1. Forums
  2. Discord
  3. About Mapcore
  4. Patreon Supporters
  • Login
  • Register
  • Search
Everywhere
  • Everywhere
  • Articles
  • Pages
  • Forum
  • More Options
  1. Mapcore
  2. Members
  3. PaulH

Posts by PaulH

  • Denny Edita - Level Designer

    • PaulH
    • May 23, 2014 at 1:14 PM

    1. What it take to get a job as Level Designer at Major Company, like Crytek ?


    Numerous things really, a good starting point though is a strong portfolio, showing willingness to learn and improve. Luck is part of it - to get your foot in the door of the industry is normally the big step. In my case Codemasters just happened to be looking for graduate level designers when I came out of uni. Once I was there and built up a few years of industry experience I was able to transfer across to Crytek. I know one guy who took a different route though, who applied at the indie/student games studios after university, and worked his way through those for a few years until he got his shot working for Headstrong in London and now Ubisoft.


    I've said it before, but I think it's important that whilst at university you don't do the bare minimum that they ask you to do. Lots of people on my course did that, and when they graduated they all had the same model of the same castle on their portfolio which they'd been asked to do for the 3D side of the course. Just because you get good grades doesn't mean you have learnt all you need to. In my final year group project in my team of 10 people, some of us spent months building levels, programming and modelling, and a couple of guys basically added in a few drawings in the last week. We all got the same mark and everyone got a 1st, as it was poorly tutored, but really, I know who got the most out of it.


    I spent a lot of time working outside of my coursework though, learning before it was taught and building up my portfolio separate to my uni work, which I think helped me in the long run. Experiment with modelling too (which I can see you have) - some companies use 3D modelling packages to create levels rather than in-house editors. Experiment with different engines, so you are able to compare the strengths and weaknesses of each.


    In terms of the degree itself, I don't think it's as important nowadays if your portfolio is strong enough, but what a good degree does show is a commitment to your desired position, so aim high there too. If you're not involved in any mods, have a look for something you could jump into as a side project as well - always helps to get experience working within any kind of team when it comes to design, whether they are industry professionals or not.


    2. Do you think my Portfolio is good enough to get that position ?


    It's not really for me to say, but what I would advise you to do is check out this thread:


    Flick through the portfolios in there. Yes, many of them contain industry work but you'll normally be able to see what the person was up to before they got their break. Compare their work to yours, both pre and post working in the industry, and ask yourself does yours actually compare? If not, what can you do to improve yours? What are they showcasing that you'd be able to learn and also show? The best thing here is to very critical about your own work, don't be defensive, it's probably one of the worst traits a designer can have when it comes to their work. No one produces anything perfect, there's always room for improvement, and you will get criticism of your work, especially when starting out professionally.


    Get your degree whilst doing as much personal work to improve your skills as possible, write your CV based around your achievements thus far as a designer (no one in the industry needs to know someone used to work in Sainsbury's), write a covering letter for each company you apply to, detailing exactly why you would like to work for that company and what you can bring to them, and get your applications out there. Finally, it's good to realise that many companies hiring out of university know that the candidates need training and have no experience. Don't make the mistake of approaching your application as 'the best level designer ever', even if you think you're awesome. When I interviewed at Codemasters I literally said to the guys that what I wanted was just to be given the chance to work with such an established team, and to learn as much as I could from them, I think that resonated with them much more than someone coming in assuming they were already the dogs bollocks, so to speak.


    Good luck!

  • What have you watched recently?

    • PaulH
    • May 22, 2014 at 4:17 PM
    Quote from Thrik

    Who knows, but it's seriously film-quality shit. The production quality of the gore... holy fuck, easily the worst stuff I've ever seen on TV and kind of pushing it for film too.

    I'm glad to hear season two continues the excellence, and while it's sad that it's probably coming to an end at least it means there's an opportunity to tidy everything up and bring it to a sweet conclusion.

    One problem a lot of US shows have is that they don't know when to stop. As amazing as Hannibal is, I have trouble imagining how they'd keep it as tense and shocking over even five seasons.


    No spoilers, but if you thought Season 1 was gory, you've not seen anything yet. Second to last episode of Season 2 tops the lot.

  • What have you watched recently?

    • PaulH
    • May 22, 2014 at 1:09 PM

    Hannibal is brilliant, I don't know why more people don't watch it. The second season is/was awesome (final episode on tomorrow night). Gory as anything too, really surprised me what they get away with. So glad they're making Season 3, but it's worrying that they might not get to do the full 8 seasons they want because of low viewing figures.

