And now that you probably have turned it in, I would have to ask how it turned out <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
dude kev, you need to slow down and think before you write stuff down. Your writing makes sense, but it almost sounds like ENGRISH somtimes.....This wouldn't have happend if you didn't cut your mullet.
When will you (or should I say we?) know how you did on your paper?
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->no offence.. but its 08:27 and work starts in 30 mins... lol maybe later.. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
It's 8:30 and you're browsing the NS forums? I'd wager you actually have more of a life than I do. Yes, I know it's sad.
And your day starts at 09:00 instead of, say, 08:00? I envy you, I really do.
P.S. Yes, I am writing this at work. I know that's sad, too.
I really dont know how i did on my paper yet. I'm kinda nervous cause if i did bad i will like need to retake the class, and that would suck. <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo-->
Thank you for all your help guys. I'd be f**ked if it was not for you <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> I should know what i got in like a few days to a week.(it has to be brought to carson by our person-who-takes-all-our-work-to-carson so that will be llike a day, then my teacher has to grade that paper[and all my other papers, i was doing the revion on the other papers that night <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> ], you have to turn in all your work at once in one big folder, she has alot of folders to grade too(like 50) and she just got out of surgry. we've had a sub for the past 2 weeks. then she has to fax everyones grade sheet to them. i will never see that actual report again, i had to turn it in by Nov. 17 to get the paper back(nov 17 was before she went to surgry[in san francisco no less, i live in nevada, you know the part that goes like \/ ______ |..........| |..........| |..........| \*........| ..\........| ....\......| ......\....| ........\.(
i live where the star is] so she has been grading the papers turned in before nov 17 down there).
So i really couldnt tell you when ill know what grade i got. but if anyone wants to use that paper, lol, go right ahead.
Anyone want to read the final version? <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
How to map
I?m walking down a dark hallway; the only sound is the sparking of a flickering light, which was clearly broken. The hall I am in now has white paneling, which seems untouched by the gun battles raging throughout the complex. However, there is something different about it; there are green growths attached to the walls and the floor. There are crates in my path, blocking my view down the hall. While crouching down I pull out my MP5, a light arms machinegun, and start stealthily crawling forward. As I pass the first crate I hear a scratching sound, I stop and listen, but the hallway lays silent. I continue forward. I pass the second crate without incident. As I reach the third crate I step on a piece of the alien growth and it makes a sound like the crunching of an egg. Alarmed, I stop and listen, nothing, then I hear a sharp, ?Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap?? and it gets louder, coming from every direction. I stand up and put my finger on the trigger. Something about the size of a flattened soccer ball with four little claw like legs crawls out from behind a crate ten feet in front of me, a headcrab, it leaps at me. I fire a quick burst and tag it in midair, its mangled body flies past me hitting the crate behind me with a deadening thud. I can still hear more tapping. Dozens of headcrabs start coming around the corner and vents in front of me up the hallway. I fire a clip into the mass of them; a few die but not enough. I toss a detpack, C4 charge with a remote trigger, into the middle of the hallway and start sprinting back the way I came. I reach the end of the hallway and rush through the closest door. I close the door, push a desk in front of it and back into the farthest corner of the room. I click the trigger, then a deafening explosion rocks the room, and the door is blown open, pushing the desk back. Getting up from where the explosion had knocked me back, walk through the remnants of the door into the hallway. There are pieces of headcrabs everywhere. I listen for a moment for more tapping, I hear nothing. I walk through the remains of the crates, headcrabs and the hallway. As I turn the corner marines storm through the far door, they spot me and start firing. My topic is going to be on how to make maps for Half-Life. Half-Life is a first person PC video game. The storyline is about a scientist, Gordon Freeman, who works in a black ops secret lab in New Mexico. When one day at work a teleporting experiment goes horribly wrong, opening a connection between Earth and an alien world called Xen. Gordon Freeman has to escape military ?Clean Up Crews,? escape the Xen aliens and go to Xen to destroy the machines the aliens use to transport to Earth.(Half-Life, CD-ROM) Half-Life is played by millions of people each day.(Planethalflife, website) It is one of the most famous video games that exists and is the longest played video game while keeping a huge community of fans and supporters. It has been on market for about eight years. I want to learn about this topic so that my friend, Eddy, and I can create our own maps and maybe create our own MOD, a modification using the games engine to pretty much create your own game. We really want to start mapping, designing 3D layouts of the type of environment; such as desert ruins you could fight in, that we want to be able to play on, now because Half-Life 2 is coming out between December and April and the Half-Life designers posted on their site that if you know how to map well with Half-Life mapping then you will be able to easily map with Half-Life 2, which we want to do as soon as it comes out. (Planethalflife, website) I should be able to get a lot of information about Half-Life mapping. There are numerous websites about mapping that I would be able to go to for tutorials. Maybe if I go to a mapper?s website I could check out ?Tips & Tricks? they have already learned from their experience as a mapper. If I ever have problems I could go to about any Half-Life site and ask questions on the forums. Most forums even have specific sections for mapping problems and questions. I can also learn helpful hints about MOD making from ?Half-Life Radio.?