All Activity

One of the most crucial aspects of mental health is vocabulary. I learned that by watching some videos about neurosciences and some experts in borderline personality. The first thing that often comes is: what do you feel? how do you describe it? Speaking of borderline. After watching some experts talk about it I changed my view on crimes. The press is very quick at labelling criminals psychopaths, borderline, cruel and the like. But you can't blame the disorder for it. In some cases yes, but more often not. I've seen a case where schizophrenia was given as an excuse for racism. Hmm.. no, really no.

Greetings Everyone, Brand new seamless images are ready on these pages on my site: CONCRETE (Artistic) FUR (Artistic) GROUND (Artistic) They are 100% free to use with attribution and can be accessed from here: https://soundimage.org/images-home-page/ OTHER NEWS I’ve added a couple of new music pages to my site, ROCK and JAZZ/BIG BAND. Both have a couple of tracks on them to get started. I think they’re going to be really fun to build! Enjoy my free assets and please share my site! http://soundimage.org/

I think the key here is that you’re 17. Those are hard years for everyone. You Will look back on things and realize how much easier it gets as you age, well, easier in some ways, more difficult in others

Watched this, Cure (1997), Japanese horror flick. Such a great lasting feeling of satisfaction from it. One of those masterfully directed movies in my opinion

HP hit it on the nail but I wanted to add some points as I've also gone through my phases of darkness @Mark Karhan These moments are very natural, and actually a good sign, they probably show you that you know something is not right in your life, and that can lead to major changes for the better. I'm not sure if this is the same you are experiencing, but look up "dark night of the soul", it's something that most people go through at some point (or multiple) points in their lives and can be very transformative. As someone who's been there before and changed for much better, I can tell you that if you can get the basics right (the things that HP mentioned), you will feel much better overtime (it won't happen overnight). Make an effort to keep a routine and do the basics for a while. Diet is a very specific thing, and I'd recommend to get informed on all the available information now, but in general you want to avoid (or reduce) all the processed shit, and favor whole foods (whole grains, vegetables, legumes, meats, eggs, etc...). You also have to work out (or have some regular exercise) if you don't already. Walking around the block is good, but preferably you want to do something that will exert your body and challenge you. That will release testosterone in your system, and get you rise up and work for the things you love. Working out is great if you can find a cool gym nearby, it will also help you to socialize. Doing those things for a while will improve your sleep immensely. And when we eat, sleep and exercise well, everything else gets much much easier. If you are feeling in the dumps mentally, avoid social media like the devil. It's a tool for hypernormalization, where any opinions or looks that are not accepted by the current ideology, will be ostracized, ridiculed, or downright attacked. You don't want to be exposed to that when you are still forming your personality. Be yourself, that's much more important than falling in line just to be accepted. Social media has also been linked to severe depression and radicalization (ever seen a friend join Twitter and all of a sudden he's an angry activist?). Stay away from pr0n too, that will completely wreck your dopamine receptors. The kinds of thoughts you have also have a huge impact on the kind of experience/existence you lead. As an example, if you believe you are fucked up, you will behave in a way that will make that a reality. If however, you twist that belief into "I'm going through a hard moment now and I will get out of it stronger on the other side, no matter what", that's much more productive and will lead you to better results. Write that on the wall to remind you several times a day if you need to. Meditation helps a ton to keep the mind clear. @Mark Karhan You are a great guy, very smart and you have a sharp mind. Use this opportunity to find yourself, and become someone you will love Know that you are not alone and let us know here how you feel!

I'm now a Principal Environment Artist at Lightspeed LA (updated the board to reflect it). Last time I started a new job was 10 years ago, this is very exciting!

Witnessing people's first impression of your map can be deeply insightful. I once made a map that was a house, and players spawned outside. Well to my surprise almost nobody ever went through the front door on their first playtest. They would often start climbing the house, make it to the roof, and then break into the house through the attic. It's not just lights that guide people, you can also guide people through suggestible design. I didn't intend to suggest players should climb my house, but that's how it was interpreted because for some reason everyone saw in the level design a path to climb that was 'forbidden' and they took it without hesitation. I suppose as kids we all want to go on the roof anyways so maybe we're always looking for that obvious opportunity subconsciously.

It's nice to see someone still making these maps. I remember playing the original map, I was very fond of it. You ever heard any news of an NS3?

Here's an article to go with that comparison video: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/09/24/the-making-of-alan-wake-remastered/

Yeah still need to change a few more things, working on the 3D skybox as well which is probably where I'll put them but for now it's a funny death tripwire

@SirSnail Looks great, though I'd suggest moving the buoys a bit farther from shore - they kind of mess with the perceived scale, sort of makes it looks like a snowglobe if you know what I mean Well - unless that's what you were going for of course, in which case chef's kiss

Haven't posted anything on the site yet until I got to a certain level, small Wingman map for CS:GO. It's an overgrown castle on an island because that's just the direction it took but I think it looks neat. Still working out the textures so it'll look (hopefully) better.

Agreed, there’s something about the remastered Alan that looks off compared to the original model. I hope it works better in motion as I was put off by the original games facial animation.

Second shot gives me a cross-eyed vibe

I don't know, but something seems off about the characters. They're more detailed, but at the same time less real. Alan especially looks off compared to the original.

Not too shabby. https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/09/24/the-making-of-alan-wake-remastered/

I’m no expert on the literature, but tendencies of movement, I’m sure it’s one of those things that conforms to predictable patterns.

That’s not a condition, that’s how women naturally are #sexistjokes aside, that’s really interesting. There’s all this bunch of interesting research and tangentially interests level designers, I remember @FMPONE (if I recall correctly) mentioning about right and left turns? (I think something from mall navigation?)

Wow valve updated something. Figured they'd all quit after alyx

Super happy to be included along so many mapcorians

More progress on the jungle part of the island. Still trying to find the balance with the foliage density. Wanna make it really dense but also very readable. And a video

I was researching some material to add to my level design site when I stumbled upon a curious condition. Some people are unable to memorize routes and get lost. While I was reading about level design I've accidentaly found about a condition that leaves a person unable to memorize a route. Level design has many sub-areas and one of them is giving the player directions. In some games the level design is poor and the player is lost with no clear indication of where to go. I've found out that the same can happen in real life and in some extreme cases it can be disorienting for a person to go to the bathroom in a school. They just can't memorize the route from class to bathroom and from bathroom to class. In Shadow Warrior 2013 they made the mistake of putting strong lights in dead ends or in the background, missguiding the player. In Alan Wake it's the opposite, light is very well used and you can trust light to guide yourself. It seems that some people are unable to recognize clues to follow a path. That or they have memorie issues that prevent them from memorizing a map. https://www.dyslexia-reading-well.com/directional-dyslexia.html

The 4th Episode of "Dying 2 Know" on September 30