Some Mapping Notes

[CPL Shepard]

[INDENT]Well, these started as written notes on post-it notes. I started these when I recognized the level of detail in GoldenEye: Source back in February, and I have yet to add more. I figured I would share what I have so far, hoping these notes will benefit newcomers. With the optimization; there is too much to add, so I summed up the basics.

  Make a Hallway Look Decent:
 - Good arches
 - Detail props
 - Wall decals/cracks
 - Radiators/pipes
 - GOOD repetition
 - "used"/occupied look
 - Shelves
 - Ceiling pipes/trusses
 - Rails
 - Frames
 - Grates over pipes
 - KEEP BRUSHWORK INTERESTING
 - Ducts/vents
 - Supports/brackets
 - Texture transitions
 - Non-playable areas
 - Unique atmosphere with lighting and sound
 - Repeating ceiling patterns
 - Trimming(s) in the ceiling/walls, depressed lights in the ceiling

Dimensions:
 - Stairs = 8/12  Width; 128
 - Def. Height = 128
  - Corridor Width = 64
 - Doors = 56 X 112
 - Air Ducts = 40 X 40
 - Any dev texture would be a great guideline for alignment

Optimizing:
 - Hint brushes (Clipped in half in a diag.)
 - Area portals
 - FUNC_DETAIL

Basic button:
 - A brush tied to a func_button with the "don't move" and "use activates" flags checked
 - In the Ouputs tab, add a new line with the "My output named" set to "OnPressed", then find the name of the entity desired, and find 
   the appropriate input via that entity to fire, with any additional parameters if necessary
 - For the button to make a sound when activated, simply scroll through the sounds listed for the "sounds" keyvalue for the func_button and click on the one you wish to use
- EXAMPLES -- To open a door: create the func_button and check off the suggested flags. Create a func_door elsewhere. To open that door, we will need to have the following output from our button: 
                OnPressed > [Name of the door] > open.     You don't need the brackets either
                        You can play around with the delay to open the door until satisfied.
   If you would like to turn a light on, you will need a "light" entity. This should be the output from the button: 
                OnPressed > [Name of the light] > TurnOn     If you want to add some effects to the light, such as a point_spotlight, you will need this output in addition to the other: 
                 OnPressed > [Name of the point_spotlight] > LightOn

Keypad:
 - NOTE-- A, B, C, D, and T are all logic_relay's while 1, 2, 3, and 4 are all func_button's on the face of a keypad prop.
 - 1 Enables then triggers A (A enables B)
 - 2 Triggers B (B enables C)
 - 3 Triggers C (C enables D)
 - 4 Triggers D (D enables then triggers T)
 - T carries out the action and acknowledges the valid code
 - Any other number disables A, B, C, and D

Lights:
 - What's seen by the player -- prop and env_sprite or point_spotlight
 - What's rendered as light -- make a light entity, setting brightness to 75-150
 - Light color -- corresponds to surrounding environment or can set the atmosphere of the area
 - Try and use a light_spot (brightness of 75) with a light entity of the same color (brightness of 10-30)

Displacements:
 - Fix for props falling through: add -novirtualmesh to compile command line

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               
               Single Player Design Theories
    
    Bounce: The player goes from point A - B to accomplish a goal at point A, but
        has to go back to Point A, re-navigating the path (new obstacles?)
    Pros (+)
    - Less work for the designer as it all takes place on one route
    - The same enviornment eventually becomes familiar to the player, making it easy to navigate to point A
    - It's possible to add obstacles to get to Point B and back to A
    Cons (-)
    - If not implemented properly, this can be taken as poor backtracking
    - There is no "illusion of choice", as in there is only ONE way back to Point A
    
