Interview with Peter Respondek: Level Designer for Digital Extremes

Peter Respondek is the creator of two official maps for Unreal Tournament 2004 by Epic Games. The Assault map called AS-Glacier which features the very powerful ion tank, and the death match map DM-Corrugation were both created by Peter, who isbetter known in the mapping community by the nick "Rahnem".

In what must be a pretty busy and exciting period for the talented Queenslander, from the work in the official release of Unreal Tournament 2004, the level designworkshop tutorial at FreePlay: Independant Game Developers Conference 2004 with fellow mappers Wetwired and Stephen Honegger, and now working for Digital Extremes in Canada, I managed to snag some of Peter'stime for an interview on all things about himself and his craft.

Can you give us a brief introduction to yourself? Your age, where you're from, your interests etc. Do you have an artistic background? art related education?

My name is Peter Respondek. I'm 22 years old. I currently work for Digital Extremes (Toronto, Canada) as level designer. I live in Gladstone, a regional city on the Queensland coast. I hold a Bachelor degree in Information Technology from Central Queensland University. I don't have any formal art or design education beyond what I have learned myself from other people in the games industry, the Internet and unreal community.

When and how did you get interested in level designing for games? Did you involve yourself in any mod projects?

Well I started out when I heard Wheel of Time was going to become a game. I was a big fan of the series and excited that it was going to become a game. Unfortunately I didn't have a good enough computer to run it at the time it was released. However, through my musings on the Internet and message boards I learned about the Unreal Tournament, made by the same company that made the 3D engine that Wheel of Time was using. I also learnt that the Unreal Engine had one of the most powerful and easy to use level editors released to the public, known as UnrealEd. That sparked my interest. Imagine being able to make entire worlds in your computer!

During university I got a new computer. I also purchased a copy of Unreal Tournament for the express purpose of trying out the Unreal Editor. I then began to learn UnrealEd using various tutorials I found on the internet. I also learnt a tremendous amount by looking at the levels that shipped with Unreal Tournament and third party maps from the Internet. Shortly thereafter I started to release maps for download on the Internet until last year I was hired to work on Unreal Tournament 2004.

I haven't worked on any mods except a very short stint I did on Path to Victory.

How did you manage to get the job at Epic? Can you describe to us the working arrangement you had with Epic? (did you work from home, was it a contract job etc)

I originally made a map for UT 2003 called DM-Slam. I made the map for a competition being held on the Ozunreal forums ( www.ozforums.com ). One of the competition stipulations was that the level had to be made in a month. That was especially hard because I was learning how to use Lightwave 3D and new feature of Unreal Engine 2 at the same time. I submitted the level on time, however, I decided to spend another couple of weeks on it before I released it to the public for download.

Cliff Bleszinski, Lead Designer for Epic Games has a website on Planet Unreal ( www.planetunreal.com ) where he hands out the coveted ?Ownage Awards? ( www.planetunreal.com/cliffyb ). The Ownage award is given to any maps, which he feels, are of a professional quality. I submitted the finished version of DM-Slam and won the award. Soon thereafter I started receiving job offers from various game companies. Most of the jobs offers came from US so they dissolved pretty fast once they learned I lived in Australia.

A couple of months later I got an email from Cliff Bleszinski asking me if I would like to do some contract work for Epic Games. I jumped at the opportunity, if anything it would be excellent to have Epic Games on my resume, as their Engine is one of the most widely used 3D platforms for PC and Xbox.

To start with I worked from home. A couple months in I was asked to come onsite. Then begun the arduice task of getting through US immigration. It costs a lot of money, takes a long time, and you have to jump through a lot of hoops to get a work visa to the states. I can understand why many companies choose not to get employees from outside the country.

How long did you work for Epic and what was the experience like working on Unreal Tournament 2004? Did you visit Epic's office? Can you describe that experience for us?

I visited Epic's office in Raleigh, North Carolina for 6 months. Everybody who worked on the UT2004 project was crammed into what should be the Scion conference room (Scion has now merged with Epic), which was dubbed the UT2004 War Room. Through out development there were 12 people in the War Room at a time. A very interesting experience needless to say. For some of us it was our first ever shipped game so it was a learning experience for everybody. Thankfully we all got along really well, most of us shared the same sense of humour and interests. There were the occasional clashes but that is to be expected on any project.

