I hear of people drawing and using microsoft excel to make map layouts. I don't get ho you do it though. If you use one of these methods, please elaborate on how you do it
I don't think anyone uses Excel, as it's a spreadsheet program. I think you may be confusing it with MSPaint or another similar program where you can draw a layout. Even Word will work to a certain extent for making basic shapes. If you really want to get crafty, you can download freeware like GIMP (photoshop equivalent) or even Google Sketchup and make a 3D model. Or you can go old school like Matty did with one of his map posts and just draw the layout by hand and scan it in to a image hosting site.
Not sure about excel, but what i did was I found an image of foundry (http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Image:Foundry123.jpg) and inverted the colors, then made a printable PDF. After that I printed it out and drew my layout ideas on it...is there a way for me to post that file for people to download? -- edit -- What would really be nice is a Flash based design tool with all of the elements you can place in forge. Something like this: http://www.jordans.com/roomplanner/
I use Revit to set up my maps. I'm glad it for free from school =] Its seriously like playing the sims but with every aspect of architecture.
Squid i do remember talking to someone who said that they used excel as a map planner, they tried to explain how they did it to me, but i could never quite understand it. but i do know it's possible but there are better programs that you could use.
Well, I, the manliest of all men, printed out a couple maps of Foundry, superimposed with a grid lined up the the walls, each square representing a single box, and then I sketch the map in, and do some concept art on the back. I WIN.
Thats what i did with Close Call ... and i still do that for my map ideas ... i have a full notebook of Map Ideas, which i then convert to actual layouts in halo. Most are just that though: ideas which i build and then they stay as partially built maps (until i need the structural idea).
ya but how can you make individual boxes and walls and stuff with ms paint, AND make them the same size???
In response to the question about using Excel for layouts - It can be done, but it's not that exact since the boxes aren't the same size as the grid, and of course the grid and map aren't completely symmetrical. Anyways, here's a pic of a quick layout on Excel that I use when at work. Oops, forgot to mention (in case people didn't notice) this layout doesn't include the pre-made bases or the corridor connecting them.
Well, I stand corrected, even though it seems like the long way to go about it. Here's the Bungie-made Foundry Sketchpad, along with a link to more pdf 'cutouts' that someone made of the main building objects for Foundry that you could all plug into MSPaint, PS, or GIMP. Bungie thread
That's a good idea. I have flash and I know how to use it so I might experiment making a way to design maps using the Foundry Sketchpad and these cutouts. I'd need the dimensions of stairs, bridges and other stuff though.