How do we find time + Region compiling

(MindConfusion) #1

How do we all find the time to create maps? some which look like they took a few months to create.

I know myself, being married, child and work (landscaping so I’m pretty stuffed when I come home) its very hard to find time, but somehow I do. I end up doing about 1-3hours a day of mapping and I’m still at the start of my map and not much to show (it could also because I am only a newbie but I doubt that). And its been about 3 weeks already since I started this map.

I believe that the teenagers who don’t goto school/work and such have plently of time on there hands to map as I did at one stage. (I maybe wrong)

The mapping companies have plently of time since its there job lol, so they can map anytime and have more then 1 person working on a map so its done quickly.

I understand alot of mappers can be lazy to create something as has already been created as a prefab, model or in another map so a copy and paste is quick and easy and helps to finish the map is less time.

Mapping appears to be a slow process which seems to take forever to create. How does everyone else manage to find time to create a map that looks believeable and yet fun to play all the time.
So how do we do it? map whenever there is time or have a schedule planed out for the day, week or month?

EDIT: Updated title to reflect additional thread info.
Sock

(Ifurita) #2

Well, I’m married and have a pair of 8-month old boys. They are both starting to crawl so I have to run over every 5 minutes and put them back into the middle of the room (I’m a stay at home dad, though should be starting a job soon)

I set small goals for myself, whether it be skinning a single building, or writing and testing a piece of script, and try to get thru that one piece at a time.

I also do a lot of work late at night, when everyone has gone to bed.

I’ve also punted on some of the little details that would be really cool, but for which I just don’t have the time to do. Oh well.

If you ever want someone to commiserate with, you can find me at #wolfjaeger on irc.gamesnet.net.

(SiX) #3

I personally usually have alot of time.
Being a 21 (soon to be 22 :D) year old single artist and musician doesn’t really become to demanding at times. My basic days off work are simple decisions of what i want to practice or continue building that day. It can be all of the above or sometimes just one. It’s not uncommon for me to write lyrics and play bass/guitar for 8 hours straight just as it isn’t uncommon for me to sit and work on a map for same amount of hours.

great topic btw :drink:

(Machine for to kill) #4

Is not always an issue of time. Lately I’ve been having a lot of time on my hands (as you can tell from the frequent posts on this forum) but I can’t spend all my time mapping. Mapping is not like counting beans, it takes lots of creativity and imagination which is not as ample as my time. It took me all last week to come up with a good texture for the inner wall of one of my houses (it takes me a long time to make up my mind). Trying to come up with something good and pretty takes a lot longer than actually making it. If the good ideas just keep coming you can finish a map withing a week, even if you have a job and 3 kids.

(hummer) #5

Used to have aaaaaaaaallll day when I was looking for work / at school.

On weekends, I map all day long, usually over 10 hours. On weekdays, only at nights for maybe 1-3 hours. Depends on whats going on that night, and what time I get home.

I’m married too… but she ahs Thurs / Fri off, I get Sat / Sun. We usually hang out on week nights…

But I think my work ethic has done a 180. I’d play games and surf the web inbetween mapping tasks before I had a job, now I sit down and get down to biz-nas. I think I’m more “work” minded now. I can get a lot more done in a shorter period of time.

(seven_dc) #6

I am married and have 10 month old son so I can understand why it is hard to find time to map. I am also working 8/5. Like ifurita I find time from late nights when everybody else is at sleep and weekends.

I started my map somewhere at beginning of summer and got into public alpha a few weeks ago. I haven’t planned my work or made tasks. I have rather done everything by feeling like this should work here and here should be this and by listening players in tests.

Lamborghini Alar

(MuffinMan) #7

my first map took 2 months while i was studying (ah well i didn’t really…) with about 8 hours a day if not more in this time i learnt the basics as well, but now i am at work and am glad if i have an hour a day for mapping…

(Drakir) #8

As i am unemployed atm. I have a great deal of time on my hands for mapping. A normal day i would map for 4-8 hours. But sometimes its hard to stay focused on the job, wish i had fellow mappers around me to discuss ideas and issues with. Very much time is spent on trying things and making stuff up. I usually compile my map fully 5-10 times a day so that i can get a feeling of the new stuff i have added. And that is very time consuming as the map grows it takes more and more time to compile.

Back when i was mapping for Half-Life using the Worldcraft editor it was much easier compiling as you could use the cordon-grid thing and test only parts of the map.

(BXpress) #9

I even dont have much time to work on my map. Im 16 years old and im going to school. its really hard and i want to get this last school year so i can study Gamedesign in munich soon.
But atm im on vacation and i have enough time to work on my map :wink:

(blushing_bride) #10

ive been working on a map for months now and it’s not even that big. I tend to spend about two hours a day if i can but sometimes i spend too much time playing ET so i do less

(sock) #11

SD/GTK Radiant also supports region compiles. Create a square brush around what you are after and use the region menu. Save the map as a special region map (.REG - On the file menu) and compile as normal. Perfect for testing architecture/lighting. For scripting use fastvis/nolight compiles instead as scripting does not need pretty things.

Sock
:moo:

(Mean Mr. Mustard) #12

I, like Iffy, am a stay at home dad (with a four year old - who tests my map for me :smiley: ). I also have my own business. So time is a premium… As you can tell, no one has seen any of my map yet (that’s how much progress I’ve made - so frustrating at times…) Seems I spend more time trying to answer scripting questions on this forum than mapping.

I’ve actually had to ‘start’ over - realized bad fps before progressing too far - boy, talk about taking a step backwards… So, I have to redo the entire layout. But, I’ve also ‘convinced’ 3 other people to join my map - so, that should help.

I’m new to mapping and decided to learn all the pieces first (how to make constructibles, how to make a moving vehicle etc - all the scripting).

I try to ‘schedule’ a few hours a day to map - that’s about I’ll I can do. Seems like I’ll never get done and me thinks about quitting some times

Thanks for the topic - renews my spirit in mapping since ‘everyone’ else is in the same boat (ie. seems like time flies by and no progress has been made)

(Mean Mr. Mustard) #13

So, can you load a compiled region into ET?? I’ve tried before, but get an error when loading. Or is the region only for a compile ‘test’?

(sock) #14

Yes, set the region in the editor. Save the map with the special option (under the file menu). Compile the map with the latest compiler and specify the full name. ie. q3map2 -meta mymap.reg. The compiler will produce a BSP file as normal for you. Wherever your camera view is where you will spawn in the map, so position the camera in a good pos. first.

Its brilliant for testing lighting and small sections of architecture if you do not have a fast compile server. All scripting stuff should have been done with the blockout/alpha stage of the map and that version will not have any detail and should compile fast anyway.

Sock
:moo:

(BXpress) #15

hm, but what if the region is leaked O_o

(sock) #16

The function creates a box map around the region you specify, so the section will never leak! :wink:

Sock
:moo:

(BXpress) #17

hooray, thats cool! :smiley:

(Mean Mr. Mustard) #18

Yes, very cool and a great time saver!! Thx for the info sock

(redfella) #19

I try to get in at least 2 hours every weeknight of mapping… Although, I spend all day at “work” browsing the forums, chatting on IRC and learning as much as I possible can about mapping.

Weekends are gold. 6-10 hours of mapping on average.

:slight_smile:

(Ifurita) #20

Nice to know that other people are in the same boat. We should create LOSAHD - League of Stay At Home Dads