Hello again all! I've decided that I'm most interested in pursuing a career in the level designing aspect of gaming (mostly because I love working with the editor and feel comfortable with it). My question is: what does a portfolio for a level designer look like? Should I have large, open worlds? Condensed, narrow hallways that highlight movement through a level? So-well-built-that-they-almost-look-like-the-real-thing models of actual places? Two dozen or so diagrams? I just finished a corridor sort of level in UE4 and am wondering where I should go next? Thank you all for reading!

P.S. I apologize for posting this in the Articles and Tutorials Section. I haven't been on in a while and forgot how to post. Thank you to those who understand!

Show your breakdown for your level design. For example, why do you use this element instead of another kind? Why did you put a slope here?

Give this a read, it might help you.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131736/beginning_level_design_part_1.php

 In an ideal world you'd just need to demonstrate your ability to create a fun map in whatever genre you're planning on working on, but in reality the better looking your levels the more they'll be noticed so take the time to make them look as good as possible. You only have one chance to impress.

  If I were looking at your portfolio as an FPS designer, I'd want to see interesting spaces that have a lot of potential to work well with our core gameplay loop - if you're applying for a FPS position then submit clear, easily decipherable shots of several types of map, arenas, open spaces etc. If your basic composition skills are good and your scenes look interesting then that's a huge plus. Top points if you can turn a piece of concept art or an interesting photograph into a great game space. If you can kitbash an old modular set into something fresh, awesome.

 You don't need to be able to make shippable art but you need to be able to create a base that doesn't require the art team to spend long hours reverse engineering your greybox into a workable space.