Tim Hynd - Level Designer

[Marvin.Star]

I will continue to work on and update my portfolio and would appreciate thoughts and comments at any time. Thanks in advance guys:)!

http://www.timhynd.net/

[Puddy]

Heya,

the site certainly does the trick, but could use some tidying up.

- The title font is a bit blobby. Pick a thinner font. In fact, try removing the text in the body of the portfolio altogether. The name of the projects are visible in the images.

- Include your contact-info on the main page and remove the contact-tab

- The first two rows of the portfolio body with the text "Portfolio" and "Demo reel" look weird. We know it's your portfolio, so remove that line. Make sure there is some room between the top of the body and "Demo reel".

- I don't know if other people will pick up on this but the site is very slow; be sure to pick a reliable webhost.

[Marvin.Star]

Thanks Puddy! I have gone in and removed all the blobby title text, removed the contact page and replaced it with my email in the banner and a Linked In button in the menu. I'm working on removing the 'Portfolio' title; I'm having difficulty figuring out where that particular title is in the .php code(I don't like it either). I was also concerned about the speed of the site, I have myself setup with Netfirms, and I'm thinking I got on board the wrong ship with that one. I would appreciate hearing from more people about the performance / loading time. Is it slow? Average? If it is slow does anyone know of a reasonably priced host I can move my WordPress site to?

[KorJax]

Ran fine for me, on a tablet even! I wouldn't be too concerned about that

The layout and the format is pretty good, it was nice to navigate through.

As far as your portfolio itself goes, I feel like there needs to be some more stuff stuff going on there level-design wise, but its a good start. You've got a nice handful of projects on display that show the bredth of your skill right now (which is good), but there wasn't too much in there I felt that showed how deep you can go. A lot of this likely has to do with the learning enviornment and time scedule class-projects provide. My advice would be to keep on building your portfolio and start some projects (either UDK/indie or mod related, depending on where you want to see yourself) you can spend a good chunk of TLC on, that really shows just how far your skills go

Your resume could also do without stuff like a detailed part-time-job analysis. I can't imagine most creative professionals would see such things as resume-worthy, but I don't see the harm in mentioning you've been working various jobs to show that you have work-experience in general. Its just that reading your line on you were a baker at Tim Hortons allowing you to be creative within given boundaries, seems a little forced I'd put more focus, and more highlight for nice skills such as that, into your actual projects. Also, I question the relevance of stating your personal interests on your resume, especially stuff like going to Wild Wings for fun. It just isn't relevant for the kind of thing a resume should represent IMO - your personality/what drives you/interests and other misc things that describe who you are as an individual, are things I imagine professionals like to fish for in the interview process.

Overall though, its a great looking and functioning portfolio and a nice foundation Keep up working on it!

[Marvin.Star]

Thanks a lot Korjax, appreciate the feedback. I did end up switching web hosts from the horrific Netfirms to WebHostingHub. The switch boosted speed by about 20 times... lol.

As for content, I totally agree! Probably sounds odd, but based on observations I made of my peers 'demo reel' I realized my portfolio is really lacking in proper level design content. These observations were significant; because my peer got an interview with Bioware based on his 'demo reel' alone!

I've decided to use some level design contests as a platform for my new projects, which are aimed to show more level design rather than what I've realized in my work is more... like modding. I think while at school I was just really obsessed with learning how to make all aspects of games; which I pretty much did. So hopefully these next projects will show simply level design.

I'm working everything from design docs I've made, mapping them out, blocking them out, and most importantly I am using editing tools from games like Half-Life 2, Portal 2 (when the new tool arrives, today?), and Dungeon Defenders. Using complete games as a platform for my levels forces me to focus on pure level design When I start posting my new work I'd love to ask for your critique again!

Ah, the resume. Appreciate some feedback on that as well. The job descriptions are admittedly forced I developed that kind of description while working with a teacher at my school, she wanted to hear how working said job was relevant to my ability to design games. So I guess, if I can get some more opinions I'll take a look at changing that. Interests, I totally get where your coming from, I suppose I was convinced by an instructor that I needed to put some personality into my resume and interests were his suggestion. I imagine it may also be smarter not to put there, kind of like giving out unnecessary information, which may prevent me from getting an interview I will probably change that shortly as well.

Thanks again for your time and thoughts!

