Posts by Furyo

  • Good luck Arttu :D

    I can see where calling would be inconvenient simply because very few people actually have a phone on their desk. At Ubisoft you're lucky to have 1 phone per 10 persons, and long distance calls are blocked anyway. Emails I have absolutely no problem with, and I actually do get emails from other companies straight at work so I don't suppose they would be pissed if I did the same thing. LinkedIn also gets used.

  • Meeting?

    Quote from hessi

    whoever will be there, can you just punch peris in his filthy mouth for me? thx. can't wait for the games convention follow-up in cologne next year! hopefully we can make a mapcore reunion!

    For the record, the latest word on the street is that it's going back to Leipzig after this year....

  • Good luck Arttu :D

    I wonder how many Mapcorians know where he's going Obviously Klein, Magnar and I have known for a while now, who's in our little club?

    And Arttu, like I told you, you'll be just fine. It's about time you had your chance to shine, and shine you will

  • Moving on

    As I said to you by email Michael, I really think this is a great decision you took, one that can only help you in the future. Best of luck with it all, I'm sure you'll do fine and will enjoy a student's life

  • How You Got Into The Industry

    Was unemployed, sat in front of the computer for 15 hours a day for over a year. Went from not having had a single 3D experience before to completing a test for Ubisoft Montpellier. I had sent my application to Montreal, who bumped it back to France without me knowing. Two months later I received this email from Montpellier where I had not even applied.

    The interview started with my then future lead telling me "I don't care if you're more talented or more skilled than any other applicant, I'm looking for guys with personality in my team. Of the 20 guys applying, you were the only one that read my instructions for the test and made the test I asked for. That's why you're here"

    Never underestimate the value of knowing how to work as opposed to purely having skills.

    I basically owe my change of career to this one man. I had not started mapping to join the industry, I had no intention of doing that. I then realized I was enjoying the creative part of this work a lot more than anything else I had done in marketing or sales. So when I realized I couldn't even go to interviews without thinking of mapping, I had to start looking at it.

    The social networking is important from the outside looking in, but all the same when you're inside. My lead in Montpellier wanted to keep me on his team after Rayman, and is mostly responsible for me not being sacked after that project like 80% of the team (contractors we were). It's why I was able to continue at Annecy, and while not the reason why I am in Montreal now, he's also played his part in me working on PoP rather than any other project. My current lead is a former LD on his team much like I was. He started on Beyond Good and Evil, me on Rayman.

  • Where are all the Level Designers?

    Quote from Zacker

    Again I disagree here. I might not be doing the actual art for my levels, but I am still very much the guy who works closest with the environment artist on the level. It is for a large part my design ideas, visions and fantasy which he is helping to bring to life.

    I acknowledge that you can't see much of the gameplay in screenshots. You can however get to feel what kind of level this is, what emotions it brings and what the story behind this place is. A piece of architecture and the composition of it's elements is telling so much about what the level designer was thinking.

    Sorry I was referring to the level designers on prince of persia specifically. Two of us have websites with our work on it. All artists have their own. That's what I meant. And in a stricter definition of the job, the examples you cited (architecture, composition) can be level artist exclusive on some projects.

  • Where are all the Level Designers?

    Quote from Jetsetlemming

    Since a lot of industry level designers are posting in this thread, I wanted to ask a question: How many of you have a responsibility in the project to actually create art assets over creating the level geometry, sticking the art assets in and on it, and scripting it all together?

    I don't create any art asset, especially since I wouldn't know how the hell to, but I work hand in hand with the level artist to make both visions fit. And I do all my scripting (and some on other maps as well). That's entirely project related though. On Rayman, it was all about gameplay and scripting, never even had to talk to the artists.

  • Where are all the Level Designers?

    You know HP, I used to think exactly like you. "What will happen if I choose this job 10 years from now". I always was told throughout my school years that I had to choose a career path, and stick to it. Then came my business school, that basically told me that at the rate things are, I would change jobs 6-7 times during my career, as an average. I thought the French system really didn't make room for that many changes to happen, in a country where your diploma still dictates what you'll do for the rest of your life.

    And then I chose to change my career path, worked my way in myself, through sweat and tears as a random loner locked away in my room in front of an often puzzling piece of software (SourceSDK) and made it happen. The only long lasting thing I got from that is that it's possible to beat the odds and the naysayers, and that in 10 years time, should I decide it's again time to move on and do something else to support the family I'm yet to have, that I will be able to do it.

    The outlook I now have is that there is no longer any career whatever it is I end up doing. There is only a series of different life experiences you choose to do or not do. And only now do I understand what my teachers told me during business school, there is no longer any certainty about any career you can choose to do, so you might as well enjoy yourself and do what you like doing at the present time. Hard, unpleasing and tedious as it may be from time to time.

    You'll also find that recruiters can be interested in your other job experiences and draw new responsabilities from even your hobby. A good friend of mine that lurks around Mapcore was recently bumped up in his Insurance company because of his experience with the SourceSDK. My own experience is that recruiters who show this ability increase my desire to work for said company too.

  • Where are all the Level Designers?

    I can also definitely understand why some don't want to move anywhere and stay in their hometown, but life is about choices and priorities. If you want to work in the games industry, you will most likely have to move around from time to time at best, every year in the worst case scenario.

    I was brought up moving around from city to city every 3 years or so, sometimes even from country to country. I know exactly what some of you are referring to here as something you (or others) do not want for their family, but on the contrary that is exactly what I would like for my family. It's all personal choices, and being a level designer or a biochemist has nothing to do with it.

    On the topic of continuing on the mod scene after you've made it in the industry, I can definitely see where even the most hardcore designer will fade away from the community after a while. It takes its toll, and for every problem you encounter working on your own, you realize the games you've worked on bring a lot more to your career than anything you come up with yourself. So there really only is self motivation to keep you going, and we all know how that swings back and forth. Besides, having a balanced life overall is probably what will keep you from burning out entirely including at your job.

    The 9-5 attitude is as respectable as anything else, and is commonly shared throughout all industries and all countries (that have 9-5....). At the same time, I would personally advise people that are typically looking for that kinda working hours to stay away from certain positions in the games industry, like the aforementioned producer.

  • Where are all the Level Designers?

    I agree it's the "paste any huge publisher/developer"'s way, not necessarily Ubisoft's. We are 130+ people on Prince of Persia, and that's just the next gen game, not the DS. With teams that size, specialization is not only something that's desirable, it's a simple organizational necessity. If people worked different jobs, nothing would ever get done because for one thing no one would ever know where to reach you.

    But I agree with Zeta that the variety of tasks at hand is very enjoyable, and that can still be achieved in a game like Prince of Persia as a level designer, because it's a level design driven game. Level design drives everything else. As such, with the organization we have in place right now, level designers also interact very closely with the level artists obviously, but also the cameras team, and we do our own scripting which usually involves the programmers as well when we need something that isn't in Anvil yet because Assassin's Creed had no need for it, etc.