Awais A

Level Designer

Bio

A long time ago I found about the Unreal Editor, back when Unreal first came out. Since then I have been making levels using the unreal engine tool set. Out of college I got a gig up in Albany, NY with Vicarious Visions. Learned a lot from those guys and now after almost four years in the industry I have moved to Gearbox Software.

Length of time I have been employed in the industry

Almost four years now.

Game companies I have worked for

Vicarious Visions
Gearbox Software

Titles I have worked on

For a list of titles I have worked in the past visit my website, http://mozidesign.com/info/.

Advice

Resources I would recommend for those interested in getting into game development (books, tutorials, sites, etc)

Become active in a development community for a game you like, for me it was Unreal Tournament. Make maps, mods, mutators, characters, etc. Pursue the skill you that you find enjoyable and would love to do as a day job, like level design.

Publish your works on the community forums or a personal website. Most important of all, get feedback. At times it may not be pretty but every type of feedback you get will help towards perfecting your skill, whatever it may be.

Further more don't give up. Making games, or elements for a game, is not easy. In the end it's very rewarding.

Favorites

First game I remember playing

Super Mario Brothers on the NES.

All-time favorite game

Deus Ex

Non-video gaming hobbies

Drumming

Favorite bands/music

Basically it has to be METAL. But here is a short list of favorites in no particular order:

Dream Theater, 3 Inches of Blood, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Pelican, Isis, Dethklok, Mastodon, Into Eternity, Iced Earth, Opeth, Shadows Fall, InFlames, Kamelot, Tool, Mendeed, and Trivium.

Favorite TV shows

Metalocalypse, South Park, Lost, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and American Dad.

Favorite movies

Too many to list!

Favorite quote

"We are here to make coffee metal... We will make everything metal... Blacker than the blackest black, times infinity!" - Nathan Explosion.

"We are here to make coffee metal... We will make everything metal... Blacker than the blackest black, times infinity!" - Nathan Explosion.