To be completely honest, I've been making maps for Half-Life engine games since 1998. (Doom II before that) I've learned all I can from editing in the Source engine, today I only feel like it is holding me back. For one thing, Left 4 Dead maps require a HUGE INVESTMENT of your time. You aren't making 'maps' when it comes to L4D editing.. you are literally making what other companies would sell as a complete DLC add-on. They are called campaigns for a reason, and it's not only because they are made of more than one map... L4D authors have to consider MANY more facets of game design than your traditional level designer working on a TF2 map. Just the huge amount of configuration you have to do, between all the scripts, nav meshes, PAK file .ini settings, directory structure, and how every custom asset requires very specific location setup with very specific material text files, etc, etc... it just takes forever to get anything done.
I've since moved on. I now work with Unity 3D making 3D worlds I can explore in the Oculus Rift and where custom assets are ridiculously easy to add. Though Unity 3D has the absolute WORST level editor experience. (tip: it has no level editor, it completely relies on you building EVERYTHING as models-- unless you purchase a third party add-on like ProBuilder which is another can of worms but which is at least getting better every week...) On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 4:19 PM, Alexis H <drboo...@gmail.com> wrote: > Ah yes and additionally: I have a fair amount of friends who love MvM for > TF2 and they love testing custom maps. So the temptation to move on to TF2 > mapping is very big. > I'll just have to learn how to make the cartoonesque TF2 style textures > with good ol' Photoshop :-) > It's actually harder than making realistic textures. > > - Alex > > > On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 10:15 PM, Alexis H <drboo...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > It's a shame, but I understand you guys. > > It' snot that L4D is more difficult to map for, it's just so much more > > work. If it was my full time job I'd do it gladly, but unfortunately, it > > isn't. It's not only the fact that it's 4-5 maps, but also the fact that > > L4D take splace in a post-apocalyptic world. Everything is supposed to > look > > like a dirty, messy wasteland as opposed to a clean, tidy world. > > And we all know that mapping a wasteland demands more detailing work that > > mapping something that is clean. > > > > And then of course, there's the fact that even with Valve's featuring of > > custom campaigns, people still tend to stay away from them. I don't know > > why. They're probably scared to play something different than No Mercy > and > > Dead Center I guess. > > > > It's really a shame because L4D2 is a kickass game and I still want to > > finish my campaign some day. I just have no idea if I'll muster up enough > > courage and time to actually finish it before L4D2 becomes too old for > > people to still be interested. > > > > Chet, if you're reading this, do you have any opinion? > > > > - Alex > > > > > > On Thu, Dec 12, 2013 at 9:20 PM, Sodabob <soda...@sodabob.com> wrote: > > > >> I hear you. I am always pretty gung ho for the type of map making that > >> Valve games offer. However, as I've gotten older, I have less time for > >> such things (such is the way of the world). But, more importantly, I > make > >> maps and other such gaming "materials" mainly for the consumption of my > >> gaming group. And, sadly, by the time I really started being able to > play > >> around with L4D2 mapping, our gaming group had moved on to other games > (and > >> believe me, we stuck with L4D and L4D2 for a very long time). > >> > >> Perhaps the ideas I had been going for will be "brought back to life" > >> (heh) with L4D3, or some other future Valve game... > >> > >> Bob. > >> > >> ________________________________________ > >> From: l4dmapper-boun...@list.valvesoftware.com [ > >> l4dmapper-boun...@list.valvesoftware.com] on behalf of Dan Jordan [ > >> daniel.ross.jor...@gmail.com] > >> Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2013 11:17 AM > >> To: Left 4 Dead Modder List > >> Subject: Re: [L4Dmapper] [L4DMapper] So much work for a single person > >> > >> I am not currently working on any L4D projects. > >> > >> As much as I enjoyed learning, designing and building Urban Flight, it's > >> frustrating how infrequently I see it played. While I do have other > ideas > >> for campaigns, I'm reluctant to sacrifice a significant portion of my > >> non-working time to it. I feel the constant pull of wanting to do > >> Source-engine mapping (I've also considered making a Mann vs Machine > map), > >> so I'm sure I'll give in at some point, but that might not be until > Left 4 > >> Dead 3 or whatever. > >> > >> Meanwhile, I decided to jump off the deep end and make a full game using > >> the Unity engine. Really easy and fun for general game design, but > >> absolutely piss-poor for mapping. > >> > >> -- > >> *Daniel Jordan* > >> www.daniel-jordan.com > >> _______________________________________________ > >> L4Dmapper mailing list > >> L4Dmapper@list.valvesoftware.com > >> https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/l4dmapper > >> _______________________________________________ > >> L4Dmapper mailing list > >> L4Dmapper@list.valvesoftware.com > >> https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/l4dmapper > >> > > > > > _______________________________________________ > L4Dmapper mailing list > L4Dmapper@list.valvesoftware.com > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/l4dmapper > _______________________________________________ L4Dmapper mailing list L4Dmapper@list.valvesoftware.com https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/l4dmapper
