The Games Game

Levelheaded Education (May 2004)

Dear Tom,

My son, who is now 16 and a half, has been doing mods and level design projects for 5 years, and is currently looking at colleges.

He's worked on making maps for some of the popular mods: Natural-Selection, Half-Life Deathmatch, and The Specialists.

You can view some jpegs on his site. The screen name he uses is Crackerjack.

The list of game colleges provided by Gamasutra is extensive and he has been researching each US school listed. In your opinion, which schools have the best program for an aspiring professional Level Designer? What about summer internships for someone his age? Any suggestions for sample resumes or portfolios?

Anne Keehn

Dear Anne,

Budding level designers are not all created equal - they are all unique. Some are more programming-oriented, some are more art-oriented, and some are more story-oriented.

Your son should get a four-year degree from a mainstream learning institution. If your son is more of a programmer than an artist, he should choose his college based on their computer course offerings. If he is more of an artist than a programmer, he should choose a college that offers good art courses. Level design is part programming, part artistic sensibility, and also part world-building. I recommend that your son choose a broad base of elective classes to round out his studies. He should take classes in physics, history, mythology, psychology, geology, city planning, and writing (playwriting and/or screenwriting would be good). And it would be a good idea to take classes in a martial art, like karate, fencing, and/or modern urban squad tactics.

Then, after having completed his four-year degree, he might well want to go for advanced studies in level design at a game school. Your question suggests that there is a best "one size fits all" level design school, and I don't buy into that concept. Your son should choose a post-graduate school based on his particular needs and the schools' particular offerings.

There is plenty of time to look into internships after he has entered college. It can be tricky to find a company who will take on interns in level design for short periods in between school quarters. Once a company has gotten somebody up to speed on their project, they don't want him taking off to finish his education. And your son's longterm success is best served if he completes the four-year degree at the very least.

Your last question was about resumes and portfolios. Resumes are straightforward - there are lots of websites and books about writing resumes. A resume should look like a standard resume, and should contain truthful information about the candidate's education and experience. I have not looked at level design portfolios, but judging by your son's website, he should have no difficulty thinking of a creative way to show off his level design skills to potential employers.