Posts by Thrik

lmao

It'd be about right if HP meant idTech 4 and 5 though. It's really weird that developers haven't latched onto those technological wonders. Is it the tools or just a symptom of Unreal Engine's OTT domination of this generation?

Doesn't Half-Life count?

Just went for my induction session and am now dripping like a minge. Was good though, and I have to admit that for my superficial ass it was better being in a relatively fancy gym full of ultra-friendly staff to show me how to use the more complicated pieces of equipment like the dumbbells, rather than one like the last gym I went to full of meatheads and basic, grotty equipment.

MapCore regular SpronyvanJohnson considers the current state of the first-person shooter genre and where it seems to be heading, highlighting developers' current fixation on following Call of Duty's highly-scripted formula rather than creating the sense of exploration and experimentation that characterised early FPS games.

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Best way to get fit. We could all do with a bit more slavery.

Having just read the article properly, I'm really intrigued by some of the things they're proposing. An almost completely destructible world in an RPG let alone an MMORPG is some pretty groundbreaking stuff, yet I have to wonder how they're going to handle it so that the world doesn't become like many Battlefield 3 maps do after an hour of play: like a parking lot.

If I understand the article correctly, it's not just about destruction but growth too. So there'll likely be systems in place for growing new foliage, constructing cities and bridges, etc — which is exciting in itself. Having a world that feels truly dynamic and down to the players' whims could be a huge step forward that finally breaks the genre free of World of Warcraft's shackles. Of course, balancing that alongside compelling quests and some kind of story/structure will be challenging.

As for the graphics, I think it looks awesome. One of EverQuest's biggest competitors is probably going to end up being Elder Scrolls Online, which of course has a very realistic approach to graphics and is doing a lot of interesting stuff itself. So having the complete opposite without going into the downright cartoony realm of WoW could be a great move.

One big thing that stands out as a negative to me: no announcements of a console release. I think to really challenge WoW a modern MMORPG has to be hitting the mainstream consoles too (at least the next-gen ones). Elder Scrolls Online is on consoles, and it's probably going to seriously help it out because Oblivion and especially Skyrim opened up the open-world RPG genre to a lot of new fans. Sony is missing out on a serious opportunity here to take advantage of that new audience if they don't get it on the PS4 at the very least.

Oh, and the Skyrim music composer is doing the soundtrack.

Looks like there's some cool stuff going on there, I hope they can finally mix up this god damn genre.

It seems like such a quaint, distant memory when EverQuest was the king. I bet there are loads of younger WoW players who've never even heard of it.

JavaScript lad.

So I recently got the Legendary Edition of Skyrim for the 360, having never played the game before. It comes with all the DLC so that's cool, means I get an even richer first-time experience I guess.

Only been playing for a few hours so far but basically my living room is already covered in cum.

Not Safe For Work [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/GFrfD.jpg]

(not graphic)

There's a good thread about this issue here:

http://forums.thinkingwithportals.com/mapping-help/r…reas-t7076.html

One guy says you can just select them and press delete, but if not there's a manual VMF edit you can make (real mappers use Notepad).

my god

I've had two used game duds recently which has completely put me off them altogether now. God damn owners need to look after their shit.

Inventing layouts is really just about experience and understanding the game it's designed for. You have to know what kind of things work and what don't, and that's learnt through experimenting.

You can of course learn a lot from looking at other successful maps, and there's the usual obvious advice like making sure you carefully time how long it takes each team to get to key points (you might want it to be equal for violent clashes, or not equal if you want one team to have time to set up), making sure there's facilities in each area for each kind of class, etc. There must be a million tutorials that cover things like this.

More than anything though, experience and experimentation. Look at any WIP map thread on MapCore and you'll see people putting their maps out there for testing (MapCore has held regular playtesting events for CS:GO), and then people give feedback on what works and what doesn't. Even veteran and pro mappers need to do this.

Just have fun! Make whatever wild ideas come to mind and see if people like them. That's how true creativity happens.

Yep I agree with blackdog, you seem like you're trying to run before you can walk (to use another idiom lol).

To put it bluntly, you're way off the level of skill where you should be seriously thinking about selling maps, having huge successes, etc. At this point in your quest to learn, don't worry about all that shit — just focus on figuring out what exactly makes maps work, why they're successful, and try to rebuild what others have done so you can learn how they did it.

That last bit is more important than anything else. Nobody is just born into the world as an artist, film director, musician, etc. They spend years observing what others do, building on it, etc. In fact, the entirety of humanity is built upon those things that came before. If we wiped out everyone and everything on Earth right now apart from a few people with no memories, they'd have to go through thousands of years of figuring out how to make things all over again. Don't just dismiss your peers' creations, use them.

So as has been said, start looking at other peoples' work and learn from it. Once you can make something equally as good (Could you build dust2 from scratch right now equally as good and optimised?), then you can think about doing something more original. Learn how to lay bricks before trying to architect a house.

The prices seem reasonable to me. I've had top-end PCs but always gotten much better value out of my consoles because they simply have more great games. The amount of play that I've gotten out of my PS3 alone is astonishing, easily worth the few hundred quid it cost.

It's a bit like phones. Sure you can go buy a Windows Phone which provides more features for less money, but how useful is it when you can only get like a third of the best apps available on iPhone and Android?

Of course not everyone is that into console games and the PC has more games they're interested in. For me, my main gaming joys of the past generation have been those games that were exclusive to or best on consoles.

I will literally die laughing if they do another u-turn and go back to even more brutal policies than before.

Try doing a bullet point list of what attributes you think makes de_dust2 so popular and successful.

Quote from Mapham

How is it possible to sell custom maps for clans like you described?

As you've probably gathered from the above responses, by doing it under the radar. There's no way for Valve to know about personal deals you've made with people. The question is whether or not you can find those willing to pay for what you can do, and whether you deem the time invested worth it rather than just doing passion projects.

Having been doing creative stuff professionally for years now, I can tell you that the stuff I enjoy most is the work I do for myself where I'm not having to do it as per someone else's instructions and having to deal with changing stuff because they just don't like it.

Check the game's EULA. I'm pretty sure most if not all Valve games have terms that prohibit selling things like maps and models, unless it's to/via Valve itself. That's why mods are free unless Valve sells them.