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I have always wanted to do this but I havent had the patience to sit down and keep going at it until I get over that hurdle.
I tried with Half Life and Unreal Tournament. I tried Max Paynes level editor and I couldnt get it. I tried Red Factions anf just couldnt get it. I was making progress on UnrealEd.
Anyone here create their own levels? Anyone got any suggestions?
I had a layout of my school when I was in high school. I thought about trying to make a level in some fps (doom or duke 3d) that resembled the school, but then I simply never did. Just too lazy.
When I got Age of Empires, I tried making a custom level on it. I never could get it to work very well and the mission pretty much sucked.
The mistake that people make when creating levels is creating it based on some reality, instead of basing it on how the level will actually play. Most real buildings have long corridors which don't really play well for deathmatch type situations. I created a few Duke 3D levels based on urban situtations, but they ended up sucking because of the very mistake I made above!
One of the biggest custom levels I have seen was for Duke Nukem 3D - it was a huge lunar base that was so big, it took 10-15 minutes to run from one corner to the other. It would have sucked for DM, you'd never be able to find your opponent! Very cool level though.
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by MacGyver:
<strong>The mistake that people make when creating levels is creating it based on some reality, instead of basing it on how the level will actually play. Most real buildings have long corridors which don't really play well for deathmatch type situations. I created a few Duke 3D levels based on urban situtations, but they ended up sucking because of the very mistake I made above!</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I was mainly going to design the school level as a single player level (if that was even possible). I didn't have the internet then and had never really heard of LAN multiplayer gaming.
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by CW_WD_RIOT:
[QB]I had a layout of my school when I was in high school. I thought about trying to make a level in some fps (doom or duke 3d) that resembled the school, but then I simply never did. Just too lazy.
QB]</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I knew someone who had a Duke Level of my HS and we had a teacher who would have tournments after school with it.
but after the school shooting started taking place it was a wise decision to remove that level from play.
I would love to have a level representing where I work: an aluminum foundry with lots of space to run around in. :)
My former workplace had a Doom level of the building, created on company time and money. It was being used as a proof of concept on a VR sales tool. It was fun, too. :D
I made several levels for Red Faction. I put the basic design and approx dimensions down on paper before I created anything in the editor. My first RF level was Rendevouz, dunno if you've seen it. The best one I never posted up because I got so sick of all the cheaters I lost interest in the game. It's basically a big church with huge flying buttresses, a bell tower (the bell can be shot down) and several secret areas.
Design a simple map first, when you know you can handle that, see if there's a map ripper (VPPBuilder was the one for RF), then you can see how other people have created the complex stuff and applied it.
I found loads of helpfull tutorial sites and followed some of the tutorials for RF too. I'm sure there's loads of these sites out there for all the editors.
I'm trying to download the MOHAA editor to have a play with that. Sites always got 1 hour wait on it though. D'oh!
Hey Grendel, how many levels have you created? For which games? Which editor did you find easier to use?
I'm waiting for sof2 retail to get out and then I'm gonna try making a level for that.
I got hung up on all the editors I used before Red Faction, I found it easier to use and understand then anything else. Basically creating hollows out of a solid and applying textures and details from there. I've got the MOHAA editor, but someone's borrowed my game so I can't play with it now (how frustrating). This one looks more complicated but now I feel ready to tackle it.
I made about 20 levels (not a lot I know but I got so sick of the game I could face no more), some large and sprawling, some close combat, limited weapons. It takes 1-2 hours to make a small fun map and about 1-2 weeks to create something that's real eye-candy. We mostly laughed ourselves sick playing the small ones on the LAN, running around and bludgeoning each other (only the baton available) was enjoyed more than anything else. Although it's a little selfish, I din't post maps on the net, just shared with friends, that way the cheaters couldn't get into our games as only we had the maps.
I'd definitely recommend trying the Red Faction editor as a starting point (it's brilliant for 1st time mappers but unfortunately the game is now mostly dead), I still have some tools and a load of tutorials from that editor, around 4-5MB zipped. If you want them let me know. There are still some fan sites up and running for RF which include tutorials. I'd have to look them up and post later.
Red allows you to build beautifully detailed, architectural delights. If you have Bryce or other similar graphics progs, you can also create your own textures for this editor.