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So, what are you working on right now?


Springheel

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Hey guys,

 

I was going to go ahead and erase the carpets until I read Springheel's post. Instead I'll put a set of rolled up carpets in a storage area nearby as a bit of environmental storytelling.

 

 

Great solution! Extra old rugs lying around and someone has put one down to use because they're old and will be thrown out anyway. I like it. It works.

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Afternoon

 

Thought I would share a DR snapshot of the mission you guys saw in the last post -

 

looks good,I'll share mine :

 

b1936aa0be563b65bc1e9c75a1639214.jpg

 

I made a few mistakes in layout of my city map... whole city layout should have been crooked and narrow.Now I have to deal with huge FPS drops at some places

 

This thread just depresses the hell out of me sometimes. I see other peoples work and sometimes I just think "Why the f*** do I bother?" Ill never make an ything as awesome as that.

same here

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Proceed with caution!

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Some of my favourite missions have pretty average-looking visuals. I wouldn't get depressed.

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I'll always say, look at missions like Trapped, Special Delivery or The Builder Roads. These are all smaller FMs which don't have very complicated layouts, but they are a lot of fun. We could really more of them. You can't subsist on epic stuff alone. Sometimes I could really use a mission to play for an hour or something.

Edited by Melan
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Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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...sometimes I just think "Why the f*** do I bother?" Ill never make an ything as awesome as that.

 

Some of the missions that people rave about the appearance of, have horrible gameplay. Heck, there are two I've recently run across that are completely broken, and can't be played as designed. Yet you'll find the respective forum threads lauding their appearance.

 

People tend to be good at certain things, not everything. Hence why commercial games hire teams of people who each are mediocre at their own aspect, so the end result is at least average.

 

We also take for granted our own talents, because they are just part of us. But that's exactly what we bring to the table. Also different players appreciate different aspect of FMs, so there will be plenty who appreciate what you provide, whichever talent you have.

 

You'll notice I often showcase non-glamour shots here, like the complex pathing picture I posted last. Many players will be oblivious to the depths of detail in AI behavior, but for those who notice, they'll appreciate tremendously. It's also subjective, some people rave about things that look totally unrealistic to me, and dislike things that I find impressive.

 

Comparisons to others' work is apples and oranges, those very same creators might be jealous of your missions!

 

Why do you bother? Because creating is fun. Because creating is challenging. Because creating shares your talents and allows others to appreciate them too. Creating is rewarding.

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"The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out."

- Baron Thomas Babington Macauley

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Agreed RJ!

 

If anything this thread should be inspirational! It certainly is to me :)

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@SirTaff,

 

If it makes you feel better, I have the same feeling sometimes when watching this thread too. Here's a quote that I've always liked from the choreographer Martha Graham that sums up my thoughts pretty well:

 

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a strange divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive ..."

Edited by Moonbo
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But you should walk having internal dignity. Be a wonderful person who can dance pleasantly to the rhythm of the universe.

-Sun Myung Moon

 

My work blog: gfleisher.blogspot.com

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I was just thinking this morning why there's something still interesting about FMs over AAA games sometimes, and I realized it's because FMs are the expression of usually a single author, sometimes two. Their personality comes out in the architecture, in the story, in the level design, in the pacing... Auteur theory makes sense with FMs & is fun to think about.

 

Whereas for these big AAA Hollywood productions, the creative inspiration gets washed out with so many people working on it with not much deeper agenda or personality to it than it wants to sell copies, or maybe one guy at the top that wants to say something or make an impression through all that morass but it gets pretty clouded out in the process. But FMs are still pretty purely the expression of a single author's personality or vision. I like that.

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What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you but I know that it's mine.

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...it's because FMs are the expression of usually a single author

 

This, so much, this.

 

In my career in video production, I saw time and again projects watered down from "too many cooks". What happens in the edit suite, would get sent to producers/clients for approval, and they'd come back with changes, often undermining the director's intent. Only once, in all my years, did I see it otherwise (brilliant director, he built in an obvious flaw for them to "change" and justify their salaries).

 

Turbine produces "Lord of the Rings Online". Certain aspects of it are created by teams, others more by individual designers, and it shows...players LOVE the latter, while the former results in unimpressive pablum.

 

Back in the edit suite, I could tell you which video projects would be good before I'd even met the client(s) and knew what we'd be editing that day, purely by seeing how many people were in the room. (And how productive, not only does project quality decline with more bodies, costs rise/time increases.)

 

You'll see this in FM beta test feedback too, what one person suggests be removed, might be another's favorite part--which shows you are doing something well, as you are producing reactions, being emotive.

