Games Design Skills
Level Design
For me, level design started way, way back in the mists of time in the olden days of tabletop gaming - I was a very keen Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (First Edition) player. As well as playing officially released modules, I created maps and stories for my own campaigns.
In more recent times, I've played various computer games which provided a toolset for the user to create their own levels/maps using the same tools that the developers used to create the game in the first place. Examples of these games include: Dungeon Siege 2, Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2 and Dragon Age:Origins. Although I don't have these programs installed anymore, they were important in the learning, and appreciation, of level design for computer games.
Game Engines
Unlike the cut-down toolsets provided with some games, game engine toolsets are a complete solution to creating full games. Some companies provide free (or cheap "indie") versions while others only provide to game development companies for large sums of money.
Of course, I'm not a development company so these free/cheap "indie" versions are great boon to impoverished students, such as myself, and give us a small step up on the ladder.
There many game engines available, but it would be impossible to learn everything there is about all of them, so I've chosen three of the more popular SDKs to study - I'm currently learning how to use CryEngine 3, the Unreal Development Kit (UDK) and Unity. (For more information about them please feel free to click the links to their respective websites.)