    EXAMPLES: 
    - Anomalous Materials/Unforeseen Consequences (Half-Life 1)
       - Very dramatic contrast between pre and post disaster
       - After the resonance cascade, the player is still able to make their was from point B to C, rather than A to B (Point A is destroyed and inaccesable at this point)
    - Route Kanal (Half-Life 2)
       - Canal doors block the linear path
       - Point A (Outside the warehouse) to Point B (switch for the canal doors), shoot barrels, causing heavy beams to act as a battering ram
    - Highway 17 (Half-Life 2)
       - The player must go from point A (outside the houses nearest the bridge) and fight their way to point B (control room on the other side of the bridge)
       - On the way there, they risk falling off the trusses, while on the way back they must fight the gunship
       - Once accomplished, the player can use the buggy on top of the bridge to progress (and avoid that damn train)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Loop: The player starts and ends in the same or closely related positions. However, 
          they must trek through a series of challenges and obstaccles to acquire 
          essential elements to continue on to the end, with a many pros, such as illusion
          of choice.
    Pros (+)
    - Illusion of Choice: While the level is obviously designed in a linear way, it is possible
      to add possibilities to either distract the player or guide them to their goal in an interesting way.
    - Immersion: Players can revist locations and routes.
    - Resources: The path will LOOP, using fewer resources (time, file size) 
    - Essential Question: Would you rather create 3 rooms where the player spends 5 minutes in each one, or one large room
                  where the player spends 15 minutes?
    - Guidance: Overly non-linear can be bad by giving the player too many choices.
           - Overly linear can be bad by making progression feel fake, predictable, and boring.
          - Blend the two together to give the player choices, but provide some in-game hints to guide them back to their intended path.
    Cons (-)
    - Use them for small locations, such as a bulding, rather than a whole city. Highway 17 and Water Hazard were consistent
      to give the player the feeling of evasion from City 17.
    
    EXAMPLES:
    - Questionable Ethics (Half-Life 1)
       - We begin in a room with a scanner, and we know only friendly NPC's can activate them
       - The whole level is now a search for scientists with retinal scanner access
       - Over time, the level is opened up, as we go upstairs to activate the laser to break a wall and fall into the storage room behind the scientists.
       - Taking one of the scientists through the labs and corridors, you will eventually reach your goal of opening the doors with the scanner
    - Metastsis 1 (Half-Life 2 Episode 1 Mod)
       - The beam is the global landmark of where our goal is
       - A consecutive series of 3 gates obstruct our path, each one requiring a different solution
       - After all three gates are opened, and after exploration and battle, you finally make it down to follow the mysterious beam emitted from the sky
    - Water Hazard (Half-Life 2)
       - the goal is to open the closed floodgate
       - Parking the water boat by the control tower will prove useful in a moment
       - the player must navigate through the complex structure and cargo yard to reach the control tower
       - To keep the trek intense, you have metropolice and a hunter chopper on your ass
       - Once the gate is opened via the control tower, you are able to jump down to your boat and go on through 

Additions are welcome, as always.
[/INDENT]

[Zally13]

Make sure to note that you should be using light_spot for lighting instead of regular light entities. They suck.

[Miigga]

Why not just make 40x40 airducts? The vent model is that size.

Also, the light colour shouldn't just "correspond to the surrounding environment", it can also set the atmosphere of the area.

Also it's spelled "repetition" and "arches"

Also isn't a keypad a bit too specific to add to some "mapping notes" list like this

Also to the above poster: light entities with low brightness look good when used with light_spots

[Sphinxa279]

[QUOTE=Miigga]Also isn't a keypad a bit too specific to add to some "mapping notes" list like this[/QUOTE]

This, just explain how to make a simple button which will turn on a light or open a door, that's what the newbies need to know, important stuff like that.

[CPL Shepard]

[QUOTE=Miigga;22458441]Why not just make 40x40 airducts? The vent model is that size.

Also, the light colour shouldn't just "correspond to the surrounding environment", it can also set the atmosphere of the area.

