Game Level Design

Ponge

I currently work in 3D Architectural Visualisation, using 3ds Max, Vray, photoshop etc etc, and I have often considered trying to move slowly (very slowly, as in 3 or 4 years from now) into either movies or the game industry. I've not thought of it as more than a pipe dream at the moment, and i'm very aware how riduculously hard it would be to get a job in either industry, however I think it would be quite interesting to learn a little bit about game level design in the meantime as a hobby.

The 3d modelling part is ok, I know what i'm doing there, but from a quick scouring on the old internet it seems like most games use their own modelling software to create levels. Is this true? Can i not just model up in 3dsmax and import it into the game level editing software?

Does anyone have any mod-sites or beginner level resources that I could have a browse through?

Burning Organ

www.moddb.com is a pretty good place, but what games are you interested in modding?
In ut2k4 for example, you can make almost everything in a 3D modelling program and make it a map relatively easy. But there are other things you will need to play around with such as lighting...
Anyway, moddb has some tutorials, and you can ask some questions there, and who knows, maybe even join a mod?
I have a UT3 mod idea myself you can find there that would require some interesting map designs

Ponge

Well I was thinking maybe Half Life 2, but really I'm open to any game as i have no experience and so I'm not bound to anything.

When importing your model from 3ds Max do the games generally maintain your texturing/uv mapping? If so how do they deal with materials? Should you just use the basic materials in 3ds max, or can you use something like vray and then bake the textures into the model?

Burning Organ

Well, I don't know much about hl2 mapping except that I hate the tools...
I think Unreal is more compatible with Maya, but 3DSMAX should work at least as well... You make models and textures and import them into unrealEditor as static meshes, so I do think it keeps the complete model and textures intact... I think you can also model terrain.
As I said, I have no idea how HL2 works with outsied models... You can pretty easily modify and import stuff in unrealed though.
You could potentially also look up mapping for farcry.

aesir

3d artists at game studios only use 3dsmax, or maya. They make the characters and props and what not.

Level designers, and the game designers use the level editing prorgam that either came with the engine, or that was created with the engine.

If you're interested in Level Design, I suggest you learn UnrealEd. In a few months, unreal tournament 3 will come out and will have the latest Unreal Editor. You can learn off of that. Create a portfolio of levels and hopefully apply for a job. If you want UnrealEd 3.0 right now, then you can buy RoboBlitz. It comes with editor and uses unreal 3.0.

There are plenty of other editors, and it might help to learn at least one other, but studios won't expect you to know every editor. You'll be given a week or two to get the hang of a new program if you get a job where you're unfamiliar with the program.

(note: all pretty much an oversimplification)

Ginzue

Unreal and Source are both good starts, in fact they would most likely be your best bet. I've modded for both (Leading Unreal XRT and HL2: Rogue Threat) and I find Epics work on the Unreal Toolsets much more plastic and forgiving. Source is great and very moddable, but is quite unstable when you push it.

I would start with Unreal Ed3, so get UT2k4 and start learning for Buzzbys tuts. Google 3D Buzz for tuts and anything you really need. The main reason I would say start with UT is because Unreal Ed 4 is coming out, aka UT Engine 3 (Ut2007, U3, GoW). You will be ahead of the game instead of following it with Source.

Feel free to email me, jack42@gmail.com, or else I may ramble for hours on this post.

Good luck, Level design is one of the most personally rewarding parts of all game design.

TychoCelchuuu

Level design and actual 3d modelling in 3dsmax don't have a ton in common deep down, especially when it comes to engines like Source (Half-Life 2). Everything that's not a premade model in a Source map is a brush, and brushes are created in Hammer, Valve's mapmaking program. You would have to learn Hammer to make maps in Half-Life 2. For Unreal engine games, it's UnrealEd. This editor has the option of using a lot more premade models (which you get from max or whatever) but there are still often significant components that are made entirely in-editor.

Really, though, the big part of level design is not how you do it, it's what you do. Making a level that looks good, plays well, and runs at a reasonable level of performance on people's computers is what level design is about. 3dsmax/Maya come into play when you make models to fill your map up with doodads, and Photoshop is used for making textures, but the technical component is something you could teach to anyone given enough time. The real hurdles are the practical and the artistic, not the tools.