Hello

[sirjake64]

Hey mappers,

My name is Jakub and I love this site! I plan to make a team with my friend and a few others and making a mod about the Seven Hour war, but so far I think that I just need to gain some experience. My mapping skills aren't fantastic, i'd say I'm somewhere in between beginner and advanced

What are some things you guys did to get experience and become good mappers?

Regards,
Sirjake64

[Gary]

Welcome to Interlopers Jakub.

Really, the way I got to the point I am at now is by taking apart Valve's stuff to see how it works, asking people here and experience. Ether way it takes time, lots of it.


Also, isn't there a few other mods doing the Seven Hour war?

[sirjake64]

Yes, their are a few other mods for the seven hour war, but they haven't really hit the spot, if yuh know what i mean.

I'll have a look at the maps that came with hammer, and thanks for the advice.

[MayheM]

Welcome to interlopers...

Yeah looking at Valve maps is a good way to learn. I used to see something in a map, even from other games and think to myself "how can I do that" and then I would try and recreate it in Source. Often I did things that worked but were far more complicated than they needed to be, but my mind worked it out and the things worked the way i did them. I learned a lot about how entities interact and stuff like that.

I am also a big fan of mapping what I see. So I walk around and take pictures or look on the internet and build actual things that exist.

Also, I used to build and texture as I worked. Now I work a lot with Dev textures. This will stop you from spending hours looking for that right wall texture while you could be construction the rest of the level.

The biggest thing of all to do though... PLAN!!! sketching out what you want to do is key. Doing so will often eliminate mappers block.

[BubbleQ]

Hi and Welcome Jakub.

1. Make about 50 maps, each one having a new feature, and never release any of them! Don´t plan them!
2. Play all the mods you can find!
3. Check the startpage of Interlopers atleast once a week. (Or just the map pimpage thread)
4. Have fun!
5. Be paitient on source engine...

When you are done with your 50 maps, then you shall start planing

I can´t really say that I am experienced sins I have never released any thing that was finished. But I kinda asked my slef what I would like to hear if I was you^^ And I think those statements will do it pretty good.

Cheers

[Mr. Happy]

MayheM hit the nail on the head with deconstructing maps, experience, everything he said. Something I also suggest is answering other people's questions. Read the level design help section and try to figure out the answers to questions that you don't know the answers to.

Also, best piece of advice I've ever gotten: if you can make it better but it would be really difficult and time-consuming, do it.