Recruiting mappers for a game mod...

[SotaPoika]

Always funny to see these projects. The first 10-15 iterations work ingame, because detail is low, lighting is something sloppy just so it is there, there aren't much entities for various things to make map interesting. Then suddenly, things start to get choppy, when you gotta compile the map with full VIS, want to have more detail than building consisting of few brushes.

Take a look at Nuclear Dawn's/Off-Limit's maps, they have maybe the largest maps made outside Valve offices. You can see, how in ND for example, lighting can't be very complex in largest maps, because lightmap data is getting very large for engine to handle in huge maps. Or, how the amount of unique assets is draining memory. Plenty of things that start to slow down progress and thoughts if it was such a good idea and plans for shrinking the map, get into play.

Also, if you want someone to get interested about workin on such project, provide a nice reference/concept/layout gallery first.

[Wrangler249]

Interlopers, the #1 forum for taking your ideas and beating you to death with them.

[source-maps]

Interlopers, the #1 forum for taking your ideas and beating you to death with them.

Interlopers, the #1 forum for not being your momma and telling everything is fine and dandy and bringing a realistic point of view to the table because we've seen allot of people just like him before

[Jangalomph]

Interlopers, the #1 forum for taking your ideas and beating you to death with them.

Interlopers, the #1 forum for not being your momma and telling everything is fine and dandy and bringing a realistic point of view to the table because we've seen allot of people just like him before

Interlopers has been the best place for me. This place is rather serious when it comes to a mod, and we generally know if there is no media theres nothing to back you up. An idea is only an idea until its put into action and something is made from it! take my mod http://www.moddb.com/mods/sabotage < pure example of my poor planning, I got as far as i did because of interlopers. Even though I failed I learned a lot, and from there I got a few mod jobs instead of managing my own mod. Its just here at interlopers we just dont sugar coat things.

[Wrangler249]

There's a difference between telling somebody to take a second look at their ideas and taking a shit on their work in the hope that they'll take a second look at their ideas.

[source-maps]

There's a difference between telling somebody to take a second look at their ideas and taking a shit on their work in the hope that they'll take a second look at their ideas.

don't be so over sensitive

[Wrangler249]

Fair enough, I suppose I'm getting annoyed on somebody else's behalf here.

[Armageddon]

There's a difference between telling somebody to take a second look at their ideas and taking a shit on their work in the hope that they'll take a second look at their ideas.

What work?

[Gary]

I find SotaPoika is quite accurate. I've seen it happen many times, I've even tried it myself.


@ Wrangler249; I don't see anyone "taking a shit" on his ideas. Most people here gave pretty legit responses and input.

If you read it all the posts, really the most you get out of the responses is:
-Many know this is a great undertaking, requiring a lot of pre-planning, thought, and actual work.
-Most are skeptical of this being completed. Due to the great amount of work&skill needed and the (please don't take this as an insult, Starving Hobo)apparent lack of Source engine knowledge the OP has.
-This has been attempted before a number of times and failed. The few that did succeed were limited due to engine limits.


We just want Starving Hobo and his team to understand this won't be easy at all and will take a lot of effort. We are not trying to shit on their dreams, we are trying to make sure they have a realistic view of what can be done.

None of us wish them to fail or give up, we would love to see them make an awesome open world map. I'm sure any of us will help them when they run into problems. I'm actually quite interested in their project.


@Starving Hobo:
If you want to attract mappers or other people to join your project, you should post some WIP pictures of the map, as well as reference(if you have any, you should), and any concepts or layouts of your goal(s).

[source-maps]

very true response Gary, unfortunately they are necessary just like 'don't put your pets in the microwave' is

[Hollow]

I haz industry cred, I are important opinion!

Joking aside, people are tough here because they are realistic. And that's what you have to be if you want to get any work out, plan things, build up a decent reputation and rapore with people in the community and get a good feedback.

The people here and their higher threshold for decent content is something that should be a target to work towards. I'm sure after 5/6 years, some of the members here are tired of seeing the same 'ideas guy' thread, with no images and a pretty vague decription of what they need. If you have the content and execution, people will happily praise your work if it ticks the right boxes.
Seeing as it's got a poor reception, don't take it as, 'we are shitting on your work'. I know it's tough to not get defensive, but I've had to have work ripped to the core from friends and colleagues to understand that it will make me get better and I should definitely listen to people who have more skill than me lol.

if you think Lopers is tough, try pulling this on the people at Mapcore or something...

Anyways, good luck with the project. If you still aren't digging the mentality here, there's always facepunch.

[LordDz]

Another one bites the dust..

[Starving Hobo]

I find SotaPoika is quite accurate. I've seen it happen many times, I've even tried it myself.


@ Wrangler249; I don't see anyone "taking a shit" on his ideas. Most people here gave pretty legit responses and input.

If you read it all the posts, really the most you get out of the responses is:
-Many know this is a great undertaking, requiring a lot of pre-planning, thought, and actual work.
-Most are skeptical of this being completed. Due to the great amount of work&skill needed and the (please don't take this as an insult, Starving Hobo)apparent lack of Source engine knowledge the OP has.
-This has been attempted before a number of times and failed. The few that did succeed were limited due to engine limits.


We just want Starving Hobo and his team to understand this won't be easy at all and will take a lot of effort. We are not trying to shit on their dreams, we are trying to make sure they have a realistic view of what can be done.

None of us wish them to fail or give up, we would love to see them make an awesome open world map. I'm sure any of us will help them when they run into problems. I'm actually quite interested in their project.


@Starving Hobo:
If you want to attract mappers or other people to join your project, you should post some WIP pictures of the map, as well as reference(if you have any, you should), and any concepts or layouts of your goal(s).

Fair enough. I've been mapping for Source for about 5 years but I have no idea about the workings of the engine itself... We do have some reference shots but it's early in development so I didn't want to show stuff that looks unfinished.



Like if you see we just have basic white lighting and non-displaced hills right now. The side of the road where the grass is there's now a rain drainage part (just like a concrete dip at the side of the road)... But this is the part we're working on at the moment. We did some dual carraigeway part...



That's the other section before we updated the grass. You can see a small part of the underpass...
There's a weird effect on one of the tree models so they probably would've had to be replaced.

Also we have a lot of real life photos we are basing things off, layout designs etc too... But judging by the reaction it doesn't seem like creating this is even possible.

[ErikKiller]

It would be interesting to see how far you can get with.
However, start off small, work the map out in a circular fashion: this way if you do hit the limits of the Source engine you don't have to modify the map too much.

[Stormy]

I'm a fan of making things one small bit at a time. Fleshing out the entire project roughly and then filling in the gaps is like painting shit silver. It's still shit. If you focus on one little part and make each part look good then you eventually build from a good area to another good area, and have prettier pictures to show off earlier. It works for me anyway. Also as old mate above me said, it may prevent you from having to remake large parts of your map.
I'm no good at mapping nor do I have time to lend, but good luck with it.