for Streamline, I was required to do a lot more than just level design. Hell, I did everything from modeling, texture work, to programming. I was a special case, though, I think, since I have a good programming background as well. Anywho, it all depends on the developer you are applying to. While it definately would not hurt you by learning how to model and texture, some studios may not require it for a level design position. It will, however, make you that much more marketable.

As far as leading LDs in the industry... it's not gonna happen. Lead positions in ANY developer studio requires industry experience, not mod experience. While you are leading a mod, yes, it does not demonstrate your leadership ability within the actual industry. You may, however, be able to negotiate some sort of senior position, depending on how they gauge your leadership abilities, but even that is pretty rare, imo.

Overall, I think you just have to decide where you want to go, and learn everything you can about that field. If you want to be a leve designer, definately learn as many editors as possible, especially Unreal Editor. Learning secondary skills, such as modeling and texturing are a big bonus as well, so start learning!

As I see it, there are two big dev areas, that can be hard to combine if one is looking for a job in the industry.

Graphical Design and Coding.

Graphical design goes hand in hand if you are a bit skilled in, mapping, texture cration, modeling, animation and art

Then there is coding which contains different languages both game code and different www and more (dont know really Im the above)

I don't know anyone that is hardcore talanted in both areas actually since they booth take a long time to develop, you can never know everything since its constantly coming new stuff, both things to code and to design for.

I'm not saying that a mapper can't code, and reverse, but I'm saying that the chance to apply for a job in both areas might be hard if its the real deal, "know how to edit what you look at even though you never did it before"

When it comes down to level design specific, to be able to work with UnrealEd, Radiant and Hammer is a big plus, cause then you can look for jobs in engines (already mentioned), Doom, Source, Unreal, and games around those engines. Every game based on the same engine is in most ways the same, and learning the smaller differences arnt so hard if you know what you do. Also games that spawns with the same engine but newer (next-gen) is also very easy to adapt, since its the same core, just look at all people making Source maps, its the same way as making levels for HL1E, which is based on the Q1E, same with Doom, its the same as mking levels for Q3 almost, same goes for unreal and many other systems.

I'm a bit tired now so I hope that makes any sense. and sorry for any typos and grammar errors, don't feel reading through the text

that's a really weird deja-vu double post. zazi/hipshot, separated at birth?

Quote from ginsengavenger

that's a really weird deja-vu double post. zazi/hipshot, separated at birth?

Omai! He found out!

I didn't bother to read all of the replies, so if i sound the same then who cares.

I think there are a few different branches that go into the game design industry - the top two being design and marketing. Below design is graphics design and coding, under graphics design is mapping and (lead) modelling, and maybe a few other things.. Under mapping is texture design, prop modelling, and, well, brushwork crap, originallity and creativity. If you want to be a pro mapper, you'll probably need to know the bold things.

And as everyone else said, knowing how to work in a variety of different engines looks great on a portfolio. Static meshed based Unreal and brush based Source are very different.

Quote from ginsengavenger

that's a really weird deja-vu double post. zazi/hipshot, separated at birth?

Maybe we are, or maybe its just that we know the truth so very well.

Quote from Hipshot

Maybe we are, or maybe its just that we know the truth so very well.

But remember, the truth is out there

do notice that they posted at exactly the same minute by the way

Some of you guys here are thinking far too HL oriented. If I were to categorize "mapping" or "level design" I wouldn't put it in graphics design but game design.

Nobody here has even MENTIONED game design. It's the biggest and most important part of all!

Quote from kleinluka

Some of you guys here are thinking far too HL oriented.

Pff, that is not HL specific, I don't consider myself a HL-kinda guy, more Quake. The reason is more bad indepth knowledge of the industry and how it works. But I consider it to be 50/50, cause maps are what we see, it display the effect, game and the style...

yeah it is Klein, but you don't really get hired out of school as a game designer. It's the kind of thing that you have to prove yourself at within a company I think. I think if you want to be a capital-d Designer you typically start out as a level designer/scripter which can mean a LOT of different things because each company breaks the production process down differently.

It's easy to prove yourself as a coder or artist because the results can be reviewed very objectively. You see the product, you see what the guy can do. As a designer your job is much tougher because the results are so much more subjective. How do you define fun?

Quote from kleinluka

Some of you guys here are thinking far too HL oriented. If I were to categorize "mapping" or "level design" I wouldn't put it in graphics design but game design.Nobody here has even MENTIONED game design. It's the biggest and most important part of all!

I consider game design under the art category. Reason being is that game design is very much an art form, though mostly written...

In practice though, there really are three discreet focal areas, at least in my experience: art, design, and engineering. There is often some overlap between; technical artists will be able to do some coding and shader work and may have an eye for design; versatile designers will be able to do some coding or art, and some competent coders will be capable of working in the other disciplines (although in my experience these people are rare, coders tend to be math geeks who happen to be in games because it's somewhat more fun than coding java applets or databases or whatever).

Of course there is usually an army of other people required by the business, HR, Marketing, QA, management and so forth. but that's not why we're here is it

Well, your mileage will vary, but here's my input on the subject, along with some differing opinions on what has come along so far. Probably will be very design-centered, just given my own perspective and experience, but hopefully it's of some use.

First off, I don't think you necessarily need to spend your time spreading yourself over every major engine on the market. You are probably better off mastering one than dabbling in all. The knowledge you gain there will translate across (as far as raw construction, asset usage, gameplay flow, etc) anywhere you go. I don't know of a single person who has been hired or not hired by a lack of knowledge in an editor. That's all fluff, just an interface. what you do with it is what counts. If you can make a good level on any sort of comparable technology, they'll be able to work with you.

