Hello all,
My name is Julian offline and Basalt online, currently 23 years old, and this is my first post on the forum.
I've been involved with mapping for quite some time. When I was about 13 years old, I've learned myself to map for the original Unreal Tournament, discovering I love to make content for games just as much as playing them. I wished to study gamedesign at the HKU in Hilversum, but practical reasons prevented me from taking that path at the time. As a compromise, I made efforts to study graphic design at the much closer KABK in Den Haag. I've learned and matured a lot there, but didn't manage to finish the study. I ended up with no degree, but I had just enough critical mass to climb up and get a job as a DTP artist the hard way. This allowed me to move out and live with my girfriend (who is finishing a study).
With the new Unreal Tournament entering open Alpha last year, my fingers started to itch again. I'm still contemplating to give the HKU another shot someday, but as my girlfriend is still working on her study and I have a steady job for the moment, I try to develop myself by spending my free time learning mapping, programming and general gamedesign instead. Off course, my age and past experiences allow me to work on this in a much more serious and diciplined level.
This looks like a great community to discuss mapping (and also get some insight on working in the game industry), and I can't wait to get to know you people.
See you around.