Elvaron

Quick look at iritegood's recent posts suggest this comment won't be for him, but for anyone else reading your reply, just in case they never have been told this: There is no such thing as absolute security. Rarely, a new method makes one security scheme so easy to crack it becomes obsolete over night. See WEP for network encryption (and why modern WIFI routers don't use it).

The majority of security issues stem not from the security scheme itself, but from it's boundaries. The places where secure systems communicate with unsecure systems, and, since noone can know every single piece of software in existence, some software might default down to unsecure communication in favor of convenience.

Or the implementation has a bug, one that may even be outside the developers' control since every bit of code relies on code below it.

The take away being: With something that is essentially a remote control for your computer, it's developers will obviously take care to make it as secure as lies within their capacity and their realm of influence. But that doesn't relieve you from the burden of thinking about it. A good lock on your door doesn't make your windows burglar-proof.

Since you're studying computer science, I'm sure you're not averted to opening a book or two. Check amazon for "level design", it has a handful of decent books on the matter, in the Game Design books section. Make sure to check out both older books & articles (like http://www.benb-design.net/article02/benb_article02.pdf ) as well as recent ones (~2014) so you can compare what has changed and what has remained the same.

Get acquainted with some existing level editors, some games offer one as part of their modding support. Set yourself some goals, don't just play around. "This month I'll make a CTF multiplayer map. Next month I'll try and make a singleplayer RPG's tutorial level, let's start with what the user has to learn."

Explore some of the 3D tools, from Blender (free) to Maya (trial/student copy). Focus not on stuff like characters, but on architectural things. How do I configure the scale of my scene to be the scale I want (metric with 1 grid unit = 1 meter or something), how do I efficiently align things properly. Try building a room from a blueprint you get online. Try building a house from a blueprint you get online. Just the walls first, then space for windows and doors, then details later after you've tried a few different layouts.

Play around with the different engines. CryEngine and Unreal Engine have both gone the available-for-indie road. IIRC you would pay them when you ship a title, so no entry cost. Figure out how to make levels there, they have quite different workflows. Additive vs subtractive and whatnot. Also play around with Unity. Try making a scene like the construct in The Matrix, where you can't really tell it ends somewhere. Try making a level specifically designed for a mobile game. Try making a level designed for isometric view.

Just general advice, not a professional game developer ;)

Guten Morgen from Germany, 横浜へこんばんは　＾＾ On a scale from 1 to awesome, how much do you love Extra Credits?

(In case you DON'T know Extra Credits, game design themed video series)

I'm, unfortunately, not associated with Extra Credits :) Just a dev myself ;)

Since I like your answer I'll go grab a Noble pledge though. Good luck on the KS campaign!

Slack and the like are becoming more popular these days due to browser embedded communication, simple sharing of images & files and such. IRC is limited in that regard.