I think everybody had a great time working on this project and for those of us that were leaving it was bitter-sweet when the project finished. I am also very happy that there was no leaked builds of UT2004, amazing considering how many offsite contractors there were on the project. I think it is a testemate to how much respect we all have for Epic Games.

While we were there, Epic treated us to a look at Unreal Engine 3. When you see the stuff that Epic are working on for their next game ( www.unrealtechnology.com ) you can't help but feel humbled. It is truly amazing. The increase in detail compared to current games is incredible. 3D Artists will finally be able to do some of the things they only dreamed about.

What things did you learn about the industry and level design whilst working there? Do you have any funny anecdotes (stories) from your experience there?

Being able to talk face to face with industry veterans such as Steve Polge, Daniel Vogel, James Golding and Cliff Bleszinski was an enormous treat, something which I will value the rest of my career. Also meeting with people in the same position as myself and sharing our collective experiences was just a valuable.

I learnt a hell of a lot about what goes into getting a game out the door. Such as testing, bug fixing, localisation, crunch time etc. Everybody learns that on their first shipped game, I guess. The stuff that I really cherish is when someone leans over your shoulder and says ?You know, doing it this way would be much better?. You can learn a tremendous amount simply by spending with other professionals. They can tell you things in 2 minutes that might take you hours, even days or weeks, to learn otherwise. Learning the interoffice politics of companies like epic and scion was equally interesting.

What was the most tedious or time consuming part of creating a map such as AS-Glacier and DM-Corrugation? What are you most happy about those maps?

That depends, in a professional setting I would say the most time consuming part of level design is keeping up with code and design changes, especially the kind that replicate themselves across all levels. In the final few months of development most of our time was devoted to keeping levels up to date. The most tedious part of level design would have to be bug fixing.

In a non-professional capacity the most time consuming part of level design for me is doing the architecture and geometry of the level, however it is also one of the most fun parts of level design. The most tedious would be debugging AI problems, especially the stubborn ones that require you to tweak the paths 20 different times.

I am happy just to have completed AS-Glacier. Finishing an Assault map is an achievement in itself. I don't know of a more difficult gametype to design for. Looking back at Glacier though, there are many things I would have liked to change, but I am happy with the end result.

What engine, level editing tools or 3d programs do you prefer to use?

I prefer the Unreal Engine, obviously! I have tried many different level editing tools Unreal Engine is the most flexible and powerful I have some across by leaps and bounds. Most other engines I have tried were built to do one thing, and one thing alone, the Unreal Engine however allows you to do almost anything without even touching the engine code. It's a pity that the unreal engine up until recently has only been used for FPS games, because it is capable of so much more. You only have to look at the range in diversity of mods available for UT2003 and UT2004 as proof.

For 3D modelling I use Lightwave 3D. 3D Max has a heap of great modelling and UV tools that I wish Lightwave had, however, every time I start to use Max I find myself gravitating back toward Lightwave. Lightwave, in my opinion, is just far easier to use coming from an UnrealEd background. For instance, back since Unreal days it has been accepted practice that you always snap to the grid in UnrealEd lest nasty BSP error occur. Using grid snap is so ingrained in my psyche now I feel uncomfortable without it. Thankfully in Lightwave most operations allow you to snap to the grid. This feature comes in handy if you want to directly intermingle Unreal BSP with Meshes.

I use Adobe Photoshop for any 2D stuff I need.

Who and where do you draw your inspiration from? What games have had exceptional levels in your opinion?

Architecture, nature, games, movies, music, there are so many different sources to draw inspiration from. Usually it's the stuff that excites me that has the greatest effect. Nothing beats that burst of creative energy you get after a ?WOW! That's cool!? experience.
Stuff like this http://www.apple.co.jp/quicktime/trailers/appleseed_large.html , and this http://www.dreamworks.com/trailers/gits2/gits2_trlr2_qt_480.mov get me especially inspired is terms of design and architecture.

For gameplay I am inspired by other games and real life. At the moment I am addicted to battlefield. I am constantly downloading other maps and mods for UT2004 and trying them out. It is important as a level designer to understand what makes them great and where they fall short.

If I'm stuck in a rut and can't think what to do next, I find music gets my head back in the game. Usually something fast and energetic. Music is like creative energy on tap.

