Posts by Hourences

Yup that was too bad, but we should deffy do this again in the future

It was fun.

if only the game would actually look like that... Even if it's just a little bit.

I found it a very interesting article and suprisingly how similar it is to many modern gamedev-go-wrong stories. Guess this industry still hasn't learned. It is improving tho.

He wasn't sure yet, we can slap him on monday.

Seems easy to find. So NEXT WEEK saturday, 14.00 in front of the konserthus.

So you are certainly coming teddy ?

I dunno how you plan to go; but we can prolly take the train together in uppsala, together with lionel.

So, 14.00 where? Stockholmers ?

Ok

We need a place and time. Bit more than 10 days to go.

I say 2 in the afternoon.

I know nothing in Stockholm except the most basic things so pick something easy.

If it is a big place like a torg, figure out where exactly on it.

If anyone is interested in my phone number in case you cant find the group that day, got lost, robbed, raped, or etc. and wish to tell me and the group about that, pm me or email me

You should also all PM teddy and command him to come:)

Yes, making the actual geometry and texturing it. Whether you do so in an editor or 3D package doesn't matter to me, result is the same: you doing geometry.

But really, there are so many different ways of building and organizing levels, the options given can never reflect every single possibility and way of doing things. Just pick the things that come closest to what you mean.

Yes FX are particles and such, and I don't mean just placing them, but also really creating the particles and all that stuff.

Book

I have released the second edition of my book The Hows and Whys of Level Design!

[Blocked Image: http://www.hourences.com/book/bookimages/book4smaller.jpg]

Here is the changelist:

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# An all new introduction chapter covering the history and future of level design, and common problems in the profession of a level designer# New In-depth sections covering composition and floorplans.

# A few dozen small additions on a wide range of subjects such as pacing in singleplayer gameplay, checkpoints, and so on.

# Dozens of all new or updated example screenshots.

# The level Krodan added as a third example level.

# An all new layout and much improved visual style.

# The book is now printed on A4 paper size.

# All the text throughout the entire book was touched up and improved significantly, and certain parts were clarified.

Display More

And for those unfamiliar with my book, here is what it is about:

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Level design is one of the most important, influential, and complex aspects of video and computer games. It is a fairly new design form and is maturing rapidly. As the available hardware capabilities and associated technology continue to increase in complexity, level design will also become increasingly complex. This book will help both aspiring and veteran designers come to terms with future changes in level design. Rather than addressing the usual ‘how to make a room', or ‘how to place a light', this book tackles how to make that room look good. The book details why certain decisions are made in order to achieve the design goal, and how to plan the route to the goal: the hows and whys.The chapters within describe all aspects of level design; from the initial design phase, to gameplay for singleplayer and multiplayer levels, to visual aspects regarding lighting and architecture, and more. The overall purpose is to explain the theories behind level design. It covers why light color X or architectural feature Y would work better in situation Z rather than color A or architecture B. It describes why a level is fun and what the level design does to enhance it: the ‘do's and don'ts' of creating environments for games.

A big discount is available on the PDF edition for those of you who already own the first edition. Contact me for details.

More information on my website: http://www.Hourences.com/book

Surveys

Also, I have added a survey section to my website, and its surveys will focus on level design, the mod community, and game development in general. Currently a level design survey is running!

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# For both gamers and level designers/artists, and for amateurs and professionals.# Please note that the term "level designer" is used broadly. "Level designer", in this survey, is defined as someone who designs and creates large parts of a virtual world. This can include the visuals or the gameplay, or both.

# The results are for personal use only. This survey is a personal initiative.

If you would all be so kind to go through it - http://www.hourences.com/book/surveyactive.htm

I will post the results next month.

And also, I started a Level Design group on LinkedIn : http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/154014/7D3EE9616729

The terrain thingy, be sure to save your terrain info crap in the mylevel package of your level. So when you create a new material layer on it, it will ask you where to place that. Be sure to place that in a package with the exact same name as the level.

Other then that, the editor is crap, so if it continues to crash, thats why

This also affects Starbreeze which that articles completely fails to mention, as Riddick is one of the affected Vivendi games, and was also almost completed.

The lamps dont seem to give off enough light considering their intensive glow.

You got too much (gray) fog.

You need some more subtle ambient lighting, with a subtle color.

The left of the building outside needs to be bright to fit the sky.

And I dont get how you can keep up with its horrible unstable editor and lack of support:P

I agree with klein though, phoning is not the way to go in this industry.

On the other hand, they should be happy that you call... Shows you are really interested in them.

If I am really interested in the company, I do email again after a while to hear whats up. Might be a little rude, but it is just as rude from them not to reply to someone so...

Well of course, it would have been better with more immersion, but really, if you are really after a strong story, immersion, atmosphere and all that, wouldn't you be better off playing a non sandbox game? A story intensive FPS for example? A game that really focusses on its story rather than trying to bring it all?

I want GTA for the one thing that few other games (try to) offer: complete and absolute freedom.

Vice City setting was awesome, but Id prefer SA over Vice City any day, just because of its size and possibilities. SA was alot more sandboxy-ish then VC, and this whole sandbox thingy is what GTA is all about for me.

My record stands at 1.5 years to just get a reply to my application email. They then did invite me over though, but I didn't go. Screw you if you need 1.5 years to reply:)

in #unrealed on quakenet, nickname Piriste, you can tell him I refered you to him. He works as LD for Recoil.

If the school is good, then it is actually more powerful than modding, and you will learn a lot more in a short amount of time. Unfortunally a lot of schools are still not up to that...

Modding can actually backfire. I once had a big studio tell me they didn't want to hire me because I was too involved in modding, and that I was thus too involved with their concurrents...

Most studios should be more than happy too hire a modder though and I know that if I had to hire someone, I would personally prefer the modder over the graduate.