What are the necessary skills to become a level designer, do I need to be art savvy or an architect, apart from the gaming industry where else can a level designer find work?

You need to be good at making levels.

Seriously. If you came to me with a degree in architecture and a beautiful portfolio of sketches, but no UnrealEd/WorldCraft/whatever levels, I wouldn't hire you. (Well, not as a level designer).

Yeah, experience with stuff like Valve Hammer is the most valuable thing on your CV, with a portfolio of work (both single- and multi-player) to show what you can do. After that, customising your stuff to the company you're applying for, and showing a range of styles (Doom-style monster rushes, HL cover-heavy stuff, Halo bunkers) is probably the best thing you can do. This assumes you're working with FPS levels, but the principles apply to other genres too.

Experience with level design will not get you a job anywhere else on its own; it could help support lots of other fields though. Architecture obviously springs to mind.

You don't necessarily need to be art savvy or an architect although both characteristics might help you advance in level designing or get a job in the gaming industry.

As Acapulco already pointed out you should be familiar with the current level editors, for example Hammer or GTKRadiant (http://www.qeradiant.com). I'd suggest to download the latest version of GTKRadiant and start building some levels/maps for whatever game you like (Doom3, Quake, whatever).

Additionally you should get familiar with modelling tools like 3D Studio Max, Lightwave or Maya. More and more companies use these tools to create additional content or even build complete levels/maps in them.

Theres two aspects to level design: The Technical side, and the design side.

To get good technically, start using the level editors of your favorite games.. unreal, Warcraft 3, Command and Conquer Generals, Battlefield 1942, Valve games and mods..
Theres tons of Tutorials out there for all sorts of engines.

I would say its about 40% technical, and 60% design. If you make a badass looking map with tons of triggers, but its not fun enough to play, you have a failed map.

Design is pretty much the ability to have empathy with the player. You have to know how the player will be effected by your map. What areas the player likes, and what areas they would like to play.

You want to base the level on the 'style' of playing. If you make a death match map, some good things to incorporate are:
-Sharp corners in hallways make it so you can ambush people who cant see you. The waiting player has an advantage.
Bended hallways make it harder to know if people are comming, and then once you notice someone,t hey're right on top of you. That can add some frantic feeling as you go through, because you dont have much of a sight distance.
-Put weapons in areas where you expect players to converge. If theres a huge room, and hteres a super weopan in the middle, you cna expect other people wanting to get it, too. That creates a conflict as people try to get it and kill people who are trying to get it.
-Things to use as cover. In fragfest gmaes, you dont use them too often, but sopmetimes its nice to hide behind a pole or a box while you reload. In gay games like Unreal, you dont reload, so there is no tactical gain by having stuff like this.

If you're making a strategy game, theres different elements to add. Such as places to hide. For example, an average Ghost recon map woudlnt be fun to play in Unreal, and hte average unreal map woudlnt be funt o play in ghost recon. So a majority of level design is giving the player what they need to play that style of game.

The best way to learn about the design is to play lots of games you enjoy, and constantly be asking yourself
Does this room/area work?
What could be added to make it better?
What could be taken out to make it better?
What elements make this area fun?
What do I need as a player right now to have more fun?
Would giving that to the player right here make the map unbalanced?


Its really just alot of things you ask yourself as you play. Try to get into 'level design mode', and then play with level editors trying different things to see how good it turns out. Its alot of trial and error. Also, after you make your first map that you're really happy with, play it online, and towards the end of the game, ask the other players if they liked it or not, and then ask themw hat they liked or didnt like about it, or if theres anything the map needs more or less of..