Pulling your hair out?
Spooge
Thunderbolt missile in your cheerios Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 67Members
Thunderbolt missile in your cheerios Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 67Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Don't re-invent the wheel</div>I've been trying to find some inspiration for my current mapping project and I stumbled across David Johnston's <a href="http://www.planethalflife.com/davej/" target="_blank">web site</a>. He's written a really good article about easing the anxiety that mappers sometimes experience when trying to improve the visual quality in their maps. I thought it was a good read so if you're taking a break from the daily "grind", check it out <a href="http://www.planethalflife.com/davej/detail_versus_design.htm" target="_blank">here.</a>
Comments
I also disagree completely that details do not contribute to atmosphere. Perhaps he was just misusing the word, and this is a semantic argument. While tiny brush details may not be <i>necessary</i> for good, fast-paced gameplay (ie: CS), a game like NS, where mood and atmosphere play such a critical role, even a map with the most smooth and fast connectivity and best "gameplay", as Dave puts it, will not be the same enjoyable experience if it is featureless, bright, and lacking in those details. NS is by nature, a slower-paced game, where players have more time to absorb their environment, rather than rushing around and dropping everyone with headshots. In CS, every solid piece of a map feels more or less like an obstacle, so there is good reason to minimize brush details. NS play shouldn't have this same feel.
In his article, he also doesn't make any distinction between brush detail and texture detail. No, I wouldn't spend <i>my</i> time creating handles/etc. from brushes, but there is no reason whatsoever why details like this can't be <i>simulated</i> through good texture details. You can pack in an unbelievable amount of visual detail into a very low-poly room through creative use of textures.
There is also a strong argument that mapping is an artistic endeavor, therefore whatever time a mapper decides to spend on tidying up details/alignment/whatever is time well spent. However, I am sure he was really trying to direct his essay towards amateur mappers with aims of someday doing commercial work, so I won't belabor the 'art' issue.
<!--EDIT|Relic25|Feb. 06 2002,18:53-->
I, myself, am rather obsessed with detail. But, as you mentioned, I believe it can be done without total reliance on brushwork. (Especially when you have such an awesome selection of textures... <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo--> ) Lighting detail (again, like you mentioned) is also extremely important. It is always the lighting that tells me if it is a professional or amateur level. That's why I like ns_bast so much... from the looks of the lighting, I'd swear you were a professional designer.
Overall, I think that what dave was trying to convey was that just because your level isn't detailed down to the bolts on a pipe, and their corresponding washers, it doesn't make it a <i>bad</i> level.
Not that detail as a whole does not matter in level design.
Take this analogy. If you look at a "masterpiece" painting that is part of the realism / Neoclassical movement, at a glance, they look absolutely amazing. Consciously, you will not immediately pick up on the way the artist has spent a long time making sure the smallest folds in the fabric are equisite, or how the fingers are painstakenly drawn, or how things in the background receive enourmous amounts of time and so forth. However, if the artist did not spend such efforts, you might not be able to put your finger on it right away, but the painting will "feel" off. Sure it may still look good, but it won't convince you as much as one superbly detailed.
Thus, if we apply this to mapping, extraordinary efforts to atmosphere will have a stronger suspension of disbelief and draw the player in much more. This doesn't of course mean load up on thousands of polys, but encompasses everything from brushes, to layout, to textures, to sound ambience, sprites, entities and so forth.