calculatedChaos Gaming

OK, several people here have stated that they would like to make maps or at least learn how to.

That's cool and I'm willing to help. Maybe that wasn't obvious by my statements in those threads along the lines of 'I don't wanna hold someones hand, I don't think we should TRY to make CRAPPY maps...'

And I still hold those feelings to a degree. I'm willing to help but I don't wanna make someones map for them. And I don't want to encourage slapping things together sloppily for a one play map (honestly it's not worth the time if it sucks so bad it only gets played once).

So here's my propostition.
I will help everyone at once in a general purpose thread and as people figure things out they can lend a hand and help others out.

Really Hammer isn't that hard to figure out and basic maps aren't that hard to do.
It does take time and patience.

And as I am working on my own maps, am not an expert with gamemodes (maybe Grim can help here), and we all have a real life there are some requirements for anyone who wants to do this.

(1)You MUST be patient.
(2)You have to pick a simple map to work on. (no 'my maps is gonna be biggest most complicated evar ideas)
(3)cC members only
(4) no PL please
(5) you need to be able to work on your own - ie: I show you some techniques, when you understand you do a half hour, couple hours work, I check it...
I can't stay on chat for hours and say make that wood, make that brick.

I'll probably think of more requirements as we go.

This is how it'll happen:
If I get at least 2 people (hopefully more) interested I will start posts on how to start hammer, first steps, etc...

You will think of a simple map you want to work on, or maybe we could do a several stage cC map (like dustbowl) where everyone gets a segment. I could tie them together.
Or maybe I could whip out some boundries for each stage and you guys can learn hammer by doing basic work (putting in buildings) then details, etc...
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But this could work pretty good I think.
I post some pics, maybe we all chat together while you guys figure out the basics. Then you work alone, help each other.

Like the first step would be to make a small building. eveyrone makes their own (very simple) and learns techniques.
Then we all add some objects, not too fancy, just a few details here and there.
Next time we add lights.

Then everyone gets an idea at once of how it's done and can work alone, help each other... As we progress everyone will start to learn more difficult things together.

I've definitely been thinking about making my own maps. I want to make "that one map that everyone plays a lot".
I had an idea for something of a VIP game mode. Somewhat of an assassination for points kind of thing.
But like you said, game modes are for asking grim about.

But, yeah, I'd like to learn some stuff. I think I've gotten some of the map modeling down earlier when I tried to make
a map of my high school for css, which is terrorism :S.
All I'd need to learn is the programming part, I guess. By that I mean spawn point placement, point capturing, etc.

Alright, hopefully we can get a few more people to work through this.

I decided to start by posting a hammer overview and description.
viewtopic.php?f=19&t=2464&p=11958#p11958

I'll start each thread with [mapping]...

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I was thinking about it and I think maybe the best thing would be to have you guys post a screenshot of a scene you like that you'd like to make.
Kindof a 'build this screenshot' class. Of course it can be changed up so it's not the same, but we can pull elements out of it and build them up.

Would be best to post screens of valve maps I think. Custom maps tend to be all over the place and if everyone worked on basic Valve stuff it would be easiest.

So someone post a screenie and we'll go from there.

I tryied mapping before but i kinda got lost

my map idea is a payload but ill tell you that when you want me to

Right on !

It doesn't matter what type of map you wanna make really. The entity stuff can be done later, and as I said, I'm not that great at it anyway.

There are tuts and maps at tf2maps.net that have entity set-ups in them.

The main focus here will be to learn how to layout terrain which is most of the map. Learn to use all the tools so that you can go from there.

I actually don't know the best way to go about it. If we should try and schedule a chat time or what.

Any ideas how you guys would like to proceed?

I WANT TO LEARN! oh wait... meh ^.^ ive been mapping all my life just not on tf2...
if you have any questions aswell you can ask me... i know:
mapping
-brushes
-entities
-lighting
-everything
modeling(3ds max)
-creation
-animation
-exporting to source
-UVW mapping
textures
-real picture to tile texture
-textures from scratch
-normal/dvdb maps
-height maps
-animated textures(learning this now)
-vmf's and vmt's

i know enough to source to make a game! wait i can't program... thats why i have programming friends!!

I think this is a great idea and I would love to learn how to map, I just don't know if I have the time. I used to make maps for TFC, but things were different back then. If things looked all boxy and terrible, it didn't matter because all the maps looked that way.

Anyway, if there is anything I can do to help you guys, especially original, let me know.