Looking for direction; Thoughts on using a Hammer SDK environment as a portfolio piece

[coolguyslims]

Hello!

I'm a student artist who is looking into incorporating 3D environments into my portfolio. I have a passion for level design and environmental art, so I started by learning Maya, ZBrush, Substance Designer and Painter, etc. so that I can make assets for environments. While I'm still learning, I feel comfortable enough with these software that I'd like to start to produce environments for my portfolio pieces instead of props and weapons. However, I've been having a hard time deciding what I should do.

To preface, I have a lot of experience using Hammer SDK as a kid. I've probably put over 1,000 hours into it and I feel comfortable with the software. However, I had no 3D experience outside of that, so all the assets I used were from the Source library that's included.

Most people from what I can tell choose to learn Unreal Engine or Unity, producing static environments to be used as pictures for their portfolio. It just seems a little unsatisfying to not be able to experience these environments with your friends in a game. I'd like to create an environment that also showcases level design and is something I can play on.

I think it would be fun to create a free-for-all map designed for a small group in CS:GO using custom assets. As I mentioned I already know how to use Hammer SDK, so I wouldn't have to spend time learning an antiquated engine. I created maps for my group of friends when I used to use Hammer SDK and it was so much fun it convinced me to become a 3D Artist. However, I have some worries that I don't know how to structure into a paragraph so I just listed them below.

• Is using an older engine like Source a bad idea for portfolios?
• Level design seems difficult to convey through pictures, do employers care about that on a portfolio or do they just want to see high graphical fidelity?
• I want to use my time as best as possible. Is it likely that a project like this would detract from learning more important software such as Unreal Engine or Unity Engine? Is the experience from working on a level in Source drastically different than from other engines?
• Are there any other problems with this idea?

There are also some technical questions I wanted to ask about completing a project like this. Originally I wanted to create a map that had all custom assets, and while that might be feasible, it sounds like absolute madness. I feel like at most I could make most of the props and some textures for prominent areas. What are your thoughts on creating assets for a map? How often should you use them instead of recycling textures / props? It seems strange to showcase a map I made on my portfolio and have a bunch of textures I didn't make included, but I don't know.

If scratching this and dedicating myself to learning Unreal Engine instead is better, then so be it. I'm just trying to decide on what I should do to start. I'd really appreciate your opinions.

Thank you for the help!

[blackdog]

What is that you are interested in doing: Level Design or Environmental Art?
Because as much as they are adjecient, they are two different disciplines. I'm sure a skilled designer/artist can migrate from one to the other, but unless they are working in a small team, I doubt they get to work on both.

In such a specialised industry, having skills in another department could be even seen as "detrimental", in the sense that every hour you spend on env art you don't spend improving your design skills -and vice versa- so I'm not sure how much of a leg up having those extra skills will give you.
Either Level Design or Env Art, the companies will be expecting you to be at the top of your game in the department you are applying for. Basically you don't want to be mediocre in the department that you are really interested to work in, hoping to compensate with extra skills that don't directly help in your assigment.

Say you want to be a Level Designer, being a decent Env Artist only counts if you are at least on the same level of other candidates... unless (maybe!) you are applying in a small studio where being jack-of-all-trades might be more valuable (to maintain costs down).

Sounds to me you are more interestedin Level Design, so if that's the case, graphical fidelity doesn't really count. LDs are not hired to make maps pretty, but to make them fun, original; you need to display ability in analysing the game mechanics, metrics, facilitate (or challenge!) the gameplay that has been decided.
This is at least what I have read or heard many many times in podcasts, interviews, posts here and social networks, seminars.

And the consequence of that is that arguably it doesn't really matter what tech you are using to build your maps, it should be the one you are most comfortable with.
If you are interested in the boomer shooter scene you probably want to make maps for Quake, Doom, Duke Nukem, Hexen etc - many of the people working on Graven for example, are from the Quake scene, and they use the HammUEr plugin to convert maps made in Hammer to UE4.
We had this discussion many times in the forum, and I think most people agree that it's best to build a map for actual games rather than greyboxes in engines where you can't display gameplay because you are not mapping for a game but essentially building a new game from scratch. Sure you can use many plugins from the marketplaces to implement an FPS or TPS for example, but there's probably no match to be able to display actual gameplay (be it PvP or AI) than an imaginative recreation "oh this map is intended to be for an Uncharted-like game, but the character can't make this jump because the plugin doesn't support it".

So TLDR, I would say the things to focus for Level Design are:

• Show you can finish a project (well this goes for every job really)
• Clearly explain what were your objectives when you set off
• Clearly explain the outcome: did you succeed, how do you measure success, what can you do better, etc
• Clearly show your thought process: sketching, documenting your steps up to final result
  • Document the time you spend overall and for tasks, helps you and shows you are responsible
• Make something interesting: pick a scenario, show how you support player choice or accommodate competitive tactics
• Build maps for released games (chosing the tech you are most productive with, that support your vision best, etc)
  • If you have used old tech, once you have a couple finished projects, look at current tech because you want to be able to hit the ground running as much as possible - find released games with an editor or find plugins that allow you to create semi-functional maps

Once you have completed a map for CSGO for example, then you can worry about embellishing with custom assets if you are so inclined, but don't make the looks the focus of the project, show why the map is good, then add on top that you made it even better with your artist skills.

It is important or can be very beneficial to network, I'm pretty sure statistics across all industries show that being referred yelds higher success rate for candidates. You skip the queue, you can get your portfolio in front of recruiters/seniors and get feedback even without applying - giving you the opportunity to improve before getting a slap in the face and spending lots of time just trying to figure out what the companies find interesting.
Networking can also bring you free mentoring, or there are many designers that are now offering this as a paid service.
Reach out to people, be nice, and you'll find lots of support.

It can also be beneficial to write some pieces to show your critique skills, that you can analyse other people's work, how you give feedback, how knowledgable you are in terms of tech if you make assumptions, etc.

Here are some resources where you can find info from designers that have made it and what companies look for in portfolios:

• Mapcore guide to making it in the industry
• Level Design Lobby podcast
• Steve Lee
• Watch GDC lectures
• GMTK on TLOU2
• Peter Field
  • Tips & techniques
  • Spatial communication

Edited July 19, 2022 by blackdog