Question regarding a specific Game Design Job.
Hey. For the past while I've been confused. I know alot about the process of creating games, I'm in art school training to become a Concept Artist myself, but there's always been one thing that doesn't sit well with me. You get programmers, you get artists, you get sound tech, you get animators, you get modellers, ect. I think it's pretty safe to say these people all DESIGN the game. So... What is the job title: 'Game designer'? That seems so...general. Now I know that this title is given to the guy that actually handles the engine and places all of the models inside the world, creates doodad's in the enviroment, ect...but why does he get such a general title? The reason I ask is because if there is one thing I would love to do as much as art, I'd love to get fixed on the engine and create an actual world. So, in conclusion, Why is there such a general title/job name for that job? Is that infact what you do, regarding the title and lastly, if one was looking to take up this position, how does one go about it? (I'm presuming using something like UDK and...make things?)
Replies
Programmers make it possible to have legos in the world. Artists build the legos until they are pretty. Designers decide where those legos go.
It can mean wildly different things at different companies, and some companies have multiple kinds of designers: Content designers may be responsible for story, quests, basic level layouts. World designers might be responsible for the actual placement in engine, or that might fall to a World artist. Mechanic designs may be responsible for the numbers behind the game; damage formulas, loot tables, firing rates, game balance, the numbers behind the game.
If what you want to do is actual level layout and design, the best way to practice is to get out there and make custom maps for your preferred genre. TF2, LF2, UE3, ST2..whatever it is, just make new things until you can make things that play well and look nice. Then start applying. There are no schools really teaching 'good layouting', so no companies really expect a 'level design' degree on a resume. Though a degree of some kind is often important to producers for some reason.
goodluck!
Ideally I'd like a job that involves the actual placement of objects. I get super excited whenever I came across a video or picture of someone in-house using a tablet to paint in the textures, spawning in flowers, rotating fences, building up hills.
What comes to mind for my preferred genre is MMORPG's. Now the problem there is acsess to WoWEdit is sort of limited. ;P Can you perhaps suggest a good engine to do some MMO related design?
Edit: How does one go about putting up a portfolio for such a job? Screenshots or videos of the level itself?
This is a great thread because I need to learn more on the subject but would one get such a job by having a website with several pictures of the custom maps you've made?
Is the main objective to show that you can create a fun environment to play in?
Putting in the custom UT3/UDK models, making cool obstacles, stuff like that?
World Editor, that would be the correct sort of term for placing in objects, making obstacles, deciding the layout, making stuff fun, right?
Level designer
A level designer is a game designer who creates environments and scenarios using a level editor and other tools.[18][4] Level designer will usually work on a level from pre-production to completion; working with both incomplete and complete versions of the game. Game programmers usually produce level editors and design tools for the designers to use. This eliminates the need for designers to access or modify game code. As opposed to the level editing tools sometimes available to the community, level designers often work with placeholders and prototypes aiming for level consistency and clear layout before required artwork is produced by game artists. Many level designers have skills as both a visual artist and game designers,[19][18][5] although in recent years the responsibility for visual, structural and gameplay related tasks has been increasingly divided among several specialists.
A level designer may also be called a mapper; this term is used in reference to people working on lower level free mods.I][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I This term applies to people proficient in specific areas of the level design process, such as creating geometry while not properly illuminating it. The term "lever designer" describes someone who has attained full knowledge of the engine they are designing for, so that they may control all aspects of the player experience.I][URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed"]citation needed[/URL][/I
In addition to making the environments the player inhabits in the game, a level designer may also work on enemy or non-player character placement and scripted story-line events. They may also write high-level code, altering game rules or scoring.
Designers are essentially the people who think up and manage all the gameplay systems to function and HOPEFULLY be fun at the same time. They're the ones who wrangle the art and programmers' efforts together to make the gameplay using tools that they're never happy with and argue with artists and programmers for better stuff to make better games while not having the core skills to do any of this stuff themselves, though technical knowledge such as scripting is usually a requirement.
More than any development position at a game company, this is the position where you need to keep your nose brown rather than necessarily keep your portfolio up to date, or programming tight.
I have a couple buddies who are game designers. They got their position by working their ass off in QA and sticking through a lot of BS while still pounding out good work for years on end, not quitting in disgust where plenty of others would. Others BS their way in or just know someone. I think If you have to ask, then only real option is the first.
Like, is plopping down meshes, path finding, layout out of characters an actual job for all studios?
These guys are mainly scripters. They all meet and come up with ideas and concepts for fun levels and gameplay. They then block it out and test it. If it's fun, then the environment team begins to fill in the level they blocked out.
as far as advice goes i think a pretty good rule of thumb is if you have identified what you want to be doing, then yeah- just do as much of it as possible until you're good enough to be hired for it.. use whatever tools you can learn that allow you to do that (eg UDK)
if it's designing the gameplay of a level- don't worry too much about creating custom assets, use whatever existing stuff you can find to make a fun playing level. Later on you might want to team up with an artist to get your levels looking more unique, but its the gameplay which is the star of the show. As far as a portfolio goes, video is good, playable level is best.
to me, you're describing a Level Designer (placing the items, scripting stuff, how the level plays) like skankerzero says. the title 'Game Designer' says to me someone who designs the mechanics which work to make everything fun and balanced- how the guns function, how the shop system works, what the powerups should do etc.
The term is general because the job varies so much between projects- game designing for gears of war has a whole different set of tasks to designing for the sims for example.
although for ease of understanding, pretty much everyone in the industry can use the term if they're talking to a layperson and didn't want to confuse them with the details of what they do.