It’s almost Christmas, and since it’s hard to escape it, I suppose there’s little option left than to embrace the season of good will, merriness, happiness, joy and other fluff. This post will be no exception.
You see, throughout my entire ‘career’ I’ve made maps that have been failures. Whilst others have been great successes. There’s a split though - roughly 80% of stuff will be bad, and 20% will be good (20% of good maps will be great and 20% of great maps will be astounding). But whether one person or one million people play a map, its popularity changes nothing. It is still a map you made.
That’s an important thing to remember. The amazing thing about level design is that we can go from scratch to having an entire world sitting in front of us in less time than it would take to cook our dinner. We can go from absolutely nothing to something incredible, something that is unique to us and us alone; something no one else would have ever created the way we would have done. We may not be the best designer in the world, but everyone is unique and everyone gets better the more they do it.
Ultimately that’s what makes level design so much fun for me. It lets me create something that I can be proud of, be it terrific or terrible. It lets me learn from every mistake. It lets me improve as I strive to create something better. It’s the same for everyone and every map. Even if it’s dull, bland or ugly, it’s something you will do anything to nurture into something better.
Look at that map you’re working on. It might not be the best in the world… or maybe it is… but either way, be proud that you created it and that it and you will only get better.
(Aww. Next year I’ll have some more useful stuff to say! Until then, Merry Christmas folks.)