  • Denny Edita - Level Designer

    • PaulH
    • May 20, 2014 at 8:20 PM

    Brings back memories, looks like a pretty faithful reconstruction I created my own version of the Southfield over the road during my time at uni...anyway, agreed with Chris, best to take inspirational elements from these real world places and combine them with fictional set pieces to ensure you cater for gameplay as much as possible, keep it up


    Also, might be worth adding your portfolio of work onto a website, rather than linking to a PDF. I use CarbonMade and they're ok for basic folio's, the guys here can no doubt recommend other/better options

  • Slayer Designs - Level Designer

    • PaulH
    • May 12, 2014 at 2:26 PM

    You should really try to correct your written English, especially in the 'About' section of the portfolio, it comes across as quite unprofessional otherwise. Not sure if English is your first language (though it says you grew up in Canada), but yeah, I'd get on that first

  • Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare

    • PaulH
    • May 2, 2014 at 9:49 AM

    Looks good, I do like me some COD but Ghosts SP was not great. There's a couple of ok levels in there (the assault on the skyscraper for example), but when a game has you shooting people underwater, and then shooting more people in space, you know that they've run out of ideas about where you can possibly shoot people.


    Multiplayer in Ghosts is fun, but not without some spawning issues still. At least the maps are larger than the ones in MW3 and there's a chance to get some respite from the action. Judging from this trailer I'm guessing the AW multiplayer will incorporate that futuristic suit, meaning you can run faster, jump higher and further etc. There's obviously some Titanfall and Crysis fans over there...still, it would be nice to see them trying to freshen things up somewhat.

  • What's going on with your life?

    • PaulH
    • April 28, 2014 at 12:34 PM

    I met my girlfriends parents the other night, they were visiting from Istanbul. On the way to the restaurant a bird did a shit on my shoulder. Her parents said it was meant to be lucky, though I think that's just something people say to make themselves feel better about being shat on.

  • Playstation 4

    • PaulH
    • April 22, 2014 at 5:23 PM
    Quote from (HP)

    [Blocked Image: https://scontent-b-sjc.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t31.0-8/902721_625731397504406_5613698198498598854_o.png]


    IMO though there's very few (actually none) of those extra PS4 titles that I'd want, might be a case of quality vs quantity. In March the XB1 had 2 games released and the PS4 had 10, but I still look at that and wish one of those 2 XB1 titles had come to PS4.

  • Battlefield 4

    • PaulH
    • April 7, 2014 at 10:11 AM
    Quote from killertomato

    glad you're playing it just fine PaulH i've just fired it up again and read on battlelog that dice is adressing rubberbanding issues. of all the bugs ive had encountered with bf4, rubberbanding was not one of them (not often anyway). but now i can't join any server without unplayable rubberbanding and a dramatic fps decrease from 35-40 to 15-20 (and im already playing on lowest settings lol). gj


    Not seen any of this happening and was playing it over the weekend, maybe it's region specific?


    Quote from Pampers

    controls are pretty much the same as every other console shooter in the last generation, I think the touch pad is used to bring up battlelog but I can't remember. Dunno if any other games have used it for anything fancy yet? Hopefully it won't end up as something gimmicky.


    Infamous uses the touch pad for quite a few things, you have to swipe it to rip doors off prison cages. You also move your thumbs up on it to raise generators out of the ground, then hold them there whilst you mash the right trigger to destroy it. I did read in a review they felt the touchpad was a bit overused in this respect though.


    Quote from Thrik

    How is it control-wise? I've always found Battlefield a pretty challenging game to be good at even on PC, with the luxury of a keyboard and mouse. Is its PS4 incarnation a classic 'look around with the stick' style, or have any of the PS4's features such as the camera or touch pad been used to make it easier to play effectively? Just wondering how big an obstacle the controls are with what is historically a tough game to enjoy until you're really good.


    I think it's fine to control on PS4, but then I always play shooters on console now (not meaning to spark another PC/console debate, hope Dux isn't reading this )

  • Battlefield 4

    • PaulH
    • April 5, 2014 at 1:18 PM

    I'll be honest, this game is running really well for me on PS4, maybe I missed the party in terms of the issues with it, but it's brilliant. The only real bug is a lack of sound for the first ~10 seconds of a match, which isn't ideal but not a game breaker. Apart from that I'm really enjoying it, though there is some sloppy design in places, it's clear it was slightly rushed. The first Rush point on Paracel Storm is a snaggy mess, it's quite easy to get stuck on destroyed building pieces or fail to climb certain objects until after trying about 5 times and getting shot in the process, and I've seen big seams in the terrain that could have easily been rectified, but it's all good generally. Would be nice to see more of a progression between this and BF5 than there was between it and BF3, but I enjoyed BF3 so I don't mind so much.

  • Alien: Isolation

    • PaulH
    • March 24, 2014 at 1:16 PM
    Quote from Vilham

    Don't worry Liam, every artist in the industry refuses to play the game they work on.


