need advice

Have you any preference on what engine you would like to use? A game you play more often than others for instance? Most people in this community work with the Source engine primarily, but all the other major ones have people here with plenty of experience, be it Doom 3, or Unreal, or whatever. If I were just starting out at the moment I'd go with Unreal I think, primarily because UE3 is looking to be about the most widely used engine around. Getting experience with UE2 would probably stand you in good stead for when UE3 hits. Let us know what you'd prefer if you have any preference and I'm sure you'll get some good advice on where to get started

Like Reno said, most people here deal mainly with Source, but Unreal is probably your best bet if your interested in a game job. Editable UE3 games are about to start popping up everywhere, So I'd get a head start with learning Unreal. Get you a copy of Unreal Tournament 2004 and make some maps.

If you are going to use Source, Valve provides several useful programs (Hammer being the most important). I like the interface and the tools are pretty easy to figure out. For modeling in Source you should download the free version of XSI for HL2. The interface is a little overwhelming so I would recommend downloading video tutorials to quickly familiarize yourself with everything. I can recommend some good ones if you are interested.

As far as textures go, Photoshop CS is ideal but “The Gimp” is a very good free substitute. All of the development tools I use are free. To pull everything together and learn how to negotiate working between these programs and eventually get original content into Hammer, you will need to scour the Valve Developer wiki pages and forums. I am still learning something on almost a daily basis.

Bear in mind mapping is not for those who are easily frustrated or give up on things too quickly. Good luck with whatever direction you decide to go!

Source and Unreal edting are your best bets right now. Depends on your goals of course. If you want to get an industry job eventually, know them both but if you had to bet on one, start with Unreal editing given many more games are made in some form of Unreal than in Source.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Good overall design knowledge is more important than technical knowledge. Technical knowledge of engines and editors tends to change every 4 or 5 years, whereas solid design work lasts forever. So the most important thing is practice, practice, practice. Your first few maps will be crap, but so are everybodys. Learn to make a room and spawn in it. Learn to make a house. Learn to make a bigger building. Just keep it one step at a time. If you don't know how a certain thing works (like how to make a rotating door, or how to do terrain, etc), read some online tutorials and make a small map to test it out. Once you've figured it out, you can apply that technique to a larger map. Most of all, have fun. If you're stuck on something you don't enjoy, it usually shows.

Like Fletch said, have fun. I'm guessing you have a favorite game, have a look around the old internets for editing software for it and start churning out crap. After a few years, you'll be a internet legend!

You need to own the game to be able to make levels for it really - UT2004 would probably be your best bet though there are other games out there that use the Unreal engine and probably come with editing tools. If you do buy it, then the level editing program - UnrealEd - will be installed along with the game IIRC.

The Unreal Engine mapping editor is called UnrealEd and comes with any copy of Unreal Tournament 2004. It installs right along side of the game itself. Some other Unreal Engine based games may or may not come with there own version of UnrealEd.

Quote from Wally Parr

You guys are very helpful and yes i already have hammer. I've never installed it until i went over to my friends house and he was makeing a map so i got interested. Anyway, i have the XSI Mod tool with the source and unreal add-on, where can i find those good video tutorials? Ive found some good ones on http://www.iwannamap.comAlso what's a good mapping program where i could use the unreal engine? Is there something other than going out and buying the game?

Thanks for the help

Like many things in life, you get what you pay for. To get a jump start on modelling in XSI I highly recommend: XSI-Modelling 1, by S. Diston-Hunter (reissue)

It can be purchased from http://www.3dtutorial.com for $50 bucks. Probably the best money I ever spent. There is a ton of great information in there. I'm considering purchasing another one on UV texture mapping.

Some of the free tutorials are good but can leave you with a ton of questions requiring you to dig through forums and other sources for answers.