(Post will be edited as further research is added)
The evening has proven productive in my exploration into the world of Level Design and the disciplines within, from the actual Designer to the enviromental artists, and my reading for the day has included the website http://www.worldofleveldesign.com and the two E-Books included with subscribing to the website, "How to Create a Map in 11 Days" and "Ultimate Level Design Guide" as well as "Illustrative Rendering In Team Fortress 2" to a lesser extent... which perhaps covers the more artistic side after a level has been constructed and demonstrates how concept work filtered into the design decisions of the 3D modelling and lighting.
The "Ultimate Level Design Guide" E-Book has proven to be an interesting read, and something I will hopefully be using in the future. It thoroughly explains the entire process behind the construction of a level map and design choices, and whilst it it discusses the process from initial ideas blocked in by level designers to enviromental/prop artist, sound and lighting, the document seperates them well enough for me to distinguish the different areas.
Level Designers are prominantly involved in the early stages of the games development pipeline, and are tasked with communicating with the concept artists and programmers as well as those involved in ideas development to create map designs, initially on paper and in programs like Sketchup to show these designs in a 3D environment (Sketchup can be used for concept art as well, like designing vehicles for example). It is important at this stage for the level designers to know what sort of game they will be making... a single player linear experience for example is going to be fundamentally different from a multiplayer game that is more open.
They also communicate with Quality Assurance Testers from these early stages to determine if a level flows correctly or if there are certain points that bring up confusion or even breaks the flow, making adjustments as necessary or as new ideas come into the pipeline.
From memory, I recall reading a small piece on the community created map "Cold Stream" for Left 4 Dead , talking about the differences between map making within a company and map making within a community - Chiefly, that a community made map tends to test with other gamers which necessitates levels being textured at an earlier stage than a larger company might use at a beta stage.
Although I can't find the original article, I can at least post a link to the L4D2 blogpost that briefly mentions this.
No comments:
Post a Comment