@icyhotspartin +Respect for sketching your maps. I do it for compositional stuff and it is a great visualization tool... but if there's one thing I've learned from my current project, It's that trying to sketch layouts in 2 dimensions beyond general shapes is incredibly detrimental to the creative process. I think the best way to approach things for me now is to sketch my composition from a side view or a specific sightline that I really like, make the prefabs I want, and then go in there and mold the map organically with gestural brush strokes. If I don't already have a shape in mind, maybe I'll come up with one that way, or maybe I'll have to start over. Either way being able to shift things around with representative assets and mess with levels and sightlines immediately allows the creative process to flow for me. Then I can go back to the sketch and do a top-down to see where the distribution of weight needs to be adjusted. It worked really well for me on this map, and it's honestly the first time I've really enjoyed level design. Also, I just want to say thanks to @Sethiroth, @purely fat, @SaltyKoala, @Box Knows, @MultiLockOn, and @Xandrith for everything they've taught me about level design. I learned a lot from @SoloXIII and @xdemption early on too, but I can always count on those guys to offer their insight and put up with my mood swings. Seriously, I appreciate all the late nights, and you're all in for a treat. I've been up for a day and a half because I'm too excited to go to sleep. I think this map is truly something special, but for now I'm gonna pass out so I can grind it this weekend.
I can't stand drawing up maps anymore. I've had more fun creating a single engagement that I greatly enjoy or an interesting geometric shape then build upon it and adjust. I find that thrust launchers are way too fun and versatile to not include in my maps, even to a detriment.
There’s a reason it’s so detailed at this point - I start with general shapes for terrain and then work through stages of Carney-style platforms and bridges and figure out things from there with elevations. Then I postulate terrain and a theme, and make it work from there - sometimes works better than other times
but not the d e t a i l s Edit: I laugh so hard when a vegan discovers that refried beans almost always has lard in it
It's funny, when I design Halo maps, or TDM Far Cry maps, I always sketch the layout before hand. If not, I just draw a blank when entering an editor. But lately, especially after designing solo (PVE) maps, I've been just "free handing" it and just letting my imagination run wild. I'll give you guys an example. I'm design a solo (PVE) campaign type experience in FC5 right now. The premise is that you're a journalist investigating a defunct doomsday cult obsessed with an extraterrestrial god. They were laughed at in the 90's and the group mostly fizzled out. You are writing a piece on the cult for Buzzfeed, for an article called "Top 10 Cults You Never Knew Existed (You Won't Believe Number 11!"). When arriving at the barn, the cult members have seemingly vanished. Deep below their settlement (a rural barn and farm house) lies a dormant alien starship. The Cult and the Visitors have joined forces to create alien human hybrids in preparation of the Great Departure. So this is where it gets interesting; I'm designing this massive alien ship thats been buried underneath the ground for thousands of years, and I'm really liking how it's turning out. Then it dawns on me. This would make an amazing PVP map. Definitely not for FC5. It's too big and vertical for that game. It feels like a Halo map, and with some tweaks would play a bit like Damnation. I'm actually excited to build something in Halo again. Plus I think I could do it well within budget and lighting wouldn't be an issue because I'd chroma-box it. I'm hype. TLDR; Let my imagination run wild a bit and didn't follow a layout for a Far Cry map, ended up with a cool Halo map idea. Some painters are masters because of their relentless planning and attention to detail, but some are masters because they just throw **** on the canvas until something sticks. EDIT: If anyone wants to hit me up with some design advice for a Damnation type map hit me up.
Hey guys, it's been a while - but I'm baking a new design based on principles/design tricks I've been theory crafting for a bit. My yearly Forgehub submission lol. Should be cool.
The fact that people enjoy other competive pvp genres besides FPS is proof enough that we as humans have vastly different preferences. We may be 98% the same in our base desires/needs, but the value we place on those desires varies greatly among all of us. Humans share roughly 96% of DNA with Chimpanzees, yet we're not Chimpanzees. In fact were wildly different in an innumerable amount of ways. Historically speaking FPS games and other PVP games are a medium for us to war, one of our most primal tendencies. Chess, strategy games and sports all allow us to achieve this through each mediums on unquie way. Why do we enjoy Baseball, Soccer, Basketball, Golf, Football, Hockey, Motorsports, Track and Field etc etc in the US. Why not just one? Why does leauge of legends, starcraft, overwatch and other competive esports besides Halo exist? The truth is, we as Humans DESIRE and NEED diversty. We enjoy waging "War" with each other in as many ways as possible, it's in our nature. In fact every day more and more ways to do so I created, both in real War weaponry advancements and in the creation of new "War Games". Most games become popular beacause they foucs in and tap into "ways of warring" that are mentally/physically stimulating and rewarding. They offer stability and predictably in the skill sets required to defeat an opponent. HALO, even among other FPS, is a special case because while it sets some rules,it is much loooser and freeing in its rules set. Compare this to a war game such as Chess where there is a strict rule set and a defined way to move and attack an opponent, it is easy to see why there is such debate over Halo level design. Aside from the basic mechanics that are static, design SETS and DEFINES the rules of War In Halo. Levels are what allow us to not only wage war, but they tell us HOW we are allowed to be successful. They are the theater of battle and each level, just like a battlefield, will promote an ideal strategy and combat style. What puts the biggest twist on all of this is that war games are WAR for "fun" , "stimulus" and "pleasure". and that my waywo friends is at the heart of this argument. How do we gain pleasure/deep satisfaction from war? Anyone intrigued? I'll continue spweing word vomit if anyone is haha
Tasty tidbit for drama. @MultiLockOn and @Xandrith place little to no value on wars of attriton within HALO. They dont view it as something that should be apart of this game. The gameplay on lockout And Pit promotes what type of slayer gameplay? Drumrollll please.....