What will you make?

[Farrowlesparrow]

Im curious as to what will be the first maps people will be making. Something i always wanted to do but never could in HL 1 was to make a big open desert road or possibly a huge bridge like the one seen in the dried up sea bed video. After that i think i will move onto more complex maps but it would be nice to jsut see the open terrain.

 

[righte0us]

I never got into mapping really, did a couple with Worldcraft but nothing special. I think now with the new Hammer it should be easier to map and mod right? maybe I'll give it another go and try building my own apartment, neighberhood :E

 

[SidewinderX]

the key ot an exxellent map is exellent modelers...if you want a map with tone sof great details, you need a modeler to make those details....

 

[AndersJ]

the key ot an exxellent map is exellent modelers...if you want a map with tone sof great details, you need a modeler to make those details....

Ehm I would say that the geometry on the map + textures and lighting is the important stuff...a map don't need lots of details to look good really.
But it sure opens up a lot more ways if you are able to make your own models, or have someone that makes em.

 

[SpamSaviour]

I'd agree with the geometry part being the most important.

You can have a square room with all the details and fancy lighting in the world but it doesn't mean it will play well.

 

[FAWN]

Originally posted by Farrowlesparrow
Im curious as to what will be the first maps people will be making.

Physics tests. Lots and lots of physics tests.

 

[Murray_H]

lol yeah thats what i'm going to dabble with first, perhaps a giant catapault made out of wooden planks and matresses for the projectiles Or maybe just literally loads of matresses balanced on a plank of wood, shoot it out and wheeeeeee!

 

[BlazeKun]

The stuff we can be making is amazing! I would love to try and make a working pinball machine! :cheese: Hopefully the new hammer will let me make the tiny details... it would be impossible to make details that small in HL.

Edit> Hmm... now that I think about it, it would be possible to make a working pinball machine without the tiny details... CHEAT! Use the video camera seen in the demo and put that up as the glass! then you could basically make it any size you want and it would work! This could also be used to make working TV's :afro:

 

[SidewinderX]

i plan to do a room as seen in Matrix: Reloaded, with just a wall of tvs all around and a caemra looking at you.

 

[LTA]

Some Kind of Ship Yard.... i wann try many of those features i seen in the video (Falling Containers, Cranes and scaffolds).

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Oooooh the matrix tv's that sound like fun.


Im gonna make a building out of barrels stacked up and then im gonna role a huge rock into it or something. Maybe i will put it on wooden stilts.

 

[Stitch]

Something I will be doing for Hostile Freedom is creating a beach; something out of Saving Private Ryan. The beach operation is critical to the overall story and it must be done right and I believe I can achieve this with the Source engine. Minute-detail will play a big role in Hostile Freedom and will be used in full force with our maps.

 

[Dux]

A Large Dam, possibly the one from Half-Life 1

Lots of TNT, lots of water on one side

Then a big big bang.

 

[Punisher454]

Im curious as to what will be the first maps people will be making.

Some of My first maps will be physics test maps, and AI test maps.
Another map I plan to make is a model and weapon test map that will be basicly a series of hallways with signs pointing to different departments. Such as, Weapons, Character models, Vehicles, World objects etc...


When you go to the apropriate area, you'll walk down a corridor with rooms on both sides. All will have a standard sign above the doorway (whose texture will be the label of the object that is present in that room). This will be like a storehouse/museum of all the models in the game. It will be just a convienet way to see/test things out in a real map. It'll be easy to keep everything organized and can be updated and shared by mod team members.
For example in the weapons area you'll have all the weapons labeled and in one area to test and compare. There will be a shooting range to test the animations and effects.

Anyhow that'll be My first map for HL2.

The Punisher

 

[kawai]

i think everybody needs to learn all the features of hammer before we start mapping cus you will b disapointed at all the thing you cant do when you map and also you need to make custom textures to fit in on different objects in order for them to look pro.

and i think that a big open area map will not be very good cus it will use up lots of ram and you will end up with 20fps if you want to see an example of this you can play de_rats on counter-strike ;(

 

[Dux]

Originally posted by kawai
and i think that a big open area map will not be very good cus it will use up lots of ram and you will end up with 20fps

What gives you that idea? Do you have much experience with Worldcraft? The version of Worldcraft that is used to make Half-Life 2 levels has been revamped in the code department beyond belife. You could create an area so large with it - and still have it compile. That is a distant dream for the Worldcraft that is now.

This is the reknowed Editor for Half-Life 2. You will be able to do anything with it.

 

[simmo]

lol, knowbody knows a big open area will run like crap or run smooth, no-one has played it around here!

 

[Private Snafu]

Originally posted by SidewinderX143
the key ot an exxellent map is exellent modelers...if you want a map with tone sof great details, you need a modeler to make those details....

If you read the write up for my mod, I talk about using in game objects as weapons (kerosene lamps, powderkegs, etc.). I was hoping to give a high level of interactivity to levels in "The Wild West". For example, if you see lamp, you should be able to pour the kerosene out and set it on fire (similiar to the gas can in Postal 2). If there's a water tower and your the Explosives Expert, you should be able to place dynamite at the base of one the water towers legs, blow the leg out and have the tower come crashing down on an unspecting enemy. Also, it would be cool if say on an Indian vs Army fort defense map, if the indians could launch fire arrows and catch parts of the fort on fire (of course the fort would have a well, so you would then have to put those fires out). I know Mr. Newel said "it sounds like wood, looks like wood, floats like wood, and if you shoot it, it will fragment like wood". I'd like to know if it will burn like wood.

 

[h3nkoS]

The first thing I will dop will be a test map where I try out the program to see how to use it and learn the tricks of the trade (ie. making good lighting and learning all the tools etc.)

