FOLLOW DESIGNS
MICHAEL HÜLL on being a level designer, and how he got there
Today, Michael Hüll is a senior level designer at MachineGames. He cut his level designing teeth elsewhere however, with multiplayer maps. When he was playing GoldenEye with his friends back in the days of the N64, he never suspected that he’d eventually be designing levels played by others with their friends.
The ability to play with others in the same virtual environment was always attractive to him. “I guess my first love in games was Duke Nukem 3D”, he says, “because [while] it was not fully 3D, it was still awesome that you can play with your friends and you know, in those kinds of environments, just go around killing each other.”
Some time helping out in an internet cafe sparked an interest in games like these, an interest that really took off when Hüll got his first computer with a modem. He dived into online play, and never looked back. He started creating maps as a hobby during his time off from the day job, driving a forklift.
Eventually, all those hours poured into his computer would start to pay off. Significantly. Hüll’s big break came with Strike, a Counter-Strike map he created that was used in the CPL (Cyberathlete Professional League) tournament. When CPL went bankrupt, Strike fell out of use; but that wasn’t the end of this map’s story, thanks to a friend he had at DreamHack called ‘Hellspawn’.
“He asked me: ‘Michael, is it OK if we use Strike for our tournament?’ And I felt like, ‘OK, I guess you can use the map,’ but at the same time, I felt like, ‘Hmm, perhaps I want to make some changes. Perhaps I want to make it better, perhaps even release it under a different name’. And he said, ‘Yeah, sure.’ A few days later, because you know, I just went straight to it… I released it under a different name. Which is Mirage.”
CS:GO WEST
Despite having created what would prove to be one of the most popular maps in CS:GO, this was essentially still just a hobby for Hüll. But in 2019, Hellspawn recommended him and his work to James Harding at GD Studio, who gave him a job designing maps for the company’s FPS Diabotical. “I actually had to learn a new engine to create the levels, but for me, that engine was super easy. I actually learned it in, like, two weeks.”
Creating a level is no simple task, however; it requires multiple disciplines. Michael gives the example of his most recent CS:GO map, Engage, which is set in a car factory. “For me to be able to create all these assets and stuff like that would be kinda impossible”, he explains, “because first of all, I actually don’t have the knowledge because I’m all about creating blockouts [draft assets without detail] and you know, the player space and all that. So for example, when you create a CS:GO map, you need at least two guys I would say. One is doing blockout, and one is doing full focus on assets. So to create a map for CS:GO takes approx one year, to create a proper map.”
It took a long time and a lot of hard work, but Hüll turned his level designing hobby into a job. If you want to do the same, he has some advice. “I think it’s a good idea to connect with different communities. For example, for Counter-Strike, there’s this community called Mapcore, which is just the best. You’ll get big forum threads, which really help a lot of people to get into how to create levels.
“So if you want to get started on something, I think that’s a good way [to get started], to get into some kind of community. And then just talk to people, and start to learn. Ask them, because they have the answers. Then if you want to go further and have this as a job, I think it’s good that you create your own portfolio. You’re creating these levels, perhaps for your friend … you’re building [the portfolio], and then when you see [a job opening], go for it.”
Luke Kemp
“I ACTUALLY HAD TO LEARN A NEW ENGINE TO CREATE THE LEVELS”