Process of Maping (Level Design)

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XaNKoNII
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Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by XaNKoNII »

I´m really curious about what you guys have to say about this matter:
My question is, what is your process of creation for a map? Do you start with a pen on paper design of certain/all elements or is it usually just editor work?
Thanks for your time reading this :agree1:

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makemeunreal
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by makemeunreal »

Well. My contest entry was the very first map I planned on paper.
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PrinceOfFunky
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by PrinceOfFunky »

XaNKoNII wrote:Image
You needed two vanishing points(Double Point perspective projection), that's why the pavement came out wrong.
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makemeunreal
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by makemeunreal »

Image

Or use axonometric projection. Oh my. How many blueprints have I made back then. :S Makes me sick.
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by nogardilaref »

In my case, I generally start visualizing in my head the overall concept I want to "see" in the end, and the overall vibe and atmosphere I want it to achieve, always with a basic gameplay layout (I don't like complex maze-like maps), then I just improvise all the way through from there to achieve it, so it's all editor for me all things considered, I never actually plan things through for mapping purposes.

I do plan, and write things down either on paper or a google doc or so, when I do coding though (which is what I do most of the time), and this contrast has to do with the fact that with a map is something to fire and forget, once finished there isn't anything else to do there so it has no barring in future work other than earned experience to do things better in the next ones, however with code I mean always to do something which I can reuse, and do so on the long term, so I spend more time planning code, than actually writing it.
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by PrinceOfFunky »

nogardilaref wrote:In my case, I generally start visualizing in my head the overall concept I want to "see" in the end, and the overall vibe and atmosphere I want it to achieve, always with a basic gameplay layout (I don't like complex maze-like maps), then I just improvise all the way through from there to achieve it, so it's all editor for me all things considered, I never actually plan things through for mapping purposes.

I do plan, and write things down either on paper or a google doc or so, when I do coding though (which is what I do most of the time), and this contrast has to do with the fact that with a map is something to fire and forget, once finished there isn't anything else to do there so it has no barring in future work other than earned experience to do things better in the next ones, however with code I mean always to do something which I can reuse, and do so on the long term, so I spend more time planning code, than actually writing it.
I lost most of my fantasy for some reason, maybe stress, I remember when I made maps I rly enjoyed it and had so many ideas, now I could have them but I don't think about making maps anymore, just sometimes, last time I was making one was this one on Blender to be exported (The textures are the same from Photorealistic.utx, just converted into black and white), I took a vid of how I made it, it lasted many hours cause I'm still a noob on Blender lol, but of course I abandoned the project :3
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XaNKoNII
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by XaNKoNII »

PrinceOfFunky wrote:
XaNKoNII wrote:Image
You needed two vanishing points(Double Point perspective projection), that's why the pavement came out wrong.
It was actually Intended xD
I´m trying to find a more funcional perspective to make Arquitecture/game elements and display them instead of making an elaborate simple/multiple vanishing point drawing...

For Lords of the Void I felt like i lost more time than I should just thinking what was the right perspective to show the concept i envisioned:
Image

for these 2 concepts that I actually implemented on the Level
Main Hall
Image

Stairs
Image

And my inner thoughts are, do I try too hard to make the concept while others just "do" the map? But then again, i´m about to make V2.0 of Lords_of_Thevoid and have a few ideas for new map elements but at the same time If I try every single Idea that I have that will be too time consuming
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by PrinceOfFunky »

XaNKoNII wrote:And my inner thoughts are, do I try too hard to make the concept while others just "do" the map? But then again, i´m about to make V2.0 of Lords_of_Thevoid and have a few ideas for new map elements but at the same time If I try every single Idea that I have that will be too time consuming
Oh that's even my inner thought for many things, not just mapping and games.
I liked LOTV anyway, the idea of the map breaking in pieces gave that sense of powerful abstract destruction, didn't vote any map tho.
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XaNKoNII
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by XaNKoNII »

nogardilaref wrote:In my case, I generally start visualizing in my head the overall concept I want to "see" in the end, and the overall vibe and atmosphere I want it to achieve, always with a basic gameplay layout (I don't like complex maze-like maps), then I just improvise all the way through from there to achieve it, so it's all editor for me all things considered, I never actually plan things through for mapping purposes.

I do plan, and write things down either on paper or a google doc or so, when I do coding though (which is what I do most of the time), and this contrast has to do with the fact that with a map is something to fire and forget, once finished there isn't anything else to do there so it has no barring in future work other than earned experience to do things better in the next ones, however with code I mean always to do something which I can reuse, and do so on the long term, so I spend more time planning code, than actually writing it.
Humm... well I see, aspects that you find more important are to be planed and "reused" later and you put a finish on the project.
This actually helps :highfive:

PrinceOfFunky wrote:
XaNKoNII wrote:And my inner thoughts are, do I try too hard to make the concept while others just "do" the map? But then again, i´m about to make V2.0 of Lords_of_Thevoid and have a few ideas for new map elements but at the same time If I try every single Idea that I have that will be too time consuming
Oh that's even my inner thought for many things, not just mapping and games.
I liked LOTV anyway, the idea of the map breaking in pieces gave that sense of powerful abstract destruction, didn't vote any map tho.
Thanks man, I actually borrowed the Idea for the breaking into the void from here... : https://youtu.be/z1h5Wi2dVso?t=26s
In V2.0 I want to go further with the imersion of the "void" Hence my survey on the more conceptual aspect of maps
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by PrinceOfFunky »