(HalflifeRadio, website) They always interview MOD makers: people who design their own game using the Half-Life engine. They interview modelers: someone who designs object structuring, such as designing the structure of a car so it can be driven in the game. They also interview skinners: someone who designs the graphic layout of a model, such as having a car model without a color and design so a skinner draws a picture of a car window, license plate and other accessories, puts it on the car and makes the car look like a car. I think I may be able to model, texture and skin for Half-Life when I finish this report. I may be able to interview a minor MOD designer or a designer of a semi famous MOD that isn?t to publicized, such as Battlegrounds. So I might be able to interview someone from Battlegrounds even though it is a pretty famous MOD because the designers aren?t publicized at all. But that may be hard to get a hold of them because like I said, they aren?t publicized. I find the thought of mapping for Half-Life interesting because I have been playing Half-Life maps and MODs since Half-Life first came out and I am really impressed by the maps and MODs made by all of these famous computer nerds. No one knew or cared about them before they made their maps and MODs. I want to be able to put in my two cents to the Half-Life community. I think I will eventually be able to map for Half-Life, even though Half-Life is a very difficult engine to use because I have been able to map for other games. I hope to create an official map for some MOD for my X-paper, I?m hoping to make a map for Natural-Selection because it is my favorite MOD for Half-Life even though mapping for Natural-Selection is suppose to harder than mapping for regular Half-Life.(Natural-Selection Homepage, website) First I had to get a Half-Life editor. The were numerous places I could get a Half-Life editor. The most obvious choice would be planethalflife. I could get one at other places too, the other places I looked for one is at like <a href='http://www.modcentral.com' target='_blank'>http://www.modcentral.com</a> because it focuses a lot on making maps and MODs. (Planethalflife, website) I will also have to find an editor for the specific mod I want to map for. I have to find a specific MOD editor no matter what cause the way that Valve(the company that designed the game) set it up they made everything a MOD, even the actual game itself. Which makes it easier to make, edit, and design MOD?s.(Half-Life, CD-ROM) When researching I discovered a site called HalflifeWorkshop, it shows how to start Half-Life mapping. (Half-Life Workshop, website) Workshop first says to get a variety of map editors; there are a few tests it says to run on all of the map editors first. It says to first learned how to make basic objects on all of the five editors I had downloaded: WorldCraft, Qoole99, BSP, Hammer and QERadiant. Then it says to run a speed test on all of the editors, I designed a small pyramid type room on all of the editors and timed myself on making them. WorldCraft, Qoole99 and BSP took way longer to make the room than the other editors so I marked them for that. The next test was the feature test; the features test is really just a test that's based on your opinion. All I had to do is open up maps already created by valve and fiddle around with the editor's various features like clipping, regioning, VisGroups, Visual Texturing, and so on. This isn't the most important test but it allowed me to see where some editors get their edge over others. I didn?t really like how WorldCraft and QERadiant handled so I marked them for the feature test. The third test was the compiling test, the compiling test allowed me to see how certain editors handle the compiling of maps into the final .bsp's. I'll be doing this every time I play a level so it's good test. All I had to do is open up any map, add a few areas or small bits of architecture and then see if I could find out a way to immediately run the map without looking at the help. If I was able to run the map, play it, build some more, and repeat the process within a half-hour all by myself, then I didn?t mark it off. With BSP and Qoole99 it took me around an hour to run the test so I marked them for the compiling test. The fourth test was the combine test, this test is just a relapse of all the other test combined. I would be building, adding, compiling, and testing for this test. Workshop said this test usually takes the longest but it usually helps to decide everything the quickest. I start a new level that had four rooms, a few doors, monsters, the works like Workshop said for me to do. Creating a regular, playable level. Then I took another editor and tried to duplicate it. Workshop said ?If you get halfway through and throw your arms up in the air giving up...this editor is not for you.? (Half-Life Workshop, website) I got very frustrated with Qoole99 and WorldCraft, so I marked them down for it. Having completed all of the tests I saw that the Valve Hammer editor did the best on all tests so I chose this one to use for all further designing. Next I had to find tools for my editor, I searched planethalflife and found a file called ?Half-Life Tool Pack.? (planethalflife, website) Someone had taken forty-one best and most used Half-Life editor tools and placed them all in one folder. The pack contained a lot of necessities needed for mapping or designing a MOD. It had modeling programs, so you could create/design your own custom models. Texturing kits, used for changing or creating your own textures. Map viewers, so you can see what a map would look like and go around in it when it isn?t completed and unplayable, it?s also faster than having to open the game and loading up your map/level every time since it is open as you?re making the level. A model viewer, so you can open model files and see what they look like without having to place them into your level prematurely just to see what they look like. Sprite viewers, used so that you can view sprites, as they are not viewable through a map viewer or Valve Hammer editor, sprites are picture files with animation. Terrain generators, used to create realistic terrain for the map rather than just the basic shapes like: block, wedge, cylinder, spike and arch. A leak marker, to find leaks in your map/level, in Half-Life there is a huge room that is not considered textured, a solid or anything, it is the boundary of how big you can build your level. When you have a leak it makes the game read the entire huge room instead of just the small rooms that you have made your map out of, therefore when the game reads the huge room it slows down the game horribly making the map run very slowly. Compilers, so your map can be put into a bunch of different formats to be ran on other