In this chapter, we'll cover the following recipes:
- Building a room
- Building out a level
- Applying materials to geometry brushes
- Converting brushes to static meshes or volumes
In the game industry, there are two main roles in level creation: environment artist and level designer.
An environment artist is a person who builds the assets that go into the environment. They use tools such as 3ds Max or Maya to create the 3D model and then use other tools such as Photoshop or Gimp to create textures, including diffuse and normal maps.
A level designer is responsible for taking the assets that an environment artist creates and assembling them in an environment for players to enjoy. He/she designs the gameplay elements, creates the scripted events, and tests the gameplay. Typically, a level designer creates environments through a combination of scripting techniques and uses some tools that may still be in development. In our case, that tool is Unreal Engine 4.
Note
One thing that is important to note is that most companies have their own definitions for different roles. In some companies, a level designer may need to create assets, and an environment artist may need to create a level layout. There are also some places that hire someone to just do lighting or place meshes (called a mesher) because he/she is so good at it.
In this chapter, we will be exploring the topics that are relevant to the role of a level designer.