 

Of course, this isn't to say it's exclusively a solo endeavor, the team that put the mod together, the assets made available, the editor tools, writers of wiki articles, forum posters/responders, beta testers, players, all contribute in various ways, even if the mission is authored by an "individual", it's a community effort.

 

So produce what you want to produce, what you can, and rest assured that others will appreciate it, even if FM threads are littered with some overly critical back-seat drivers, and there are other "shinier" works out there. ;-)

"The measure of a man's character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out."

- Baron Thomas Babington Macauley

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demagogue: I never thought about FMs from the perspective of auteur theory, but it makes sense. I enjoy individual expression, and even though Thief brings its own set of clichés, plot elements and turns of phrase (mostly stolen from film noir and hardboiled detective novels), fan missions are complex enough creations to make the creator's personality shine through. This is harder to achieve in the case of generic FPS maps due to less "channels" of transmitting ideas to the player, although you still get it with talented people.

 

And to bring it back one step to Sir Taffsalot's post, if you can pick up the DarkRadiant basics and build, you can probably find a spot within the graphics - fiction - gameplay triangle where you can say something of worth. Creativity is like that.

 

Also, we all have our mistakes and problems. I used to be able to build huge, complex levels which were very good (no shame in accepting what the majority of comments have said about them ;)), but after doing that since 2007, I have lost it due to burnout and a general lack of free time. That doesn't mean I will not build again, but it will probably be small things like Penny Dreadful, and not anything like Disorientation. That's life.

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Come the time of peril, did the ground gape, and did the dead rest unquiet 'gainst us. Our bands of iron and hammers of stone prevailed not, and some did doubt the Builder's plan. But the seals held strong, and the few did triumph, and the doubters were lain into the foundations of the new sanctum. -- Collected letters of the Smith-in-Exile, Civitas Approved

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same here

 

Shadowhide, you have absolutely nothing to be ashamed about. After all, judging from the latest screenshots you posted on darkfate.ru, you have come a looong way since your first map 8well, let's never speak of it again ;) ).

My Eigenvalue is bigger than your Eigenvalue.

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@Sir Taffsalot and Shadowhide: I can only agree to what 7upMan said. Both of you have made some big steps forwards since your first approaches. And don't forget for how long Bikerdude is mapping here. I don't know the TDM for long enough to know how his first release looked like, but I fairly doubt it looked like what he is posting here ;)

FM's: Builder Roads, Old Habits, Old Habits Rebuild

Mapping and Scripting: Apples and Peaches

Sculptris Models and Tutorials: Obsttortes Models

My wiki articles: Obstipedia

Texture Blending in DR: DR ASE Blend Exporter

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@Sir Taffsalot and Shadowhide: I can only agree to what 7upMan said. Both of you have made some big steps forwards since your first approaches. And don't forget for how long Bikerdude is mapping here. I don't know the TDM for long enough to know how his first release looked like, but I fairly doubt it looked like what he is posting here ;)

 

I had the pleasure of testing BD's first map from beta onwards, and I can say that he had great mapping skills then already, regardless what he himself might want to say about that. Since that time, he only improved, but the talent was there already. However, for some, talent just means working extra hard. "Genie ist Fleiß!", as Goethe said.

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My Eigenvalue is bigger than your Eigenvalue.

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"Genie ist Fleiß!", as Goethe said.

I think I have the first but am lacking the latter ;)

FM's: Builder Roads, Old Habits, Old Habits Rebuild

Mapping and Scripting: Apples and Peaches

Sculptris Models and Tutorials: Obsttortes Models

My wiki articles: Obstipedia

Texture Blending in DR: DR ASE Blend Exporter

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The mission is in its basic steps, what I want to show is the shader post process. Would be ncie to get some feedback here. I know it is far to extreme, but I just like playing around with it :)

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FM's: Builder Roads, Old Habits, Old Habits Rebuild

Mapping and Scripting: Apples and Peaches

Sculptris Models and Tutorials: Obsttortes Models

My wiki articles: Obstipedia

Texture Blending in DR: DR ASE Blend Exporter

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It was a little hard to fathom at first but it looks like you've got a basic distance occlusion working correct?

 

Pretty cool stuff.

 

Am I also seeing some changes to dynamic ambient lighting?

Please visit TDM's IndieDB site and help promote the mod:

 

http://www.indiedb.com/mods/the-dark-mod

 

(Yeah, shameless promotion... but traffic is traffic folks...)

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The mission is in its basic steps, what I want to show is the shader post process. Would be ncie to get some feedback here. I know it is far to extreme, but I just like playing around with it :)

 

Lots of bloom on the light sources? Or is there Ambient Occlusion?

 

Difficult to see much because windowed TDM, dark scenes, and you move very quickly so it is hard to see any details.

 

Could you tell what exactly is different there?

Clipper

-The mapper's best friend.

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