Veerdhawal Khanvilkar - Level Designer

[razormax]

Hi,

I am a level designer by profession and realized it recently that my professional work alone won't allow me to get noticed. So I started working on building a portfolio of personal work and have created a website for my portfolio. Mostly my focus is on level design and less on the art. I also want to increase my skills as a level designer which can only be done through constantly creating maps for different games.

Portfolio

It would be great if all of you can give me feedback on improving it further. In coming months i will be creating many more levels for different games.

Also i am looking for a new job as a Level Designer where i get to work on bigger projects.

Thanks

[Campaignjunkie]

- invest in a domain name

- I look at your nexuiz levels and think, "okay blocky arena thing" -- you have all these additional buttons and JS animations that are unnecessary... just do something simple and straightforward like this: http://magnarj.net/ the work should speak for itself

- no one's arguing you have to be a great environment artist, but I think you do have to be a decent one, or know how to arrange props in a pleasing way, if only just to sell your map concepts further than "blocky arena thing" or "random low LoD farcry3 props arranged on a flat terrain"... I don't know if these play well or not, but I look at these screenshots and I don't care about finding out if they play well

the fact of the matter is that they just don't look professional, and an employer would have to invest a lot of resources in training and educating you when you should be training yourself with mods and personal projects anyway... think about who you're competing against

- anyway: don't give up, make more levels, the only way to get better is to keep working and practicing

[razormax]

- Why do u think that investing in a domain name is must and not using a free web hosting service? I am a little tight on budget and even though i can buy a domain, i cannot afford a professional web developer to build my site. I plan on buying a domain from the same web hosting service and migrate my web site to it once i can afford it. I have checked out some portfolios for new level designers who have used similar kind of services.

- I agree with your views on this, I have updated the site now and removed the animations for page transitions. I have also removed the extra pages that were not necessary.

- Well the first two levels(Nexuiz levels) are arena levels. For the first one i did try to use the existing assets from the game. I have used the props in such a way that the player can orient himself while playing. The level can clearly be distinguished into three different sections. This level is on steam workshop and i got some positive feedback on the level too .

For the second level, i agree with your view about it being just blocky thing. I tried to use some downloaded textures in a manner that would make sense while playing for the player. I do agree that props are missing from the level. I will try to think make some changes to it.

Actually the props are not randomly arranged on a flat terrain. I tried to adapt it to the design i made. My focus was on three different areas for the level. I will add some props to the level though to spice it up.

And yes i do intend to work on many more levels. Lets hope they turn out good.

Thanks for the feedback you gave. I really appreciate it.

[e-freak]

It doesn't require professional web design to simplify and text-base your website. Also, there's nothing wrong with using a free webhoster, but maybe not one that means "wank" in german. Also, you can get a domain for 5$, so it shouldn't be too heavy on your budget.

Having levels on the Steamworkshop is a great thing and the Feedback you will get there invaluable, but it won't sell an employer (unless its like Puddy's portfolio where his campaign is well received by major outlets and looks stunning on top of that). Since you released your maps already, keep polishing them, make gameplay videos, show more interesting angles. You are using two CryEngine based games, there's a LOT of potentional you didn't utilize graphically.

Don't go into making tons of levels at this level (where you need to explain in a long post why you made what), but invest more into your existing content and polish it to the point, where it speaks for itself!

[razormax]

Thanks e-freak! I get now what you guys are trying to say. I will polish the three levels as you suggested. I guess i was more engaged in designing the level instead of actually implementing it. I did download a level very similar to mine for FC3 and realized the huge difference between the both .

What do you think about sharing the design on the portfolio like i did? Is it alright to do so or should i avoid it? I am asking this because most of the portfolios i have checked don't share their designs and for a level designer its the design that should be showcased right?

Thanks again for the feedback.

[blackdog]

- Why do u think that investing in a domain name is must and not using a free web hosting service?

To buy a domain name is a totally different thing than hosting, don't be tricked by the fact that usually the things go hand in hand with all-in-one plans.

You can register a domain for 5-10$/€ per year, than there are a ton of free services that will enable you to create a website and address it to your nice URL, Wix itself allows that

- Well the first two levels(Nexuiz levels) are arena levels. For the first one i did try to use the existing assets from the game.

Well, also Quake 3 Arena had arena-shaped maps, and they didn't even had props (almost). Forget the flow, any Q3 map screenshot is still sexy because of intersting architecture/geometry. What's missing in my opinion in your maps is elevation, I feel really satisfied in a mp game when I can come down the head of someone

Have you tried Shootmania? Since you have contacts in Ubisoft I would hammer on that nail first to build a multiplayer map portfolio.

Edited January 3, 2013 by blackdog

[Kedhrin]

It's really cool to see you making levels for your portfolio with Nexuiz, but Nexuiz was built in a non-normal fashion. I designed 8 of the 15 maps in Nexuiz with blue room "solids" (outlined here:

)

Outside of the 8 maps I designed, I did art for 5 (plus 1 for a level i didn't design). But i did the art all in 3D Studio Max on a unique 'scene per scene' basis.

We decided against creating a modular set because of our team size and constraints didn't allow it. Plus, CryENGINE 3 is a very 3D Studio Max heavy engine. You can design levels all day in the engine, but even with a large asset library, you'll eventually need to be going into 3dsmax to do a lot more clean up.

CryENGINE 3 just doesn't have that great of CSG support (aka BSP / Solids). Solids in CryENGINE are meant for placeholders that artists will come in and replace with detailed assets later on (re: our work flow on Nexuiz) or for temporary filler.

If you want to focus 100% on design, and maybe not let the lack of proper aesthetics hurt your presentation, i recommend either finding a free modular set or asking someone who's made a modular set to use there's I don't recommend using an older engine as showing you can work with CryENGINE 3, Unreal Engine, or a proprietary modern engine really goes a long way (I won't even look at someones resume anymore if they don't have top tier engine knowledge).

most of all, nail your design first. Nexuiz has bots so you could definitely use that.

the UDK scene has quite a bit of modular assets that might be good to use... but you'll still need to export them from 3dsmax. You should ask some of those users if you can use their assets for your work.

[razormax]

Thanks Kendhrin! nice to have a feedback from the developer of the game for which I made the levels. I will try to get some modular sets if possible or will try to get my hands dirty with modelling of my own modular set .

Also, I choose Nexuiz for the very same reason you mentioned about top tier engine knowledge. I know I haven't used the full potential of CryEngine 3 in my levels and I am still working on the levels, specially the Facilty level.

It's feels good to get feedback from all of you. It really helped.

[Kedhrin]

I think it is awesome you made levels for Nexuiz. (Of course). But still, youre better off making levels for Crysis 2. Take it from me. The Arena FPS genre is dead. Nexuiz was the last stand. Shootmania is a joke, as im sure youre aware.

Regardless, i have my internal interns even focused on Crysis 2 levels, as its relevant. Id focus on that.

[razormax]

Thanks Kendhrin.