Open season for level design positions?

I wouldn't doubt it. Though most development studios are always trying to fill at least one position.

Quote from Polaris

Are you the Mabufo from Interlopers?

I sure am.

If my own story bares any sign of similarity with whatever other studios are doing right now, then yes it sure is true.

you made 1 map and got hired? you just made that map too D:

i guess sad enough this is true, not to piss on anyone because everyone has the start somewhere, however i think that were starting to see with the new generation of games, and bugets/teams that come with it that big companies are just trying to fill up all the empty spots, and rely on the experienced people and leads to bring it together, who are heavly out numbered by the fast amount of new people that are either straight from a college they didnt even finish or picked out off the crowd of people that made one or 2 maps in their lives, which is logical but not always easy to have people make decisions on gameplay but dont really understand the mechanics of it,were in small companies, experience is desired for their future will often depand on the title.

it must be true. I know several people/friends that just got level design jobs and/or are in the process of getting a job.

Well that reminds me of an article posted here some days ago, that basically said the average career span in the game industry was 5 years, after which people move on to other things.

If that's true at all, that would explain the need for a lot more people, and when you want low costs, you're gonna take all the newbies like me and pay them less than any experienced guy.

Yes you need to start somewhere, and yes you won't always find great level designers. But it's just like any job where one is hired because of his motivation, and one needs to work his way up the ladder. It's all about the mentality with which you go to work every day.

I understand how this is frustrating for far more experienced level designers, and people who have had to work real hard and for a lot longer to get similar positions (and of course those that still don't have said positions), but this is the same thing in any industry. You'll find opportunists every step of the way, and bluntly put, some very very lucky guys

Bottom line, if these newbies aren't any good, they'll be gone at the end of the project. Permanent positions are only given to those that can do something.

A dangerous mentality would be to think you're the new hottest shit to hit the fan and think you're the new genius no one can afford to lose. But those guys don't last long either.

I've seen a lot of guys with very mediocre portfolios getting a job in the industry recently.

I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing.

I dont seem to land a job...

God this thread kills me...

Quote from Furyo

Well that reminds me of an article posted here some days ago, that basically said the average career span in the game industry was 5 years, after which people move on to other things.If that's true at all, that would explain the need for a lot more people, and when you want low costs, you're gonna take all the newbies like me and pay them less than any experienced guy.

Yes you need to start somewhere, and yes you won't always find great level designers. But it's just like any job where one is hired because of his motivation, and one needs to work his way up the ladder. It's all about the mentality with which you go to work every day.

I understand how this is frustrating for far more experienced level designers, and people who have had to work real hard and for a lot longer to get similar positions (and of course those that still don't have said positions), but this is the same thing in any industry. You'll find opportunists every step of the way, and bluntly put, some very very lucky guys

Bottom line, if these newbies aren't any good, they'll be gone at the end of the project. Permanent positions are only given to those that can do something.

A dangerous mentality would be to think you're the new hottest shit to hit the fan and think you're the new genius no one can afford to lose. But those guys don't last long either.

I agree, motivation is everything, and there are those that learn want to learn and are greatful and love it, my words are more aimed towards those that go do their job like its any other and lack that motivation and passion to discover and improve themselfs, unfortunatly thats what comes with this huge need for bigger teams, not just leveldesigners. ofcourse its not everyone I can see that around me aswell. but logically you cant deny that you'll be more likely to find that motivation with someone that came from a mod comunity like this one or any other

that said, I wasnt reffering to you ofcourse, or ment it to be personal

Absolutely, coming from Mapcore or any other community is more likely than not a sign of general interest and motivation. I didn't take it personally at all, but my point is that I'd rather work with extremely motivated people with no experience than experienced people who don't care about the game and want to do their 9-5.

The team here has just seen a lot of new comers. I wasn't the only one, as 3 other guys started within a week of my own start. We are 10 total, with only 2 with permanent position. The first one has 10 years experience (lead) and the other 8. The rest of us have never worked on AAA titles or just started on Kong. One is a former gfx artist that wanted to move to LD, the other was in charge of optimization on Kong and had made a game for the Xbox by himself prior to that.

Then you have me with that one map for Source, an intern who's finishing his studies, a former Kong tester and a web designer with no experience whatsoever in 3D. The two others also worked on Kong and are more involved in testing new gameplay features.

So yeah, it all looks like a big zoo and one can really wonder what the hell happened for this team to be assembled. But believe it or not, it actually works quite well, but it's got more to do with the way things work at Ubi Montpellier as opposed to us being proficient already. It works because we're really motivated and all work together. And right now it's pre-prod time, and we're well aware that we're still being trained and are learning the tools. Time will tell if that continues into actual production time.

I hope I'll be able to get a job in the industry, but that's a ways off for me...

Having said that, I would imagine that level design jobs nowadays will require that you have experience with some sort of modelling program, and some texturing ability... If that isn't required - I imagine knowlege like that would be a big plus on any level designer's resume.

Level design is really complex and there indeed arent that many people who do it. If you ask a beginner what he is going to try and learn its prolly programming or character modelling, other things are too strange apperantly.

We got trouble finding level designers too, or used to.

Problem too is that a character artist has only a few programs he has to know but the level design community is strongly split up in groups. If your game uses engine B you prolly want mappers with engine B experience and not A. You got that prob less with characters artists or coders.

The lack of people does has some bad effects tho. I have seen a lot of people being hired who really werent ready to be so yet.

What I find problematic with a lot of the newbies that are hired straight of school with not even modding experience is that a lot of them just seem to work in games "because it's cool". They have next to no intention of improving or learning new things let alone do an acceptable and good job in the position they are holding. This is a big problem. But to big companies people are just numbers so things like that slip underneath the radar very quickly.

I love to play games, I like to map for games. Naturally, I want a career in the industry.

I hope I'll be able to build up enough of a strong portfolio so I'll have a shot at it.