Fledgling designer

[Fenn]

I do hope some of you can help me out here. I plan on going into the gaming industry as a "designer" post military/college and was wondering what is the best way to prepare, what do I need to know? I've had a bunch of people tell me to get involved in modding, others telling me to get involved in mapping, etc, etc. But it's all ended up being a big muddled mess. Map design is a skill I believe necessary, but aside from that, all I really have are a lot of great ideas (or at least what I consider great ideas) and a moderate ability to articulate my thoughts through writing.

So where should I start? I've been mucking about with the unreal development kit, but with no prior mapping experience it's the equivalent of trying to fly a plane, that's on fire, while wasted, did I mention the cockpit dashboard is covered in black paint? The long term goal is to eventually land a position at Valve, my favorite studio by far, in a podcast with Gabe Newell he stated repeatedly that they're always hiring, but they need flexible people. So I basically have to know a little bit of everything, but I can't say I'm ecstatic at the prospect of learning C +.

So, where does this rookie start?

 

[ThriKreen]

Well, ask yourself if you want to do game design, or level design.

If level design, start making maps in Source/Hammer and test them out in CS:S, TF2, Portal, etc. If you are using UDK, then make some multiplayer maps for UT3 or something. The whole point is to build up your experience, then be prepared to toss out a lot of scratch maps as you learn what works and doesn't, and how one builds a level in an efficient and clean manner.

If game design, take an easily moddable engine - Source, UDK, NWN, Oblivion, Flash - and some up with some sort of total conversion game design. Then shave off 99% of your idea and only do 1% of it. This is done to get exposure to your choice of engine to see if it can do the features you want before expanding further.

 

[aba1]

Well I would suggest art lots and lots of art. Being a designer is a field that demands alot and you need to have a impressive portfolio full of character renders/ designs, texture experiance and various other skills it is easily one of the most competitive jobs I would not recomend going for it unless you plan to really dedicate yourself.