computers. Launchers for launching the map during creation, to launch to not just play the level but test things on your map while doing so and to launch the map even if it has an error so you can fix it. C++, C++ is a program the allow you to deign, change and create programs. MODing tools, tools for you own custom logos and other accessories if you are going to design your own MOD. Extractors, programs used to take apart a compressed, uneditable or accessible, file much like Winzip or PowerArchiver unpacks a .zip file so you can access the stuff inside it. And audio editors in case you have custom sounds on your map. (Half-Life Workshop, website)There are many variations of programs for different uses and some programs I wont need or be able to use. So I was almost set for tools since there were more tools in the ?Half-Life tool pack? then I would probably use. But I still needed a tool set for the specific MOD I was going to design for. I wanted to design for Natural-Selection so I went to their website and got the .wad file containing all of the Natural-Selection tools and information, it has all the custom models, nodes, textures and other accessories needed for designing a map/level for Natural-Selection.(Natural-Selection hompage, website) I then went to a bunch of Natural-Selection mapping websites. I downloaded a few Natural-Selection tutorials on how to map. (The comm. chair, Half-Life source, Natural Selection World, website) I tried to contact quite a few of the mappers so that I could interview them but never received an answer. I then began reading up on the Natural-Selection tutorials to see what all of the MOD specific entities, objects/monsters, were so I would have a better understanding of the MOD and how it works. After that I unpacked the downloaded .wad file containing all of the Natural-Selection tools and information into my Half-Life Directory(where Half-Life is located on my computer). I was finally ready to began making a map for Natural-Selection. Before I started making the map I began an outline on a piece of paper, with the help of my brother, Richard, because he is good at designing maps. We kept changing the map until we had the one we liked the best, it took a couple days to finish this stage. I then began the mapping by starting the basic structuring: I just made the hallways and rooms; it only took about five to six days. After I finished with the basic structuring I started to put detail into the map: a box here, a box there, some chairs here, a window there, stuff like that. Then I put in the Natural-Selection MOD necessities: res nodes, spawn points and a Command Center. After that the map was actually playable so I tested it, while playing it I found a few bugs in my map: I found a leak, some points were spawning me in the ground and some clipping problems. When I fixed those I started making entities: I created some doors that you can open or close, some light switches, buttons for ramps and buttons for elevators. Having finished all of the constructing I started texturing the map so that it would all balance with the maps lighting: darker textures in light areas and light textures in dark areas. I then began put in accessories into the map to give it some life: add a dripping sprite here, steam spray sprite there, water surface movement here, and other things. All this took a couple of weeks to complete, I forwarded my now completed, workable, playable map to a few mapping sites and some clan, group of people who play together under a team name(for example: [NW]Rich or [NW]mullet, mine is [LoDw]keef), websites so that they might put my level on their server for people to play. I don?t know if they ever put my map on because I?m only aloud to play on the computer an hour and fifteen minutes a day. The clan sites I know are all on the east coast, Europe and West Asia so the only time I play with them in the morning or late at night. I now had an official Natural-Selection map. Through this project I had learned to map for Half-Life and its MOD Natural-Selection. I can map basics but I have also learned to add entities in my map, make ladders, elevators and ramps that move. I can now also make buttons to activate objects. I know how to make textures blend and relate to the lighting of the different areas in the map. I should now be able to map for Half-Life2 when it comes out this spring. I?m still along way from being close to making a MOD of my own; I discovered if I?m to learn how to make my own MOD I will have to learn to model and program, and I?m not even close to learning how to do that. I now understand what all of the info people have on their maps mean. I cannot model, program or skin for Half-Life but I have learned a great deal about texturing which is considered one of the biggest aspects of maps by a lot of Half-Life fans, ?There is just something about the good texturing of a map that gives it life,? (bigD, Natural-Selection Forums). So I feel I have one of the most important aspects of mapping down. I plan to keep mapping so I can get better at it and maybe if I get good enough I can get a good map in a map pack. I feel my original hypothesis was fairly correct. I learned how to do most of the things I said. I feel that this investigation went very well. I was satisfied with how my search went, I found plenty of programs needed for my project, I found quite a few Half-Life tutorials and a couple of Natural-Selection based tutorials. My outcome was great, it was great because I finally made a working Half-Life map. I will now be more familiar with mapping for other games too. Most game companies that make 3D shooter games base their editors off of Half-Life. There usually are only minor differences in map editors of Half-Life and other games. .(Planethalflife, website) There are a couple of reasons I wanted and still want to make maps for Half-Life and other games. One reason I make the maps is because I like to figure out things and build things. Another reason is that I like to support the communities of games I like; I like playing Half-Life so try to support it a lot but I hate the snobs who play Red Faction so every time I play that game I flame, talk crap, to all of the snobs. The third reason I want to make the maps is because I want to add variety to what people can play; I like it when you can choose what kinds of maps you want to play. The last reason I wanted and still want to make maps for Half-Life is because I think its kind of cool that people all over the world might play my map, all those people out there playing my map I don?t even know it. Those are the reasons I wanted and still want to make maps for Half-Life.
