Posts by arhurt

  • The only constant in the world is change

    And you, as a level designer, must accept change or deal with shooting in the dark.

    Let me explain myself here. I think that every mapper/level designer has some kind of idea to what they want to achieve with their level before they even fire up the editor. During the making of the first few blocks of geometry one can truly feel a hint of the divine power of creation. After all, our levels are made of what? Pure thought shaping up something: an Experience.

    It is very common for the mapper to be proud of his creation. And this feeling is so strong and the attachment to the masterpiece so deep that it is hard to accept the one constant in the universe: Change.

    My message here is to my fellow mappers, be you just a newcomer that hasn't even registered on the forums or an old fart with tons of maps under your belt. Accept change early on and let your map grow as a living being. If caged into your initial idea, or to the initial shape you gave it, it will most likely become extinct as the dinosaurs, or you will count on pure chance and luck as you shoot in the dark.

    Take the feedback from playtesters and fellow mappers seriously, and don't think that your layout is made of pure perfection, for nothing truly is.

    My own experience with ctf_aerospace has taught me a lot. I had been warned countless times by fellow mappers and playtesters that the map was too big. I judged their worries fraught and unfounded. "They just need time to learn the map" or "They need to play on a more populated server" would come to my mind as excuses to avoid facing the truth: The map was too big, some areas where confusing, and the map sucked.

    After I accepted this I could finally make it trough and create something great. The new version of aerospace has been able to amuse new players and, most importantly, break the scepticism of the very people who warned me before and where ignored. That's great, but it could have been entirely avoided if I had been more open to suggestions and accepted that the result from my hint of divine power as a pure pile of suck (gameplay-wise, visually it was, and still is kick-ass).

    Know to stand your point when you truly believe that you are seeing above the crowd, but be humble enough to change your work because someone else said it can improve.

    Bulleted list if you just skipped trough my humble apology/insight/lesson:


    • [*:1s4tqv20]Accept that your map is never perfect
      [*:1s4tqv20]Be open to changing everything
      [*:1s4tqv20]Listen to your fellow mappers and playtesters closely
      [*:1s4tqv20]If you truly believe you are right, then stick to it

  • What have you purchased recently?

    Quote from 2d-chris

    Really... I mean, awesome graphics, story, setting, characters... but the combat is a little lackluster.

    Mino is right, Mass Effect for me is the best RPG game in ... well ... AGES~ The combat is defo the weakest aspect of it, but thats only because the other parts are done to absolute perfection. The combat is better than most 3rd person games I play, that just shows you how good everything else must be

    Nice decks Low, I used to DJ in some local clubs. Used to spin deep tech house.

    Yeah I agree the game is superd though, it's just that, if they had a little bit more variation/depth to the combat, the game would be totally epic in all possible ways.

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    Quote from Minotauro

    I think it's time for TF2 mappers to start trying new lighting settings? This one is getting old...

    Ohhhhh and what do you know about TF2

    But seriously, many times when we try different settings the players complain that TF2 is supposed to have a "clean" look to easily distinguish between classes, spot enemies from afar bla, bla,bla.

    Also, many people stick to the standard skyboxes because it takes a little more skill to produce a cartoony sky texture than to take a few background pictures and make a composite in PS, so we usually stick to the standard light settings so they match with the sky color and background lightning.

    But I agree with you

  • TF2 push for a community map release

    Quote from MJ

    map needs playtesting..

    Well playtesting 2 or 3 already playtested by the comunnity maps require a lot less resources than teh creation of concepts, models, textures, programming, implementation, balancing and playtesting a new class update. To add to your list an update will also require the people at marketing and PR, not to mention the updates to the Blog, to be put to motion as well.

    Still, it would be great if our push for a community map release had an effect. And the 5 maps leading the voting there are all top notch, I hope that Valve answers our plea.

  • TF2 push for a community map release

    Hi guys!

    Given that there will not be another class update until next year a buddy of mine has started a thread asking Valve if we could have one more community map release this year. As the maps are mostly done and the resources required to do such an update are a fraction of a full class update, it's very likely they might hear our plea. He'll later compile the data and send them an e-mail on behalf of the whole community.

    Could I ask you a little favor?

    If you judge my map ctf_aerospace worth it, could you drop by the vote page and vote for it?

    There are also other mapcore mappers on the list, and you can vote for 3 maps.

    Here's the vote page link: Community Map Vote

    And here's the thread discussion: Community Map push

    Thanks a lot!

  • [TF2] ctf_aerospace (beta 4)

    Thanks RA7! I got a seal!

    Could I ask you a little favor?

    Over at the Steam forums a buddy of mine has started a thread asking Valve if we could have one more community map release this year.

    If you judge my map worth it, could you drop by the vote page and vote for it?

    Here's the vote page link: Community Map Vote

    And here's the thread discussion: Community Map push

    Thanks a lot!

    Edit:

    New page and a retrospective of the humble beginings of aerospace!

    [Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/ctf_aerospace/aeropan.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/ctf_aerospace/ctf_aerospace_030009.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/ctf_aerospace/Baron401.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b183/Arhurt/ctf_aerospace/RedBaronNot02.jpg]

  • My Portfolio

    Thanks for the feedback guys!

    @ Punky: I'll have to get creative on how to actually make that split since I'm using carbonmade and must be contempt with the features built in it. As of right now I can't create separate pages with galleries. I guess I can create something such as a tag on the gallery image.

    @ IR: I've removed blob along with some of the other crappy old models. Thanks for the heads up I guess I was trying to show improvement, but that wasn't really working. I guess your old work is only good to prove to yourself how much improvement you get over each project past.

    @ Steppenwolf: Good call. I'll have to do that later!

    Thanks guys, I'll post back here when I have spiced things up a bit

  • My Portfolio

    Thanks

    One thing someone mentioned is to take down a few of the illustrations that have bad anatomy or are of poor quality. In fact I agree since I just want to show that I can draw properly, but it's not like I want to be a concept artist or full time illustrator. It's just to fill in that "everyone must have a traditional arts background". I'll do some good sketches to put up there as well.

    But yea, you can say it's evenly split at the moment. And since my only level design project is ctf_aerospace I have split it into 3 sections, but those will be merged as I finish more maps.

  • My Portfolio

    Hey guys, I'm putting together a portfolio and I'd like to hear your opinion on it.

    http://arhurt.carbonmade.com/

    I know that I'm using carbonmade, but it's fast and let's me focus more on what I want to show rather on how

    What do you guys think, I know that the focus of it is quite broad right now but I want to show how gaming in general is a part of my life.

    I don't put any text and explanations at all, I will comment on particulars works on the CV, and I think that most of it is self-explanatory anyways.

    What do you guys think?

  • [TF2] ctf_aerospace (beta 4)

    Hey guys, I just released the lates version of my map, what a change of pace!

    Here is the message I'll be spreading on the net later tonight: