Elysium

Killtoy

<div class="IPBDescription">Reincarnate</div>In the process of trying to sort out what went wrong with Elysium, I concluded poor planning was pretty high on the list of suspects. Looking over my notebook here, I found a "ideas for a map I had after starting Elysium" list. One entry jumped out at me. I looked over some of the other ideas: scientific base inside an asteroid, sewer system beneath a growing colony pod, or the spider-like service network of a gas giant refinery. All seemingly good ideas.

All of them paled in comparison to the one entry. Just looking at the two words made my mind fill with incredible scenes. The old Elysium is out. Right now I'm taking from it the name alone. The new Elysium is in the works. I may not have the skills to do this concept justice, but I'm going to give it everything I have. I am also going to do it right this time.

<i>Killtoy grabs his notebook and begins with the layout.</i>
Something I should have done the first time around.

Oh, what is this new concept? You'll see. I'll share it with you the moment I have the material to share my vision.
Please be patient.

realityisdead

I'm not patient. Does it have anything to do with... lets say... a conversation a while back? A conversation involving pictures? Like... nice pictures that a kid on a field trip took...

I'm probably <b>way</b> off, but there's my guess.



<!--EDIT|ken20banks|May 16 2002,12:48-->

Killtoy

Hehehe - WAY off.  <!--emo&:p--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'><!--endemo-->

Nah, I'll leave the mining plant to someone else.

realityisdead

Figures... <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->

Needless to say, I'm very disappointed to hear the news of yet another restart (And it was elysium, damn you! )... but you've got my support all the way. And I'm quite anxious to see what you've got cooking. Best of luck.



<!--EDIT|ken20banks|May 16 2002,12:51-->

Tzarcon

actually, ken, you can imagine how many times a few CS, DoD, and TFC maps were restarted. I bet half of em were restarted at least once

<b>Narby</b>: How many times did you restart de_aztec and de_inferno?

realityisdead

Oh, I know, tzarcon... I was simply stating that I was pretty disappointed that one of my favorite levels isn't going to see the light of day. I totally understand why though...

/me runs off and maps the rest of the day

Insane

You've got me all excited now.  C'mon, tell all the nice people about your idea. Pleeeeeeeeease.

-Insane

Greedo

Sheesh.  It seems like everyone is restarting everything these days.  Pretty soon, Flayra's going to announce his complete overhaul of the Natural Selection gameplay mechanics. <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->

Well, good luck Killtoy.  Finish up quickly, okay?



<!--EDIT|Greedo386|May 16 2002,15:44-->

Killtoy

Should all be pretty obvious. No vents on the layout, they will probably get thrown in as the map is built. The lines are only general reference to where the corridors will go. I'll have something that shows the true run of things later down the line.

No, I'm not saying exactly what the concept is yet, but I think you can get some ideas from looking at it.

Biomechanoid

Cool! a gigantic battle ship! possibly with a functioning missile or two in the hangar that some suicidal bob can blow up to take out a squad of marines... lots of vents for the aliens to manuver around in- plus, there'lll be many bottle necks that the marines can hunker down in to set up outposts! do it! do it! What'd be sweet would be if you could get a model of the ship to orbit around a spacestation themed ready room so you can look out the window and see the "outside" of the level you'll be playing in.

Moleculor

You're going to need a second marine entrance into the Mainframe.

Killtoy

We'll see how it turns out. I'm sure there will be a vent access, and the Maint. Tunnel actually runs more or less into the mainframe instead of the bridge. I'll have to build the area up before I know how it will work.

Biomechanoid, very imaginative! You have some very nice ideas there. No, Elysium isn't a battleship. Good guess though.

<!--emo&:p--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'><!--endemo-->

nrby

<!--QuoteBegin--Tzarcon+May 16 2002,15:16--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (Tzarcon @ May 16 2002,15:16)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->actually, ken, you can imagine how many times a few CS, DoD, and TFC maps were restarted. I bet half of em were restarted at least once

<b>Narby</b>: How many times did you restart de_aztec and de_inferno?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They were both first pass, but lets face it - it shows. Theres nothing wrong with starting over. You gotta get the map to FEEL rightas well as just look right, if you can't walk around it and actually think ``yeah this looks pretty good'' then make some changes.
Don't be afraid to restart or rebuild, it just leads to better design

realityisdead

<!--QuoteBegin--n@rby+May 17 2002,09:41--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (n@rby @ May 17 2002,09:41)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->Don't be afraid to restart or rebuild, it just leads to better design<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I know someone who would probably hit you for saying that.

But the truth is, whenever you lose, or scrap an area... the second result turns out better 90% of the time. I've always believed that. Restarting almost ALWAYS produces better results...

But, I think we can all see why it MIGHT not be the best choice for someone planning on getting their level into the game. If you aren't (or if you work REALLY fast), and the level is not turning out like you had planned... kill it.

KungFuSquirrel

Those of you who knew me before I came here (which is probably no one, actually, heh...) might be familiar with the story of Helix/Tortuosity. The first build took me a month and was absolutely huge. I got some feedback on it and eventually scrapped it and started over with Helix build 2. This was also completed in about a month, then I scrapped that for Helix build 3. After about a month, I abandoned 3 for 4... then went back to build 2, spent about a month re-working it, and renamed it Tortuosity. Now I'm just waiting for a couple far-too busy guys to get some final comments in on it... :-\ But if you saw the original version (or any of the other builds) compared to the current build, I think you'd agree that each restart was better than the previous one. Or look at Veil compared to Eclipse, for example (those of you who may have followed both). I'm at high risk for restarting all of my projects right now just due to the amount I've improved myself through NS mapping. I don't want to, but I know that if I do, the end result will be much more worthwhile.

blueman

well, im erstarting my ns map again, cause of some max_patches problems (btw thx for the help). but now i see my map i dont like the distribution. I think im gonna move some rooms, have less large corridors (i had very large corridors) and seeing the pics everybody posts in the forums makes me have new ideas, and my map was getting just too crapy. Im gonna use some of the old rooms (some i still like) and just redesing the map again.

I think that restarting a map is a good way to improve yourself and to mix the old ideas with the new ones. I dont think there anyone who has made a map, returned to it some time later and thought "oh if i had done this here, and changed this there" cause as time passes new ideas always come.

Black_Dog

i think that not always is better rebuild. in general yes,and i prefear to the modify,cos in general is easier rebuild than modify,cos u have fixed spaces&co. but sometimes the first work is the best and when u rebuild you got a stomacache...the worst is loosinga work: maybe it was good and u aren't able to remake it equal <!--emo&:(--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':('><!--endemo-->

Freestyler

I'll admit, I never read the second page of this topic so what I'm about to say may have already been said, but here goes.

I was once going to do a map based on a TSA ship.  Infact, I think I started it but it soon turned into a sort of remake of that ns_reaper layout.  Work on it soon ceased and I got on with the layout of my new map.  Story coming soon guys!