Ladies and Gentlemen...

[KoyaOneda]

Since all newcomers are introducing themselves by thread nowadays, I guess it's only proper for me to do so as well.

Hi, my name is Koya Oneda (uninspired username I know) and I am a graduating senior this year. Like many interlopers, I hope to make the dream of designing games for a living a reality. I live in the states, just north of the capitol, in a rural community a.k.a. nowhere. Right now Im debating which art college will offer the best education in animation/modeling/level design. And I'm stuck between MICA, SAIC, and Ringling.

I've lurked around interlopers for a while but I recently decided to join, now that Im ready to map for reals (sort of). I also have mapped just enough in hammer to get an idea of how the process works, but never enough to release a real map. With the recent release of the UDK Im somewhat torn on which engine to use (I wanna work with source, but the UDK is so sparkly). Finally, I'd like to ask for some suggestions. For starters, I really have no idea about what to map now that im taking it "seriously". I think itd be better to map for sp and create short vignettes that contain action, puzzles, and adventure in 15-30 min chunks, all the while providing replayabilty. What that would entail I really don't know. I feel that the HL2 universe would be the easiest to map for considering all the assets.

Let me know what you think, feedback and ideas would be much appreaciated. If I get a really good idea maybe I'll update this thread as things move along.

Happy Holidays!
Koya Oneda

[Megadude]

*Points*

[KoyaOneda]

yep, shoulda looked harder. well there ya go, im a noob.

is there any way i can bump it to there or will someone else have to do it?

[vcool]

If you want to make a map, then you would probably want to make it on Source, because it already offers a variety of gamemodes.

If you just want to showcase the visual, UDK would be a good choice since it makes maps automatically look better due to lightmass.

And of course, if you want to make a new game altogether, then you'd have to choose. Most people here would says Source because it's what they are most experienced with, but if you want experiene that counts I'd do it with the UDK.

[zombie@computer]

*Moves*

[KoyaOneda]

thanks for the move zombie, and the advice vcool. I'll probally at least start with source since mapping theory carries on to whatever engine and I like the back drop that source offers so i dont have to go and reinvent the wheel. In terms of mapping for sp I want to avoid some of the cliche's that abound from early mapping (Idk a crap ton of programming, so something highly original like the next "portal" probaly aint gonna happen for the next few years). I see the map/mod from a rebels perspective but not the overdone citizen-rebel-revenge idea. Hopefully a small/short map that is fun and replayable is my end goal. Again since i could come up with a million and one over ambitious ideas myself I was wondering what someone with a lot of experience would recommend (aside from just modeling the house).

I had the idea of sticking the player in a situation much like mw2's "cliffhanger" or HL2's "lost cost". Scaling icy cliffs to inflitrate an artic outpost, then retrieving intel/ destroy something and then getting the hell outta there. But idk if thats overambitious. Maybe starting a C17 map instead, or a more rural ep2 esque one.

[zombie@computer]

arctic/ice landscapes may be difficult, due to the lack of, well, any resources whatsoever in that direction. (well, perhaps from css, but otherwise youd have to create everything from scratch, which is a very long process.

[KoyaOneda]

yeah, thats what i started to realize. the only artic resources being those from the borelis secene in ep2 and the artic base from the messege that mossman sent.

some other ideas floating around:

classic fort gametype: have the player and friendly npc's defend a snowy ski village in the mountains. (still snow but i like the idea of a winter themed map)

VIP: task the player with escorting a unarmed npc through the war torn streets of C17.

A map that tasks the player to complete several objectives in any order to progress.