Forum posts

Nice resource usage graph, habboi...

// Yeah, what value has a graph without extra info?

Then, for TWHL 3, an option for tutorials to be spread across multiple pages for better readability?

ASCII-art styled level, anyone?

I use Notepad++ for php and html. Notepad or similar for small notes and such. Microsoft Word for larger documents (though I don't really like it, I might go and try OpenOffice again one day).

A special tip to Captain P:Make a grunt with an unavoidable GL. sarcastic -

Never forget to ask yourself: is this fun to play?

Some things aren't impossible for a player, but they aren't fun either. It's hard to strike a good balance, but it is important. That's also where (multiple) playtesters come in so handy. I've got a small Dutch forum and that's always a nice group to get feedback from. Taking feedback, whether you like it or not, is an important thing.

Again, don't abuse your freedom. For example, in HL2 you can create much larger maps - but without vehicles, and with the current slow movement, larger maps are probably not the wisest thing to do. When I was testing a layout, I quickly found it becoming very boring because a lot of paths were just too long. Someone from the UT community once said that paths between area's or intersections shouldn't take more than 2 seconds to travel. In a multiplayer game, a player wants combat, not exploring the same (long) corridor over and over again.
So, if you can do something, consider if it's an enhancement or not first.

I'll give those tutorials a try once I've got some more time on my hands. Looks like they're good ones.

One comment though: they're long and could be better formatted (made easier to read, perhaps shorten some parts, divide it more clearly into steps, divide it across several pages and provide links to these on every page to make it all easier to search through).

Getting a recorder into a factory is better.

Not that I do that, but hey...

My real problem though, Is that I'm not so willing to change the layout.

Exactly what caused me to abandon so many promising maps. It is a pain to change a layout once all detail is already in place.

Perhaps it's good to create a small map first that sets the style and theme you're aiming for, and then start playing with layouts. Once you decided a layout, fill it up like you did with the testmap.

But well, maybe it's something to grow into. I've read several articles that recommended exactly what I do now, but at that time it didn't really work for me. I think I lacked the insight I have now. I don't know exactly, it's hard to point out.
Anyway, good luck with it...

Play Jazz Jackrabbit. Weird game, could give you some good inspiration.

What I would map without performance limitations?

I don't have an idea at stake for when that happens. If it happens, I'll come up with some idea's that make use of it, it's not like I'm waiting for that to happen.
Anyway, most of all, I would want to create a fun to play map, and a fun to see map.

EDIT: Thought about interface limitations? I'm thinking towards more lifelike interaction with the environment but the more complex things you want the player to be able to do, the more complex the controls will become and the harder it gets to learn things, not to say it might get pretty non-intuitive...

Though I think your being just a little dramatic about skipping VIS during the early stages of the map

Depends on the way you're mapping. If you lay out the basic layout first, then it's good to check with full VIS and all to see what area's can take a lot of detail, and what area's are already rendered slower. Now you can easily change the layout to make your map better playable without having to throw away a month of detailing work.
That's why I'm so keen on performance testing right at the start.

I've just taken a look at them now (bytheway, add links to your home page on the other sites of your site - right now navigation next to is impossible).

halflifeB.wad contains some colored textures, where I'd say those large versions could easily be made smaller ones as there's not much extra detail to them. Also, some of them (if not all) have odd dimensions. Stick to powers of 2 (16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512). Those are easier to handle, otherwise you may get some strange artifacts.
The powerwarn texture looks bad. Leaving a white background often ends up pretty bad. I liked the tapA_top texture most, though it's not really round enough and well, could use some work. It's supposed to be a wheel button or such?

trains.wad looks better, you used a glue texture (or fill, as you call it) and those walls look ok. They still need work (it's a plaster wall but that bleu line doesn't isn't applied very well. It's the color blending between the line and the wall that makes it look bad). The trains end texture is way too undetailed, the train wheel as well. The signs could do with a more metallic look (adding noise isn't the right tool for every surface) and some edges (e.g. left and top sides are brighter, right and bottom sides darker to give it a relief look). The door textures look stretched. I'm also not too fond of that dark line around them and the miss a door handle.