Games that have exceptional levels - that is a really hard question to answer unless you know the circumstances under which the level was designed. There are games that have great level design but lack game design. There are so many different forms of levels as there are game genres. Not to mention I can count the number of games I have played over the past 2 or so years on two hands.

Give us a brief procedure on how you work. Do you sketch out your levels? What things do you consider when you're designing and building?You've mentioned that you now work at Digital Extremes. Can you tell us what project you're working on at the moment?

I never really liked to sketch levels. I know many level designers that do sketch their levels, but to me it always seemed a bit silly to express a 3D space using a 2D medium, especially for multiplayer maps. Professionally I find blocking out a level first usually has the best effect. Basically getting the level up to a state where it can be played by other people. Obviously this process is not going to appeal to a community level designer who does not have the resources to get there level tested, but from a professional stand point there is no better way to find out whether your level is going to play well. With each level costing more and more money to produce, it becoming increasingly important to prototype levels first before going ape shit on the visuals. Plus, if a level plays well when it looks like ass chances are it's only going to get better.

There are quite a few things I consider while making a level. Occlusion is a biggy. If I start making a level one way am I going to be hurting myself in the long run? Nobody is going to play the level if it slows down to a crawl.

When you start a level I find it is important to ask yourself whether the technology can actually do what you want it to do. This is where technical knowledge comes in handy, as there are a lot of little cravats to any 3D engine. If you know about them you can use that to your advantage. If you don't, you may need to redesign you level. This has happened to me more than a few times.

At the moment I can tell you that I am working on Pariah for Xbox and PC, but that is all I can tell you at the moment. Check out www.pariahgame.com for more information.

What are the things you are looking forward to as a level designer from new technology and engines such as what has been seen so far of the Unreal 3 Engine? How do you see the future as a level designer considering the amount of detail that will be required?
Increased level of visual detail is always very exciting. We can make each new each world more believable and engrossing than the last. Ever since the first electronic game we have progressively tried to make each game more believable than the last. Pixel shaders are the next step in that evolution.

The addition of a realistic physics model is just as exciting in terms of environment interactivity. Imagine being able to shoot a rocket at a stack of crates and have them tumble over crush your enemy. Ricochet a hail of bullets around a corridor. Kick a barrel full of fuel down the stairs, shoot it and watch your enemy go up in flames. In the past most of this kind of interactions were scripted, but now they can be completely dynamic. A realistic physics engine can make a game feel much more believable.

I think you will see the work flow of designing a level change radically. No longer can a level designer be a one-man army doing the entire level and artwork. The division of labour will become more segmented with separate people being responsible for lighting, special effects, modelling, animation, artificial intelligence, so on and so forth.
Can you tell us about your experience as a speaker for the The Art of Mapping session at Freeplay: Independent Game Developers Conference 2004? How did that go?

Not bad, considering I lost my notes on the plane the day before. I actually talked for a lot longer than I expected. It's very easy to do a speech when you actually are actually interested in what you are talking about.
(read more about the talk here)

What are the common mistakes new level designers make when they create their first map? Any tips you'd like to give to those wanting to get into level design?

As a new level designer it is important to make mistakes so you know not to do them in future. I think the best thing that a new level designer can do is look at other peoples work and understand what makes that level great. Try to understand why the level was made the way it was and understand the design discission that were made.

Also, if you want to get into level design professionally be critical of your own work. Understand what mistakes you made and what you will need to focus on in future levels. Know when your levels are close to professional quality before you start pimping yourself to every other games company. If you hound some dev to check you your work make sure it is good or they will remember to ignore you in the future. Contrary to popular belief we don't like downloading levels comprising of two BSP cubes, a light and a mesh.

Finally, any comments you'd like to make to end this interview?

If you are looking to get into level design go grab a copy of UT2004, open UnrealEd, find some tutorials on the Internet and start mapping. There are about three or four projects in Australia alone that use the unreal engine and there are only about four or five guys I know in Australia that can actually use UnrealEd at a professional level. Ued level designers are in demand at the moment and with Unreal Engine 3 on the way there is no sign of slowing down.

Thanks to Peter for his time on the interivew! You can visit Peter's webpage at www.planetunreal.com/rahnem!