Community Map Time!
<div class="IPBDescription">everyone makes a room / hallway</div><!--coloro:#98FB98--><span style="color:#98FB98"><!--/coloro-->We all want to make an awesome ns2 map right? But the amount of time it takes to make a huge, high quality map is just insane - you're looking at at least 1 month of full time work doing it on your own!<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<!--coloro:#AFEEEE--><span style="color:#AFEEEE"><!--/coloro-->So let our powers combine! By splitting up the work between several of us we could push out a AAA quality map, as we can all concentrate on our individual map areas<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<img src="http://imageshack.us/a/img94/4544/promotop.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
If anyone is interested in joining the team please PM me or reply to the thread! :) No experience necessary, just some passion to make something for your favourite game :)
Here is the current progress of the map - areas in red still require completion - we are nearly finished, but we need your help! :)
<img src="http://imageshack.us/a/img818/9361/2012102300007.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<!--coloro:#AFEEEE--><span style="color:#AFEEEE"><!--/coloro-->So let our powers combine! By splitting up the work between several of us we could push out a AAA quality map, as we can all concentrate on our individual map areas<!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<img src="http://imageshack.us/a/img94/4544/promotop.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
If anyone is interested in joining the team please PM me or reply to the thread! :) No experience necessary, just some passion to make something for your favourite game :)
Here is the current progress of the map - areas in red still require completion - we are nearly finished, but we need your help! :)
<img src="http://imageshack.us/a/img818/9361/2012102300007.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Comments
I think we should try something unambitious first, a simple <i>playable</i> boxy map. It is much more important to finish something simple first, than to try to do the ultimate map for a first trial and to never finish it.
If we can finish a simple map, then we can talk about doing a second pass on the map, or make a new, more ambitious one.
FTFY :P
Good idea, good luck! I wish I had time to volunteer.
Sava originated from that project! :D
You should all get toghether and agree on one or more basic theme(s) that go well together and recur in most rooms. A small set of basic textures, geometry and models.
You can't rigidly enforce it, then you get a very bland and generic map and the mappers feel like they have no creative input. You can't do without it, then you end up with this crazy carnival look where every room is a unique, one-off creation.
You should get the layout done first. This has to be a cooperative effort, otherwise most people won't go along as they'll feel like they don't have any creative input(it's not their job, they're doing it for fun); paying special attention to the corridors and vents and their height differences as they are both the interfaces where different rooms meet and they provide most of the occlusion(knowing human nature, every mapper is going to soak up as many resources for their room as available).
Corridors are not nearly as exciting to map as rooms, but they are rooms in their own right and they need a lot of attention.
You're going to get some mappers who are ... unskilled. Dealing tactfully with what they produce is not easy. I think you want to do is be patient and tell them what's wrong. Give them time to iterate.
You're going to end up with people dropping off the project or just leaving without even saying anything. You have to replace these people or shoulder their work.
It's a complicated project. I'd rather go it alone when I get back into mapping for NS2(i.e. when the basic gameplay is no longer in flux, when the performance has improved and when the editor allows you to apply textures to adjacent faces with alignment so they flow continously onto the adjacent surface, like alt+rmb in hammer).
The problem is that making a map alone takes forever, and chances the mapper gives up is pretty high. Getting several people to work on the same map is a simple solution to both problems.
I agree it has many ways to fail, that's why we should start with something simple and try to learn from it.
I'm working on ns_origin remake for ns2 but i can help or you can help me by finishing this remake together :) .
TuX
Why not start with a simple 3 tech node in a triangular pattern map? Get three mappers to work on each tech node and a corresponding pathway. Would be both a simple and easy way to start.
:)
I'd be interested, though my architectural imagination is limited so I would need some direction. I could do either a room or a hallway.
Example of my work (WIP):
<img src="https://dl.dropbox.com/u/98668/caged3.PNG" border="0" class="linked-image" />
I have no delusions of my ability level and I want to take part in this so I can get better. I'd be perfectly fine with hearing harsh critique or having areas I worked on "painted over".
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You're going to end up with people dropping off the project or just leaving without even saying anything. You have to replace these people or shoulder their work.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Definitely also true, though a lot of that will have to do with momentum. If lots of people are involved and keep showing progress, people will be less likely to drop off than if the project doesn't seem to be going anywhere.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/xKQ1n.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
I also tried to do a layout :
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/Kb9RB.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Or, we could make the setting be one of the Kaharaa's homeworld planets... (and still do exactly the type of thing you're talking about, but then it's also tied to the fiction of NS2)
The Gorge is the builder, but he sucks.
Good Luck though, be great to bounce ideas off one another as well as go to each other for help or inspiration.
I think it would be an iterative process. No one mapper would have complete ownership over one area. If the style doesn't fit or the quality isn't good enough, another mapper would come in to fix it up or it would be trashed and remade.
You don't need a great mapper directing this, nor do you need all the mappers working on it to be all-stars. The mappers will get better as they practice on it, and help improve each other's work. Through many iterations it could be a great map. The first trick is just coming up with a layout.
If anyone else wants to help out, send me a PM with your email address and I'll invite you to the basecamp project.
If you are interested in this project but don't have the time to help out with the actual geo, do the same (and say so in the PM) and you can at least take part in our discussions and provide ideas!
Ill will update the initial post soon
Here's a teaser of some of the reference material we're currently looking at:
<img src="http://static.inky.ws/image/2310/image.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
awesome
send Psyke a PM, and he will invite you to our basecamp project site.