    OFT, never understood this, it's like the hardest thing to get them to play the game. And yes by saying 'they' I'm lumping all you arty types together, but have yet to be proven otherwise that this is the case In my experience the only time they do play the game is about 2 weeks before it's released and then they delight in coming to tell all the designers everything that's wrong with the game that there is no longer any time to do anything about. You bastards.

  • True Detective - TV Show

    • PaulH
    • March 11, 2014 at 2:02 PM

    Watched the finale,

    Quote

    was a really good series overall but I'm a bit disappointed that I got on board the speculation train and started reading too much into it all, when really there were a lot of red herrings in it that were ultimately irrelevant it seems. This article summed it all up well I thought:

    http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/…hats-it/284312/

  • True Detective - TV Show

    • PaulH
    • March 7, 2014 at 9:55 AM

    Personally it's one of my three top shows on currently, along with Game of Thrones and Hannibal. I'd say grab the whole lot and binge watch them this weekend in anticipation of the finale on Sunday

  • Battlefield 4

    • PaulH
    • March 6, 2014 at 7:16 PM

    Good to know, will pick up a copy. Didn't want to miss out on playing this one altogether

  • True Detective - TV Show

    • PaulH
    • March 6, 2014 at 12:44 PM

    External Content youtu.be
    Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.
    Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

  • South Park: The Stick of Truth

    • PaulH
    • March 5, 2014 at 8:11 PM

    Just played through the first censored section, must have been about 5 of those screens in about 5 minutes. Really annoying actually, ruined what should have been a really funny part of the game. Don't the censors realise people will just view the content online if they really want to see it? What's the point?


    EDIT: Just watched those scenes online, they weren't even that bad, ridiculous

  • Battlefield 4

    • PaulH
    • March 5, 2014 at 1:19 PM

    Anyone playing this currently on PS4? How is it (after all the recent patches)?

  • South Park: The Stick of Truth

    • PaulH
    • March 5, 2014 at 9:22 AM
    Quote from Izuno

    I own about 10 seasons of South Park on iTunes and in general I consider myself a devoted fan of the show. I feel obliged to get this but I'm not really a turn based RPG kind of gamer...


    ...oh well.


    Get it anyway, I don't like turn based combat games either but I still think this is awesome, there's an incredible amount in it for fans of the show

  • Batman Arkham Origins

    • PaulH
    • March 4, 2014 at 3:24 PM

    Will give it a go, batmobile sounds cool. Got a bit put off by the recent Warner Brothers game though but the Rocksteady titles have been pretty consistent in quality so far

  • True Detective - TV Show

    • PaulH
    • March 4, 2014 at 1:29 PM

    This show is awesome, I didn't even realise how deep it was until I started reading the reddit discussion page about it: http://www.reddit.com/r/TrueDetective/


    Those guys have reminded me of quite a few things I either missed or dismissed as being irrelevant - in a way this show is having the same impact on me as Bioshock Infinite did, love stuff like this. One of the things reddit has turned up is (Spoilers for those who aren't up to date)

    Quote

    the possible implication of Marty's daughter in this Tuttle family child abuse ring. Pictures in Marty's house on the walls, the ones she drew that his wife showed him, the arrangement of her dolls in one of the early episodes etc all prove that she could possibly have seen the video tape that Marty watched this week when she was younger, or that she knows about what went on in some other way (was she abused? was Maggie's father involved?), hence now being on medication and a bit messed up.

    http://i.imgur.com/XTl65Y0.jpg. A lot of the theories might amount to nothing, there may be a lot unexplained eventually (will Rust's visions come into play?) but either way I think all the theorising for things like this is cool and it all makes me look forward to next week's finale even more

Discord

The Mapcore Discord is our lively IRC channel of the 2000s reborn. Chat about level design, gaming, and more.

Latest Posts

  1. Custom Gamemodes Contest

    Angel
    July 20, 2026 at 11:46 AM
  2. FAQ

    Angel
    July 20, 2026 at 10:14 AM
  3. Tangerine

    Harry Poster
    July 18, 2026 at 11:10 AM
  4. Any of the old guard still around? D:

    Warby
    July 12, 2026 at 8:23 PM
  5. About our archived forums

    Thrik
    June 30, 2026 at 2:12 PM
  6. Mapcore Discord

    mason_fan123
    June 24, 2026 at 8:52 PM
  7. [CS2] Valley

    Serialmapper
    June 22, 2026 at 11:56 AM
  8. Free Music / SFX Resource - Over 2500 Tracks

    Eric Matyas
    June 18, 2026 at 12:32 PM
  9. Pango [WIP]

    Elowen
    June 11, 2026 at 10:13 AM
  10. [CS2] Dvina

    Jeremy Rivera
    June 11, 2026 at 10:03 AM
  1. Privacy Policy
  2. Contact
Powered by WoltLab Suite™