<b> And anyone that helped me on my one like a month ago about game violence thx for the help too <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> you guys can copy it too</b>
anyone can copy it too for all i care <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif'><!--endemo-->
Kevin Curtis 10-3-03 Persuasive Argument
Violence in games, legit concern or media hysteria? Lots of people think that children are violent because of video games. so it?s the games fault when a child commits a violent crime. People say that all of these kids are violent because of these games that they?re playing. For example, almost all of the school shooting cases have shown that the shooters play violent video games. In my opinion these kids play these video games because they?re violent by nature. This attracts them to other outlets of violence, these kids not only play violent games but watch violent movies, TV show, and other media. But the media never tells about the millions of other people in the world that play these video games, they just tell about the thirty or forty other people who go berserk and kill a few people. I don?t believe that playing a violent video game affect these kids in any way, they are just attracted to the violence that they display. The media also never reports about all of the other non-violent game there are out there, only about one quarter of the games out there have ?blood and guts? in them. The rest of the games like RPGs(role playing games) strategy and non-violent first person games objective is not to be violent but to solve puzzles, generate worlds and create your own characters. ?Tree huggers? also play violent video games and they are always against doing anything violent. Even most games with violence in them are not objectively based to cause massacre and murder they are based on puzzles. For example Half-Life is one of the biggest games in the game industry, it has violence in it, like when you shoot someone blood comes out but that?s about it. Half-Life?s objective is not to kill as many people as possible. Half-Life?s story is that you?re a scientist working on portal technology, everything goes wrong and a bunch of aliens start popping in through portals, so you have to get out of there alive. Half-Life?s puzzles aren?t set up like mazes but are set up in real world envioments. For example one of the puzzles you might need to get a train to work. The train has no power and is facing the wrong way so you might have to go through the map, start things in a certain order using logic. First you might have to turn the train around because if you start the power first the train would run off and you would be stuck and loose, so you turn the train first, then you turn the power on and are now able to safely escape the aliens. All the maps are basically puzzles, the only difference is that there are aliens that you have to fight through to beat the puzzles. There are many games like Half-Life, actually most games are like Half-Life in the means that you have to beat puzzles. The only games the media concentrates on are games that?s sole purpose is to kill people, they find games like Rampage, Grand Theft Auto and Psycho. I have no idea how they even find these games, I?m a serious gamer, I get game magazines every month and have never heard of these games until the media reports them. A lot of the really violent people have never played a violent video game either. The Unabomber never played violent video games yet he was one of the most violent people. Also the guys who crashed into the two towers probably never saw a violent video game in their life. People have been violent for years even before video games had even been made. I think the media just needs something to blame the violence on so they blame it on video games with all if the new technology to get news out to the public. A lot of people even like violence but that does not make them violent. Take your average male child. Doesn?t almost every male child like violence? Almost every male child plays ?cops and robbers? or ?cowboys and Indians.? Most males seem to like violence but does that make them violent? If everyone who liked violence was violent them most of the male portion of the population would be violent. Also if someone has a violent game it doesn?t mean anything. A lot of people have violent video games, but that doesn?t mean that they play the games. Quite a few people have violent video games, they play them a couple of times then forget about them. They still have the game but they don?t play them. In partial it is the parents fault too. Reasons which include not explaining or watching them. When it comes to not explaining I will quote Blake, a forum member, ?I would like my son or daughter see two people having sex, not like porno, but like love making in a movie...and they would turn out fine. Wanna know why? I'd debunk the situation to them afterwords. Thats the where the failure is. Parents don't bother to explain how something isn't real or not...? The parent could explain to the Crazy child that is only ok to kill people in the game because he wouldn?t be killing real people because in the real world, human lives have a value that is immeasurable, regardless of religion. In dealing with watching them, what I mean to say by that is that parents need to keep an eye on their kids. No parent in his/her right mind would let them anywhere near a gun, especially if they were unstable. The parents should also know that Grand Theft Auto has all of these ridiculous things you can do, without regard for human life. If your kid doesn't have regard for human life and murders all these people in the game shouldn?t the parents know about something like that? Things stand out, not everything is confined to the basement, or a closet. The parents should also know what their children are playing cause games are rated depending on their violence so the parents would have to buy their children the really violent games, the kids can?t buy any violent games unless they?re over the age of 17, or if the games are really violent they have to be at least 18.
THANK YOU EVERYONE <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
OMG..... .....looking through to post this paper i just discovered i didn't put 1 of my papers in my portfolio....****!!!! GOD DAMN IT!!!!!! AHAHHHH!HHHHHHHHH!!!!! this freaking sucks AAHHHHHH!!!!! god damn it!!!! i think im going to go kill myself. OMG i hatemyself got damn it!!!!! OMG im gena go kill myself and get it over with
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->OMG..... .....looking through to post this paper i just discovered i didn't put 1 of my papers in my portfolio....****!!!! GOD DAMN IT!!!!!! AHAHHHH!HHHHHHHHH!!!!! this freaking sucks AAHHHHHH!!!!! god damn it!!!! i think im going to go kill myself. OMG i hatemyself got damn it!!!!! OMG im gena go kill myself and get it over with <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
OMG OMG!!! OWNAGE!!! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> YES, thank u guys!!!! i got and A in the class! yes yes yes yes yes!!!
