level design discourse

obv Minecraft worlds aren't good indicators of level design aptitude. you aren't dealing with tools, software in general, other people, other roles, building to any particular game design, you aren't required to understand the tech you're working with or any tech at all

it's not that you can't build a good level design portfolio in the context of someone else's game; that's the best place to do it. minecraft is just not that sort of game

the argument, like most arguments that are anywhere near the topic of level design, is built on top of everyone who isn't a level designer thinking they know what level design is, and then thinking their wrong ideas about it are the same ones in everyone else's head

level design is like writing in that way

everyone seems to think they have a solid grasp of it, and can totally be the one to do it, even if they have never done it

my impression of garry is that he's a jerk, and if his complaint is based on a particular application he received that makes him even more of a jerk. some kid who submitted a minecraft level probably feels like shit now and there was nothing to be gained from discussing it at all

and minecraft is amazing - honestly, there's so much creativity you can express in there. you can make amazing worlds, machines, beautiful things, interesting spaces. you just can't really do level design

and if you think you can, you're not thinking of the same concept of "level design" that people in the games industry have been talking about for years. but you're not alone - good luck finding a level design vid on youtube with any level design in it

that's not to say minecraft has no overlap with what level design is. it's a great gateway drug *into* level design, can get you thinking about space in the relevant ways, get them good braincogs turnin'.

sadly "where to go from there" is a pretty tough question these days

there's hardly any recent games out there that you can do level design for anymore. devs stopped shipping their tools, which is a really long-term destructive thing to do

the best game to do level design for for a portfolio, imo? left 4 dead 1 https://twitter.com/NATO_chrisjm/status/1324521358227873794?s=20

also, regardless of whether you *can* do level design in minecraft, what you *can't* do is a good level design portfolio piece. it's basically impossible for the person hiring to glean anything helpful about what you're like as an LD from a minecraft world

it's super challenging to assess even if they do happen to come from a minecrafty context, so all it is in an application is noise, even if it's really good. and you don't want noise, so

same thing as if i jump straight into an empty project in unity or ue4 and make a level. there's no game, so you can't get anything from looking at it. even if i accompany it with a ton of text, there's nothing there. no context, no value. i didn't design a level, i made a map

so
-it doesn't demo the skills required to do the job you're applying for
-even if you have those skills, and used them to make that work, the work doesn't communicate that to the person hiring
-that you put it on the application demonstrates that you didn't realise any of this