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Available for Download: How to Plan Game Environments and Level Designs

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Storytelling Level Design Challenge #2


Screenshot: Uncharted 2 - Among Thieves. ©Naughty Dog

2012 is here and it is time to begin the year with a Winter Challenge of 2012: Storytelling Level Design Challenge Part 2!

Start your year with a level design/game environment challenge.

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January 16, 2012
Category: Level Design Challenges

 

How to Have the Best Level Design and Game Environment Year

How do you have the best level design and game environment art year?

I used to set vague goals, work on a couple of projects per year that I didn't finish; I didn't work on level design and game environment art consistently and deliberately enough to make a difference. I didn't set projects that supported my level design goals, I never created working lists, I worked on multiple projects at a time, I didn't plan out my work,  I took too many days off and did not push myself.

Because of that I was stuck at the same skill level for a long time. Actually, I thought I was getting worse.

In this blog post I will share what has been working for me and what I would recommend you do to get better at level design and game environment art.

I sat down to write a fairly short article, but in the end I could not stop adding more information. The following article ended up being 3,000+ words. So grab your favorite drink and lets dive in on how you can have the best level design and game environment year!

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January 11, 2012
Category: Level Design Tutorials/Workflow

 

How to Plan Game Environments and Level Designs

How to plan your game environments and level designs?

In the last article we talked about why I failed for years in level design and game environments. I focused on one part of the process. The planning stage.

In this tutorial we will cover planning workflow. Where do you start? What do you do?

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December 01, 2011
Category: Level Design Tutorials/Workflow

 

Why I Failed for Years at Level Design and Game Environments

Looking back over last decade it is easy for me to see what I did wrong and what I could have done better in learning level design and game environments. It is easy for me to say what I could have avoided and where I should have focused my time on.

The mistakes and failures I went through were extremely valuable, even though during such moments it seemed I wasn't going to pull through. In the end, most if not all experiences were extremely valuable and I wouldn't give them up.

But, I do wish someone could have told me a few things to make level design and game environment art creation a simpler process to go through. Certain principles to keep in mind and goals to aim for. So I didn't have to re-invent the wheel. It would have helped me to avoid my first few years starting a project after project and never finishing a single one.

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November 29, 2011
Category: Level Design Tutorials/Workflow

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: How to Move Sections of Terrain

We continue with CryEngine 3 SDK tutorials. If you are just starting to learn and use CryEngine 3 SDK, start here.

When blocking in terrain you will often find yourself wanting to re-arrange and move certain sections of terrain to another location without having to modify it from scratch. There is a useful function called Move Area tool that allows you to do just that.

In this tutorial we cover how to move sections of your terrain to another location.

Topics covered:

  • How to move section areas of your terrain

Continue Reading...

November 10, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: How to Keep Your Map to Scale

When I started working with CryEngine it was difficult to gauge scale and proportions of the world. CryEngine can build large landscapes, you have to be able to judge world scale and how far terrain and objects are from each other. Here are 6 ways to keep your maps in CryEngine 3 SDK to proper scale and proportions.

In this tutorial we cover how to keep your world to scale.

Topics covered:

  • Using objects/models as a reference scale
  • Placing human reference scale
  • Using default texture as scale reference
  • Using ruler tool to measure distance

Continue Reading...

November 10, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

"10-Year-Old Brother" Challenge Final Work and Winners

10 Year Old Brother Game Environment Challenge is over. The challenge was started by WoLD member Robert aka BasketQase. I want to thank Robert for coming up with the idea and 1111mediaworks.com for t-shirts to top 3 entries.

This challenge was fun to watch. It was interesting to see how story defined the perception of the environment and the variety of environments created from the same theme. In the end we had seven final entries and 3 top winners as chosen by Rob's brother and his friends.

Below are top 3 entries with kid's reactions and the rest of the final work submitted.

Thank you to everyone who participated and hope to see you in the next challenge.

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November 02, 2011
Category: Level Design Challenges

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: Create/Add Rivers

We continue with CryEngine 3 SDK tutorials. If you are just starting to learn and use CryEngine 3 SDK, start here.

In this tutorial we cover how to create/add rivers in your environment.

Topics covered:

  • How to create/add rivers
  • Applying river texture
  • Edit rivers and its properties
  • Edit material properties for more control and visual look

Continue Reading...

October 31, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: Create/Add Roads

We continue with CryEngine 3 SDK tutorials. If you are just starting to learn and use CryEngine 3 SDK, start here.