Comments
When will you (or should I say we?) know how you did on your paper?
It's 8:30 and you're browsing the NS forums? I'd wager you actually have more of a life than I do. Yes, I know it's sad.
And your day starts at 09:00 instead of, say, 08:00? I envy you, I really do.
P.S. Yes, I am writing this at work. I know that's sad, too.
Thank you for all your help guys. I'd be f**ked if it was not for you <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
I should know what i got in like a few days to a week.(it has to be brought to carson by our person-who-takes-all-our-work-to-carson so that will be llike a day, then my teacher has to grade that paper[and all my other papers, i was doing the revion on the other papers that night <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> ], you have to turn in all your work at once in one big folder, she has alot of folders to grade too(like 50) and she just got out of surgry. we've had a sub for the past 2 weeks. then she has to fax everyones grade sheet to them. i will never see that actual report again, i had to turn it in by Nov. 17 to get the paper back(nov 17 was before she went to surgry[in san francisco no less, i live in nevada, you know the part that goes like \/
______
|..........|
|..........|
|..........|
\*........|
..\........|
....\......|
......\....|
........\.(
i live where the star is] so she has been grading the papers turned in before nov 17 down there).
So i really couldnt tell you when ill know what grade i got. but if anyone wants to use that paper, lol, go right ahead.
Anyone want to read the final version? <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
How to map
I?m walking down a dark hallway; the only sound is the sparking of a flickering light, which was clearly broken. The hall I am in now has white paneling, which seems untouched by the gun battles raging throughout the complex. However, there is something different about it; there are green growths attached to the walls and the floor. There are crates in my path, blocking my view down the hall. While crouching down I pull out my MP5, a light arms machinegun, and start stealthily crawling forward. As I pass the first crate I hear a scratching sound, I stop and listen, but the hallway lays silent. I continue forward. I pass the second crate without incident. As I reach the third crate I step on a piece of the alien growth and it makes a sound like the crunching of an egg. Alarmed, I stop and listen, nothing, then I hear a sharp, ?Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap?? and it gets louder, coming from every direction. I stand up and put my finger on the trigger. Something about the size of a flattened soccer ball with four little claw like legs crawls out from behind a crate ten feet in front of me, a headcrab, it leaps at me. I fire a quick burst and tag it in midair, its mangled body flies past me hitting the crate behind me with a deadening thud. I can still hear more tapping. Dozens of headcrabs start coming around the corner and vents in front of me up the hallway. I fire a clip into the mass of them; a few die but not enough. I toss a detpack, C4 charge with a remote trigger, into the middle of the hallway and start sprinting back the way I came. I reach the end of the hallway and rush through the closest door. I close the door, push a desk in front of it and back into the farthest corner of the room. I click the trigger, then a deafening explosion rocks the room, and the door is blown open, pushing the desk back. Getting up from where the explosion had knocked me back, walk through the remnants of the door into the hallway. There are pieces of headcrabs everywhere. I listen for a moment for more tapping, I hear nothing. I walk through the remains of the crates, headcrabs and the hallway. As I turn the corner marines storm through the far door, they spot me and start firing.
My topic is going to be on how to make maps for Half-Life. Half-Life is a first person PC video game. The storyline is about a scientist, Gordon Freeman, who works in a black ops secret lab in New Mexico. When one day at work a teleporting experiment goes horribly wrong, opening a connection between Earth and an alien world called Xen. Gordon Freeman has to escape military ?Clean Up Crews,? escape the Xen aliens and go to Xen to destroy the machines the aliens use to transport to Earth.(Half-Life, CD-ROM)
Half-Life is played by millions of people each day.(Planethalflife, website) It is one of the most famous video games that exists and is the longest played video game while keeping a huge community of fans and supporters. It has been on market for about eight years. I want to learn about this topic so that my friend, Eddy, and I can create our own maps and maybe create our own MOD, a modification using the games engine to pretty much create your own game. We really want to start mapping, designing 3D layouts of the type of environment; such as desert ruins you could fight in, that we want to be able to play on, now because Half-Life 2 is coming out between December and April and the Half-Life designers posted on their site that if you know how to map well with Half-Life mapping then you will be able to easily map with Half-Life 2, which we want to do as soon as it comes out. (Planethalflife, website)
I should be able to get a lot of information about Half-Life mapping. There are numerous websites about mapping that I would be able to go to for tutorials. Maybe if I go to a mapper?s website I could check out ?Tips & Tricks? they have already learned from their experience as a mapper. If I ever have problems I could go to about any Half-Life site and ask questions on the forums. Most forums even have specific sections for mapping problems and questions. I can also learn helpful hints about MOD making from ?Half-Life Radio.?(HalflifeRadio, website) They always interview MOD makers: people who design their own game using the Half-Life engine. They interview modelers: someone who designs object structuring, such as designing the structure of a car so it can be driven in the game. They also interview skinners: someone who designs the graphic layout of a model, such as having a car model without a color and design so a skinner draws a picture of a car window, license plate and other accessories, puts it on the car and makes the car look like a car. I think I may be able to model, texture and skin for Half-Life when I finish this report. I may be able to interview a minor MOD designer or a designer of a semi famous MOD that isn?t to publicized, such as Battlegrounds. So I might be able to interview someone from Battlegrounds even though it is a pretty famous MOD because the designers aren?t publicized at all. But that may be hard to get a hold of them because like I said, they aren?t publicized.