Besides, you'll learn far quicker in a professional environment with the guidance of the people around you (and the exra motivation) than you will on your own. I came from a pretty much exclusively Worldcraft/Hammer background (as was Ken Banks when he arrived, as well as our lead designer when he was hired back on SOF). I was doing production work in just under a week in a brand new editor and engine.

Familiarity with programming is good, too, but not necessary. Programming-style scripting languages seem to be a bit more prevalent (Unreal, Doom3), so it can be immensely helpful there, but what you'd be doing in a design sense is (usually, hehe ) far below what you'd do in code. Even in a visual scripting system, an understanding of how things work under the hood can be useful to help know how and why things might be occurring. I do agree with Zazi in that you should lean towards either programming or art, though, as beyond scripting languages there's little crossover.

Texturing and skinning can come into play depending on what sort of role you take on. If you're a 'traditional' level designer, than more than likely your tiles will be painted for you. But if you are in a team where a paired combo of designer + environment artist make a map, and you're the latter, you'd better be pretty good.

Especially if you're looking at the level design route, I'd recommend a familiarity with a modeling package. Even with more specialized roles, there's still a lot of value for someone who can do work across the board. The more specialized people you get, the more time you spend sitting on your ass or bouncing around waiting for the stuff you need. And even if you aren't directly making content for the game, being able to build roughs for your own props can be a great starting point for collaborating with an artist to fully flesh out the world.

Project leadership, even on a mod level, is very valuable. I know my role on Nightwatch played a huge role in me being hired - and that hadn't even been released. Even if it doesn't directly translate to a real leadership position (which, in some cases, it can and has), it shows an ability to work with people, dedication of a hell of a lot of time to something that you enjoy doing, and familiarization with some of the trials of game development. In addition, it gets you much more intimately familiar with areas of development you'd have never understood otherwise as you work with people on your team in those disciplines. And you also get a head start on the 'capital D' - if you're leading a mod, you're coming up with all those core ideas and concepts that a full game designer would be doing on a larger scale in a professional environment.

The difference between a good mod developer and a professional game developer is the salary and office/cubicle. What you know and learn from your work on your own will directly apply. It's also far more useful than what you'd learn from a controlled environment at a game school. Development can be chaotic and unpredictable, and the best way to learn that is to experience it first-hand. That's what makes independent work and mod experience so valuable for an entry-level position.

Good thread, I'm facing similar problems myself. My games technology Uni course is basically all programming, but my passion is level design. I can't do both to a high standard, as I know that you have to throw yourself into programming to make it in the industry. I have more fun doing level design.

I figure I may as well see my degree out (I do enjoy it) while focussing on level design & modeling in the mod world. Worst comes to worst, my level design isn't quite strong enough to land a job and my programming isn't good enough to get a games programming position, but I can still get a job with my degree somewhere making duck shooting games or doing other generic programming stuff. Best scenario: I get a job doing level design. I hope the latter happens, but you never can tell. After Fortress Forever is finished, I plan on joining a couple more mods with a view to proving I can be flexible (SP stuff and MP stuff) and reliable.

I'm with Defrag. My course (the same one) is teaching me something I'm not really planning on pursuing as a career, but my level design probably isn't strong enough to land me a job just yet. I really need to build up a better current gen portfolio but I just don't have the will to do it these days. I guess I'm kinda worn out of level design at the moment, which isn't good if I plan on making a career of it! Maybe trying an engine other than source would refuel my fire, so to speak.

Funnily enough though, my current idea is to make a mobile phone game. I'm familiar with java programming, and the artwork requirements are pretty low considering the 128x160 typical screen resolution and 60-120kb typical file sizes, so its probably something I'd be quite suited for. Would let me design something entirely of my own, and hopefully due to the short development time of such games it would keep my focus more. Being able to walk into a job interview and hand over your phone to show one of your games would be a novel portfolio piece too

Most of the stuff I have to say about this topic, were covered by Klein and KFS, I think we have more or less equal views, but I'd like to give my input anyway.

Take my comments with a bit of salt though, I haven't followed these suggestions exactly myself, since they represent pretty much the perfect way to do it and it certainly isn't the only way. It's what I learnt so far in the industry and each company doesn't work the same, it shoud apply to most of the big players working on current and next gen titles though.

Specialize in what you want to do. As Klein said, there are more and more people doing specific things on a project. If you want to make levels look nice, become an artist. Seriously, if you care about the looks more than about the gameplay in your level, you can model and texture, kick some ass and become an artist!

You don't want to be an artist but a designer? Well, you don't want to let your levels look like garbage but don't bother much about creating your own assets, instead focus on the gameplay! Once you work in a company as a designer, nobody will care about how your waterfall looks like before the art pass and then again it will be an artist you closely work together with who will help you to make it look nice. It is much harder to make your level fun than making it look nice!

Gain experience in multiplayer AND singleplayer level design! I have the feeling the mp - sp custom made level ratio is 50 to 1, why is that? Because it's harder? Maybe, fact is, that it demonstrates your ability as a designer to come up with ideas for a cool mission, with a fresh story, good usage of AI and other gameplay elements.

So which engine to make the level for? If possible, the engine the company works with you want to apply at. From my point of view, there is nothing better to get their attention by creating a kickass mission, with their tools, so they get tempted to hire you and slam you in the production schedule right away.

MODs have become very big and it's still one of the number one ways to score a job. You show that you are able to work on a project over a long period of time, working with other individuals in a team. Leading and "finishing" the project means BIG bonus points.

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Would let me design something entirely of my own, and hopefully due to the short development time of such games it would keep my focus more. Being able to walk into a job interview and hand over your phone to show one of your games would be a novel portfolio piece too

If you want to apply for a company which makes cellphone games - yes