Quote from KungFuSquirrelNot to derail the thread on the game I'm working on (I figure it's another Gearbox project so it's ok), but here's Mikey (of zilla fame) and Col. Antal showing one of the levels for GameSpot that demonstrates exactly how your old concerns were addressed: http://www.gamespot.com/video/930277/61 ... -show-demo You'll be pretty accurate and the squads are pretty effective too (as you'll notice in the video).
That was very nice and convincing, thanks! 
I'm a sucker for FPS-RPGs, and a sucker for Diablo loot collection. The revolver electric sniper rifle was fucking awesome.
Quote from KungFuSquirrelAnd why no threads about BIA? Some badass work being done there by quite a few members of this very forum!
I played only the first Brothers in Arms, but didn't like it very much. The guns felt TOO inaccurate, and my squad felt like they served no purpose outside being a distraction (plus I had some weird graphical glitches with the foliage, I guess my card wasn't properly supported or something). How much has changed for the sequels?
I find just two uses for planning out a map on paper- explaining your ideas to someone else before you make the map, and someone who can't map explaining their ideas for it to you. 
I tend to start maps not on purpose, but after a random thought while doing something else for the concept, buliding on it, and having an idea halfway finished in my head. I then essentially "sketch" out what I want in Hammer/UnrealEd, make a flow for gameplay, then go back and detail it. Sometimes this pattern doesn't exactly work- sometimes you have to start with details depending on complexity. For example, if I'm making an outdoor map that's essentially one giant displacement, I'll start with the displacement to create the land geometry before anything else. A large 8x8 (or 12x12, or whatever I need) grid of smaller displacements set to the highest detail level, molded all at once, then the center cut out and blown up in size to make the actual gameplay area, with the outer edges being a skybox. It's how I made this (currently unfinished) map:
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Here's an idea for a payload map I sketched in MSPaint a few days ago:
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What I couldn't draw in there is that the path slopes sharply downhill along the cart's path, and the thick black lines crossing the path are overhead balconies accessable through the side warehouses inside the two curvy cliffs the path is shaped by. Simple map, no multiple zones, and a simple path, but I thought it had potential and wanted to ask my friends' opinions of it.
If you need inspiration and can't find any, go play some games. Not just TF2 payload maps, anything. You never know what bit of geometry or gameplay could trigger an idea. 
Gonna make a cityline skybox out the exit/playable area above ground?
Quote from penEyeah, you're probably right. I tried to get some more experience in creating textures and models, so the mapping isn't that exciting
Have one end of the subway smashed to shit and map the destruction maybe? Slightly cliche (just a bit) but can be undeniably effective for a cool looking map.
Other alternatives include working subway trains that move on schedule to show off scripting, or a sekrit base (also slightly cliched) hidden via an entrance down a tunnel.
Quote from penEA little scene I'm working on for my portfolio
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If you're making this to show off the textures then it's awesome. The mapping itself isn't showing off anything special.
Quote from duxWhat fans? ¬_¬
Damn, have to reinstall ep1 to play. *waits*
This is confusing in multiple ways.
a) Why would you make a four minute trailer when you've got nothing but logos and clip art from old games?
b) Didn't 3DR claim E3 is worthless and irrelevant and they didn't even know it was coming up? I know it says Apogee but Apogee IS 3Dr, just under a different name. They revived the logo for their ports of the old Apogee and Duke games to handhelds.
Based on these I must assume that someone is taking the piss.
(The trailer's for the Apogee ports of the old Duke Nukem games to handhelds)
Wow, I didn't know about the second or third release. I've still got part 1 installed and unfinished. Got stuck with no idea where to go in the underground area.
Guess now's as good as any time to restart.
Quote from hessirofl look at that tree. i mean c'mon. didnt they read tutorials? when i see those "stick together" trees, it makes me throw up! yet another ww2 game i dont care about. DOD:S for the win
DOD:S taught me how to snipe online
Quote from ThrikGod, that game looks bland nowadays. I kind of remembered it looking similar to Diablo 3 with regards to overall detail and shit, but it's actually terrible.
It looks circa 2002 in technical detail, but I liked the environmental design, and exploring the game world and checking it out was the last thing that kept me playing. I'd shell out $15 for a month's subscription if they had a tourist class that could freely explore the world without worrying about levels or quests or guilds or monsters.
Funny how that works.
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I finished playing the trial today. By the end of those ten days the one and only thing that still had my interest was the game world, so I suicide so I could explore it unmolested by the too-frequent monsters, and wandered about five minutes before the game decided to bring me back to the graveyard nearest where I died.
I'm gonna try EVE in a couple days with a friend, I'm excited for that. I've always been a sucker for customizable free-form space games. Someone on my steam friends list recommended WW2 Online, too, I'm thinking about getting the trial.
I'm pretty sure a Portal map not set in the Aperture Science labs will take custom content to make portal-able and nonportal-able texture distinctions.
yes exactly
That does look pretty meh, and I didn't see a PC logo on the splash screen at the end of the trailer... 
If it comes out on PC and still has that traditional Wolfenstein style I'd be perfectly happy with it looking like two year old ass, but...
Quote from ErraticI'm trying to think of the last time id made a bad game...
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Oh right, never.
No bad games, but a couple meh ones recently...
I tried out Quake 4 recently, seeing how it would play.
I didn't make it past the first level, jesus christ the GREEN. It made me physically ill to play it. I liked the machinegun they gave you, it felt fun, but I couldn't take the visuals.
Rage looks good and the concept sounds good, and I hope to god it IS good, because ID's back is against the ropes from Doom 3 and Quake 4 and I'm not sure they can recover from another game poorly received. Plus if Rage is good that's all the more reason to be optimistic about the new Wolfenstein.
Rage is a part racing/shooting/exploration/adventure game. You have races, you have arena duels, you have shooting up people, you have exploring the game world trying to solve the story.
Since a lot of industry level designers are posting in this thread, I wanted to ask a question: How many of you have a responsibility in the project to actually create art assets over creating the level geometry, sticking the art assets in and on it, and scripting it all together?
