Cesig Moreis

Over the holidays I managed to plan out two major sections of the level.  One is completely built out–enough for a playtest–and the other is about halfway built.  I’m running into some issues smoothing out a few things on it, but it’s still coming along very well.

Here’s a few shots of the map I’m still building on right now.

Since I’m working on an outdoor complex and I want it to be laid out in an interesting and fun way I decided to try an exercise in generating building layouts using graph paper.  Basically, I just drew random pseudo-buildinglike shapes in random configurations until I’d filled the page.  Afterwards, I picked out the parts I thought were interesting and found ways to incorporate them into my map.  It worked really well and I ended up with a completely new sequence that I hadn’t even considered before.

That’s one of the things I’ve struggled with–how to generate new and interesting ideas.  I’ve spent a lot of time on various mapping sites looking for structures and layouts that look interesting.  And that’s helped, too.

The way I generate the majority of my ideas is just by flying around my map and seeing what it inspires.  Invariably, some path or some object/structure will suggest some other path, structure, obstacle, encounter, etc.  So it really builds on itself.

The trouble with that, of course, is that there’s a risk of it going out of control, since a  lot of what I build doesn’t have a concrete plan on paper.

The other issue with it is that it’s slow, and verrrrry iterative.  I can’t tell you how much stuff I’ve moved or deleted as I’ve worked on the map.

Still, I’m happy with how it’s turning out so far.  It’s just that it’s going so slowly.  Ugh.  It’s never fast enough.

Developing a single player map, I have to say, is hard work.  Especially if you’ve never done one before.  Or at least, that’s what I’ve discovered about myself.

I spent literally months tweaking a single building (the one I said I’d wrapped up in the previous post), only to decide the quality sucked and remove it entirely. I’ve still got it in previous versions, and there were elements in it that I really did like a lot.  But the overall pace and experience within that warehouse wasn’t as good as it needed to be, so it got the axe.

I sort of hate doing that kind of stuff, but at the same time, now that it’s gone and I’ve changed direction, the map is progressing so much more quickly and fluidly.   As a celebration of sorts, I’ve attached two shots straight from the editor.  Notice the change in the red warehouse compared to how it was a few months ago.  It plays a lot better in this new version.

Also, please keep in mind that a lot of what you see in the editor shots is not detailed or polished.  I’m not at that stage yet.  So things will look ugly now, but get better once they’re polished.  Just take a look at Devious Methods for some idea of how it’ll turn out.  And there are a few placeholder buildings right now until the real ones are built.  But hopefully you get the idea.
One of the best things about making a map like this is it allows me to write a story for it.  I’ll go into some of the frustrations stemming from that in a later post.

Enjoy the shots for now.

A while ago I got some playtest feedback on an initial version of one of the main buildings in the early part of the level.  It was pretty rough going, and I had to go back and change quite a bit, but I’ve recently gotten that building’s plan completed and it’s mostly constructed, too.

I spent weeks drawing out a plan for a water treatment plant to be included in the map, and this building I’ve just wrapped up is part of that.  But the rest of the plant, as it was originally planned,  needs work.  So, now, as with what seems like every other part of the map, I need to revise it.

This is mostly due to the fact that I’ve not built a single-player map before.  So things like pacing, puzzles, and combat are all things I kind of have to play with.  And I can’t play with these things on paper, no matter how much I draw.  So a lot of the initial stuff was just the first stage of “playing.”

I’ve attached two shots of a later part of this finished building.

I’ve taken a break from the map for the time being.  I haven’t stopped, but I need to regroup.  I’ve gotten mostly through the second warehouse and, as I’ve been building and seeing everything I’ve planned out in “real life” for the first time, I’m noticing that the plan doesn’t include enough “stuff” to keep the game fun.

So now I’ve gone back to paper for now.

Attached is a fairly recent shot of one of the warehouses, and some sketches.

So I’m about a quarter of the way through blocking out the second of three sections for this SP campaign.  But that’s not counting all the rework I’m already planning for the initial section.

I want to take a minute to post about a useful tool that I’ve found.  It’s the Belkin Nostromo SpeedPad n52.  If you don’t know what it is, it’s basically a programmable mini-keyboard for a single hand.  Here’s a pic of the newest revision.  The one I have isn’t so snazzy looking, but the layout is identical.

It’s great for mapping because I can consolidate all of my oft-used operations to a single hand, with a single keystroke.  I’ve got brush, carve, select, and vertex edit all accessible with my thumb, W A S D for zooming around in 3d, copy, delete, ent mode, center on selected, ignore groups, and some other stuff thrown in for good measure.

It’s been a great productivity boost, and I highly recommend it.  There are a number of products out there like this one, so you might have better luck with something different.  But when you can ditch the editor shortcuts in favor of a single key, and bundle all of your most used operations so you can reach them with one hand, I say do it.  You won’t regret it.

So right now I’m at a point where I have to stop myself from mapping so I can go to sleep.  Progress is moving forward extraordinarily quickly right now, both in terms of ideation, and construction.

I haven’t ever developed SP puzzles before, so I’m fumbling my way through what I’ve got so far.  I’m basically working on a “turn the power back on” puzzle, but with a slight twist (hopefully).  I have to keep slowing down and planning out the next step in the puzzle, but I think in the end it’ll turn out well.

I imagine that it won’t be long before I can’t stop myself from posting a screenshot or two.

I’ve made a ton of progress in the last two days.  I’ve got the second of about 7 warehouses just about blocked out and I’m close to starting on the next.

I’ve started a page for this project, but I’m going to keep it pretty vague for a while, until I’m pretty far along.  I’ll post screenshots eventually, story, etc.

The SP level is going well, but progress is slower than I’d like.  But this is pretty much always going to be the case.  I’ve got probably half of it planned out 90+% and the other half is basically just an idea.  But I know it’ll work.  I just need to keep plugging away.

I’m far enough along to show a screenshot.  Keep in mind that it’s not only a WIP, but that this part has been redone.  But this is a fair representation of the level so far.

Well, the different approach I discussed earlier is already paying off.  So that’s good.  Being able to walk around a place really helps to visualize what will work and what won’t.  And it’s much easier to see what needs additional polish, even from an early, blocked-out state.

I may take another stab at the TF2 map.  I’ve talked to some people and it miiiight be doable.  I have to prioritize one map over the other, but maybe a TF2 map would help me through creative dry spells on my SP map.  Or maybe it’ll just cannibalize all my time.  In any case, I haven’t done any new work on it, so this is all theory at the moment.