DIGIPENDENCE - declare yours!

Dead Rising 2 level design director Josh Bridge has reviewed a lot of student design reels, and after noticing a lot of the same problems in them, he’s now written an article called A Guide For Aspiring Level Designers to help aspiring level designers improve their portfolios before they show them off to educators and employers, or put them online for anyone to see.

At the recent GDC Canada I had the opportunity talk with lots of soon to be level design grads eager to get advice on getting into the industry. It was great to have the chance to chat with them, as I have been reviewing student reels and portfolios for some time now.

Each year student work continues to impress me. The tools and schooling available today helping students to demonstrate their potential eclipses what I ever had at my disposal when I was getting started in the industry.

Though even with all of these great building blocks, all is not rosy in the land of demo reels and portfolio work. Since I have had many a demo go by my desk for consideration, I thought that it would make sense to share some common pitfalls along with some advice.

About Dead Rising 2:

Dead Rising 2 is an upcoming video game described as a survival horror with action adventure and RPG elements. The game is the sequel to the 2006 video game, Dead Rising. It will be developed by Blue Castle Games and distributed by former developer Capcom.

The game is set a few years after the events of the original Dead Rising. The zombie virus that originated in Santa Cabeza has spread all over the United States. The game will take place in the fictional city of Fortune City, which is modeled after the real city of Reno, Nevada. The new protagonist and player character, Chuck Greene, is a former national motocross champion who is caught in the zombie attack on Fortune City.

The game will be released sometime in 2010 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Microsoft Windows platforms. (source: Wikipedia)