Then once i got the techniques down I could start a serious map where i try to perfect the use of textures and models and gameplay.

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Originally posted by simmo2k3
lol, knowbody knows a big open area will run like crap or run smooth, no-one has played it around here!

But we've seen the demo of the vehicle and that looked like a pretty big map to me. That was running smoothly. But your right we cant make any statements like they are facts because we havent seen the game yet.

On another note im just wondering how water will function in halflife 2. Like that dam idea. Will the water just flow out like in real life, because something like that would be pretty advanced and probably (cant be sure though) take up fair bit of memory.

 

[EVIL]

I think I will make my school as a map. that would be sweet. Or my house. or one of those "honey I shrunk the kids" map

and offcourse loads of psychics test's

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Physics tests! Every time someone mentions it I drool over the keyboard. I cant wait to set up things like the traps seen in the videos. It would be fun to do something out of 'Return of the Jedi' with the logs. You could have them swinging into strider's.

 

[Jagermeister]

I'm gonna be making a map of my house. It'll have tons of stuff to do physics tests. I don't know why, but I just wanna make maps of all the places I've been.

 

[derby]

Besides the obligatory physics tests the first thing i'm going to do is make a race track. Large map, track marked out will barrels, jumps, maybe even a vertical loop. Then I'll spend the next few hours rippin' about in a dune buggy.

 

[resdog]

id so love to see someone make a Resident Evil or Night of the Living Dead mod for Half-Life 2.

For me, it would be something action packed...a map swarmed with zombies / soldiers and me in my vehicle driving down the main street attempting to avoid all the enemies coming from various directions...id have to run them over and shoot them..but it would fun as anything

 

[Andy]

Definitly agree with the physics test maps. I would especially like to make a room full of structures of made out of different materials, like a concrete bunker or a wooden watchtower, so I could really see what the game woul do if I say, shot one of the legs out.

After that, lets face it: fragmenting materials, good AI, excelent particle effects, awesome lighting; its got to be a matrix lobby scene.

Then I'd probably do some kind of race course (now *totally* feasible!) which involved driving a buggy through flamming rings and stacks of crates.

HL2 is going to rock!

 

[ComradeBadger]

All those people who reckon that large, outdoor maps don't work in HL, they do, i made a shanty town and that was outdoors, all it takes is a few tricks and they run fine, Vavle could make huge maps, and so can you, all it takes is a few tricks....

 

[JunkieXL]

remake the tech demo :dork:

but I'm sure atleast 5 people will make it before me, so no point.

 

[Andy]

more like 500

 

[SpoBo]

lol i'd propably make a huge brick hanging on a rope so that if i shoot the rope it'll fall on a bunch of models lol can't wait to see the engines variety .. a little testing the water too and stuff .. looks REALY good .. and propably a huge wooden map lol sounds cool.

 

[Nostradamus]

i would wanna make a snow mp...uhhh cant wait..snooow!!!

 

[avalanche]

snow was do-able in hl1 using sprites!

definitely have fun with hl2 but make sure we check out every single entity and exactly what it does. knowing the engine and its capabilities and limits will make your maps way better...


CAN'T WAIT!! :bounce:

 

[Gojin]

I'm gonna make a house out of water, and then a glass ceiling with a soda machine on top, then you shoot out the ceiling and i'll have a bounce pad under the soda machine, and make it smash into the water house, causing one bigggg splash.

 

[Stone]

all though i'm no mapper, I'm going to make some test maps, to see how models react to different scenarios...
and I'll also want to make the honda (i think) advert...should be fun to make

and maybe just a long hole, with a large rock on a rope at the top and different materials and objects in the way on the way down to see how they react to the different materials.. etc

 

[82ross]

First thing ill do is duplicate the stalker demo with the stack of ladders to demo its physics engine, just to compare. Then ill do what everyone else does.

Test all materials. Model interaction. Catapults. Fire. Water. Television+Camera. Vehicles.

Might make a rats game which is just a bowling alley and the bowling ball is me in a car.

Might try rocket jumping instead using the gravity gun.

Make a massive outdoor concert setting with a giant screen made up of little screens. Maybe the odd laser.

The racetrack with a loop is a good idea, bit like "hard drivin" or something on the atari st.

Then probably make my house again and change it into all wood then just demolish it from within. Wonder if you die when you knock your walls down and the roof caves in on you. Are we expecting too much from this engine?

 

[Murray_H]

Make a massive outdoor concert setting with a giant screen made up of little screens. Maybe the odd laser

that sounds quite good!

 

[green1152]

hmmm, since I am in the mod called LoS, I will be mapping all of the Inchon invaion beaches. Green, Red, Blue. Then I will go on to other famous korean battles.

 

[xXSMGXx]

Hey dont forget to make FY_ICEWORLD2k3 ! wooterz

 

[SidewinderX]

omg no. lol. thats was acxtually pretty fun...

I wanna make a level entirly out of wood. like a 20 story sky scrpamade out of wood.

 

[monte]

Originally posted by kawai
i think everybody needs to learn all the features of hammer before we start mapping cus you will b disapointed at all the thing you cant do when you map and also you need to make custom textures to fit in on different objects in order for them to look pro.

and i think that a big open area map will not be very good cus it will use up lots of ram and you will end up with 20fps if you want to see an example of this you can play de_rats on counter-strike ;(

Low FPS arn't caused by lack of ram, they're caused by (in this case) no vis blocking, and being able to see and render all the w and epolies at once rather than in a map like... oh say... cs_dust, if we're talking about Counter-Strike.


As for my first REAL map, i'll be working on my "28 Days Later" mod, and will be doing few blocks of England, i already got a map of what it is like over there.

Before that i'll probably try and find out what the limitations of the engine are, ie - How many polies can the engine render at once, how many tv's can be the output of one camera etc etc.