[KorJax]

Yeah don't worry! I totally get you there heh. My resume I made up for a class in Buisness writing looked similar. It's not a bad idea in-general to list part time jobs on a resume and such I think, but for a creative field, I get the feeling that it's best to avoid resume padding such as that if you can. The best route IMO would be to have a shorter, but impactful resume - and if you want it to look fuller, then keep working on stuff that'll make it look stronger and fuller Employers will care more about what actually impactful stuff you have done, that is relevant for the career/job you are applying for, than part time jobs (unless the job is relevant to the position). This is why it's always a good idea to give out resumes and cover letters that are tailor made for the company you are applying for, so you can target the exact things they might be looking for.

It's good though to have a broad introduction and thurough experience with all aspects of game design, because it is VERY useful to be knowledgeable in all aspects of the trade, but specilized in one area. You're more flexible (which is valuble), you can more easily solve problems related to your levels (which is valuble), and you can generally be more indepedant, or helpful for other people working on other aspects (which is valuble).

Good idea with the contests. It's a great way to get involved and seriously polish up your work, especially if you win something! I first made the jump into serious 3D level design stuff with the ICMC contest for Crysis back in 2007-2008 or so, and that did wonders for building "creative confidence" (being comfortable getting into a workflow and actually getting dream ideas in my head done). It also helped that I won a processor from it, so that was neat From there I joined a dream-mod team I wanted to be on, and still contribute here and there to this day (mostly to touch up other's work, advice, etc). That helped a lot not only with my actual skills as a designer, but also working in a long-term project enviornment.

I know it might seem like you need to get a job ASAP, but personally I feel there's a lot of value in choosing to do your dream job right now in your free time, outside any odd-jobs you might be working for cash At least that's how I look at it. I'm 4 years in at uni after this spring, and still have 2 or so years of uni left.. I feel like that in time I'll be comfortable enough with myself to want to work in a professional enviornment. Or, I might gain the confidence to not want a professional environment and choose to go indie. I'd have a lot more pressure to get a professional job ASAP though if I had a lot of debt to worry about.. I'm lucky enough to have opened the right doors (as well as working my whole time during school) to be able to generally afford it myself outright so far.

[Marvin.Star]

Hey, I've made some significant updates to my portfolio :

- Removed 'New Prypyat CTF' map project

- Removed 'Interests' from my resume

+ Added 'Water Side Warm Up - Portal 2' project

+ Added 'Design Documents' page

+ Added 'Level Design Document' to 'Capstone Project: Thrifty Isle' page

+ Put a couple of Notes under the video links on 'Capstone Project: Thrifty Isle' and 'Third Person Shooter: Storage'

Going to grab some better screen shots for the Portal 2 page but please let me know what you think of my portfolio as a whole. Thanks for your time guys!

[Marvin.Star]

Bump.

[insta]

I think I'd remove the modeling page and just mention it in the CV. I'm not very good at modeling, so that's why I just say it in text and let the reader imagine what awesome high quality models I can make. Once they hire me its too late.

The Portal2 screenshots are very messy, maybe find one or two cool angles, remove the weapon from view, and put some more effort into presentation?

All your level design docs are marked as "confidential" in the bottom left corner, which they don't actually appear to be, so maybe remove that.

Also remove the lines under each work experience how it relates to the games industry, because crueler people than me might laugh at that, and not in a funny way

[Marvin.Star]

I think I'd remove the modeling page and just mention it in the CV. I'm not very good at modeling, so that's why I just say it in text and let the reader imagine what awesome high quality models I can make. Once they hire me its too late.

The Portal2 screenshots are very messy, maybe find one or two cool angles, remove the weapon from view, and put some more effort into presentation?

All your level design docs are marked as "confidential" in the bottom left corner, which they don't actually appear to be, so maybe remove that.

Also remove the lines under each work experience how it relates to the games industry, because crueler people than me might laugh at that, and not in a funny way

Thanks for the feedback insta.

I've removed the modelling page, I'll grab some cleaner screens for the Portal 2 maps shortly.

Not too concerned about the confidential thing but I get what your saying lol

Getting rid of the lines under the jobs right now; would you expect to see a brief description of tasks done for each job, or do you think it is better just to show each job time, title, and company without a description? I mean, being a baker is fairly self explanatory I think, but Project Lead may not be so clear. For the time being I have described the two jobs that are less obvious: Project Lead, and Production Associate.

Appreciate your time and expertise insta thanks a lot!

P.S. While I have your attention I'm curious what you think of my level design docs; I came up with the structure myself and it makes sense to me but do you have any suggestions pertaining design documents? More visuals maybe?

[Marvin.Star]

I just finished replacing the Portal 2 screens and tried to tidy them up a bit. Let me know what you think