Duck and Cover

Thanks, Red, but after some serious trial and error reasoning I was able to create a workable sprite that looks great in-game! Hurray!!! ^_^

--EDIT: Okay, well I've got everything working smoothly now! All I need now is time to get everything finished up for the demo. Man, I never realizzed how time-consuming mapping is!--


Peace and thanks to Jimmy Jay for the Spray tutorial. BIG help, mano!

Some news:

First Off: HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

Second: Well, my little map has certainly progressed in the past week. The actual architecture is about 95% done as far the first stage is concerned. I still have enemy placement and scripting left to finish, though.

I have yet another question for all you Map Rats out there: What is the proper procedure for using invisible tiles? I've been trying to use them to get the roofs to "pop" before the player actually enters a doorway but for some reason now the roofs do not "pop" at all. Considering MOST of the map takes place indoors, this is a fairly large issue. I've re-done the occusion data about seven times trying to get some to pop but nothing seems to work. At one point the invisible tiles could actually be SEEN in normal gameplay. I'm sure there is some step I'm forgetting to use... So I'll run through the editor readme one more time, but I think I need a little bit more help here than it can provide.


Peace

I think you either have to "update tiles" or "new occlusion data".

Nope, that's what kept thinking it was. I went back and ran "New Occlusion" five times and updated the tiles used every five minutes. I've gone back and insured that I've placed the invisible tiles about eleven times now, and if I have to play through the first fifteen minutes of my map again only to find that when I enter the first building the roof cannot pop... Well, I'll probably break something...

Grr... I've about exhausted every option... All I can think of is to go ahead and finish up everything else I need, zip up the map, and send it every single Map Rat for testing and evaluation. Of course, it wouldn't be pretty... As I can't really enter buildings when I play-test there's not much I can do to test combat and scripting. Most of the map takes place indoors and NONE of the rooves pop even after you enter the building. I have checked to make sure that 'roof popping' is enabled in the editor...

JEBUS!!! I can't for the love of me figure out what's going wrong!

sigh...

Genn wrote:Nope, that's what kept thinking it was. I went back and ran "New Occlusion" five times and updated the tiles used every five minutes. I've gone back and insured that I've placed the invisible tiles about eleven times now, and if I have to play through the first fifteen minutes of my map again only to find that when I enter the first building the roof cannot pop... Well, I'll probably break something...

Grr... I've about exhausted every option... All I can think of is to go ahead and finish up everything else I need, zip up the map, and send it every single Map Rat for testing and evaluation. Of course, it wouldn't be pretty... As I can't really enter buildings when I play-test there's not much I can do to test combat and scripting. Most of the map takes place indoors and NONE of the rooves pop even after you enter the building. I have checked to make sure that 'roof popping' is enabled in the editor...

JEBUS!!! I can't for the love of me figure out what's going wrong!

sigh...

From my experience the roof popping command in the editor only affects the editor. If you want a fresh perspective on your map I'd be willing to take a look at it, as is, for you. I'm not in the same league as OTB, Endocore or the others here but I have plenty of free time at the moment.

PM me if you want me to take a look at it. Or it might be the invisible tiles have been corrupted and are not being flagged properly, check the flags in the editor, if you untick view invisible tiles they should all disappear.

Thanks for the offer Req but I think I got everything working now. I'm going to be leaving for the next couple of days to visit my aunt in Austin. I won't be able to work on the map during that time but you can all expect to see some screenshots before I go.

Stay Tuned...

Genn wrote:Thanks for the offer Req but I think I got everything working now. I'm going to be leaving for the next couple of days to visit my aunt in Austin. I won't be able to work on the map during that time but you can all expect to see some screenshots before I go.

Stay Tuned...

No probs glad you've got it sorted:)

Okay, some screenshots before I head out for Austin...

First, we have a shot from near the beggining of the map where our protagonist finds himself surrounded by the un-dead from the get-go. Note the new pistol. STI XCaliber...

Second, we have yet another screen showing off some of the new inventory and weapons I've created just for this map. New armor was also created...

Finally, we have a screen from inside one of the map's building. This screen shows off EVEN MORE of the custom weapons availible in the map. Don't worry about spoilers, though... I have about fifteen or more custom weapons for your monster-slaying enjoyment! ^_^


Peace and see y'all Monday!

Hey, those're some nice item pics! I like the new (what looks like a) key pic - the blue thing 2nd down in the inventory in the 3rd screenie. I've always wanted some new key images...

Those pics rock, things are coming along nicely

Okay, well I've gotten to a turning point in my map and it's time to make some decisions. I can either release what I have now as sort of a "demo" of my final vision OR keep working until its done and release it when I'm happy with a final product.

I'm sure some of you would like to take a peek at how things are going but I feel it sorta' ruins the atmosphere of the map to release part of it now and then the rest later. If I DO release the demo then expect to see it within the upcoming weeks on this forum. If I WAIT until the whole thing is finished then y'all can expect to see the map released to DaC during the summer.

School begins again for me tomorrow so I will not be able to work on the map as much except on every other weekend or so and on holidays.

At this point I'd like to thank those who have helped me get this far such as Jimmy Jay, Endocore, Red, and others... You know who you are! ^_^


Peace

Genn wrote:Okay, well I've gotten to a turning point in my map and it's time to make some decisions. I can either release what I have now as sort of a "demo" of my final vision OR keep working until its done and release it when I'm happy with a final product.
Peace

It's probably best to wait til it's finished, but if you want some feedback before you release it then perhaps ask a select few to playtest it.

requiem_for_a_starfury wrote:It's probably best to wait til it's finished, but if you want some feedback before you release it then perhaps ask a select few to playtest it.

I agree with RfaSF. While I've released the first phase of a demo for my own work none of the material that I'm releasing in my demo has anything whatsoever to do w/my actual work, excepting to give players a peak at the style of play they can expect from me. I agree that it can be nerve-wracking when you've been working on something for a long time w/o any input you don't want to shoot your bolt (or wad, for that matter) too soon.

OTB

Make that 3 votes for "waiting till yer done."

Yeah... I'm just gonna' wait and finish it. I'll tell y'all now though that it won't be completely finished until summertime. How long do y'all usually spend on a medium to large map?

I've been workin' on and off since Thanksgiving on my particular map and I would say it's about 50% to total completion. As I mentioned earlier, I'm kinda doing it all in stages, building out from a central area and completing each unique section of the map in entirety before moving to the next section. It's a bit daunting, I must say...

Anyhow... I guess it doesn't help that this is my first map, ever... I hadn't even LOOKED at the FO editing tools until late November.

Well... Maybe I can at least release more and more screenshots until it's done.


Peace

Genn wrote:How long do y'all usually spend on a medium to large map?

It depends, really. It usually takes me about a month or so to get the first draft of a decently sized map ready, but it can take as long as two months if it's a ruined city, which is -- of course -- nothing more than a tangled mass of clutter.

Then...comes the revision process. I can't tell you how many times I've revised my maps. I think I revised the first mission in my campaign four or five times. It's also never too late to go back and revise again. I'm over half-way done w/the mission, yet I recently took time out to build completely new and improved maps for missions 3 and 4.

I guess it's all about how much time and energy you want to sink into it, and if you're ever satisfied w/your own work.

Genn wrote:Maybe I can at least release more and more screenshots until it's done.

If I may be so bold: Don't over do it here. Too much hype can destroy even the greatest works of art simply by elevating peoples' expectations. It doesn't matter if you're talking about a DaVinci painting, a Rodin sculpture, a Kurosawa film or a FoT map, expecting too much will absolutely ruin it someone's appreciation for it.

Cheers,

OTB