Darren Weekes
@tdDaz
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Find me on Bsky, this account is no longer updated - Senior Level Designer @Splashdamage : #projectastrid | Star Wars Hunters | Gears Tactics | Sphinx
Joined August 2009
11 / 05 / 2001 I released my first level, "Deaths Cold Touch" for Quake. I've been making levels for 21 years now 😅
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Water tower in Poland. I have so many questions but mainly "what badass designed this thing?"
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My god this is the best photo ever? Beijing skycraper under construction, photo by Satoshi Ohashi
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I want more games set in a single small location that you end up intimately familiar with by the end. Clever re-use of areas, gating and world events keeping it feeling fresh.
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I'll never get bored of these source/2 engine cinematic gifs 🤣
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@Beacon_Dev It's a great way to keep things fresh. I kinda want to find out what happens if an enemy faction reaches Super Earth, or reach each other!? A 3 way battle in this game would be absolute chaotic fun.
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One of the wonderful things about the original STALKER was that the game world didn't care about you. The world kept spinning whether you were there to see it or not. You could return to an outpost an hour after visiting it and it might be completely wiped out. Made it feel alive.
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In a fit of actual good content, the Half-Life subreddit has been posting the scientist model rigged to other skeletons. The results are 11/10
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It's been quite a day. I am now a Senior Level Designer at Splash Damage 😎🧙.
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I love all the dust and dirt that is kicked up during a fight and it persists for long enough to have an impact on the battle itself, reducing sight and increasing the feeling of chaos. Would love to see what something like this would feel like with modern volumatrics
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Player : Where's the door?. Level Designer + Environment Artist + Lighting Artist : We gotchu!
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In this video I shall demonstrate how to successfully subvert the players expectations.
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Notice the fully ray traced reflection on the forehead. mmmmmm next gen
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The Quake lightstyles will never die. This is from the light entity properties in source 2 :D
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Finished CONTROL. Went back with debug cam to get some reference shots.
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Assuming the entire game takes place on this oil platform, STILL WAKES THE DEEP is a perfect example of what I'm talking about :)
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Batman : Arkham Asylum used metroidvania style progression across a smaller map than both of its sequels
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25 years old and the reason I have "level designer" in my bio. No other game has ever inspired me like Quake did. I still play it and still love it. The community is as talented as ever! Here's to another 25 years!
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Just throwing this out there but a game following a similar structure to Die Hard would be cool as heck. Stuck in a skyscraper with bad guys infesting the floors. You gotta work out what to do. etc.
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.@ProdeusGame is an absolute treat. The new campaign levels are incredible. They absolutely nailed the level design, each map has inventive twists, memorable arenas and fun one offs that keep things fresh. Recommended!
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People keep leaving these Half-Life 2 levels just lying around! Clean up your shit!
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Pretty sure valve just photosourced every square on this wall for their concrete textures in Half-Life 2
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Goldeneye 007 Dam level remake just got uploaded to the Alyx Workshop 👀.
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Accidentally jumped a fence and stumbled upon this fantastic canal and overpass :o
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More peeking at the Valve maps to see how they did certain things. Turns out some of the Xen stuff is poseable using the physics editor :o
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That 3D scan of the valve office included with the final hours. Someone imported it into Alyx. Feels like I'm tresspassing but couldn't resist a quick peek :D.
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This gets worse and worse the more you watch it. truly masterful.
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Ok, one dynamic light and an npc_enemyfinder = combine laser scanner. get hit by the beam and goons will come kill you. Accurate player detection! Uses LOS to detect if you're in the beam. Edge cases still need to be worked out, but pretty cool.
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Wtf I don't understand how MS adds amazing features and then tells no one???.
Because I use it every day now and don't know how many people are aware of it. On Windows 10 using WindowsKey + V brings up a Copy\Paste history, even works with images.
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As part of an imminent Gears Tactics art blast the #leveldesign team were allowed to show our blockouts! Here's a few I selected
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If ROUTINE is set entirely on a small moon colony it is another great example :)
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That time I found a great fps level in Microsoft Flight Simulator
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If you're making a game set in England and you're worried that your place names are too out there then have some reassurance
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Ok the next time an artist tells me this building shape isn't realistic I'm sending this
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Quake Xmas Jam 2017 is out! Requires Arcane Dimensions 1.6 + A sourceport with increased map limits.
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Time to link my #leveldesign inspiration Pinterest board again. 1,838 images to get the creative juices going
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Sad to see in-house game engines get retired in favour of UE5. The industry thrives on diversity of experiences and the engine underpinning your game is a part of that. I don't want every game I play to feel like an Unreal Engine game. It's gotta be so hard to compete now tho.
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Was this reference for the combine terminals in HL:Alyx :o. Don't see any dead rats mushed in there, maybe not then.
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There are definitely some major themes when reviewing portfolios for #leveldesign junior applicants. So I guess a quick thread is in order with some tips to avoid these common pit falls! (1 / X ).
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Stop shooting for 5 seconds and enjoy the rad skyboxes in Prodeus :)
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I was walking around this area in Wolf 2 and just exclaiming loudly at how beautiful it is.
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Scaling issues resolved! had to remodel the emitter a little bit but it turned out pretty good. Now that I'm somewhat happy with the asset I can get to making some these newfangled "levels" that people seem to like so much.
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Yooo, I'm working on project Astrid 🎉.
Announcing #ProjectAstrid – a AAA open-world survival game, developed in partnership with @Sacriel & @shroud . Find out more: . Sign up for updates:
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Sharing my #leveldesign inspiration pinterest page again for everyone jumping into Half-Life Alyx mapping Tons of urban / industrial / infrastructure pics as well as more exotic stuff!
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NPRquake renders levels in sketch / blueprint / charcoal drawing styles. Check it!
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I've grazed the surface of this idea in some of my own work. Here's a level I did for Half-Life 2 where you explore an abandoned soviet sea fort (I love sea forts)
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This had a wonderful knock-on effect in that everywhere always felt dangerous. You couldn't clear an area or level and then rest easy. Everything was always in flux and you felt a tinge of mystery and anxiety every time you visit a location.
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Weird, got a windows popup "on this day. " with a screenshot from a Quake 3 Arena level I made back in 2002 -ish. Ended up finding a whole bunch of map screenshots from levels I never ended up finishing
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It's interesting that all the examples I am finding of this type of game are all thriller/horror type experiences. I guess it lends itself well to that as you can really mess with the player and their familiarity with the environment over time.
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!!!!!!!!!!! YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!. So excited to start at @splashdamage in 4 weeks!!! Working on a fantastic project with some great people. I guess I need to change my twitter handle to sdDaz :o
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We now have over 40 vacancies including 4 level designer roles from associate to lead. Happy to answer any questions people may have. And yes, YOU should apply:.
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Tilemeshes let you create the shape you want and tile it with prefabs! can also set tags to get specific details in specific places. For example I set the two end pieces here to be dead ends. Massive time saver! Multiple mesh sets to use for all sorts of things.
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How to build a sea fort. 1) draw an outline of the fort.2) draw the rest of the fort.3) profit
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Not seen much chatter about this but A Plague Tale : Requiem launches tomorrow! Don't sleep on it. The first game was incredible. Don't remember it? It's the one with the rat hordes ;).
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I've been a bit slow adding things to my #leveldesign inspiration pinterest but I just want to remind you all it exists and contains some badass stuff to get the creative juices going
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