Also it's spelled "repetition" and "arches"

Also isn't a keypad a bit too specific to add to some "mapping notes" list like this

Also to the above poster: light entities with low brightness look good when used with light_spots[/QUOTE]

Fixed the spelling. I don't know how I missed that. Anyways, I appreciate the feedback. I added a bit more to the list.

[killer89]

Note to optimization - category:

DONT use OB-source's reflective mirror or projected textures.
(Trust me, they will butt rape low end machines, which is fun, actually.)

[Sphinxa279]

[QUOTE=killer89;22483893]Note to optimization - category:

DONT use OB-source's reflective mirror or projected textures.
(Trust me, they will butt rape low end machines, which is fun, actually.)[/QUOTE]

Then for us with nice computers it's marvellous :v:

[mrmr]

Thanks for sharing with us, much appreciated!

[killer89]

[QUOTE=sphinxa279;22483907]Then for us with nice computers it's marvellous :v:[/QUOTE]

Exactly.

Same thing with particles;
You can buttrape low end rig so easily with them, while they work like a dream on nice rigs.

[Sphinxa279]

God bless custom built PCs...

[killer89]

[QUOTE=sphinxa279;22485841]God bless custom built PCs...[/QUOTE]

Amen.

[CPL Shepard]

Ba-Bump. Updated the notes, added more. Sorry for the 6-month bump.

[MadPro119]

Nice notes, most of this most people should already know but signleplayer stuff is definitely interesting!

[Hawx]

Nice notes, Have a heart; [img]http://www.1337upload.net/files/heart.png[/img]

[Knutmora]

I'll take a closer look next time i'm mapping.

[salmonmarine]

I have discovered that using dev textures for starting out is great. It helps alignment, and after texturing you can use the "replace" feature to replace your dev textures with nodraw, so every possible face that is not seen is nodrawn.

[CPL Shepard]

Ah, yes. Dev textures are extremely helpful with alignment. Something that I overlooked, thanks.

[salmonmarine]

[QUOTE=CPL Shepard;26595682]Ah, yes. Dev textures are extremely helpful with alignment. Something that I overlooked, thanks.[/QUOTE]

Well that's not the main point I was making. The idea is that you use dev textures, but after you've textured the map, you have little bits of dev textures that you don't see hanging around. You use the texture application tool's "Replace" feature to switch those textures you never see into NoDraw, so the game doesn't waste resources rendering thing's you'll never see in-game.

[CPL Shepard]

Actually, the way I do it is I start off with all nodraw, using a reasonable scale to build main parts of a map. I then switch over to dev textures to get a final alignment and then I replace it with real textures. Your tactic works too. The editor allows for a few ways of accomplishing a simple goal, it all depends on preference. Gotta love it.

[MetricMoose]

If you're younger (High school), take some form of construction tech / woodshop class at school. Knowing how studs, roofs and floors are laid out can be really helpful information when designing buildings in maps.

[Dr. Oswald]

[QUOTE=benjgvps;26597650]If you're younger (High school), take some form of construction tech / woodshop class at school. Knowing how studs, roofs and floors are laid out can be really helpful information when designing buildings in maps.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. Also i have a habit of making rooms contain things they should logically need (vents, light switches, heating etc.) depending on the particular room/genre/time period etc. and [i]actually try to make them work like they should[/i].

It's not a must of course, but i feel it really adds another level to maps when a player spots something and wonders "Well this should work... i wonder if it actually does..." and it reacts like you would expect.

[CPL Shepard]

[QUOTE=benjgvps;26597650]If you're younger (High school), take some form of construction tech / woodshop class at school. Knowing how studs, roofs and floors are laid out can be really helpful information when designing buildings in maps.[/QUOTE]
I have two years of High School and all of college ahead of me. I will take this into consideration, in addition to my pursuit in music. Thank you.

[salmonmarine]

What also helps is when your mother is an architect and you ask her to bring home some architecture textbooks. And also my art class is working on perspective, and I'm super good at it because my past experiences in mapping. If you don't already, draw every day and practice perspective drawing.