All in all, you're getting started and that's good. But you've got things to improve on. Don't worry, you don't want to see my first textures...

No problem.

Next time, try to keep your base architecture simple. Anything that's somewhat complex or oddly rotated and isn't necessary for VIS blocking is best put into func_detail. Saves VIS a lot of work and it avoids most problems like these.

Nice idea, a cave defusal map. But that path looks very narrow. Might widen it a bit to leave room for more players...

The vertex tool is just a tool. You don't need to master it to be a 'good' mapper. Use another editor than Hammer for my part, as long as the results are good.

But, when talking about tools, I find copying, clipping and flipping brushes quite usefull. Saves me the time to create new brushes each time. Vertex manipulation is also handy, also when working with multiple brushes. But, everyone has to find his own style at that, and if you can create great maps with hollowing and carving... do so. I wouldn't recommend it because it's easy to nail performance, but if you're skilled in that, go ahead. After all, that's really not what mapping is all about. It's the result that counts.

For details, it might be nice to learn modelling. No sub-unit problems, only somewhat difficult to insert as a prop in plain HL (you can use the cycler to avoid the standard collision box problem, though cyclers sometimes crash Hammer 3.5 if I'm not mistaken - might require some fgd changes).

Also, if you want to create unique or distinct maps, trying to create some textures is a good idea. Even if you're terrible at them, after some time you'll improve. It will get you at least some insight in what it takes to be a texture artist...

Those stalagmites are probably not func_detail, right? Turn them into func_details. Your problems will likely vanish.

I had no problems like that, but I've played the non-Steam version.

A ugly hack would be to load the next map through the console. I believe it's ba_canal1 that you end up after the elevator, but I'm not sure about that. You might miss a part then.

Anyway, noone else found a solution so far?

The moment that page resized my browser to full-screen I closed the tab. I hate things like that. Let me keep my browser the size it is, or move off.
So, yeah, bad impression, that site, without even seeing it...

Nice site, Seventh, but it guided me to a more helpfull site (or actually, part of a site), Juicystudio - services page. Checks contrast values of text and background, does average readability checks and stuff like that. Might be nice to compare to other sites to see how you're doing.

Though it should never substituse some testing, methinks...

While your developing your map, run CSG, RAD, and BSP, but not VIS untill the final stages, and then run with full VIS.

Don't. VIS is important in earlier stages as well. You don't want to find out parts of your map are unplayable because you put in too much detail and stuff. Checking early on what area's can still run well with extra detail and what area's you need to be carefull with will save you much more time than not running VIS untill the end.
Better would be, when detailing area's, to use the Cordon Compile tool. It lets you compile only a part of the map. It might be wise to make a backup of your map now and then too. Should a map ever get corrupt, you won't loose too much work, and it allows you to see how the map evolved. Might be nice to learn a thing or two from.

Also, during compiles, that can often take long, do something else. Waiting in front of the screen is tempting, but taking a drink and cookie or drawing some idea's out is more usefull. It's also more relaxing...

Texturing isn't so bad, most textures fit well on their surface, but it's plain (and yes, some textures don't fit their place right). Adding trims, picking some better textures (especially for that bathroom) would do the map good. But it's also the very basic architecture that makes it look bland.

Don't forget the lighting bytheway. Even simple architecture can be made looking good with carefully placed lights.

Played it, and liked it. Definitely a recommendation to any Source mapper.

Background music? Didn't notice that... I use FF. You should do some more polishing and testing on your sites, methinks.

Using a packet like WPMv2 isn't a bad thing, but I'd expect some more with that ease of use. Seemingly, it doesn't do a great job with css, you might want to look at that manually... Also, applets without real purpose... I'm not a big fan of that.
Oh, and that intro page = bad. There's an applet on it that leads you to a totally different site than yours. Not really what you're waiting for, I assume. There's a lot of scrolling (even horizontal) that finally reveals a link to your site, and even that one being not so easy to spot. That could be done a lot better taken these things into account.

