Level Designer, Game Designer and Technical Artist - Portfolio Critique

xetura

Hello. I'm looking at getting into the gaming industry. My skills hover between technical artist and environment artist. I'm very proficient at figuring out how to get things to work inside engines. Right now I'm working on my own game in Unreal Engine 4 using only blueprints. I guess I'm just not sure the best way to show that off. I have screenshots of my project on my page and a video on the Reel page(2nd video).

I do have 3d models, but my environment work and behind the scenes work(scripting, making things work, general game design) is what I'm best at. So I'm focusing on that. Any feedback is appreciated. I'd like to start applying to a couple local studios, but I want to make sure things are in order first. Thanks.

http://interstate66softwa.wixsite.com/jacobkdesign2

JordanN

By chance, can you show any texture/materials you have made?

To me, your environment feels flat. Leaves, tree bark, ground all look like they have the same material applied to them.  There's also what looks like a lack of bounce lighting. Nearly all your shadows feel black/dark blue. For a forest environment, there should be more color bouncing around and not just from the sky. 

Take a look at some examples here and compare them to yours:
https://www.google.ca/search?q=ue4+forest&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjTgui8sojYAhVFyoMKHdEhC1oQ_AUICigB&biw=1920&bih=949#imgrc=_

xetura

All of the foliage and ground textures in my levels were sourced from the marketplace, so I don't have anything to show in that respect. I've been focusing solely on the functionality of my current game project, so mainly visual scripting/blueprints. Thank you for the feedback. I'll need to figure out how to make the lighting better with it bouncing. I'll see what I can find on youtube.

Goat Justice

xetura said:

All of the foliage and ground textures in my levels were sourced from the marketplace, 

That should probably be noted somewhere on your site. Otherwise the assumption will be that you made everything shown. 

Also, what type of position are you interested in? It sounds like you're leaning more towards level design than art. 

xetura

Goat Justice said:

xetura said:

All of the foliage and ground textures in my levels were sourced from the marketplace, 

That should probably be noted somewhere on your site. Otherwise the assumption will be that you made everything shown. 

Also, what type of position are you interested in? It sounds like you're leaning more towards level design than art. 

I've always been open about that fact when talking to people and even in my progress video, but completely spaced it for my page. I just edited the pages to reflect this. Thank you for pointing this out.

I am more interested in being a technical artist and a level designer. I love making things works, figuring things out, etc. I've been learning a ton on my current game project. I can do 3d art like modeling and such, but always lost interest when it came time to unwrap a model. Makes me want to pull all my hair out. Texturing used to be tedious for me before substance, but that has renewed my interest in texturing, I just haven't been focusing on that.

xetura

Alright, I did a little research and made some changes to my level. Before I had the Exponential Height Fog setting on a little higher and tinted it blue. That has been tinted slightly green now and the fog intensity was scaled waaay down. I also had my Auto Exposure set to 1 and 1. I changed this to 0.5 and 2. I also ramped up my skylight intensity, directional light intensity and changed the color of the directional light. The trees were way too dense as well, so I adjusted the procedural settings and things are a bit more spread out.

It looks a lot better now, but I'm still seeking any critiques and feedback. I really appreciate the input so far.

Here's the link to the screenshots I took.

nightfrontier

All of the foliage and ground textures in my levels were sourced from the marketplace, so I don't have anything to show in that respect. I've been focusing solely on the functionality of my current game project, so mainly visual scripting/blueprints.

I think this is my main issue with your portfolio. You label yourself as an environment artist but that isn't entirely true. You also use the term environment designer on your webpage which is uncommon and it just feels like you are trying to mislead whoever is looking at your portfolio, and maybe even yourself. You say environment art and technical art is your thing but the feeling I get from visiting your portfolio is that you are more into game and level design. I suggest you think about which aspect of game development you want to get into and then do another pass on your page bringing in some much needed clarity

xetura

nightfrontier said:

All of the foliage and ground textures in my levels were sourced from the marketplace, so I don't have anything to show in that respect. I've been focusing solely on the functionality of my current game project, so mainly visual scripting/blueprints.

