level design games

Halflife has ok level editors, not sure what sort of games you're looking for.

HL2 has good support for making mods and the like, I haven't tried it yet, but it is suppose to be good atleast, :P

What kind of game are you interested in? FPS? RTS? If you don't have a preference, you can get StarCraft for very cheap right now.

No real preference, just looking to get in the mix.

the battlefield games have level editing tools. I think you gotta get them from EA's site though. Nam and 1942 may come with them, but I know 2 is a seperate download.

I can't suggest Quake 1/2 + Worldcraft strongly enough!

I'd recommend the original Unreal Tournament. Despite my fondness for the HL engine the Unreal tools are easily more usable and its a great starting point.

- Very efficient editor which displays lighting in the 3d viewport unlike HL
- Simple brushbased construction ignoring extra complications/distractions from terrain editors etc
- Plenty of tutorials still floating around
- Low system requirements
- Available for next to nothing these days off ebay etc