I find the thought of mapping for Half-Life interesting because I have been playing Half-Life maps and MODs since Half-Life first came out and I am really impressed by the maps and MODs made by all of these famous computer nerds. No one knew or cared about them before they made their maps and MODs. I want to be able to put in my two cents to the Half-Life community. I think I will eventually be able to map for Half-Life, even though Half-Life is a very difficult engine to use because I have been able to map for other games. I hope to create an official map for some MOD for my X-paper, I?m hoping to make a map for Natural-Selection because it is my favorite MOD for Half-Life even though mapping for Natural-Selection is suppose to harder than mapping for regular Half-Life.(Natural-Selection Homepage, website)
First I had to get a Half-Life editor. The were numerous places I could get a Half-Life editor. The most obvious choice would be planethalflife. I could get one at other places too, the other places I looked for one is at like <a href='http://www.modcentral.com' target='_blank'>http://www.modcentral.com</a> because it focuses a lot on making maps and MODs. (Planethalflife, website) I will also have to find an editor for the specific mod I want to map for. I have to find a specific MOD editor no matter what cause the way that Valve(the company that designed the game) set it up they made everything a MOD, even the actual game itself. Which makes it easier to make, edit, and design MOD?s.(Half-Life, CD-ROM)
When researching I discovered a site called HalflifeWorkshop, it shows how to start Half-Life mapping. (Half-Life Workshop, website) Workshop first says to get a variety of map editors; there are a few tests it says to run on all of the map editors first. It says to first learned how to make basic objects on all of the five editors I had downloaded: WorldCraft, Qoole99, BSP, Hammer and QERadiant. Then it says to run a speed test on all of the editors, I designed a small pyramid type room on all of the editors and timed myself on making them. WorldCraft, Qoole99 and BSP took way longer to make the room than the other editors so I marked them for that. The next test was the feature test; the features test is really just a test that's based on your opinion. All I had to do is open up maps already created by valve and fiddle around with the editor's various features like clipping, regioning, VisGroups, Visual Texturing, and so on. This isn't the most important test but it allowed me to see where some editors get their edge over others. I didn?t really like how WorldCraft and QERadiant handled so I marked them for the feature test. The third test was the compiling test, the compiling test allowed me to see how certain editors handle the compiling of maps into the final .bsp's. I'll be doing this every time I play a level so it's good test. All I had to do is open up any map, add a few areas or small bits of architecture and then see if I could find out a way to immediately run the map without looking at the help. If I was able to run the map, play it, build some more, and repeat the process within a half-hour all by myself, then I didn?t mark it off. With BSP and Qoole99 it took me around an hour to run the test so I marked them for the compiling test. The fourth test was the combine test, this test is just a relapse of all the other test combined. I would be building, adding, compiling, and testing for this test. Workshop said this test usually takes the longest but it usually helps to decide everything the quickest. I start a new level that had four rooms, a few doors, monsters, the works like Workshop said for me to do. Creating a regular, playable level. Then I took another editor and tried to duplicate it. Workshop said ?If you get halfway through and throw your arms up in the air giving up...this editor is not for you.? (Half-Life Workshop, website) I got very frustrated with Qoole99 and WorldCraft, so I marked them down for it. Having completed all of the tests I saw that the Valve Hammer editor did the best on all tests so I chose this one to use for all further designing.
Next I had to find tools for my editor, I searched planethalflife and found a file called ?Half-Life Tool Pack.? (planethalflife, website) Someone had taken forty-one best and most used Half-Life editor tools and placed them all in one folder. The pack contained a lot of necessities needed for mapping or designing a MOD. It had modeling programs, so you could create/design your own custom models. Texturing kits, used for changing or creating your own textures. Map viewers, so you can see what a map would look like and go around in it when it isn?t completed and unplayable, it?s also faster than having to open the game and loading up your map/level every time since it is open as you?re making the level. A model viewer, so you can open model files and see what they look like without having to place them into your level prematurely just to see what they look like. Sprite viewers, used so that you can view sprites, as they are not viewable through a map viewer or Valve Hammer editor, sprites are picture files with animation. Terrain generators, used to create realistic terrain for the map rather than just the basic shapes like: block, wedge, cylinder, spike and arch. A leak marker, to find leaks in your map/level, in Half-Life there is a huge room that is not considered textured, a solid or anything, it is the boundary of how big you can build your level. When you have a leak it makes the game read the entire huge room instead of just the small rooms that you have made your map out of, therefore when the game reads the huge room it slows down the game horribly making the map run very slowly. Compilers, so your map can be put into a bunch of different formats to be ran on other computers. Launchers for launching the map during creation, to launch to not just play the level but test things on your map while doing so and to launch the map even if it has an error so you can fix it. C++, C++ is a program the allow you to deign, change and create programs. MODing tools, tools for you own custom logos and other accessories if you are going to design your own MOD. Extractors, programs used to take apart a compressed, uneditable or accessible, file much like Winzip or PowerArchiver unpacks a .zip file so you can access the stuff inside it. And audio editors in case you have custom sounds on your map. (Half-Life Workshop, website)There are many variations of programs for different uses and some programs I wont need or be able to use.
