Source Level Design Student-Taught Course

General Development Source 1
#1

Hey guys. I haven’t been around lately due to schoolwork, but at the same time, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about an idea I came up with.

My university offers student-taught courses, and they allow any enrolled student to teach whatever we want to anyone who will take the course. Usually these courses are for fun (eg. Intro to Minecraft, Intro to Ballroom Dancing, Advanced League of Legends, etc), and offer a small amount of elective credit. I had the idea to (eventually) teach an Intro to Source Level Design course, since it’s something that I’ve always enjoyed practicing and reading about.

If I were to do this, I’d like some suggestions for it. Things like, what material should I cover? How much to cover? How quickly? What concepts should I focus on? Should I focus on singleplayer or multiplayer? Both? If so, which game(s) should I use?

The course would be weekly. I’m not sure how long each class session would be (probably an hour to two hours), but the course would last for one semester. I’d have to type up a week-to-week syllabus of all material that I want to teach, as well as propose a midterm and final project/exam.

This probably won’t happen very soon (I’ll wait at least a year), but I want to do it and I feel like I’d want a good amount of preparation in advance.

So. Any suggestions? :slight_smile:

#2

Please teach them the proper way to set-up a map.

Unless these guys cannot create a map without detailing one area first for ideas, make sure they use dev-textures and plain layouts.

#3

Just off the top of my head, I think a fairly decent flow would run something like this:

  • Exploring the editor and compiler tools
  • Basic brushwork and texture tools
  • Basic entities (pickups, props, possibly NPCS)
  • NPCs / Enemies
  • Input/Output
  • Lighting
  • Sounds (soundscapes, ambient_generics)
  • Navigation (AI nodes, clip textures, ladders)
  • Optimization (hint brush, func_details, physics optimization)
  • Outdoor areas (making skyboxes, setting up sunlight
  • Special effects (fog, explosions, trains, sprites)

Assuming one item per week, and assuming 15 week semesters, this leaves four weeks unfilled, which you can easily use for lab days where students can work on their maps. Or, for the last class, you could have students present their final projects, which might be a three-minute HL2 level or something.

I would say focus on Half-Life 2, because a single player game will be easier to for them to learn and is a lot more versatile.

As far as the final project itself goes, have it be something that they build over the course of the semester using the concepts that they learn along the way. Have them plan out their levels in advance and build from the ground up. Encourage them to make outdoor levels too (since most locations are outdoor areas).

As far as a midterm goes, have them submit a rundown of how their level will run. This will let you gauge who is where in the development process and give them pointers. You could even have presentations to the class if you want.

Also do take home tests each week, going over key terms and design concepts. Multiple choice seems like a good idea for this.

I take most of this from how my basic web design class ran. First week we were given a final project, and we knew what to expect over the course of the class. Next eight weeks was spent actually learning and doing html assignments where we made actual webpages. The final few weeks was spent solely doing lab and building our final projects (working webpages with multiple pages and links). Final night of class, everyone showed off their websites for a grade.

Gosh dky, I really want to teach your class ._.

#4

This is neat.
For additions to the course outline .RK posted, I’d probably have one of the first lectures be on level design theory; What makes a good map, colour theory, loops, bounce, flow etc. Maybe use some terms from the Left 4 Dictionary.

#5

I desperately need some proper optimization tutorials, because that’s what I’m worst at.

#6

I’m struggling to come up with a good order of what to teach.

I definitely want to touch upon what Jeff mentioned in terms of Level Design theory, and I also want to teach at least the basics of compilation theory (probably as a lead-in to optimization, since good optimization is helped by a good knowledge of compilation theory). I don’t know when to introduce those though, since they seem like somewhat advanced topics.

I also had the idea of using Black Mesa, since it’s free to use and play last I checked. Then again, HL2 and the episodes are dirt cheap now. Hmm…

#7

Maybe slowly build it up?
In terms of level design theory, I’d definetly show them the level design guide from worldofleveldesign.com, and the stuff Jeff posted.

#8

I like the idea of using BM. It has a lot of great examples as to what Source has to offer.You could make it a prerequisite for the class that they play the game.

Maybe get some more people in Haf-Life…

Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.