Wedge's Mapping Thread - What are YOU working on?

[Wedge]

Some of you might remember the thread I published a while ago about mapping in sketchup (if not, here it is again). Anyway, I figured I'd start mapping again, so I've got another thread set up. This time I'm not following any particular schedule, nor do I have any particular maps in mind, I'm just going to post previews of what I'm making as I work on them.

For those of you interested in my setup, this is basically my workflow:

1. Basic layout on tracing paper with pencil, or google sketchup.
2. Model in sketchup, export to vmf using l4d2 exporter.
3. Open in Crafty, export to map.
4. Open in Torque Constructor, slap dev textures on everything, export to .dif.
5. Photograph or scan things I want to use as textures.
6. Make the textures tileable in GIMP.
7. Texture in Torque Constructor, export to .dif.

Here's a couple of screenshots of what I did today.



Did a little practice to figure out the size of blocks in Sketchup. Turns out a baseplate is 512 inches x 512 inches x 6.4 inches in sketchup (giant baseplates, right). This is really useful in determining scale for stuff.


Not really prepared to show off this map or discuss it yet (it's a TDM map), but the thing highlighted in blue is the concept for a storage tank I had, it's going to serve as a prop in a kind of fake 3d skybox for Blockland. I'm going to try and export it tonight and see how it looks in game.

On my todo list I've got a test map to make for interiors and I'm planning on releasing the long awaited sequel (for me anyway) to [TDM] Ocean Platforms later next week. Did you know I made the original TDM Platforms before I even owned the retail version of Blockland? I modeled it in v0002 and then tested it in the demo version of Blockland to get around not having the map editor in the demo.

That's all I've got right now. I'll leave the thread open to any questions, comments, or criticism. So, what are you working on?

[Ad Bot]

[_Dark_]

All these map threads make me eager to get working on another map. Anyways I like how it's going. This will turn out great.

[Wedge]

Thanks for the comment.

I've done some more work on the tanks, here's how they look in Blockland.





The map they're in is the test map I just made. It's not really that interesting, just a green grid and blue sky with bright lighting. It's convenient for me though, I can just export interiors straight to the test folder and they'll show up in the mission editor.

[Frostbyte]

Awesome, It's been a while since we had a map made for TDMs.

[Furling]

awesome!

[Marcem]

I prefer to use Hammer to make the geometry, just because it's much easier to use with brushes.  Now just if I could have the L4D2/Portal 2 instance system for Blockland maps...

[Oasis]

Wedge's organization is climaxic.

[Wehrmacht]

its a shame you didn't finish the house.

[Wedge]

I did finish it, I intentionally released just the frame because that's how I wanted the map.

[Wehrmacht]

I did finish it, I intentionally released just the frame because that's how I wanted the map.

!

[Wedge]

!

http://forum.returntoblockland.com/dlm/viewFile.php?id=798

It's actually been over a year since I did any mapping. Anyway, I'm going out of town for a couple of days, I'll update the thread at the end of the week, hopefully with some screenshots of TDM Ocean Platforms 2 - now with less grass and sized to actually fit baseplates. I'm thinking of making the area 256x256, but if anyone has any other suggestions I'd be happy to try it out.

[Wedge]

Sorry no update today. I came home tired and slept in, then got caught up experimenting with 123D, which you can read about in my thread. Now I need to go study for a history final. If anybody has a copy of my old ocean platforms map could you please PM it to me so I can reuse the textures? Otherwise I'll have to make new ones.

[Packer]

Not exactly Blockland but relevant I suppose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrY33tD-f0Q
I've bee doing some recordings of me working on my demo reel, this is just a set of videos of the process of me working on making a level from scratch.

[Derroith]

wait wait wait, the tankers are going to be blocko sized? That would be kind of cool, low lag maps with nearly no bricks would be nice.

[Wedge]

wait wait wait, the tankers are going to be blocko sized? That would be kind of cool, low lag maps with nearly no bricks would be nice.

Yeah, they're scaled to about the size of a minifig. I use two scales when I work, human scale and minifig scale. Minifig scale basically means it's at actual size of the minifig, so if I modeled a house in this scale and you walked in it, a chair would be just big enough for a minifig to sit in and you could probably only fit a 2x2 or so in the chair. Human scale is our scale, so if I modeled a house and you walked in it you could probably put a couple baseplates on a chair.

This particular map is going to be at the scale of minifigs, so the tanks will be big because these are giant fuel tanks, about the size of half a grain silo, but they're not going to be human sized, where they'd be absolutely enormous and one tank would probably fill 3/4 of the map.

Not exactly Blockland but relevant I suppose.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrY33tD-f0Q
I've bee doing some recordings of me working on my demo reel, this is just a set of videos of the process of me working on making a level from scratch.

That's actually pretty cool, thanks for sharing. I thought it was interesting how you used the orange box for scale in the second video. Maybe I'll scan some of my sketches and record a video or two of me making a map. It's also interesting to see what things we do differently and what we do the same. I came from an engineering drafting background, and when I think about stuff in 3d it's probably a little different than someone who came from a game design background. I guess the most telling difference is that I'm more comfortable with solids than meshes.