Mapping - A Process

so you want some tough advices?

I think someone needs a hug!

well, i just found out today, that i need to rebuild a large portion of my map

not that hard, but it just sucks

I don't have that problem but for me my Workflow completely sucks. I can not set a brush without thinking of details, textures, different sizes etc... maybe some one gives "tough advices" on workflow as well?

maybe this will help

http://www.johnsto.co.uk/design/making_sienna

Do you draw sketches and that stuff? I mean not only 2D but 3D too, that has helped me in a current project.

i mostly sketch view points, and how things must look like + layout

big blocks, and make passes over the whole map - rectangle everything. next flesh out the basic building shapes, then go into more detail, add soem textures - pop in a few models.

or go the other route and make one section at a time, full with detail, models, lighting etc.

or give up.

Quote from Rick_D

or give up.

Yeh, go fishing or smomethin' to inspire ya!

Think it over for a longer time. You say that you run into trouble after just 5 minutes, then why dont you try to foresee those issues before you even start? Simulate the first five minutes of development solely in your brains, when traveling in the train or whatever, and see what you kind of issues you hit on.

Think the entire process through, on every possible aspect including optimization, if your skill can handle it, if you have examples to fall back on, if none of the things you want to put in would conflict with each other (you want close combat gameplay yet also a huge and impressive hallway, that conflicts) and so on.

Compare all things you want in, against both itself as the available time, the technology you will use for it and so on.

Why doesnt it translate well into the game? What kind of things should have been different to do fit it into a game well? If you figure that out, youre half way.

And start small, make tiny maps, 1-1. Make maps based on other levels so you have a clear example you can fall back on if youre totally stuck.

Also dont be too damn critical of yourself. Plenty of people never finish a level because they always lose faith in their own creation after a day or whatever. You are unlikely to ever create a perfect level. There are always going to be things that just arent really great. I have made a 150+ levels of which half are commercial and yet, up to today, every time I create a new level, at one point or another I start doubting my own design because I start to notice flaws. Either I can quit, remake the entire level, or just accept the problem and do my best to work around it. I always do the latter.

Stuff isnt perfect and it never will be.

A repetitive level is better than no level at all! You can fix those kinds of problems later, first work on getting the basics going and that is finishing a level.

Hourences is right. There's always a way to work in what you want if you agree to make certain concessions.

Maybe if you give us an example we can come up with some workarounds?

Flat and blocky can always be brought out and made more interesting later on. Even if you run out of ideas when you come back to it, the internet is an amazing source for unique architectural styles that you can adapt to fit your work.

If you keep getting bogged down on the details early on you'll never complete that ever-important first map. Look at it this way: if you get hung up on something not being right the rest of the map will never happen. On the other hand if you ignore it for the time being (as long as the general layout fits the gameplay) there is nothing stopping you from coming back to it.

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back in the day when mapping for the hl1 engine was 'in', i used to create small singleplayer maps. these maps wouldnt have anything special in them really, maybe a small scripted sequence of a sci walking to a door and opening it, or the player having to get somewhere to make him do just that; usually accompanied with a small walk/climb/maze to get to said situation.

the thing back then was, that whenever i felt like putting something into shape, i'd replay these simple maps (no level interchange, manual changelevel; though the maps were continuations), and get just a little bit inspired as what to do and how to start a map. if you replay a large map or a chapter of some campaign in any game, it'll be too much building inspiration, but if you take a small map, nothing fancy, you'll get a kickstart on how to build stuff.

this also provides a perspective of how the player perceives the level. you'd be surprised how little the blocky parts mattered when the fun was there.

i've actually seen a mod recently employing a similar technique, where the maps and everything are blocky, but the gameplay/flow is so finely tuned it's still an amazing experience to play. this mod is called riot act, and it's on modDB. failing anything else, i suggest you at least play through that.