In this tutorial we cover how to create/add roads.

Topics covered:

  • How to create/add roads
  • Applying road texture
  • Align terrain to the road
  • Edit roads
  • How to place a vehicle to drive and test the terrain and roads

Continue Reading...

October 31, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: Add Vegetation/Foliage/Trees/Grass

We continue with CryEngine 3 SDK tutorials. If you are just starting to learn and use CryEngine 3 SDK, start here.

In this tutorial we cover how to insert/place objects/models into your map.

Topics covered:

  • Setting up vegetation and creating vegetation categories
  • How to paint vegetation
  • Vegetation properties
  • How to set up and paint proper grass
  • Database View for vegetation

Continue Reading...

October 26, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: Placing Objects/Models Into Your Map

We continue with CryEngine 3 SDK tutorials. If you are just starting to learn and use CryEngine 3 SDK, start here.

In this tutorial we cover how to insert/place objects/models into your map.

Topics covered:

  • How to insert/place models into your map
  • Moving, rotating and scaling these models
  • How to align objects/models to terrain
  • How to duplicate objects/models
  • Few important and very helpful shortcuts to make it easier to populate the world with objects/models

Continue Reading...

October 25, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: Terrain Layer Texture Painting

We continue with CryEngine 3 SDK tutorials. If you are just starting to learn and use CryEngine 3 SDK, start here.

In this tutorial we cover how to paint textures on terrain by using Layer Texture Painter.

Topics covered:

  • How to define textures for your terrain
  • How to paint textures on your terrain
  • Terrain Texture Layer window
  • Importance of layer textures and layer materials
  • Painting textures on specific terrain altitudes and slopes

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October 24, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: Import and Create Custom Terrain Heightmap

We continue with CryEngine 3 SDK tutorials. If you are just starting to learn and use CryEngine 3 SDK, start here.

In this tutorial we cover how to export/import/create custom heightmaps using Photoshop.

Topics covered:

  • Export heightmap
  • Import heightmap
  • Create custom heightmap using Photoshop and default filters
  • Modifying and tweaking custom heightmap

Continue Reading...

October 20, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: Paint, Edit, Modify Terrain Manually

We continue with CryEngine 3 SDK tutorials. If you are just starting to learn and use CryEngine 3 SDK, start here.

In this tutorial we cover how to manually paint, modify and edit terrain.

Topics covered:

  • Using Flatten, Rise/Lower, Smooth and Pick Height Terrain tools
  • Defining a general shape of your terrain
  • Manually modifying the terrain height
  • Combining Generate Terrain Tool and manually painting/editing terrain height

Continue Reading...

October 19, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: Creating and Generating Terrain

We continue with CryEngine 3 SDK tutorials. If you are just starting to learn and use CryEngine 3 SDK, start here.

In this tutorial we cover how to generate and create new terrain.

Topics covered:

  • Creating New Map
  • Defining Heightmap Resolution and Meters Per Unit
  • Generating and creating terrain (procedural)
  • Generate terrain options
  • Modifying terrain options
  • Resizing terrain

Continue Reading...

October 17, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: Navigation, Interface, Viewports

We continue with CryEngine 3 SDK tutorials. If you are just starting to learn and use CryEngine 3 SDK, start here.

In this tutorial we cover how to navigate around CryEngine, interface functions to get started and viewport configurations. After this tutorial you'll be ready to start creating your first map. Which what we will do in the next tutorial.

Topics covered:

  • Navigate around CryEngine 3
  • Interface overview
  • Viewport configuration

Continue Reading...

October 17, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

CryEngine 3 SDK: Download, Installation, Launch

In this series of tutorials we begin to cover CryEngine 3 SDK. If you wanted to learn CryEngine 3 SDK, this is the time to do it.

We will cover everything you need to know to get started with CryEngine 3 SDK so you can begin creating beautiful, realistic environments with one of the industries top game engines.

Lets begin.

In this first tutorial we cover how to download, install and launch CryEngine 3 SDK.

Topics covered:

  • Download
  • Install
  • Launching the editor and the game
  • Changing the game screen resolution
  • Loading the example map, forest.cry in game and in the level editor

Continue Reading...

October 17, 2011
Category: CryEngine 3 SDK

 

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PREPRODUCTION BLUEPRINT

How to Plan Your Game Environments and Level Designs

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