Posts by arhurt

  • [Sketchup] to [XSI] or [Blender]...

    Be sure to post back here whenever you find out the solutions for this particular workflow as well as other forums. I'm sure that the main reason you found little help is because most of the people that frequent Mapcore are not familiar with SketchUp, Blender or FreeCAD, and where unable to provide any good feedback other then "switch to max". I'm sure its not because of some quabble with you.

    But then, you stating that you are against piracy in the way you did does make you sound kinda snobby towards all the rest of us, rampart pirates and criminals, if you catch my drift

  • [Sketchup] to [XSI] or [Blender]...

    I believe what he said is that, if you are serious about making art for cryengine, you better:

    a) Become a student and get a free license for Max

    b) Cash out and buy a license of Max

    c) Pirate Max and use it to study

    As long as you don't make a profit from option "c" I believe you should just live with that. After all you are studying, you just don't have the official papers, but who cares about those?

    As far as your original problem is, I have no idea.

  • Donate to MapCore, feel awesome!

    I agree with the no badge sentiment. I think donations should remain anonymous and we can just brag about it here and feel awesome. It's simple and avoids complication, I know you may think we deserve some kind of recognition, but having the core stable, streamlined and accessible is more than we could ask for.

  • Gabe - Piracy non issues for Steam.

    Quote

    ":2l5wgc49]I still don't understand how come it's cheaper to order a game from Amazon than it is to buy it from steam, shipping included.

    Speculating on it, I'd say that having a 24/7 reliable digital distribution server capable of peak download speeds along with a plethora of other services does not come in cheaply! Since Amazon sells a whole lot of other services and products, their costs are further diluted along that, as well as the actual CD production/distribution costs that are diluted in other, more established businesses (bulk product distribution chains, CDs are printed for all kinds of media).

    As much as we like to think that anything on the internet should cost less/close to nothing, there are costs associated to delivering digital content, hosting it and keeping it reliable. You mus also account for the fact that it's a relatively new venture and there are always new systems to be implemented, usually with very high costs due to their exclusive nature.

    But all that is speculation non my part trying to make sense of that fact =P

    As for the interview, was a nice read, and as much as Gabe must be tired of hearing this, your brother deserves points for bringing HL3 up =P

  • Looking for some good design blogs

    Just learn how hurricanes work guys, It's basically the same thing!

    [Blocked Image: http://www.katrinahelp.com/hurricane-diagram.gif]

    it's not exactly rocket science in spotting the similarities, i don't know why you are so vehement in saying that it ISN'T a hurricane process, or why you bring shit like management and other details into it, when that is not even a necessary part of hurricanes. this tells me that you do not understand hurricane processes more than anything else.

    My exagerated point being: "As usual with you, this is a discussion of semantics, and pointless lol."

  • [Unity] WIP - Material work

    I think the main problem that you are having is trying to translate an aesthetic derived from technical constraints into another form that eliminates these constraints.

    I mean, take a look at Peris procedural FPS, he could simulate something similar to that aesthetic. My humble advice would be to try to use bigger texture sizes with less noise and bigger clean faces. Forget about the chamfered box and try to map those in bigger shapes - take a look at Peris's rooms, they are vey basic geometry with large shapes and very little fine detail in the modelling.

    [Blocked Image: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/8058021/fps/wip06.jpg]

    Of course I most likely have no clue what I'm talking about. I just like to talk (write).

  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

    Quote from Dark

    Only if the game was coop, then we could share joyous gay sex festivities.

    Yeah. I agree that the game just asks for co-op, but I think Bethesda decided that they better focusing on making what they make best then risk being bashed for implementing a poor co-op experience. If they where to make it though, it wouldn't need any fancy co-op content, just the exact same game... similarly to what Fable 3 did (the co-op features, the rest of the game fails).

  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

    For me the game has an appeal that is hard to find in other games. The entire game is basically a blank slate where you can carve out your character.

    Maybe it comes from being a major RPG geek back in my youth, but I find that the more I play in Skyrim (and Oblivion, and Morrowind) the more my character takes shape. It's different from other RPG games that don't allow you the same degree of freedom: Neverwinter nights, most MMOs, Diablo etc... in all of them you ARE the saviour of the world and predestined child and the only way to advance your character is to follow that ultimate destiny. Whereas in Skyrim you are not penalized in any way for not following the main questline and becoming the Dragonborn hero. You are free to make your own adventure. Since my D&D roots make it so, I create narrative out of every action I that Skyrim lets me do to its fullest. In this regard it has some resemblance to minecraft, but instead of crafting castles and mazes I'm crafting a character. And that character lives solely in my mind, and is expressed by my singleplayer save file =P

    Don't expect the game to deliver the entertainment to you — that's what CoD SP has been trying to do — but try to make your own enjoyment of the game.

    And that's why I've sunken more than 90 hours in it already.

    Damn I'm a complete geek.

  • [Unity] WIP - Material work

    From what I get this is a 3D block similar to what a brick block from super Mario would be right?

    Modelling-wise it does its job, since you'll most likely have hundreds of these around.

    However I'm still not reading the material. Is that metal or stone?

  • "Level with Me", my level design interview series at RPS

    Quote from Sentura

    on the other hand, the right kind of analysis can bring about better games, in terms of immersion, message, inspiration, gameplay and so on. so there are topics that should be discussed feverishly, but i'm still thinking that these topics have very little, if anything, to do with game studies. you want to know the formula for immersion? take a look at a psychological perspective of how events are understood. message? literary theory. inspiration? artistry. gameplay? game design. these are all large fields of study that we haven't fully understood or researched, yet we're arrogant enough to build a new field of study on top called game studies? please.

    You are onto somethig. However, never forget that the sum off the parts is bigger then it's components. Properly acknowledging what this sum of parts is is as important as being able to focus on its elements.

    Movies - narrative, plot, photography, acting

    Painting - color theory, composition, subject

    Games - game design, narrative, technical realization

    Still, I agree with you.

  • "Level with Me", my level design interview series at RPS

    Quote from Rick_D

    This whole search for a deeper meaning will erode creativity rather than develop it.

    Was my gripe with some of the documents that where handled to me on Ubisoft, like they wanted to create a structured system to create innovative and balanced gameplay with a broad appeal by dissecting Nintendo hit games like Super Mario. It would be like ripping Rick limb by limb and spreading his insides and brain matter on a plate to try and understand his entertainingly irky attitudes.

    Innovation comes from doing what you know how to do over and over again until you reach that moment where you created something unmistakably brilliant. I see many wanna-be and aspiring game designers wanting to start out by doing the most awesome and innovative games possible, when they should first learn how to make a decent average game. Who knows, in the process of creating the average, you may find brilliance. But most times if you set your goal to be innovation and brilliance, you'll most likely fall behind and end up with and unfinished and unpolished piece of crappy unrealized non-potential.

    Edit: Whenever I go do a presentation anywhere in Brazil about game design and production I cite the example of Dice, due to the extremely widespread awesomeness that Battlefield 3 is. In 1992 they released Pinball Dreams. Ten years later, they released the first Battlefield game and almost 20 years from then, finally Battlefield 3: the biggest bad-assest game for the biggest largest enormous publisher. Go make your Pinball Dreams, Diva Starz: Mall Mania and Shrek games before you try and make something as innovative as Battlefield 1942. Who knows 20 years from now you'll be making the biggest bad-assest game for the biggest largest enormous publisher around