I think this is my main issue with your portfolio. You label yourself as an environment artist but that isn't entirely true. You also use the term environment designer on your webpage which is uncommon and it just feels like you are trying to mislead whoever is looking at your portfolio, and maybe even yourself. You say environment art and technical art is your thing but the feeling I get from visiting your portfolio is that you are more into game and level design. I suggest you think about which aspect of game development you want to get into and then do another pass on your page bringing in some much needed clarity

I've been told a lot of conflicting information as to the definition of level design and environment design. I can assure you there is no attempt to mislead at all, just a simple misunderstanding. After some google searching just now, it seems like a lot of people don't know the difference and the question comes up a lot. Further more, it seems like the roles overlap quite a bit and sometimes are the same thing, depending on the company.

But this is one of the reasons why I posted in here. I need feedback and this is exactly the type of feedback I'm looking for and I really appreciate it. I just edited my page to reflect more accurately that I'm a level designer.

Still looking for feedback on my revised level. Thanks again.

nightfrontier

Hey it makes a lot more sense now when the label is actually level design.

I have some additional comments that might help and they are purely based on how I would review someones portfolio if it landed on my desk.

• On the front page you list the following skills: Game Designer, Level Designer, UI Designer and 3D modeller.  I would remove both UI Designer and 3D Modeller as I can't see anything that supports that on your website. It also helps show that you have a focus which helps the company that is looking at your portfolio as they are most likely trying to fill a position for a specific discipline, say a level design position or a 3D modelling position.
• The current level design section does not tell me much about your level design abilities. It would be helpful to show an overview of the level much like you do on your game design page where you display a lot of different screenshots and flow charts. Something that helps me understand your train of thought when designing the level and why you made decision to do X instead of Y etc.
• Another thing worth considering if you are pursuing a level design (or game design) position is to invest some time in constructing a blocked out level only focusing on the level design aspect. It could be helpful to do this for an already released game as there you already have the rules of the game and it is just to let loose designing the level with those rules in mind. 

xetura

nightfrontier said:

Hey it makes a lot more sense now when the label is actually level design.

I have some additional comments that might help and they are purely based on how I would review someones portfolio if it landed on my desk.

• On the front page you list the following skills: Game Designer, Level Designer, UI Designer and 3D modeller.  I would remove both UI Designer and 3D Modeller as I can't see anything that supports that on your website. It also helps show that you have a focus which helps the company that is looking at your portfolio as they are most likely trying to fill a position for a specific discipline, say a level design position or a 3D modelling position.
• The current level design section does not tell me much about your level design abilities. It would be helpful to show an overview of the level much like you do on your game design page where you display a lot of different screenshots and flow charts. Something that helps me understand your train of thought when designing the level and why you made decision to do X instead of Y etc.
• Another thing worth considering if you are pursuing a level design (or game design) position is to invest some time in constructing a blocked out level only focusing on the level design aspect. It could be helpful to do this for an already released game as there you already have the rules of the game and it is just to let loose designing the level with those rules in mind. 

I had some 3d models on there, but have been back and forth about making them visible on the page. None are low poly and game ready, so I've since taken them off. I just edited the front page to remove 3D modeling.

My UI designs are on my Game Design page. I did all the art for the menu systems you see in there and made them functional as well. While they aren't finished, they're a core part of making my game functional. Should I make this a separate page, or just keep them where they are? Or do you still recommend me removing 'UI Design' from the front page?

This is really good to know. This level was for a class and I never really fleshed out an entire concept other than walking into an open area where there was abandoned torture equipment. I will expand on this level much further and probably change the theme of it as well.

Great idea! I will start working on this as well.

Also, in addition to your suggestions, should I display the entire process on the page from World Machine all the way to the end, step by step? Or just explain that in text? Thank you so much for you help!