So I was almost set for tools since there were more tools in the ?Half-Life tool pack? then I would probably use. But I still needed a tool set for the specific MOD I was going to design for. I wanted to design for Natural-Selection so I went to their website and got the .wad file containing all of the Natural-Selection tools and information, it has all the custom models, nodes, textures and other accessories needed for designing a map/level for Natural-Selection.(Natural-Selection hompage, website) I then went to a bunch of Natural-Selection mapping websites. I downloaded a few Natural-Selection tutorials on how to map. (The comm. chair, Half-Life source, Natural Selection World, website) I tried to contact quite a few of the mappers so that I could interview them but never received an answer.
I then began reading up on the Natural-Selection tutorials to see what all of the MOD specific entities, objects/monsters, were so I would have a better understanding of the MOD and how it works. After that I unpacked the downloaded .wad file containing all of the Natural-Selection tools and information into my Half-Life Directory(where Half-Life is located on my computer).
I was finally ready to began making a map for Natural-Selection. Before I started making the map I began an outline on a piece of paper, with the help of my brother, Richard, because he is good at designing maps. We kept changing the map until we had the one we liked the best, it took a couple days to finish this stage. I then began the mapping by starting the basic structuring: I just made the hallways and rooms; it only took about five to six days. After I finished with the basic structuring I started to put detail into the map: a box here, a box there, some chairs here, a window there, stuff like that. Then I put in the Natural-Selection MOD necessities: res nodes, spawn points and a Command Center. After that the map was actually playable so I tested it, while playing it I found a few bugs in my map: I found a leak, some points were spawning me in the ground and some clipping problems. When I fixed those I started making entities: I created some doors that you can open or close, some light switches, buttons for ramps and buttons for elevators. Having finished all of the constructing I started texturing the map so that it would all balance with the maps lighting: darker textures in light areas and light textures in dark areas. I then began put in accessories into the map to give it some life: add a dripping sprite here, steam spray sprite there, water surface movement here, and other things.
All this took a couple of weeks to complete, I forwarded my now completed, workable, playable map to a few mapping sites and some clan, group of people who play together under a team name(for example: [NW]Rich or [NW]mullet, mine is [LoDw]keef), websites so that they might put my level on their server for people to play. I don?t know if they ever put my map on because I?m only aloud to play on the computer an hour and fifteen minutes a day. The clan sites I know are all on the east coast, Europe and West Asia so the only time I play with them in the morning or late at night. I now had an official Natural-Selection map.
Through this project I had learned to map for Half-Life and its MOD Natural-Selection. I can map basics but I have also learned to add entities in my map, make ladders, elevators and ramps that move. I can now also make buttons to activate objects. I know how to make textures blend and relate to the lighting of the different areas in the map. I should now be able to map for Half-Life2 when it comes out this spring. I?m still along way from being close to making a MOD of my own; I discovered if I?m to learn how to make my own MOD I will have to learn to model and program, and I?m not even close to learning how to do that. I now understand what all of the info people have on their maps mean. I cannot model, program or skin for Half-Life but I have learned a great deal about texturing which is considered one of the biggest aspects of maps by a lot of Half-Life fans, ?There is just something about the good texturing of a map that gives it life,? (bigD, Natural-Selection Forums). So I feel I have one of the most important aspects of mapping down. I plan to keep mapping so I can get better at it and maybe if I get good enough I can get a good map in a map pack.
I feel my original hypothesis was fairly correct. I learned how to do most of the things I said. I feel that this investigation went very well. I was satisfied with how my search went, I found plenty of programs needed for my project, I found quite a few Half-Life tutorials and a couple of Natural-Selection based tutorials. My outcome was great, it was great because I finally made a working Half-Life map. I will now be more familiar with mapping for other games too. Most game companies that make 3D shooter games base their editors off of Half-Life. There usually are only minor differences in map editors of Half-Life and other games. .(Planethalflife, website)
There are a couple of reasons I wanted and still want to make maps for Half-Life and other games. One reason I make the maps is because I like to figure out things and build things. Another reason is that I like to support the communities of games I like; I like playing Half-Life so try to support it a lot but I hate the snobs who play Red Faction so every time I play that game I flame, talk crap, to all of the snobs. The third reason I want to make the maps is because I want to add variety to what people can play; I like it when you can choose what kinds of maps you want to play. The last reason I wanted and still want to make maps for Half-Life is because I think its kind of cool that people all over the world might play my map, all those people out there playing my map I don?t even know it. Those are the reasons I wanted and still want to make maps for Half-Life.
