So after I beat Portal, I decided to tried out and killed the advanced maps (who hasn't?:roll:)

Then I decided to beat the game using the commentary (before I started making levels) and I just wanted to ask... is it just me? Or did anyone else find the commentary very inspiring. It almost seemed to dawn a new light as to how players react to levels and specific things.

Now of course, this doesn't mean that I'll make my levels 'train' the player into doing specific moves because if you beat the game, then you must be good enough to beat my map, but I did find a lot of what they said very enlightening. Anyone else want to share their stories?

Well I wan't to grow up to be a games designer.
So for me the commentaries are so cool, they are almost as good as the game itself, hearing what problems they ran into and have ironed out, how thier playtesters are thick, what new advances they've made(they tend to be a bit vague with those though.)..etc..
I'm currently looking at all the Universities in the UK that do some form of games design dregree. Anyone got any suggestions/recomendations?

commentary nodes ftw!

As someone who is actually completing a Master's in interactive simulations (which is just a fancy word for "videogames"), let me just say that even if you can't find a school offering game development degrees in particular, a regular ol' computer science degree is a great asset if you're trying to get into professional game design. The important part is to make sure you get a genuine degree (preferably a Master rather than a Bachelor) and to prove yourself competent and the rest will happen on its own. Regardless of your education, you will start at the bottom as a junior programmer, so make sure you got that down and be prepared to show what you can do, and the world is your fish-shaped sediment.

youme wrote:
Well I wan't to grow up to be a games designer.
So for me the commentaries are so cool, they are almost as good as the game itself, hearing what problems they ran into and have ironed out, how thier playtesters are thick, what new advances they've made(they tend to be a bit vague with those though.)..etc..
I'm currently looking at all the Universities in the UK that do some form of games design dregree. Anyone got any suggestions/recomendations?

commentary nodes ftw!

Ditto, Ditto and Ditto!

youme wrote:
Well I wan't to grow up to be a games designer.
So for me the commentaries are so cool, they are almost as good as the game itself, hearing what problems they ran into and have ironed out, how thier playtesters are thick, what new advances they've made(they tend to be a bit vague with those though.)..etc..
I'm currently looking at all the Universities in the UK that do some form of games design dregree. Anyone got any suggestions/recomendations?

commentary nodes ftw!

I personally design games on a very indie bases (http://www.CassataGames.com) but I plan to go to collage for both game design and 3D animation (like Pixar). So I love listening to commentary for both games and Pixar movies. They both are very interesting to me, even if just about everyone else I know apart from people online, find them very boring.

youme wrote:
I'm currently looking at all the Universities in the UK that do some form of games design dregree. Anyone got any suggestions/recomendations?

Start by learning a craft. Be it programming, architecture, literature, 3d modeling, animation, whatever. Nobody is going to graduate straight from Game Design College and get a job as a game designer unless you're extremely talented and lucky. (Like those dudes that did Narbacular Drop, mmmm...)

If you'd like to optimize your chances for getting something to do with games going for programming, 3d modeling, or animation is probably the best bet since there are fairly established educations dealing with that and the game industry positions matching those are reasonably well-understood. Going for positions such as game designer, level designer, story writer, etc., is harder, since nobody really knows what those titles precisely mean and most people work their way there from other positions defining the roles by their past game development experience.

Getting a job as a level designer with a portfolio of Portal/HL2/whatever maps behind you shouldn't be too hard though.

As the industry is right now it's fairly easy to get jobs, if you've got qualifications. But the big issue is of course that when you're done with college everything may look different (even your interests). So the best advice is always: study something you really like!

(Yes I work in the games industry. I'm a "game mechanic" which is sort of a cross between a game programmer and a game designer. I'm moving towards more game design though. I'm a B.Sc. in Computer Science and have been programming stuff since 1985.)

I have some experience in the games industry, and I have a bunch of friends who are game developers. (In fact, although it would be a big stretch to call him a "friend," I met and hung out with Portal writer Erik Wolpaw on a few occasions when he was living in SF and working at Double Fine.)

I have observed that game developers care a lot more about what you can do than they care about your formal education and degrees. After all, the Portal team didn't get hired because they graduated from Digipen. They got hired because they made Nabacular Drop, a fun game based on original mechanics. (The Digipen senior show just got their foot in the door.)

