2-Part Interview with Ben Bauer - Ubisoft

[smeerkat]

Hi everyone,

I uploaded a 2-part interview with Ben Bauer, Associate Game Director at Ubisoft Toronto. He has over 20 years' experience in level design, and 14 years' experience working on AAA games including FarCry, Crysis, Splinter Cell Blacklist and FarCry Primal. We talk about the pre-planning phase (before you open the editor), avoiding "cube syndrome" in your map, achieving immersion, design rules and patterns, your objective as a level designer, and how to get into the games industry. Regardless of your level of expertise, you'll probably find some interesting bits in there.

Part 1 (19 min)


Part 2 (15 min)


Hope you enjoy them!

[ShaiHulud]

Really enjoyed your tutorials so I'll definitely be tuning for this, thanks! That's quite a coup, well done for arranging the interview

[papercoffee]

Interesting... Watching.

[Chamberly]

Seem kind of off the topic from the forum section imo...??

[papercoffee]

Seem kind of off the topic from the forum section imo...??

Why? This guy is a level designer therefore a mapper ...oh, you mean it fits more into the Tips and Tricks section.

[smeerkat]

The target audience of the interview is mappers.

[Dr.Flay]

The target audience of the interview is mappers.

Yes but the target audience of this site is the first version of Unreal Tournament (not the second, third or forth), and we extend that rule for any content or resource that can be used directly in UEd or directly in-game.
All UT4 chat here is off-topic.

This site has other sections that also relate to mapping. eg.
Development School - Lessons and tutorials about mods and maps
Are there followable lessons being taught in the interview ?

Tips, Tricks & Tutorials - Get some cool tips about how to tweak your UT graphic, gameplay, and much more!
If not lessons, then does the interview contain tips and tricks to overcome things or make things easier ?

Ultimately the interview is not specific to any game or engine, but about concepts.
As long as the concepts are valid and can be specifically applied to making a map for UT99, it is OK to have here (in my opinion) but the correct home is unclear.
Those that have watched and digested it, should have their say.

Seeing a rival company name here is the root of the problem I feel, though perhaps we should get over it

[papercoffee]

I watched both videos and I must say it's not uninteresting ...but also not very tutorial like. It's more a discussion on planning and how to work. But what's really interesting is the linked PDF on his page http://benb-design.net/Articles/benb_article02.pdf Read this!

[smeerkat]

Ultimately the interview is not specific to any game or engine, but about concepts.
As long as the concepts are valid and can be specifically applied to making a map for UT99, it is OK to have here (in my opinion) but the correct home is unclear.

I maintain that all of the topics covered in the interview are applicable to UT99 mappers.

[ShaiHulud]

I think so too; these design concepts are useful patterns/recipes/guides. I have some map ideas, and the interview has drawn my attention towards focusing on building from the movement paths out, and getting that detail right as a first principle before thinking about the wider map environment.

[XaNKoNII]

Smeerkat has been doing map tutorials as a whole project, therefore i don't see how this interview could be seen as something else other that knowing a few professional tips in order to improve leveldesigning. With all do respect this forum is already confusing as it is, last thing i want is to see the information fragmented all over the place.This tutorial project clearly fits into the Map making thread