Journal #5866
Posted 14 years ago2009-06-11 21:17:09 UTC
Project Source Development: Week 1
Week one of the Source development is off to a rough start.
As soon as i got news of the new compo i started sketching ideas and outlines and plots and battles etc etc on paper. I was at work when i found out about it so i was powerless to do anything but brainstorm. I did get a lot of ideas down and i have the barebones skeletal-layout of the map completed on paper.
I just forgot how involved source really was.
Aside from actually mapping, i had to re-learn a whole new I/O system. i have been experimenting (lucky) the whole week prior so i have a good foundation with that, but i also need to learn many other things.
Aside from the learning part, i now feel sub-par as a mapper.
Never in my life have i completed a map to my liking. It's always been at around 80% I feel that due to that i won't get this map done either. The scale that i have set for myself is huge.
I tried doing what strider did- apply the map as a texture in hammer. I build walls around the map surrounding the white, and decided that i did not want to do that. I felt that a lot of people were going to do that, and i did not want to follow the crowd. curse my quest for uniqueness
I Then decided i'd flesh out one room at a time.
Build the room out of dev-textures, set all the entities, basic lighting, and move on.
Well the way i have my storyline set out, that's impossible to do, and today i realized i needed to flesh out the whole map and then start with the entities.
Again i was wrong.
How does one start a project this large-with an unfamiliar engine and a deadline?
-Carefully
I basically scrapped my map 4 times in this last week. Wasting 20+ hours of time i could've spent better had i planned this all out. Again, that's where my lack of mapping experience comes in.
So i find myself starting over-again. Mapping the baselines, adding minor terrain detail before i do the entities.
After i have the minor terrain detail i think i'll work on the details (displacements, water, fog, areaportals) lighting, and the more advanced entitiy set-ups.
Plus my personal life took a spin into hell... Almost forcing me to lose motivation. But if i dont work on this at least once a day, it won't get done. This is one map of mine that CANT wait til last minute. Hopefully i'll keep my sanity long enough to see it through to the end.
Week one of the Source development is off to a rough start.
As soon as i got news of the new compo i started sketching ideas and outlines and plots and battles etc etc on paper. I was at work when i found out about it so i was powerless to do anything but brainstorm. I did get a lot of ideas down and i have the barebones skeletal-layout of the map completed on paper.
I just forgot how involved source really was.
Aside from actually mapping, i had to re-learn a whole new I/O system. i have been experimenting (lucky) the whole week prior so i have a good foundation with that, but i also need to learn many other things.
Aside from the learning part, i now feel sub-par as a mapper.
Never in my life have i completed a map to my liking. It's always been at around 80% I feel that due to that i won't get this map done either. The scale that i have set for myself is huge.
I tried doing what strider did- apply the map as a texture in hammer. I build walls around the map surrounding the white, and decided that i did not want to do that. I felt that a lot of people were going to do that, and i did not want to follow the crowd. curse my quest for uniqueness
I Then decided i'd flesh out one room at a time.
Build the room out of dev-textures, set all the entities, basic lighting, and move on.
Well the way i have my storyline set out, that's impossible to do, and today i realized i needed to flesh out the whole map and then start with the entities.
Again i was wrong.
How does one start a project this large-with an unfamiliar engine and a deadline?
-Carefully
I basically scrapped my map 4 times in this last week. Wasting 20+ hours of time i could've spent better had i planned this all out. Again, that's where my lack of mapping experience comes in.
So i find myself starting over-again. Mapping the baselines, adding minor terrain detail before i do the entities.
After i have the minor terrain detail i think i'll work on the details (displacements, water, fog, areaportals) lighting, and the more advanced entitiy set-ups.
Plus my personal life took a spin into hell... Almost forcing me to lose motivation. But if i dont work on this at least once a day, it won't get done. This is one map of mine that CANT wait til last minute. Hopefully i'll keep my sanity long enough to see it through to the end.
3 Comments
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It's a sink-or-swim-type moment, and considering you've already learned the I/O basics, already know the brush stuff from GldSrc, and that you've got the brains to keep reworking everything to a level you're happy with, you'll swim.
That sounded more poignant in my head.
I know that because so much more is required with the Source engine it's pretty overwhelming to learn, but the best way is to just dive in get down to it. ;>
"Never in my life have i completed a map to my liking." Most painters and authors think that too. We artists are never happy with what we make, even if everyone else is. We always feel we could have done better. Oh well.