From the 2nd of July to the 28th of September, I was Level Designer on the game Shift Quantum. Developped by the studio Fishing Cactus, the game was already out for some time before my arrival. My main task was to make new levels for the future update using new gameplay blocks. Also, I had to make others levels using the ingame Level Editor for the community to play, and for some communication purposes
First experience in the industry
Working as a Level Design Intern at Fishing cactus was my first work experience in the video game industry. The first notable thing was that I had to adapt to an already functionning organization. Installing and configuring the software while trying to adapt to the team was somewhat stressful at the very beginning, but quite refreshing after. Being teamed with members of an established studio helped that processus and made the experience richer.
After the initial rush passed, my work started really coming together, I was given tasks and deadlines. I had already experience with making my own agenda for my projects, but here, the serious atmosphere pushed me to improve on it. I planned my days in order to create my level in time, not only for the team, but also the players. I tested my levels more extensively, and tested then with co-workers in order to improve their overall quality
Level Design : Working on a game already out
All my previous projects were created and done at school, it was my first time working on a game already out, moreover for an extension due to be released. So in addition to playing the game to understand the design philosophy and level design, I looked at past games of the "Shift" series so as to go even more in depth into the overall design to improve my work. I also looked at what had been done by the community, both to see want the players want but also to maybe see unusual utilisations of LD blocks.
While designing the levels I had two personnal goals for them, besides being good for the game. The first was to use blocks "underused" during the main game, both to enrich the depth of the base game, but also to prepare myself to use them with the new coming blocks. The second was, while I created levels using the new blocks, I always tried to pay attention to not make old levels with them, in order to out their true potential.
What I learned from it
This internship was a really interresting experience for me as a whole. Besides being my first work experience, talking and working with members of the industry gave me more confidence overall, both to talk about myself, but also with my expression. Working on a game that can and will be played made me review my rigour, and improve on it for me, my team but also the player. And since I was working on the DLC for an already released game, I had to learn to work with that, but looking back at the game but also its history.
Supervisor
