Architecture

As I delve deeper and deeper into level designing, I'm quickly learning that the knowledge of even just basic architecture is a must. A level designer needs to know why a building it built the way it is, where and why a support beam is placed in spot A instead of spot B, etc. Even when creating alien worlds, the architecture needs to make sense (in most cases). So I am going to start reading some books on architecture, along with the pile of books I've bought on level design. I'm also considering dusting off my digital camera and going out to New York and taking 4gb worth of pictures of the city. Shots of building's, alleyways, streets, basically anything I see that I could see myself one day re-creating in UnrealEd. This way I'll have an encyclopedia of real work architecture and environments to refer to so that I may create more believable maps.

I believe this is something every aspiring level designer should do. While building DM-Intersection, I stopped mid-way asking myself "Crap, what does a city intersection really look like? Do brick buildings have gutters? What kind of windows do they have? Crap, I don't have any sidewalks. How are electric wires delivered to the buildings? How are lamp posts placed? Manholes?". You get the idea. These extreme fine details are what bring the level together and make it alive.

I've also realized how important the placement of every static mesh effects the overall atmosphere, how each static mesh has the ability to add to the story of the map. For instance, DM-Intersection takes place in the midst of a pre-apocalyptic torn mega-city, a period of conflict and terror. So how can I show this? Piles of rubble are a great start, but that's not enough. Cars turned over, trash cans spilled over spewing garbage everywhere, small pit fires, XXX stores indicating a period of low morals, pieces of destroyed statues (political perhaps?), the list goes on. A level designer should ask himself "why" he's selecting a particular static mesh and "why" he is placing it where he's decided to put it. Does it add to the story of the map, to the atmosphere, or take away from it?

Perhaps that's why I enjoy level designing so much, because they are, perhaps more than any one else, the true storytellers of a game.