A Day in the Life of a Game Designer with 35 Years Experience

00:05:36
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMbWTnULc6M

摘要

TLDRTroy Dunaway shares insights from his 35 years of experience as a level designer in the gaming industry, detailing the dynamic nature of the job. A level designer acts as a critical assembly point for game development, navigating daily tasks that involve communication with international teams, project management, and collaborative design efforts. The role requires adaptability and effective time management as designers prioritize tasks, tackle bugs, and build levels using tools like Unreal Engine. Dunaway emphasizes the importance of stand-up meetings, playtesting, and keeping the lines of communication open to create cohesive gaming experiences while mastering the chaos inherent in game design.

心得

  • 🎮 Level designers are essential for assembling game levels.
  • 🌏 Communication with international teams is crucial.
  • 🕒 Daily tasks involve prioritizing work based on changing needs.
  • 👀 Playtesting helps gather feedback to improve designs.
  • 🤝 Stand-up meetings keep the team aligned on tasks.
  • 📅 Flexibility is necessary due to unpredictable changes.
  • 💻 Remote work mimics in-office interactions.
  • ✅ Time management is key for effective productivity.
  • 🛠️ Tools like Unreal Engine are commonly used.
  • 🔄 Level designers must embrace the chaotic nature of their work.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:36

    The video introduces the role of a level designer as a dynamic and multifaceted position within the game development process. Troy Dunaway, a seasoned professional with over 35 years of experience, emphasizes that no two days are alike in this job, highlighting the excitement and challenges that come with the territory. His morning routine involves personal care, catching up on communications, and preparing for meetings across different time zones, indicating the importance of flexibility and adaptability in his daily schedule. The stand-up meetings help the team align on tasks and identify any blockers, while lunchtime provides opportunities for team bonding, even in a remote setting. Afternoon sessions are often dedicated to in-depth collaboration with various artists and designers, focusing on conceptual and technical aspects of level design. Overall, Dunaway stresses the necessity of teamwork and communication in delivering high-quality game environments, while also encouraging an embrace of the unpredictable nature of the work for success in the field.

思维导图

视频问答

  • What is a level designer responsible for?

    A level designer is responsible for assembling game levels, ensuring they fit together seamlessly, and managing communication between various teams throughout the project.

  • What tools do level designers typically use?

    Level designers often use software like Unreal Engine for building levels and Jira for tracking tasks and bugs.

  • What does a typical day look like for a level designer?

    A typical day involves checking messages, attending meetings, collaborating with teams, and allocating time for focused work on level designs.

  • How does communication affect a level designer's work?

    Communication is crucial since level designers need to coordinate with artists, programmers, and other team members, which can vary based on time zones.

  • What is a stand-up meeting?

    A stand-up meeting is a brief daily meeting where team members discuss their current tasks, roadblocks, and plans for the day.

  • Why is flexibility important in level design?

    Flexibility is important due to the unpredictable nature of game development, where priorities and tasks can change rapidly.

  • What is the significance of playtesting in level design?

    Playtesting is essential for gathering feedback on level designs to improve gameplay and user experience.

  • What are common challenges faced by level designers?

    Common challenges include managing time effectively, keeping up with international team schedules, and adapting to changes in project scope.

  • How does remote work impact level designers?

    Remote work necessitates virtual communication and collaboration tools, which can mimic in-office interactions but may also introduce challenges.

  • What is the ultimate goal of a level designer?

    The ultimate goal is to create engaging and cohesive levels that enhance the player's gaming experience.

