Mapper/level designer in need of a home..... cc LDAsh

[DeeP]

Hey guys!
My Quake4 mapper name is *DeeP*
I had some conversation with LDAsh recently on getting involved in the projects , and it's an exciting thing! so instead of re-typing the whole thing... I'll provide the transcript of what was said:

Hey, great to hear from you.

Your maps are quality, so don't worry. They are very Quake-style though, so if you like it or not, you can break free of that style in place of something more like perhaps Half-Life 2.
The Quake 4 project I have going will require some different styles and tricks, but at the same time you can have more detail and higher-res textures, and more open-space. We have a technique that allows large open-ended areas to be culled at a distance, so it's great relief for mappers working on the outdoor areas.
We also have another project, a hovercraft racing game, which now uses the Quake 3 Arena engine, so editing is almost exactly like Doom3/Quake 4, if you're interested in that project too/instead. That may have more appeal in terms of how quickly it will come together and be playable. The FPS project is still a long way from being ready, but the racing game is pretty close to beta already. Despite being different games, they are both very similar technically and visually, that it's possible to work on both at the same time and create things that both projects can use.

So, if you have a look around the website and forum and decide they are the right projects for what you want to do, we'd be very happy to have you on board. If medieval stuff is more your interest, I'd recommend you to "The Dark Mod" or "Hexen: Edge Of Chaos" because they really need help, otherwise welcoming you into my team would be a great honour for me. Just let me know.***************************************************

Hey LDAsh! Thanks for responding.
I hope you had a chance to check out my maps and screens I sent you...

Q4 DM "Vented " and "KORTIZONE" -two of the most recent maps I've done.
yes they are very Quakish LOL, although I have no problem with designing maps with a more half-life 2-ish feel to them.
I feel that I'm a bit of an eye-candy mapper, but I won't sacrifice playability for it.
I do lean towards a map that gives a WOW factor in some measure...
I believe we play games to be purposely drawn into a new world, and "wowed" in a way that we can't recieve in our daily lives. I'ts where we can set our imaginations free, and explore the "what ifs' "
But enough of my poetic drivel. I am interested in helping you and your team in whatever way I can, and hopefully give you results that everyone can be pleased with, in whatever genre
whether it be gothic, medevil, digi-tech (medlabs/space station style), sword and stone - or pure reality ( down by 5th and Main near the drug store style)
So, I apreciate your consideration for getting me involved , it will give purpose to the passion I have for mapping!
Thank you....... So what's next?... want me to map the earth 1 to 1 scale? LOL
-
some personal history;
mapped Doom using the *DEEP* editor,
mapped Duke Nukem 3D using the internal editor
mapped Quake4/Doom3 using internal editor

have NOT mapped using unreal or half-life 2 , although I have viewed tutorials on them both.

So, Greetings to all!
DeeP

[LDAsh]

Welcome! I've given you full access to the forum now, and also added you to my YIM contacts, so there's basically nothing you can't find out about the projects. Like I'd say to everyone, what you end up doing should be 99% what YOU _want_ to be doing, and both 3D project cater to this with varying themes. Not only themes, but what components of the themes you'd like to do. If you'd like to do some 3D modelling or 2D stuff instead of mapping, you're very welcome. We'll need to chat about that.

For Shadowing Hate mappers, I suggest a small deathmatch or tourney 1v1 map that could fit into that category for multiplayer, something that would be good for 2-4 players and won't take forever to get done. There's some info you'll want to read in the private development sections of the forum, to catch up on our techniques and some of the new standards our projects will be using over the original engines and their games.

To try to sum it all up, I'd say it's a cross between "digi-tech (medlabs/space station style)" and "pure reality ( down by 5th and Main near the drug store style)", moreso for the Quake IV FPS, Shadowing Hate. There's a lot to read about that project, a bunch of concepts and "storyboards", plus some films you could watch that capture some of the concepts and visuals that inspired the project in the first place.
For Chaos Circuits, it will all be pretty high-tech but there's room for ANYTHING (even medieval at some point) because it is just a light-hearted racing game where the realism and authenticity doesn't need to be so dominating in any design, there's room to be more inventive in CC as opposed to SH.

So have a look and read, make yourself at home, and when you're ready we can chat about exactly what you'd like to be doing.