All in all, I think there's still some things to learn before offering your services if you're asking money for it.
As for the financial thing: that sounds pretty vague. Name an estimate cost for a certain type of site, or give multiple examples so people know what to expect. I wouldn't just jump in without the info. There's also guys who do this for free, you know, so you have to have a certain edge over others if you're expecting people to pay.

Plan out a level first, sketch it out on paper. This helps a lot of people pinpoint problem area's quickly so you're not wasting time mapping parts that never fit together.
With a layout in mind, throw in a basic architecture, just some plainly textured boxes that compose the very basic of your maps layout. Put in some lights and go playtest the map (lighting is not final, but you'll need lights as full-bright maps are really hard to get a good impression of). This gets you a feeling for what the map will flow like in the end. If some parts didn't feel right or problems happened (hard navigation, sloppy movement), fix them now. It'll save you time in the end.
Also playtest with weapons in place to decide on their placement. Ideally, you would want to think of weapon placement while sketching your map already.

With a layout and gameplay set, it's time to deal with the looks and ambience of it. I think we're all quite familiar with this, but if you aren't and you're stuck for idea's, search for reference pictures to see what would fit in such an environment. Early playtests should tell you where you still have enough polygons left to spare on detail, and what area's shouldn't be too detailed to avoid a bad performance.
Don't forget the ambience, some sounds and little twinkles and nice touches are noticed by players, either directly or at a lower level.

Oh, and during the layout stage, you can plan in visual assets and ambience as tricks. Shadowed area's for example are nice for ambushes. Rooms that have windows to corridors provide a tactical advantage if those windows are hard to spot from outsite. Sounds can give off warning signals to other players, allowing them to set up a trap or otherwise gain an advantage.

Most people benefit from a similar workflow. I thought I didn't had much use for sketching out a layout at first, but now that I've been mapping for some years I see the use of it.
Feel free to put this, or a similar article, up on your site. I could rehash it and write a more comprehendable article if you want when I get some spare time to polish it up (might make for a nice article for my portfolio, anyway). Good luck with it.

Yep, that's part of the visuals, or more precise, the logic in the map. It's those little things that can make or break the players immersion in the map.

You need to know what feels good and what doesn't. Sometimes, a map can be a perfect portrayal of reality, but because most people have never seen such a place in real-life, they have a different view of what it should be, resulting in a map that is correct, but feels odd.

It's like the 9/11 planes. A movie about that wouldn't make sense as it was so unbelievable, yet it happened in real-life.
Sadly.

I expected a discussion about which API was best, but no...

Direct3D support was thrown in just before HL got released (or at least, it wasn't planned from the start) so that's why it works less good than the OpenGL mode.

MSN or a similar system is a nice way to brainstorm together, yeah...

Anyway, if you're into psychedelic or weird things, Google for some reference pictures. Esscher stuff or things like that. Play other games, read books, take a stroll outside... inspiration can come from anything and often when you're not trying to think up on new things you'll get the best idea's.

Heh, I've actually written a text-game in QBasic, about a 10 years ago? I've played several in that time, mostly economic sims and stuff.

The nostalgia...

That's a good point, Seventh. Most buttons are self-explaining.

Thing is, I don't like over-busy menu's. It has to be quickly and easy accessible for me, and I think that's something a lot of people will like.
That doesn't mean a menu can't be stylish or good-looking, not at all. But there are certain restrictions. Same goes for websites.

Tuning down the contrast in the background, especially behind the menu buttons, would do the menu good, methinks.
Or make the buttons more prominent. Bright white or so.

There's a load of topics that can be covered - this subject is just too broad.

Are you seeking technical tips, or gameplay/design ones?

Also, consider that there's a lot of tutorials on several sites already. You don't have to rewrite stuff that already exists.

Hey, I haven't had Steam for quite some time too. You don't have to get it...