So if you want to make games, practice making games. Having a portfolio of good maps (for a variety of games) with no degree will get you hired much faster than relying on a resume full of degrees without a portfolio of work. If you really want to knock their socks off, show that you can be part of a team: Join a mod/conversion project and release a finished product, and you're golden.

Having said all that, of course education is important. But while you're learning programming or animation, don't neglect the rest of your education. You really don't want to be a game-savant who has no knowledge of culture or world events before Pong. It is especially important that you can communicate your ideas to others, verbally and in writing, and that you can listen and understand others' ideas. Otherwise you will be worthless to a development team even if you're the best programmer in the world.

communication I'm terrible at explaining the ideas in my head to other people.
What you're saying about ability being more important than education seems very sensible.

I tried blender a few months ago and couldnt use it, my PC isn't really good enough to run it so I guess I'll stick with hammer and make maps for the moment. Although making 3D models does sound extremely fun and rewarding.
I've done a little bit of programming, a little bit in Blitz Basic (the language the original worms was written in) and Actionscript 2.0 from Flash. I've done animations in Flash too.

I'm not really sure where this post is going, its more like several posts about different things put into one

youme wrote:
communication I'm terrible at explaining the ideas in my head to other people.
What you're saying about ability being more important than education seems very sensible.

I tried blender a few months ago and couldnt use it, my PC isn't really good enough to run it so I guess I'll stick with hammer and make maps for the moment. Although making 3D models does sound extremely fun and rewarding.
I've done a little bit of programming, a little bit in Blitz Basic (the language the original worms was written in) and Actionscript 2.0 from Flash. I've done animations in Flash too.

I'm not really sure where this post is going, its more like several posts about different things put into one

I use 3D Studio Max, but it hates the Vista Aero theme, so I've been sort of turned away from Max until they get that fixed up. I personally got the hang of 3D modeling and enjoy it, but I plan to go to collage for it because I think that could be a very rewarding career.

CassataGames wrote:
I use 3D Studio Max, but it hates the Vista Aero theme, so I've been sort of turned away from Max until they get that fixed up.

You should try out Maya. Seems like whole lot of the AAA game studios have migrated from Max to Maya in the last five years or so.

youme wrote:
What you're saying about ability being more important than education seems very sensible.

What's most important is this: Don't fall to tunnel vision. Being a skilled programmer, level editor or artist is important; but what's going to set you apart from the rest is scope. Read a lot of books, watch a lot of movies, and play a lot of games. Watch movies you wouldn't normally watch, absorb some slightly unusual knowledge. Learn how to write a good short story or play a musical instrument, or how to cook (a hobby of mine, by the way). You pick up little nuggets of brilliance from all over the place, and, as I said, that's what's really going to set you apart.

... of course, if no one understands the ideas you have in your head, it's not going to matter, so learn how to communicate your ideas, too. It helps to have friends you can strongarm into listening to your ideas and comment on them; and come up with a lot of ideas. Not just for game design elements or level design, but for everything you can think of. I think I've learned more thinking about screenplays and collectible card games than I have thinking about 3D games. It also helps to have friends who are intensely critical of everything you do. You have to be prepared to kill your darlings and start over.

Oh, and another thing: Keep a notebook with you at all times. I can't even begin to count the number of ideas I've gotten while getting ready for bed, while out walking, or in the shower, and those ideas have a tendency to fade quickly. Jot everything down, even if it doesn't seem very brilliant at the time. You never know what it might lead to.

Player1 wrote:
Getting a job as a level designer with a portfolio of Portal/HL2/whatever maps behind you shouldn't be too hard though.

That's key.

John Carmack, co-founder of id Games wrote:
Game programs have been somewhat useful for finding employees, but we don't actually think that the students are learning particularly valuable skills in the programs.

A CS or EE degree will almost certainly serve you better throughout your life than a game/media degree, but if getting into the industry immediately is your overriding concern, a game program will help with contacts and opportunities.

Exceptional merit will eventually be noticed (perhaps not as quickly as you would like, though), and a degree of any sort is not required if you can conclusively demonstrate that you will contribute great value to a company. However, many entry level positions are filled based on people's opinions about potential, and honest assessments from faculty that work with lots of students does carry some weight.

The best advice is "be amazing", but "diligent and experienced" counts for quite a bit.