<b> And anyone that helped me on my one like a month ago about game violence thx for the help too <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> you guys can copy it too</b>
anyone can copy it too for all i care <!--emo&:0--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wow.gif'><!--endemo-->
Kevin Curtis
10-3-03
Persuasive Argument
Violence in games, legit concern or media hysteria? Lots of people think that children are violent because of video games. so it?s the games fault when a child commits a violent crime. People say that all of these kids are violent because of these games that they?re playing. For example, almost all of the school shooting cases have shown that the shooters play violent video games. In my opinion these kids play these video games because they?re violent by nature. This attracts them to other outlets of violence, these kids not only play violent games but watch violent movies, TV show, and other media. But the media never tells about the millions of other people in the world that play these video games, they just tell about the thirty or forty other people who go berserk and kill a few people. I don?t believe that playing a violent video game affect these kids in any way, they are just attracted to the violence that they display. The media also never reports about all of the other non-violent game there are out there, only about one quarter of the games out there have ?blood and guts? in them. The rest of the games like RPGs(role playing games) strategy and non-violent first person games objective is not to be violent but to solve puzzles, generate worlds and create your own characters. ?Tree huggers? also play violent video games and they are always against doing anything violent. Even most games with violence in them are not objectively based to cause massacre and murder they are based on puzzles. For example Half-Life is one of the biggest games in the game industry, it has violence in it, like when you shoot someone blood comes out but that?s about it. Half-Life?s objective is not to kill as many people as possible. Half-Life?s story is that you?re a scientist working on portal technology, everything goes wrong and a bunch of aliens start popping in through portals, so you have to get out of there alive. Half-Life?s puzzles aren?t set up like mazes but are set up in real world envioments. For example one of the puzzles you might need to get a train to work. The train has no power and is facing the wrong way so you might have to go through the map, start things in a certain order using logic. First you might have to turn the train around because if you start the power first the train would run off and you would be stuck and loose, so you turn the train first, then you turn the power on and are now able to safely escape the aliens. All the maps are basically puzzles, the only difference is that there are aliens that you have to fight through to beat the puzzles.
There are many games like Half-Life, actually most games are like Half-Life in the means that you have to beat puzzles. The only games the media concentrates on are games that?s sole purpose is to kill people, they find games like Rampage, Grand Theft Auto and Psycho. I have no idea how they even find these games, I?m a serious gamer, I get game magazines every month and have never heard of these games until the media reports them.
A lot of the really violent people have never played a violent video game either. The Unabomber never played violent video games yet he was one of the most violent people. Also the guys who crashed into the two towers probably never saw a violent video game in their life. People have been violent for years even before video games had even been made. I think the media just needs something to blame the violence on so they blame it on video games with all if the new technology to get news out to the public.
A lot of people even like violence but that does not make them violent. Take your average male child. Doesn?t almost every male child like violence? Almost every male child plays ?cops and robbers? or ?cowboys and Indians.? Most males seem to like violence but does that make them violent? If everyone who liked violence was violent them most of the male portion of the population would be violent.
Also if someone has a violent game it doesn?t mean anything. A lot of people have violent video games, but that doesn?t mean that they play the games. Quite a few people have violent video games, they play them a couple of times then forget about them. They still have the game but they don?t play them.
In partial it is the parents fault too. Reasons which include not explaining or watching them. When it comes to not explaining I will quote Blake, a forum member, ?I would like my son or daughter see two people having sex, not like porno, but like love making in a movie...and they would turn out fine. Wanna know why? I'd debunk the situation to them afterwords. Thats the where the failure is. Parents don't bother to explain how something isn't real or not...? The parent could explain to the Crazy child that is only ok to kill people in the game because he wouldn?t be killing real people because in the real world, human lives have a value that is immeasurable, regardless of religion. In dealing with watching them, what I mean to say by that is that parents need to keep an eye on their kids. No parent in his/her right mind would let them anywhere near a gun, especially if they were unstable.
The parents should also know that Grand Theft Auto has all of these ridiculous things you can do, without regard for human life. If your kid doesn't have regard for human life and murders all these people in the game shouldn?t the parents know about something like that? Things stand out, not everything is confined to the basement, or a closet. The parents should also know what their children are playing cause games are rated depending on their violence so the parents would have to buy their children the really violent games, the kids can?t buy any violent games unless they?re over the age of 17, or if the games are really violent they have to be at least 18.
THANK YOU EVERYONE <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
OMG..... .....looking through to post this paper i just discovered i didn't put 1 of my papers in my portfolio....****!!!! GOD DAMN IT!!!!!! AHAHHHH!HHHHHHHHH!!!!! this freaking sucks AAHHHHHH!!!!! god damn it!!!! i think im going to go kill myself. OMG i hatemyself got damn it!!!!! OMG im gena go kill myself and get it over with
*waves hand* you still alive?
Hopefully not..... <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
THX guys