XaNKoNII wrote:
nogardilaref wrote:Thanks man, I actually borrowed the Idea for the breaking into the void from here... : https://youtu.be/z1h5Wi2dVso?t=26s
In V2.0 I want to go further with the imersion of the "void" Hence my survey on the more conceptual aspect of maps
Oh wow that is cool, I think if the "break point" started from the building istead of just from near it, it would have been cooler.
I don't remember of half collapsed buildings in UT, I remember of COD Big Red One that had an online map called Cassino that had some half collapsed buildings. Something like this would be cool too (goto 2:28):
iUAtoGaqnIo
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by Red_Fist »

"but I don't think about making maps anymore"

Reason being is that you far more delve into other things, than "making a map" like modeling, and all these external programs, or other versions of Unreal. Is your problem

Just make the area you play in, and add lights, simple bot paths, stock textures, stock pawns or items.
THEN
YOU will have a "Map"

Till then, either make models, or make textures, or brushes, or code, or mutators, or adddons for the editor, and more modeling.
is WHY you feel the way you do, cuz you are not ! making a map.

Once you make a full working map, THEN tweak it your external ideas, or items. :D

Oh, how do I think ? my deal is I need some gimmick for each map, like a Quake duplicate, or that stupid sniper rifle in UT2004 my goal was to get rid of that damn smoke. So I did that and made a sniper map because that is the map I wanyed to do, IF I could modify the rifle.

Each map I make is a fun learning experience for some totally whacked out thing I want to try, I said "try", meaning I need a friggen "MAP" first to try my idea.

But I don't just make a new health pack model then not have a map or reason to use it without an idea FIRST.

So make a map, screw all that other stuff, make it WORK !!! not what you want. and BOOM you will be a "mapper"
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PrinceOfFunky
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by PrinceOfFunky »

Red_Fist wrote:"but I don't think about making maps anymore"
Oh nono, you misunderstood, I didn't mean like I don't want to map anymore, I meant it in a more literal way, my mind doesn't think about mapping anymore, like I don't wake up and am like "Let's make a map", I was like that time ago tho.
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by Red_Fist »

PrinceOfFunky wrote:
Red_Fist wrote:"but I don't think about making maps anymore"
Oh nono, you misunderstood, I didn't mean like I don't want to map anymore, I meant it in a more literal way, my mind doesn't think about mapping anymore, like I don't wake up and am like "Let's make a map", I was like that time ago tho.
READ IT ALL, you missed the point. just trying to clear your mind, re-read it.
I DID NOT "misunderstand", YOU read into what I said, just like you read into making everything, but a map.
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by nogardilaref »

PrinceOfFunky wrote: I lost most of my fantasy for some reason, maybe stress, I remember when I made maps I rly enjoyed it and had so many ideas, now I could have them but I don't think about making maps anymore, just sometimes, last time I was making one was this one on Blender to be exported (The textures are the same from Photorealistic.utx, just converted into black and white), I took a vid of how I made it, it lasted many hours cause I'm still a noob on Blender lol, but of course I abandoned the project :3
I know exactly what you mean, more than you probably think, and I won't say it's easy to turn that around, but I will say that the key is to believe in your own ability and to not procrastinate and not delve into small tiny experiments here and there.

School and work are generally responsible for utterly destroying most minds, due to the way they mechanically and continually indoctrinate one's being into blindly following orders and not question anything you're being told.
It's not exactly a matter of stress, although it might contribute so, it's a matter of having your mind molded in such a way over time, that your imagination gets lesser and lesser active, to the point it becomes almost non-existent.

The only way to get around that, is to do the opposite whenever possible: in both dead hours (waiting for a bus for example) and the bit of free time you allocate to these things, just start little by little thinking about and implementing the smallest ideas you can muster, even if you feel like not doing it, and you will notice the difference: you won't procrastinate anymore, your imagination becomes as lit as a tree on Christmas all the time, and you simply want to do more and more.
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Re: Process of Maping (Level Design)

Post by PrinceOfFunky »

nogardilaref wrote:
PrinceOfFunky wrote:even if you feel like not doing it
Totally with you but Idk if forcing myself to make my fantasy work is a good choice, there's always a "voice" that tells me "no don't do that cause it's time consuming and you're supposed to do something else". Who knows? Maybe you're right and it would turn into a good investment.
I tried drawing, I got a wacom tablet on purpose this year thinking it would have helped me to re-obtain my lost fantasy, what happened to it? It is here next to me closed in a cover and I'm not using it since months just because of that "voice" in my mind, so the last month I tried using paper and I used it for 2 days then same voice and I placed the paper into the closet.
Never had this "voice" before to get in the university, I came from a graphic designer high school ,which pheraps didn't teach me much, but I'm someone who researches on the internet, where people were ok and didn't see you as a competitor, to software programmer university, quote the previous tiny sentence, where people see you as a competitor and only approaches with you if they need to pass an exam that they wouldn't be able to pass alone(not to talk about how not-at-all-organized this uni is). Of course with certain type of people you're more prone to use your fantasy somehow, same with the location design etc
I think the "voice" just come out cause you grow in a society where people tell you that you must get a job or you "die", and when you don't have it you get stressed and start thinking everything is time consuming.
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