Do you ever feel like reworking your old stuff?
Posted: Thu May 18, 2017 12:26 pm
Hey guys,
sorry, Ive been under the living dead for quite some time, but I am really interested on your opinions on how you feel about your past creations that may have been done 2 or 7 or even 15 years ago. Do you ever feel like, after having improved so much over time, to rebuild something that you were proud of in the past, but you came to be embarrased of it today?
Maybe it is a different situation if you build standalone MP maps that have nothing in common with each other as opposed to a SP campaign that builds upon each other (as in my case), but I have been thinking a lot about my past stuff and the criticism that I got in 2009 became so apparent to me later on: The brushwork was kind of random. That was because I thought the 2D shape editor was like the Holy Grail and I only used basic brushes if really necessary. Plus, I never reused older assets - with a few exceptions - so that every room looked completely different. The only coherent theme was the use of the same texture package. And although there was this "random" brushwork, the technique to build the rooms was restricted. So, over the many years that followed I decided to use more basic brushes again and incorporate more vertex editing, but still implement some crazy design ideas, though well-dosed.
However, when I compare the first and the second half of the project with each other, it results in such a design clash that I want to change some older areas to match the later style. Below you can see a small example of what I did to an (2008) area in Unforchers, that I was completely unsatisfied with in 2017, and what I did to change that, while maintaining the shape and the layout of the room.
So... what is your take on older releases? Did you ever think such extensive reworkings are worth it?
sorry, Ive been under the living dead for quite some time, but I am really interested on your opinions on how you feel about your past creations that may have been done 2 or 7 or even 15 years ago. Do you ever feel like, after having improved so much over time, to rebuild something that you were proud of in the past, but you came to be embarrased of it today?
Maybe it is a different situation if you build standalone MP maps that have nothing in common with each other as opposed to a SP campaign that builds upon each other (as in my case), but I have been thinking a lot about my past stuff and the criticism that I got in 2009 became so apparent to me later on: The brushwork was kind of random. That was because I thought the 2D shape editor was like the Holy Grail and I only used basic brushes if really necessary. Plus, I never reused older assets - with a few exceptions - so that every room looked completely different. The only coherent theme was the use of the same texture package. And although there was this "random" brushwork, the technique to build the rooms was restricted. So, over the many years that followed I decided to use more basic brushes again and incorporate more vertex editing, but still implement some crazy design ideas, though well-dosed.
However, when I compare the first and the second half of the project with each other, it results in such a design clash that I want to change some older areas to match the later style. Below you can see a small example of what I did to an (2008) area in Unforchers, that I was completely unsatisfied with in 2017, and what I did to change that, while maintaining the shape and the layout of the room.
So... what is your take on older releases? Did you ever think such extensive reworkings are worth it?