Is it viable to be a 3D Level Designer in Cape Town?

I'm trying to better acquaint myself with the game dev industry in Cape Town and discover where employment opportunities may lie. I'm a 3D level designer / environment artist. I've been searching for game dev companies in Cape Town and examining their portfolios to see where I could potentially offer my skills.

I've become somewhat concerned that there might not be any opportunities for someone like me in Cape Town. The impression I get is that most game development companies in Cape Town are creating games that don't require the participation of a 3D level designer / environment artist. I see plenty of quality work being done on stylised 2D and pixel art games. The 3D games I've seen are mostly games without levels/environments (virtual board games, for example).

I'm hoping that I'm just completely out of touch with the goings-on of the Cape Town game dev industry. Are there any companies in Cape Town who're working on the sort of games that include carefully crafted 3D environments? Perhaps some of the more experienced patrons of this fine forum will be able to help expand my knowledge of the industry. Any assistance would be much appreciated.

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By the way, I did come across one company that looked promising called Tasty Poison Games. They have some games in their portfolio (Tom Sparks, Neon Shadow) that look like the sort of thing I could make a meaningful contribution to. I sent a speculative letter of application to them a couple of weeks ago but, unfortunately, I haven't received any reply.

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In case you're interested in seeing examples of my previous work, please browse my website:

http://matthewkerswill.com/

Comments

  • I think you'll find that a lot of South African studios try limit their production costs by sticking to art styles that don't rely on large detailed 3D environments, as they can be quite expensive to make. I know we certainly try and avoid those ourselves.

    That said, there are some people you can try reach out to for more info: RuneStorm and possibly the Super Regency Deluxe guys, although I don't think any of them are hiring. Tasty Poison isn't active any more AFAIK.

    Unfortunately, the reality is that if your skills fall outside of programming or more general art (and even then) the number of jobs is quite few and far between all over SA.
  • I think there's definitely opportunity (because I've turned down several contract positions in the past 2 years that included an emphasis on environment art), but that it may not be as simple as applying and getting a job. A lot of it, unfortunately, has to do with timing and, more importantly, your skill level/quality of work.

    I quite firmly believe that with a very strong portfolio (and a good attitude), there are studios around South Africa who'd be willing to create a new position to have senior talent on their team, even though they're not actively hiring right now. Getting to that point requires a whole lot of work though. :/
  • By the way, I did come across one company that looked promising called Tasty Poison Games. They have some games in their portfolio (Tom Sparks, Neon Shadow) that look like the sort of thing I could make a meaningful contribution to. I sent a speculative letter of application to them a couple of weeks ago but, unfortunately, I haven't received any reply.
    Unfortunately Tasty Poison is no longer operating as far as I know.
  • edited
    There aren't a lot of studios letting players play in 3D environments, though there are some.

    We at Free Lives are working on two 3D games at the moment, and are likely to start another one later this year. But with all of these the level design work is very tied to the gameplay (so a lot more involved than decorating levels) and we tend to work on quite unconventional games (so the level designs don't resemble the kind of work done at AAA studios).

    I come from a level design background myself (I used to build loads of levels for Counter Strike back in the day), and I tend to be the chief level designer on the games I work on (like Broforce, Genital Jousting, Super Wolfenstein HD). I think good level designers are a bit underappreciated in South Africa, and part of that is because, like you've spotted, there isn't a lot of pure level design work going on in South Africa.

    That said, Riders of Asgard looks like it involves some level design: http://makegamessa.com/discussion/4311/riders-of-asgard-steam-greenlight-successful

    And Thoopid definitely need level design in their games: http://makegamessa.com/discussion/2291/snailboy-rise-of-hermitron-coming-soon-to-ios (although Snailboy is prerendered graphics of course)

    And as others have mentioned, it might be worth checking out Runestorm (who are in Durban) as they probably do the kind of work you'd enjoy the most.

    We are actually hoping to do a level design jam soon (with a Unity asset pack that does boolean operation level building, like how Quake levels were built), PM me if you'd like to join us. (It'll just be a one day game jam where we get together and try make levels)
  • @EvanGreenwood, I believe RuneStorm is in Hilton.

    @WildCat, we have quite a lot of level design in http://makegamessa.com/discussion/4118/vicious-attack-llama-apocalypse but are in Durban (and wouldn't be in a position to hire).

  • Thank you very much for the comments and suggestions, @francoisvn, @Elyaradine, @dammit, @EvanGreenwood, @roguecode.
  • Howdy @WildCat!

    I'm one of the denizens of Casa de RuneStorm. I'm actually the most like a Level Designer of the three of us(made all the maps for Viscera Clenaup and Rooks Keep). I'm getting into it more and more these days(and Environment related stuff), as some prototypes demand it, and I just want to be better at it.

    Sad to say however, that at this moment we're not looking for anyone :\ Sorry about that!

    Btw, we reside in Howick, a town near Hilton/PMB in KZN, about 80/100km's from Durban.
  • @WildCat

    Well I'm not sure about a full time thing, but we may need some extra hands from the 1st of march to the 13th of march for some level design for a prototype we are working on. This would only be a week or two of work, and won't pay a lot (but will obviously pay something), as its a self funded project. But it would give you some insight if you are interested.

    Unity experience essential.

    Office space is super cramped at the moment so you may need to work from home ;)

    Shane
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