Posts by spence

  • Combat Encounter Design

    Agreed, a good way to learn is to play the games a lot (and then play some other, different games to get a good feel for how they design their encounters, in contrast). It won't necessarily give you a formulaic guide to creating your own encounters but it is a really good way to figure out which sorts of combat in games you find 'fun', and then from there you can start to pick it apart - Why are these NPCs placed here instead of over there? Why is the environment constructed this way?

  • CounterStrike - Clipping Texture

    In my experience it depends on the thickness of the brush, but I've never really done any objective tests to determine this. It's very possible that in the instances it has worked for me it has been a fluke

    The name is definitely misleading, though, it won't block bullets unless the brush already meets the criteria for blocking bullets via the bullet penetration system (as with any other world brush)

  • Brian Birnbaum Level Designer / Environment artist

    You have a really wide variety of work on display (which is good!) - the only thing that really stands out to me is there are some grammatical errors (they're vs their, it's vs its, some weird capitalization, etc). It's not a huge deal since the actual text is understandable and your work is the focus, but IMO since it is a portfolio everything including the text should be presented as well as possible. I'd be happy to go through and proofread/give you a list of the things I picked up on, if you'd like, just shoot me a PM or something

  • Source engine, use models as buildings.

    It's possible, sure, but it's difficult to get anything that looks very nice because of the way models are lit in Source (except for TF2 after a very recent update, models don't accept lightmaps like brush geometry does). Getting reasonable-looking results typically means that you end up needing more edges (= more verts) in your models which means they become more performance intensive (and there are often still lighting issues, especially when transitioning from bright outdoors to dimly lit indoor areas, like in the case of buildings you can enter). This, in addition to visibility and optimization purposes, is why you usually see a 'base' structure built with brushes and then details added with unique models - the Monastery map is an example of this as many of the interior areas consist of unique models which conform to the brushwork 'frame'.

    But technically it works as you might expect; you can model large structures and give them a collision model and this would function just fine (although if I remember right, collision meshes are relatively expensive as well, so you'd probably be better off creating 'collision' out of invisible brushes for big structural models).

  • A* Pathfinding for Procedural Platformer Levels

    The fact that it is a sidescroller might be confusing you. But you can implement the pathfinding algorithm in a similar manner as you would for a top-down game (I assume this is what you mean by 'normal' pathfinding), it's still 2D space after all, and the world can be split into a grid of sorts (and you can avoid evaluating a lot of grid nodes if you only have NPCs which walk on the platforms and don't float/fly/etc). But you'll need to think of extra conditions which will apply to your game, as Alex mentioned (which will probably involve taking your gravity values and movement behaviours into account).

    A couple of additional resources for A* - not specifically about platformers or procedural environments, but they might still be useful:

    http://www.policyalmanac.org/games/aStarTutorial.htm
    http://www.redblobgames.com/pathfinding/a-…troduction.html

  • Textures / Materials reference Thread

    A few new references to share:

    Snow accumulation on rough stones

    Dust and grime on a metal rolling door

    Oiled wood cabinet

    Grimy steel/aluminium plate

    Edge wear, grime, and scuffs on wooden double doors

    Puddle on concrete (note depth on edges and splatters; otherwise smooth and glassy)

    Dusty concrete floor



    Worn painted metal control box

    Matte painted metal

    Thick broken glass (not very reflective so note the opaqueness/transparency)

  • PAYDAY 2

    I too will take a key, if it means I can get some sweet sweet DLC. I already have the base game though so if you want to give the key to someone else who doesn't have it already, fair dos

  • Is it worth it for a level designer to learn how to make concept art?

    It's probably quicker to whitebox/graybox a level, but that might not get across the vision you have in mind for the environment. Anything additional which you can contribute to the process is valuable if your team has a need for it, whether it's conceptualizing an environment, building art, scripts, whatever. That being said, you might have times at which you can communicate a vision for your level(s) using references alone. And if that's the case, I think it's probably more useful to have extra skills which can tangibly affect the end product - such as contributing to level art or scripting. I don't think it can be said one way or another if those skills will ever come into practice in your particular work experiences; maybe you'll work with a team which wants some extra concept art to show off to the public while a level is being arted up, and you'll have a chance to put your concept skills to use. Maybe in a different setting there won't be any time for this, the team will already have concepts created, and you'll be fully focused on level design/construction.

    If you have an interest in painting and/or concept art, I don't see why you shouldn't have a go at it. Even some basic skills can make layout proposals and presentations more appealing; even more so if you can put your vision for a level into a format which inspires others, and provides a foundation upon which your teammates can work off of.