But it surely is a handy thing to have. Automatic updates for your games and easy on-line gaming without security risks with shared files...

EDIT: It can convert your old HL install to a Steam install, so you don't have to download HL all over again when you already have it.

Let's define it as game experience. The overall thing.

Gameplay plays a major role in that, a good gameplay keeps a map fresh and playable. Layout, weapon placement, gimmicks and in singleplayer monster placement and puzzles all are part of how the game plays. It's not just one thing, it's many factors combined.
Visuals also play a great role here. More than visuals actually, it's the whole immersion factor. How well does the level manage to pull the player in. A map can look stunning but with some logic errors (like roads suddendly stopping, pipes not continueing at the other side of thin walls, and so on) a player can quickly feel faked. Bad thing.
Performance is also important, indeed. It's not really a thing to score well on - if it's good, then nobody notices, if it's bad, everyone complains. Maps should ideally play without slowdowns. Ideally.

And there's more to it: it all has to fit together well. Granted, a well playing ugly map will be played longer than an awesome killbox, but none of them is a best choice. A map where everything fits together, where all feels right, has done a much better job.

Sadly, some of the best maps aren't even close to being popular. Some of the worst ones are played over and over again. It's not all about game experience. It's also knowing the right people, the right spots to display your level. The marketing job.

Are you sure about that?

the whole of HL has been made in to multiplayer u eejit! Sven co-op

So, I should've said 'deathmatch' instead of multiplayer...

About maps like dust... check the site of their creator, David Johnston. He has written some articles about level-design too.

It's not so hard once you get some insight in the gameplay. Getting that insight can be quite hard, though. Just read some of Johnstons articles. They should help you with that.

SP maps usually don't make very good DM maps - they're linear, while multiplayer maps do best with multiple routes from and to each area. Otherwise gameplay gets too predictable, and usually boring.

What classic maps were you referring to, bytheway?

I tend to disagree.

About the black background, that is. The splash looks good, but it's too busy for a background. It makes text and buttons hard to read - and to discern.

Tried e-mailing the author already? I doubt reacting in a 2 years old thread will help much...

Somewhere in the player folders, if I'm not mistaken. So not in the .pak files.

I could be wrong though, it's a long time ago since I had a non-Steam install of HL.

Old.

Not quite an argument either.

Cause Steam sucks and is a Streaming Pile of Shit.

I expected more of an argument after 1.5 year.

Especially since a lot has been fixed in that time.

You can't expect help without giving information.

So... what error did you get?

It might be nice to know that walls never have to be 1 brush. You can use as many brushes as you want for a wall (though keeping it simple might be good once your maps get larger). So, for a doorframe, just create a wall from 3 brushes, one on the left of the doorframe, one on the right and one on top of the doorframe.

You can copy brushes quickly by moving them and holding the Shift key down. That should speed up the whole process quite a bit.

Use another entity instead of a func_door perhaps? Func_tracktrain might work better...

As far as I know, there's a console command for this as can be quite CPU-heavy. Perhaps I'm mistaken with some other command though...

Justm quite the argumenting and continue working on an argument instead. I mean: go ahead and map.

Good luck.

Tried looking up this 'error' on steampowered.com already?

There's an entity that allows you to control what entities are transported to the new map with a level-change, actually...

A bit of a busy background, I think it takes away too much attention from the menu text. Other than that, looks good.

Heh, yeah, Seventh.

And they lag less than vm'ed terrain because of an optimized rendering. Probably triangle strips or such.

(though it seems you haven't put entities in the map?)

The error wasn't missed, but since he's following the beginners tutorial series, he should learn to place entities along the way anyway.

Use Hammer 3.4 or 3.5b for HL mapping. Hammer 4.0 is for HL2. Only architecture is portable between the two.

No series that I know of so far, but have you seen 'Still seeing Breen'? It came out a while ago and was a nice compilation of HL2.

I also know of a good webcomic made with HL2, hlcomic.com, which I find quite funny as it follows HL2's storyline in a... different... way.