[DeeP]

Thanks LDAsh, I'll browse around and read up on shadowing hate.... hope to get the full story and premise about that one, it sounds pretty cool- who's concept was it? Is this one your vision?

DeeP

[DeeP]

P.S. you said
"what you end up doing should be 99% what YOU _want_ to be doing,"

ugh, I'm not used to that kind of freedom .... I'm married.

DeeP

[LDAsh]

who's concept was it? Is this one your vision?

Yeah, I came up with the idea about 8 years ago now, for a very short and quick FPS game where you play a cybernetically enhanced special agent, who suffers mental problems from the neural technology, who gets caught up in the wrong gunfight and has the whole city, police, civillians and security infrastructure, turn against him, because he's suddenly considered a criminal by the "system" that controls the city, and the player, that 1 guy, gets caught between both police and criminals. That was the general premise for a quick and brainless Serious Sam type game. It's since grown into something with a deeper background and political motives and a storyline that tries to make sense of everything, plus 4 extra chapters on top of that first city chapter, plus all these ideas to push RPG elements and tactical shooter elements into the brute of Quake IV, but the basic idea remains the same. It's been heavily influenced by "Deus Ex", but the first idea came from playing the Chicago level in "Perfect Dark 64". The idea is supposed to be a whole lot like the "System Shock" games but I never played those. If you play those games, you probably already understand Shadowing Hate enough to work on it.

[DeeP]

oh ya.... I get it - and it sounds like a cool concept, and alot of looking over your shoulder!

P.S. * you play a cybernetically enhanced special agent, who suffers mental problems from the neural technology" ROFL !

[LDAsh]

P.S. * you play a cybernetically enhanced special agent, who suffers mental problems from the neural technology" ROFL !

Heheh yeah, it sounds pretty funny I guess, but it's a serious point to the storyline and the player. If you have implants that allow you to see thermal signatures beyond actual light signatures, or night vision, well ain't that cool we'd all love that and we're just like Predator hum yups, but I find all that really taken for granted, how many concepts like this work flawlessly every time? Fuck that. This shit would be pretty damn scary in reality, and would _NOT_ work flawlessly at all.
"Uh, just a cup of coffee and bagel plea*bzzt*ARGH MY EYES!!!! THEY BURRRN!!!"
Well, not quite like that, but "special agents" like this are always overdone, sometimes SO overdone with gadgetry and special powers they forget the human element, how the human psychology isn't ready for these wonderful things integrated with our biology, and the companies making these gadgets are -businesses- who WILL cost-cut the stuff down for maximum profit. What's that? Oh yeah, of course they know people will suffer and die, hahahah, ah, you thought they have what you call it? Morals? Heheee, aw how cute.

So anyway yeah, the player is a bit like a guinea pig, and will not just have to worry about being stuck between cops 'n robbers, but also the funky tick-tocks up his (or maybe her) brains going all haywire. At the moment, the psychological problems would be triggered by "friendly-fire", so that's the "game logic" behind it, although I find it a bit weak, I'm still trying to decide what should control the player's "sanity" meter. Not sure what other game does this so I don't know an example to give, but for sure the Doom3 engine can handle zapping the player in and out of disturbing sequences seamlessly, as we know. It would probably be just a little more funny if you weren't seeing your father's screaming decaying decapitated head floating in front of you all of a sudden.

[DeeP]

LOL, you've definately thot alot about this. Hey maybe ther reason for his escaslating insanity ( or hillucinations) is because of some embedded technology in his brain stem, could it be actually leaching into his nervous system?...
- DeeP

[LDAsh]

Those are some interesting points, but I wanted to stay away from the "taking meds" Max Payne style, or anything even remotely like that, I'd like to keep it purely neurological, not chemical, so the only way to become okay (without becoming a zombie vegetable) is to play the game right, get your levels right, so, nothing you can collect and pop anytime. I'd also like to avoid any protective implants, so it means the player will have all kinds of cool abilities, but nothing that will prevent a bullet hole.
This thread is giving away a whole lot more than I'd like at the moment so I'll save any more ranting and look forward to your opinions and ideas in other areas.

[DeeP]

sorry

[LDAsh]

Why? I'm the one doing the yabbering!

[Dark Knight ez]

Now I feel like I've been reading highly classified stuff. :p
Good ideas/concepts all around though.

[DeeP]

lol