When designing locations, where do you start? Do you start by drawing it out on paper, with a formal 2D design, or with 3D concepting like white boxing?
TL;DRDesigners start differently, but they all begin with a document of requirements, then a flowchart or 2D paper layout, and then move into the editor to build and test it in 3D.
I think each one is going to give a little bit of input on that, because every level designer might work a bit differently in how they start. For example, some people like to do paper, some people just go into the editor, and some people maybe like to write down a little basic story based on what they get from lore, to identify it. I'm not the person who generally draws a layout. I do more of a flowchart of how I want the location to flow, and then I go into the editor and work in the 3D environment. That's what I do at least. That's how I start. And with the document, of course, that describes every detail of the location down to the tiniest screw.
Yeah, I think one thing that we all do, please disagree with me, Fred, if you don't, but we always start with the document, right? Which also has the requirements we get from the directors: what is this location, what's the main purpose of that location, et cetera. And then it's what Andreas said, we work a little bit differently. I also go to a flowchart as the second step, but I usually start with paper after that, and I don't go into the editor until I have a few paper-based designs that I'm feeling fairly good about. Then I start implementing them. For myself, that is.
No, I agree. Starting off with a document is super important, just to get an overview of what the contents of the landing zone are. What are the requirements from the different departments? Like, hey, we definitely need spots for these two mission givers, or these are certain shops that we absolutely need here. What's generally the art style and all that. So that's basically the foundation. Then a 2D layout, whether it's on paper or whether you use Microsoft Visio or something like that to create a flowchart or a very rough layout of where what is located. That's what I would do. You can go into more detail drawing top-down layouts in 2D, but with the tools that we have to quickly sketch in 3D, basically in our editor, what we call designer solids, we can quickly draw these types of environments in 3D, get a feel for them, jump into game, walk through them and see if they work.