Posts by Defrag

I would have to agree that prodigy is one of the most beautiful pieces of level design I've ever witnessed. It's just a shame the rest of the CS:S maps (except Aztec) look rather plain compared to it.

I'm having real problems getting acquainted to the Source lighting system. With HL1 I could create any mood I desired and accentuate certain architectural features. Now I seem to always have a pitch dark room with very bright lights that only light up small portions of the room. I've tried fiddling with various entities and values, ambient lighting settings and more.

Can anyone suggest any good values to get me started? My geometry is looking grand, but it's hard to appreciate it when my lighting looks like it was put together by Marilyn Manson.

I remember emailing scary one and asking him for an .rmf back when I first started mapping umpteen years ago. He sent me two .rmfs (for outcry and enraged iirc) and it helped me immensely in terms of learning good mapping practices and developing some style. Top bloke. He was a mapping God and an inspiration to me when I started. Nothing much has changed in that respect I guess.

scary_1 and scary_2 were two of the most God damn beautiful maps ever created for the HL engine.

Ever since then I've done the same when asked for .rmf files for my maps.

P.s. I see he's signed up for Source: AG and look forward to seeing what he creates.

Off topic slightly (I noticed someone mentioning exporting from max and trying to get the scale correct for their map), but: Can anyone tell me the easiest way to get props exported at the correct scale? I've been learning a little 3DSM so I can place simple props in my maps without needing to use pre-made valve pipes (or hassle others) etc. However, I'm wondering if the Max units correspond to the HL2 units somehow. I know HL2 Hammer units are an inch. Does one max unit correspond to the same scale when exporting or am I barking up the wrong tree? If not, is there a quick and easy way to get the models to scale correctly? Thanks.

My very first was called "The Think Tank". It was basically a ripped off bootcamp texture theme complete with a big pool of water in the middle housing a good weapon (hence crappy name). It got reviewed on Radium and got a nice review but a shitty mark for some reason. Radium was cool (the death of radium's map site really did dent the HL and TFC scenes as it was a central point for getting 3rd party maps) but you could tell he was pissed off by the amount of shitty maps he had to review before he jacked it all in. It's too bad his site is no longer hosted, some of the vitriolic remarks on his later reviews were uncomfortably amusing. I think my contribution sent him over the edge. He definitely didn't actually playtest it otherwise he would've noticed the lift buttons were the size of 50" rear-projection TVs.

I remember being chuffed to bits when some random guy emailed me to say he loved the map and I should make more.

I (un)fortunately cannot find any pictures

A very interesting topic for sure. I've been actively interested in level design for the best part of six years now. I've built up a solid technical ability over my HL mapping days but have always wondered how working in the industry compares to an (my) amateur workflow. I knew there were many facets to level design at a professional level (gameplay, scripting, texturing, brush-based geometry and model-based geometry etc.) but didn't realise each company had its own approach to the process or quite how much they differed. Thanks for the read - it was very informative. Hi btw (first time poster).