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  • 00:00:00
    have you ever wondered what a level
  • 00:00:01
    designer's job is really like It's that
  • 00:00:02
    final assembly point where everything's
  • 00:00:04
    being put together So you really got to
  • 00:00:06
    know like what's coming in you know hot
  • 00:00:07
    what's coming in not No day is ever the
  • 00:00:10
    same And in that is exciting And that
  • 00:00:12
    can also be challenging because you're
  • 00:00:13
    not always sure exactly what to do Hi
  • 00:00:15
    everybody I'm Troy Dunaway I have over
  • 00:00:17
    35 years experience in games I've worked
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    on over 100 games Worked at Microsoft
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    Sony Disney Ubisoft EA I helped create
  • 00:00:25
    the program at CG Spectrum for game
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    design as a level designer throughout
  • 00:00:28
    each stage and phase of a project and
  • 00:00:30
    the job really changes quite a bit
  • 00:00:31
    That's one of the reasons I love it to
  • 00:00:33
    death and every team is a little
  • 00:00:34
    different Every you know every um
  • 00:00:36
    project's a little bit different but
  • 00:00:38
    typically you know you get up in the
  • 00:00:39
    morning I'm working from home so you
  • 00:00:42
    know I get ready and I do my stuff to
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    take care of myself my physical and
  • 00:00:45
    mental health Generally I start fairly
  • 00:00:47
    early because I'm often working with
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    international teams I'm working with
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    people from around the world Sometimes I
  • 00:00:51
    need to get up kind of early so I can
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    maybe get on a couple calls you know
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    with somebody you know from another
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    country that might be helping me with
  • 00:00:58
    some art or helping me with some coding
  • 00:00:59
    or helping me with something else My
  • 00:01:01
    core team may be in the same time zone
  • 00:01:02
    They may be all over the world right So
  • 00:01:04
    it really affects kind of my day-to-day
  • 00:01:06
    Early in the mornings are generally more
  • 00:01:08
    about getting caught up to speed on
  • 00:01:10
    everything You know what's going on
  • 00:01:11
    What's happening in the you know in the
  • 00:01:13
    day I'm looking at my Slack messages I'm
  • 00:01:15
    working on email I'm looking at my tasks
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    for the day Like what do I need to have
  • 00:01:18
    done today What are my goals for the day
  • 00:01:20
    You know I might be looking through Jira
  • 00:01:22
    or some bug tracking software to
  • 00:01:24
    understand what my bugs are Um what
  • 00:01:26
    somebody on your team might need today
  • 00:01:28
    might completely throw off your entire
  • 00:01:29
    schedule A bug might completely throw
  • 00:01:30
    off your schedule So your schedule's
  • 00:01:32
    only as good as you know being able to
  • 00:01:33
    to really constantly prioritize yourself
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    every day So you need to communicate
  • 00:01:37
    Generally a couple hours after kind of
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    our core hours might start So for me
  • 00:01:41
    that's about 10:00 a.m You generally
  • 00:01:43
    have a stand-up meeting A standup is a
  • 00:01:45
    very short typically 15 minute type
  • 00:01:47
    meeting Um quite often in the old days
  • 00:01:49
    if we were all in the same room we were
  • 00:01:50
    all standing that's where the team name
  • 00:01:52
    standup came from But sometimes it's
  • 00:01:54
    behind the the video and Zoom and just
  • 00:01:55
    kind of go like what am I working on
  • 00:01:57
    today What's blocking me Where am I
  • 00:01:58
    stopped Possibly what am I doing
  • 00:02:00
    tomorrow Right Just kind of keeping tabs
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    It helps the producers understand the
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    schedule a little bit better but mostly
  • 00:02:05
    it's try to to identify like who's stuck
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    and maybe I hear something like hey wait
  • 00:02:09
    why is that guy having a problem there
  • 00:02:11
    You know that maybe didn't surface
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    through another communication channel So
  • 00:02:14
    it gives us all a little bit of face to
  • 00:02:15
    face mornings quite often are kind of
  • 00:02:18
    dealing with my team dealing with
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    meetings do I need to have other
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    meetings with other team members um
  • 00:02:22
    things like that So those are kind of
  • 00:02:24
    the across the department type stuff for
  • 00:02:27
    me that I typically taken care of before
  • 00:02:28
    my lunch I really just want to make sure
  • 00:02:30
    that is everybody else set Occasionally
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    I might have some some me time to go do
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    some actual work and and write some
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    design specs or or build something in
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    Unreal or the game engine but it's hard
  • 00:02:39
    to say Then typically I'll take you know
  • 00:02:41
    take my lunch quite often with the team
  • 00:02:43
    if I'm in the office or you know
  • 00:02:45
