I think I should start this thread by giving you a little bit of information about myself. First off, hello and I am glad I found a community for game development purposes. That being said, I have had the will to become a game developer ever since I was around 6 or 7. Once I picked up Half Life 1, I learned that I could create levels for it. Soon, I became addicted. Though my maps, looking back, were some of the ugliest things I have ever layed my eyes on, I was still proud that I was making it somewhere. That being said, I will have to say that I have become an experianced user when it comes to the half life and half life 2 engine. But I want more! That brings me to the purpose of this topic. I believe that I am skilled with valve's tools, however I want to take that to the next level. So, I was wondering what I should do now. Should I make myself familiar with a program that is used by a majority of developers? Or will having skills with a tool such as valve hammer impress anyone else who hasen't doesn't use the half-life/source engine? And if I do need to familiarize myself with a program other than valve hammer, what program should I go to in the future? Should I wait for Direct X 10 developing tools to come out? Lets face it, I won't want to learn a program and then quickly have to learn another because it became out-dated right when I started to use it for a new game project. If you can help, I would deeply appriciate it.

Do you have any of your maps played globally on Counterstrike servers? If not, you need to build a reputation. Get some maps circulating the custom servers. If a map is very good, it doesn't get unnoticed.

Dave

Quote:Original post by Dave
Do you have any of your maps played globally on Counterstrike servers? If not, you need to build a reputation. Get some maps circulating the custom servers. If a map is very good, it doesn't get unnoticed.

Dave

I have a decent flow of maps being made for a mod and as soon as it comes out, i hope it builds me a reputation. However, I would just like to know what programs game companies usualy expect a person to know before hiring them. I have heard that it doesn't really matter, but I would like to make sure that they really don't so that, in the future, I will be able to get a job in a career that has been longly desired for myself.

If I can stick with valve hammer and get a good portfolio going with that, then I will continue to design on the source engine untill something newer and, in my opinon, better comes out. That would help a lot.

Well if you are expert in hammer, why not look at q3 radient or unreal editor? It's pretty much the same concept with different interface but you'll get the hang of it pretty fast, and it add to things you know.

You might as well think about professional modeling application such as 3DSMax, Maya and so. Maybe you don't want to create characters and movie scene, but usually importing custom objects/detailed rooms into your map add a lot more than the included prefabs and bsp-made room.