I think the GDC party circuit has improved a lot over the years. I went to 2 events this evening and both were without super loud music, had mocktail drink options, calm, good to talk to folks, and not too crowded.
The “What does a level designer do?” question is coming up again at this GDC, and I think rightfully so.
Between companies there are such vast differences in the role. Is it whiteboxing and playtesting? Is it also environment art creation? Is it also combat encounter scripting?
In my talk (Wednesday 11:30am room 2014) I touch on this topic as well, from a tooling and workflow standpoint.
The different processes you go through as you whitebox, then playtest, and then artpass, require different tools as you go along. The job changes with the project.
Seeing these slides it makes me think: Considering how little housing is being built in many countries, due to zoning laws, height restrictions, and bureaucratic permit systems, I’m wondering if videogames could try to be realistic and become unrealistic because of it.
Essentially I wonder: At some point, will real life cities be such a strange mix of architectures, colors, homes, and stores, that they would be considered unrealistic in games?
Because there is so much “real life is unrealistic” if you walk around cities like Amsterdam.
Someone at GDC has coined the term “Full stack leveldesigner” to refer to level designers who can do it all: Geometry, environment art, quest design, combat encounter design, lighting, etc.
They’re not profitable yet, but they still see it as a success so far, especially with a nomination at The Game Awards, and this has been their most successful project yet.
Some data for a game called ‘Deadpines’ made inside UEFN.
Lots of questions from the speaker about how to proceed from here, what they can do to continue this success, how they can make a sequel and also make that successful.
I checked with one of the speakers afterwards if I understood correctly that the vibe they gave in the talk is poverty or millions, and he confirmed indeed that’s it. And that it’s only going to get bigger.
Jamming a level (instead of a whole game) reminds me of the great 24 hour and 72 hour mapping competitions on TF2maps.
In my experience so many folks got started making smaller levels in TF2 and then grew into larger levels. It is incredibly valuable to learn on short timelines
Good points being made that folks have to learn how to use the tools at the same time as learning how to do level design. It’s the combination that often makes the teaching difficult.
Or, in the case of Unreal and Unity, it becomes ‘learn to make a game’ instead of level design.
The tech art roundtable starts off with remembering everyone who has lost jobs. The people who aren’t here, who can’t make it, who are struggling right now.
It is mentioned that everyone wants tools that are easy to use, have broad reusability, elegant workflows, flexibility, and that are outsourcing ready.
And we had a celebrity visitor: Omar Cornut! I have seen ImGui used all over the place in so many tools around the world. Don’t forget to support the project: https://github.com/ocornut/imgui/wiki/Funding
One resounding refrain at GDC is that remote is here to stay. Folks are working from all over the world, across timezones, being hired for skillsets that are necessary for projects.
Last year it was a wave, this year it’s a tsunami.
Another great point is that the UI worked much better when parts did not have equal size. Some parts being bigger or more prominent than others made things easier to use, even if they were the same amount of elements.
This talk is covered in interesting takeaways. Very good examples, videos, and clear pros and cons. I cannot share them all, so I would highly recommend watching it later. (Or maybe it can go on YouTube? I hope so!)
Always keep motion complementary. Vertical to vertical. Horizontal to horizontal. Do not do vertical to horizontal. Jordan warns many games still do this wrong, including ones that have only been revealed recently.
Jordan gently pleads for folks to please critically look at this
After Effects and Figma are the go-to’s for prototyping and concepting. Which is also what I notice in the roundtables: Figma has won the industry. Nobody else is coming close.
Now at the technical Tools Roundtable, and it’s always funny when someone complains about Perforce and then the next person who speaks says “Hi, I’m from Perforce.”
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