Hey all, i heard this is the best place to ask this question so here it goes. I am 17 years old in high school (senior) and i want to be a game level designer. Now i know there are alot of ways but what is the best route to go. I do realize it is good to make levels on the side and outside of school. So here is what i have planned and can anyone help me fine tune it so that i pick path that gives me the best opportunity to land a job in a big company someday. ( i have a school club that is for game development that i started and we are making an open world game) (also any tips on landing an internship)

1. go to college major in game design minor in computer science

2. work on levels on the side and build portfolio

3. apply everywhere until i land a job

that is my understanding and also i have been using the unity engine and have been making levels on there.

any tips you guys have give would be appreciated.

That's a bit short plan heh.
Level design is a good idea. But don't focus on open world level design. When you will work in a company, they won't ask you to design your dream game. Instead they will tell you to design something specific.

Play as many games as you can. Different genre. Not only those that you like. Try to understand the mechanism of each game. What features make a game unique and successful. What features cause a game to fail in market.

Read books. Learn from professionals that share their experience and thoughts through books. (I'm at my mob atm. I will update this later on and give you some links for some of the books I personally would recommend).

Read the Sloperama (i ll add a link here too)

Try to find multiple teams of freebie indie developers and offer your help.

Make connections. Find important people and keep good conducts.

Take a course for modeling and learn about programming. (Basic stuff). In order to have a better understanding and better communication with your team. As well have more realistic expectations. (As well some music lessons will come handy. How would you explain to a composer after what music to compose. "Something like this won't give enough info to the composer. Learn an instrument).

Read some team management articles. Learn how to influence your team and how to be positive.

Stay active on game design forums (such as this one). It have tones of info, plus you can always post your ideas and thoughts here and others will help you out and give you hints and tips.

Hmm not sure if I missed something. Game Designer road is VERY interesting. Lots of things to learn on the way. It's a rich career when it come to knowledge :) embrace it.

I hope that could help you out.

Also, in the process of designing levels, try to challenge yourself:

Every time you see a game, no matter the game, try to design a level for that game.

Sometimes, it's "easier" (an FPS, for example).

Sometimes it's much harder (any game that doesn't directly feel like there's a level for example).

Heck, just try to design a Farmville level and you'll learn a lot about designing levels in the process (And end up asking a lot of questions).

It's always better to know that you don't know something than feel overconfident without reason. I hope the above method will help you identify things you need to get better at and defining what a level really is.