    sometimes we have virtual lunches and
  • 00:02:46
    you know and we all eat together on
  • 00:02:48
    camera and chat and talk or play video
  • 00:02:49
    games even you know remotely So even a
  • 00:02:51
    remote office would mimic a lot of the
  • 00:02:53
    in in person work you know and after
  • 00:02:55
    lunch um typically I start to have a
  • 00:02:58
    couple often quite longer meetings with
  • 00:03:00
    some of my design team or my core team
  • 00:03:02
    that's working on semi level you know
  • 00:03:03
    that could be level artists or
  • 00:03:05
    environment artists or you know art
  • 00:03:07
    department in general or it could be
  • 00:03:08
    other designers So quite often again
  • 00:03:10
    we're building things in teams right And
  • 00:03:12
    so levels especially are incredibly hard
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    because you have to have a lot of inter
  • 00:03:15
    team communication You have to have a
  • 00:03:17
    lot of codependencies going on because
  • 00:03:19
    it's that final assembly point where
  • 00:03:20
    everything's being put together So you
  • 00:03:22
    really got to know like what's coming in
  • 00:03:23
    you know hot what's coming in not you
  • 00:03:25
    know do I have to keep changing and
  • 00:03:26
    adapting depending on the this the time
  • 00:03:29
    frame of my level design I might be just
  • 00:03:31
    more in conceptual phase and I'm I'm
  • 00:03:33
    working on some documents I'm working on
  • 00:03:34
    drawings I'm working on you know
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    visualization of what this thing's going
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    to look like or I may be later in the
  • 00:03:39
    process I might be building it working
  • 00:03:41
    on Unreal and working in the game engine
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    you know sometimes three or four hours
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    straight I try to block out a really
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    solid time you know from mid-afternoon
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    to to the end of the day where I just
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    can work with you know hopefully no
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    meetings or distractions If you can get
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    four or five hours a day of that really
  • 00:03:55
    solid work time that's generally pretty
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    good You might also want to schedule
  • 00:03:58
    some time to focus test your level Make
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    sure people are you know playing it
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    seeing what their feedback is iterating
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    on it And then towards the end of the
  • 00:04:04
    day trying to check back in with my team
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    making sure they don't have anything
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    else they need Again with time zone
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    requirements and changes maybe I need to
  • 00:04:11
    go you know um solve some problems for
  • 00:04:13
    somebody in Asia or something like that
  • 00:04:15
    before you know as they're starting to
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    wake up so that they can know what to
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    work on for that day and all my pass
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    things off to them I'll check in my
  • 00:04:22
    files make sure that they can get access
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    to them send them any notes send them
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    any things they need to know you know
  • 00:04:27
    and then be able to kind of reflect back
  • 00:04:28
    on my day a little bit kind of see
  • 00:04:30
    what's right update any of my tasks and
  • 00:04:32
    my scheduling software Every day again
  • 00:04:34
    is a little different but that's what
  • 00:04:35
    you have to kind of love It's not you
  • 00:04:37
    know a very menial job that you tend to
  • 00:04:38
    just kind of go get in and do the exact
  • 00:04:40
    same thing for day after day you know
  • 00:04:42
    year after year You have to be flexible
  • 00:04:44
    to you know work in this job really well
  • 00:04:47
    because no day is ever the same in that
  • 00:04:49
    you know is is exciting and that can
  • 00:04:52
    also be challenging because you're not
  • 00:04:53
    always sure exactly what to do So
  • 00:04:55
    embrace the chaos You know learn that
  • 00:04:57
    that's sometimes your strongest weapon
  • 00:04:58
    It also can be seen as a little you know
  • 00:05:01
    um frustrating for some people but you
  • 00:05:03
    know that's the the nature of the beast
  • 00:05:05
    that we live in that we have to first
  • 00:05:06
    and foremost keep our team working even
  • 00:05:08
    beyond ourselves right So we need to
  • 00:05:10
    keep those other people working so that
  • 00:05:11
    they can feed us the materials the
  • 00:05:13
    content the things that we need to do
  • 00:05:15
    our job So hopefully that gives you a
  • 00:05:16
    little bit of a little glance into what
  • 00:05:18
    it's like to work in game studio and
  • 00:05:20
    what's like to work as a level designer
  • 00:05:22
    Take care If you like this please like
  • 00:05:24
    and subscribe We hope to see you next
  • 00:05:26
    time Take care now
标签
  • Level Designer
  • Game Development
  • Unreal Engine
  • Remote Work
  • Communication
  • Project Management
  • Playtesting
  • Stand-up Meetings
  • Team Collaboration
  • Adaptability