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Feature: 'Illustrator-to-Maya: How to Design and Build the Perfect Level'

Today's main feature article is from Chad Steingraber, senior game designer at Darkwatch developer High Moon Studios, and discusses a process for level design, wor...

Simon Carless, Blogger

June 7, 2005

1 Min Read
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Today's main feature article is from Chad Steingraber, senior game designer at Darkwatch developer High Moon Studios, and discusses a process for level design, working a level from 2D design basics through to basic 3D geometry with a minimum of fuss. In his introduction to the piece, Steingraber suggests: "One of the biggest production issues today for a Game Designer/Level Designer is translating that great concept from your mind into a playable 3D world fast and effectively. I've seen some designers draw out their level with a pencil onto paper, sketch ideas in Photoshop, use simple pictographs in various 2D packages, or bypassing that altogether by building in 3D from nothing at all. All these methods are perfectly acceptable of course, but this doesn't solve our problem of moving from a 2D idea quickly into a 3D world with known gameplay limitations and parameters already included. Using the above techniques described will not give us perfect scale, exact mission time, or fluid game pacing all before reaching the 3D world. There is a system to accomplish this while directly translating to Maya, to know the final results of your level in 2D, and it starts with Adobe Illustrator." You can now read the full Gamasutra feature on the subject (no registration required, please feel free to link to the article from external websites).

About the Author

Simon Carless

Blogger

Simon Carless is the founder of the GameDiscoverCo agency and creator of the popular GameDiscoverCo game discoverability newsletter. He consults with a number of PC/console publishers and developers, and was previously most known for his role helping to shape the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Conference for many years.

He is also an investor and advisor to UK indie game publisher No More Robots (Descenders, Hypnospace Outlaw), a previous publisher and editor-in-chief at both Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine, and sits on the board of the Video Game History Foundation.

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