How to get a level designer job without a school degree ?

RottenArrow

Hi, 

I started learning 3D modeling and sculpting a little over a year ago but the more I did the more I realized level designer is what I want to do. Now my only problem is : I wonder if it's possible to get a junior LD job without going to school. I know you can get a modeling, sculpting, texturing, animation, lighting job if your portfolio is good enough but I can't quite figure out WHAT I could put in a LD portfolio. I mean, I'm not gonna put some Little Big Planet or Mario Maker levels in that. Obviously, I need to create some levels in Unity or UD4 but without an animated character the level would probably be boring af. 

I live in Montreal and there's plenty of studios and jobs here so that's not an issue. I'm also in the third step of a 3 steps admission process for a level designer course at a very good school here. And it's not one of these 1k a month scam school (been there). It's something like 500 CAD$ for the whole thing and the school was created through a collaboration between a CEGEP and Ubisoft a couple of years ago. My friend went 2 years ago and 90% of them got a job in the following weeks (at Eidos, Ubisoft, Behaviour Interactive, Gameloft, etc).

Anyway, if they pick me I don't start before september and if they don't well I don't start at all. Either way, I want to start working on my LD portfolio now. What I'm asking you guys is : Is it possible to get a LD job without a school degree ? I know it's not mandatory for ''art'' but since LD feels more ''technical'' in a way I feel like there's a lot of stuff you would'nt know if you don't go to school. And if it is possible, what the hell am I supposed to put in a LD portfolio ? Do I need to show that I understand space and scripting and fun and pacing yadda yadda yadda ? Do I need to put levels with the art stuff done or grayboxish levels are fine ? Should I jump into ARK/Conan/Skyrim/Fallout/etc modding instead ? Should I jump into map editors such as FarCry's ?

Help me...please... ahah ! Thanks

RottenArrow

Thanks a lot for that amazing answer. I'm still waiting for THAT e-mail but it doesn't matter I'll start what you said right away.

''Think of yourself as a game maker specialized in level designer rather than just a level designer.'' So true. It's so easy to get into a project and get so focused on your level that you forget that it needs to fit into a game. I'll keep that in mind. I wrote a couple of GDDs so I'll try to create levels that could fit those. 

RottenArrow

Oh okay I'll mix it up then. I started learning Skyrim's creation kit yesterday. It's going pretty well so far. I've spent hours creating environments for Oblivion 10 year ago and it's all coming back ahah. But yeah I'll try to make interesting levels for Skyrim, Fallout 4, Portal and UT4 to show I can make fun and working levels for single player RPG/FPS, puzzles and multiplayer FPS. I'll also learn UE4 and it's scripting tools and then I'll go for Unity.

It'll probably take a while but I don't know I figured it would'nt be bad if I end up with a portfolio showing that :

• I can use Unity and it's scripting tools
• I can use Unreal and it's blueprints
• I can draw levels and then turn them into graybox levels in engine
• I can create levels in different level editors with good pacing, flow, difficulty, scripting, layout, risk&reward, good use of the pre-established mechanics, challenges, etc.
• I have a couple of GDDs, maybe I could put in the best one ? Or maybe turn it into a LDD that fits the GDD ?

Is this a good plan or not ? Is : 
• A graybox level in Unity showing good use of the engine + scripting + good level design
• A graybox level in Unreal showing good use of the engine + scripting w blueprints + good level design
• A good level in Skyrim
• A good level in Fallout
• A good puzzle in Portal 2
• A good multiplayer map in UT4 (or other fps)
• Documents, drawings, and notes showing planification and justifications + tweaks following playtesting and heatmaps (for the fps) for all of the above + interesting quests
• A LDD to go along Unity's or Unreal's level

too much ? Should I cut some things or is it fine like this.

Finally, I saw this this morning on Kotaku : http://kotaku.com/pay-what-you-want-for-the-2017-master-game-development-1791974745 

Do you think this could be a good investment (20$ I think)  or is it part of that whole scam trend around video game education ?

heartlessph1l

Concerning the new unreal tournament. If you download the editor (not unreal engine 4 but the unreal tournament editor) you get all the content of the game and you can use all the assets to make your own levels. The assets are super high quality. Check out maps like outpost-23 and titan pass, they are gorgeous.

heartlessph1l

I was thinking... You could have a look at the newest DooM's snap map editor. you can do some pretty impressive levels/gamemodes with it. It's like visual scripting/programming and you have AAA assets to build something that looks cool.

Chimp

pick a game, do levels for it via its mod tools. When you get to the point that people regularly play your maps, you've got the equivelent of a published game under your belt. Ideally, you'd have a few popular levels done in multiple games before you could really consider using it in place of actual job experience. But yeah, it just comes down to doing. Feel free to use the game's own supplied assets, you don't need to do your own - or just use cubes but ALL you need is a substantial body of work. Ideally, work that gets played by people and enjoyed.

There is actually never a need for a qualification except in the case of immigration, otherwise its just a filter to deal with the masses of kids that decide a week in halo's Forge qualifies them to apply and clog up the inbox of a hiring guy. What actually matters as ever is the portfolio, and in this case your portfolio would be many levels

Remember, if you're going for level design then it's going to be nothing to do with your asset creation skills so don't waste time modelling, just use boxes or supplied assets. The only artistic factor you need to worry about is not making a mess visually that's hard to read/understand as a player (i.e composition skills).