Napkins? Loose sheets of paper? Sketchpad? Gridpaper? Pencils or pens or both? Computer software? What do you prefer to use when designing something? I know that everyone has their preferred method of choice and some don't do any sort of preplanning, but for those who do, what steps do you take and what tools do you use when designing a level? Personally, I've tried sketching things on gridpaper, used photoshop, and love using pencils then later outlining the design with a sharpie.
I use anything and everything. Everywhere I look in my house literally has scraps of paper with designs, notes, goals and concept sketches... I started to use a whiteboard but I didn't like not having the history of evolution with the design without taking pictures of it. And I also used Kritta for a short time so that I had clean digital photos but it was far too time consuming and I'd rather just focus on the design with that time. Short answer, I guess that I prefer paper.
It's very hard to craft a 3d space that has good lines of sight and framing from all angles when using top-downs and sketches, and I think drawing maps on paper (unless it's in 3d) actually tends to dumb down your map from the start. Now, if you've already made the map in an editor and can visualize the space really well, then making tweaks on paper before the final build is faster an easier. Just make sure you have good spacial memory.
I guess what sparked this thought was from doing this method of top downs has helped me get a decent start a scaling a foundation. I don't think I've even finished a blockout following the layout from start to finish. Because as time progresses, the layout evolves. Also between reading blogs and books about these things, preplanning is must. Some people may not need it and can see things all the way to end, for me I can have a great idea but I usually forget it unless I jot it down or truly plan on it. I understand your point though. Trying to make 3d space, in a 2d art is sort of silly.
Here I was thinking that there is no such thing as a paper pencil but surprise surprise they seem to be making just about everything these days.
"Everywhere I look in my house literally has scraps of paper with designs, notes, goals and concept sketches" this XD my women complains about this so much
Yeah. The big hurdle with level design in general is that you can't quickly iterate. Forge is probably the fastest medium that I know of, but I still want something faster. If I could just spontaneously generate whatever I saw in my mind, nothing could stop me.
clay sculture in a 3 dimensional box that digitally scans and maps the surface to 3d modeling program in real time. so you sculpt with your hands and then scan and import
Unity + Probuilder. Definitely a bit faster than forge and leagues faster than UE but you can't drop in drop out without have a base game.
I like using paper and pen/pencil. I used to sketch out full top down layouts but it's very hard to get much verticality within maps this way and the vertical interactions become very difficult to interpret. Currently I have exams coming up and have had my xbox stowed away since probably before January, so obviously I haven't been doing much forging. Funnily, I've never had so many ideas for map layouts, themes and designs pop into my head over such a short space of time! I've been sketching out every idea i've had and I've avoided doing layouts and instead sketch out small 3D sections of maps and will figure out how to piece them together when I'm back on. One of my favourite maps has been stuck in blockout or partial blockout for a very long time because I couldn't decide on a design for it, but this time away from forging has allowed me to come up with a solution. Can't wait to get back on and see if it works. I've really diverged from the question; but in short, i prefer using pen and paper, sketching various design elements or sections of maps.