How Rory got in the industry

FiringSquad: When did you make the conscious decision to learn level design, how long did it take you, and just how much work was it?

Rory McGuire: I found myself being overly critical of multiplayer level design and decided to put my money where my mouth was. I began just producing maps on my own, testing them with my roommates. I found I really enjoyed it and before I knew it I had picked up level building and scripting skills on most of the Q3 based games (Jedi Knight 2, Soldier of Fortune 2) as well as the Tribes games, Warcraft 3, and more. I then branched out to 3d Studio Max and a few other flagship 3d packages. It was a decent amount of work, but once you learn one 3d package its pretty easy to move into the next. All 3d packages are about building something grand from a blank space with a grid on it; once you wrap your head around that, you can move from toolset to toolset easily.

Donner Pass

Donner Pass from a different angle

FiringSquad: What recommendations do you have for people looking to get into the game industry like you did?

Rory McGuire: The first thing is: it’s not impossible. More and more companies are looking at their fan bases and realizing that a vast crop of talent is at their fingertips. Blizzard picked up Zileas, Valve picked up Gooseman, Irrational picked up KineticPoet to work on Tribes: Vengeance. The list goes on and on. One of the biggest technological innovators in the industry, iD, has over the years gone through a few dozen employees which began as amateur modelers, coders and level designers. For the game and level design disciplines in particular, the positions are really about expertise and knowledge of what’s fun in video games. This isn’t something that can be taught, it comes exclusively from playing a few thousand hours worth of games. Fans are perfect for such a position.

In the actual nuts and bolts of it all, I’d recommend pursuing amateur samples that you can provide companies with and learn the industry flagship toolsets for your chosen craft. Whether it is the appropriate coding language, rendering engine, 3d package or texturing tools, keep learning. When you feel you’re getting diminishing returns move on to another piece of knowledge related to your discipline. Be passionate about the craft. This really can’t be said enough. Passion is contagious and the more your eyes light up about a feature, a string of code or a model the more it rubs off on people. Finally, if you're in school, stay there. The video game industry will be here when you're done and they'll be offering you a better position as a result of your education. When you're tired of looking at polygons and textures you'll have a career elsewhere, as well.

Falling giant

Frozen over

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