Developer Journal: Defrag
Posted 1 decade ago Lead Map Design
Uni just started back, so I've been somewhat distracted for the last few days. I just need to spend a bit more time on bases to polish up the RR & Water entrance. The rest of it is basically done, but I keep tinkering with stuff. I'm never happy with anything as it can always be better. I've been working on the water entrance for the last few days, and it's ~Q3F style (I can't remember what the original QWTF bases water ent looks like, as I can't pretend to have played QWTF more than a handful of times) in that there's a couple of bounce pads; bounce pads are more interesting than ladders, I guess. The water entrance is situated in a damp cavern with metallic supports and all that good stuff -- I'm just working on the general ambience and details before I rubber stamp it as satisfactory.
The response to push has been very good, with even push-whores like Nar voicing their approval. The few gripes I've heard pertained to the fact that I used CS:S content in places, or that the style of map was ~HL2ish. The former can hopefully be addressed in due course; the latter is more down to a subjective opinion. I personally like the fact that TFC and FF both afford level designers the ability to craft their own theme and take players to a series of varied environments / situations. Levels can be removed from reality (pretty much the majority of Team Fortress maps), gritty and pseudo-realistic (push), realistic (hunted), exotic (avanti) or just plain.. weird. TF has never had any rules or stringent style guides, unlike a lot of game types. It keeps things fresh. In my opinion, the original push for TFC was more of a pseudo-realistic experience (well, as realistic as initial release maps could get considering they used two megs of texture memory and many people were still playing using software rendering). It was a fairly bland, functional and industrial affair, with little evidence of flair or nods to the surreal. Since the HL2 resources complement this approach, I felt it was a good idea to continue push in this vein. Believe me when I say that the realistic(ish) maps are in the minority, just as with TFC. Quite a few people complaining about the style weren't too familiar with the original map, so I'm hoping that's not a coincidence. Thankfully, the response of the majority would appear to suggest that I've done Push justice on the Source engine.
Anyway, what we really need is a texture artist that doesn't get abducted by aliens.
Rest assured we want to recruit Texture Artists, but finding applicants of a decent quality is difficult indeed. A lot of people seem to assume that we can conjure quality textures from thin air! Not so! If only it were that easy.
View all developer journals The response to push has been very good, with even push-whores like Nar voicing their approval. The few gripes I've heard pertained to the fact that I used CS:S content in places, or that the style of map was ~HL2ish. The former can hopefully be addressed in due course; the latter is more down to a subjective opinion. I personally like the fact that TFC and FF both afford level designers the ability to craft their own theme and take players to a series of varied environments / situations. Levels can be removed from reality (pretty much the majority of Team Fortress maps), gritty and pseudo-realistic (push), realistic (hunted), exotic (avanti) or just plain.. weird. TF has never had any rules or stringent style guides, unlike a lot of game types. It keeps things fresh. In my opinion, the original push for TFC was more of a pseudo-realistic experience (well, as realistic as initial release maps could get considering they used two megs of texture memory and many people were still playing using software rendering). It was a fairly bland, functional and industrial affair, with little evidence of flair or nods to the surreal. Since the HL2 resources complement this approach, I felt it was a good idea to continue push in this vein. Believe me when I say that the realistic(ish) maps are in the minority, just as with TFC. Quite a few people complaining about the style weren't too familiar with the original map, so I'm hoping that's not a coincidence. Thankfully, the response of the majority would appear to suggest that I've done Push justice on the Source engine.
Anyway, what we really need is a texture artist that doesn't get abducted by aliens.
Rest assured we want to recruit Texture Artists, but finding applicants of a decent quality is difficult indeed. A lot of people seem to assume that we can conjure quality textures from thin air! Not so! If only it were that easy.