Futuregames student Isak Åberg Nordmark second prize winner in level design contest

Tornbanner, creators of the fastpaced medieval FPS Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, held a level design contest recently. The winners got to not only have their levels added to the game, but also cash prizes as well as some really nice gaming equipment. Futuregames student Isak Åberg Nordmark won second prize in this competition with his map “Kings garden”.

This earned him a cash prize of $5000, NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 780 TI, Logitech g710+ Mechanical Gaming Keyboard, Logitech G700 Gaming Mouse and Logitech 6440 Hard Gaming Mouse pad.

Congratulations Isak! Now tell us a little bit about your entry. What was your first step in creating your map?
I had an idea about creating a keep and have a secret pathway into the courtyard. With this in mind I started to look for references for castles. At the start the idea was to make a dark castle with rain and thunder. After I made a blockout of the level however, I decided against a darker theme and chose to go towards a lighter desert theme.

What kind of resources were you using, did you create any yourself or did you only use content from the game itself?
Tornbanner, the creators of the game, has released their SDK to the public. It’s a modified version of the Unreal Development Kit, so all I needed was the game. With the development kit you gain access to all the models and functions you would need to make a level. For me that was all that I needed, plus I can’t really make any models myself.

Were you surprised to win something?
The contest was divided into two parts. At the halfway stretch I felt my map was quite good and apparently so did Tornbanner as it came in second. During the last two months of the contest I was very busy with our third game project in school, which didn’t allow me to work on the map as much as I did earlier. So coming at the last deadline all the other maps had improved and there were loads of new amazing maps. Therefore my hopes were not very high, so when I saw the result I was very surprised.

How long did it take you to make the map?
The map took about two and a half months to do. I have worked on it both during level design courses and on my free time.

What’s your best advice to anyone who wants to do level design?
I’m a big believer in learning by doing. A lot of games have released level editors that you can use. The important part isn’t which engine you use, only that you use one. I have learnt so much during the creation of this map, and I’m sure I will do an even better job with my next one. Also, join some level design community that can help and give feedback on your work, and with it improve the map and your skills as a level designer a thousand-fold.

Anything else you’d like to add about this competition or level design?
I just want to thank my classmates play testing and giving loads of feedback on the level. Without it my map wouldn’t even be close to what it is today. So thank you guys!

If you want to check Isaks map out closer, click here!