What Got You In To Level Design?

KungFuDiscoMonkey

I was sitting here, too distracted from all the Half-Life 2 info to work on my math homework (stupid math homework, lol), and was thinking about the original Half-Life. After playing the original Half-Life a few times and Opposing Force a few times I decided to try out some level design. Now after about 2 1/2 years, I am finally getting to where I am happy enough with my work to start putting some of it online. Search for NS_Altair if you want to see examples. Maybe that's why I am so excited to see what Half-Life 2 will be like. Half-Life was the game that got me into level design and now I would eventually like to turn level design into a career. I was thinking it would be interesting to see how some others got into level design.

Edit:
BTW, I mean this to be a serious topic. Please no random post. Stay on topic. I want to see where the NS level designers got their starts.

Edit: I really should learn to proofread my post for spelling mistakes.

Confused

well Valve is hiring level designers:)
i got into it because of a really old d&d game called unlimited adventures.
you could build oyur own crappy rpg without anty programming knowledge and you could even go to 3d mode!!!

after discovering cs
i set out to play on a lan with my friends
and discovered that my machine would have 200 + lag in a lan game.
so i started doing the next best thing building cs levels
during XMass break i got into ns.
i had only played a little before break
but there is no broad band at home soo...

CanadianWolverine

Hmm, I don't mean to be a party pooper, but I'm not sure how this is a "discussion"...

Anyways, the first thing I tried to make a level in was, er, Sim City, I believe. Other than that, I have messed around with about every single game that released a level editor with it since then. Can't say I've had much success though, and it was for pretty much the same reason as 'confused!', I have not had a personal computer on the internet until just in the last few years. This makes me think of problem I have with alot of level editors, their is rarely a tutorial with them, so I have all these options and hardly a clue as to where to start, which would probably explain why I have yet to get a level/map I made to work the way I intended.

Jammer

I'm trying to get into it right now actually. I'm just having trouble getting started. Finding a mod that isn't too complex to start with, and I'm having trouble getting inspired. Any adivce? I this is more OT than discussion.

Confused

actaully i suggest cs it is pertty simple to figure out
but do not post to their forum it is a uselss flame fest imo
regular hl is pretty easy too although its hard to make a single player game:)
feel free and aim me if you get any questions

DOOManiac

Don't start out with a mod, as you need a firm foundation on the basics of mapping first. But Half-Life is the absolute easiest fps engine to map for, because there are 4 and a half years worth of materials and howto's, with new stuff being written all the time. Not to mention the editor itself is nearly 8 years old, so plenty of people know it. Check out <a href='http://collective.valve-erc.com/' target='_blank'>The VERC Collective</a> and of course <a href='http://www.thewavelength.net/oldsite/levels/' target='_blank'>Wavelength</a>

How I got started in to mapping.. Lemme see if I can remember that far back...

I wanted to make my own DOOM levels. I sucked at it, but managed to release 1 map that was basically 2 big rooms w/ 500 enemies in it. It sucked.

:Flash forward a few years:

So I thought I'd try Quake mapping, as this newfangled "Worldcraft" was brand new and people weren't editing their maps in Notepad anymore. I sucked at it, even moreso than I did for the DOOM maps...

:Flash forward a few more years:

Its high school, and I'm addicted to Action Quake. Work in a grocery store. Want to kill everyone in the grocery store. Quake 2 had some great level editors, such as Worldcraft (now somewhat stable!) and Qoole. Decided to make an aq2 map based on the grocery store where I worked. Columbine hadn't happened yet, so this was still a socially ok thing to do. Never finished the map, mainly because it sucked and the Q2 engine couldn't handle what I was wanting to do with it. Oh well, back to Jungle1, the best map ever...

:Flash forward 365*(1+rand()):

Half-Life had been out a few years, and I was hooked on Action Half-Life. Decided to give mapping a try again, this time with the place set at the bank where I work. Nine months later I finished my first map that was actually good, and thus DOOMBANK was born! (Later went on to be an official AHL map). From there I did other maps for FLF (flf_village mainly) and a map for Desert Crisis (dc_armstech).

Of course, none of these were any where near as good as the NS mappers maps, so that's why no NS map from me. I tried two, both failed. Miserably. Also, after doing doombank I started to develop a love/hate relationship with mapping, as now mapping only serves to remind me of how if I had some skills I would be coding instead... :/

I've also dabbled with stuff like RTS maps (Warcraft 2 & 3, Red Alert, Generals) but nothing major. I don't think I'll even try to map for DOOM III though...

Burr

I tried the Duke3d Build, I had that thing down pat......

Now I just dabble a little bit with HL, I get ideas, start to do them, but never finish them....

Mouse

At the time I saw it as my only way into the game industry. 3 years later I'm still at it

DOOManiac

Oh yeah, I forgot my pre-Quake dabble w/ the Build engine! Thanks for reminding me Burr. :P

Immacolata

I used to make maps for Age of Wonders. I loved it. But the editor was suckeh. And play balancing them SO HARD!