about as big as the first area beyond the elf camp in the game.
things i should think about before starting so i don't have to redo everything?
my first serious attempt at making an outdoor area
Débuté par
gordonbrown82
, mai 07 2010 05:26
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#2
Posté 08 mai 2010 - 12:47
Kilrogg_
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Off the top of my head in no particular order:
1) Open the .lvl for an area similar to the one you want to make. Look at how its structured, how things are scaled, what ground textures and vegetation they used. Don't stray too far away from that (other than layout) since it's your first level.
2) Plan the layout on paper, but don't try to follow it to the letter. Whatever you put on paper is NOT going to work exactly like that in-game, it's normal.
3) Identify what your landmarks are going to be. It's important for a larger outdoors level to have a few landmarks otherwise it looks bland and boring
4) On that same note, terrain in real life is not flat. You need a good amount of height variation (relative to the type of environment you're making obviously), and that also helps with limiting performance and LOD problems (far-away objects popping in and out of existance) since the player is not going to have a huge view of everything in the level.
5) Rough out the layout of the level in the editor, put a few placeholder assets (houses, rocks, etc) in your landmark spots. You will move/replace them later, this is just to give you an idea of the scale.
6) Place a human male chestpiece model in your level (in models -> hm -> chst -> anything in there). This will help you see how big your terrain features are compared to a player while you are building it. I usually copy/paste this model at various points along the main path.
7) Steal ambient light settings and Atmosphere settings from an existing DA:O level. You can modify them later but trying to get proper lighting from scratch when you are unfamiliar with it is going to cost you many hours of work.
At the risk of repeating myself, I would say the golden rule is that whenever you are unsure how you should do something, look at how they did it in a similar level from the main campaign and do it that way (with your own twist). Once you have built your first level and are familiar with the tools and the process, then you can get more creative.
1) Open the .lvl for an area similar to the one you want to make. Look at how its structured, how things are scaled, what ground textures and vegetation they used. Don't stray too far away from that (other than layout) since it's your first level.
2) Plan the layout on paper, but don't try to follow it to the letter. Whatever you put on paper is NOT going to work exactly like that in-game, it's normal.
3) Identify what your landmarks are going to be. It's important for a larger outdoors level to have a few landmarks otherwise it looks bland and boring
4) On that same note, terrain in real life is not flat. You need a good amount of height variation (relative to the type of environment you're making obviously), and that also helps with limiting performance and LOD problems (far-away objects popping in and out of existance) since the player is not going to have a huge view of everything in the level.
5) Rough out the layout of the level in the editor, put a few placeholder assets (houses, rocks, etc) in your landmark spots. You will move/replace them later, this is just to give you an idea of the scale.
6) Place a human male chestpiece model in your level (in models -> hm -> chst -> anything in there). This will help you see how big your terrain features are compared to a player while you are building it. I usually copy/paste this model at various points along the main path.
7) Steal ambient light settings and Atmosphere settings from an existing DA:O level. You can modify them later but trying to get proper lighting from scratch when you are unfamiliar with it is going to cost you many hours of work.
At the risk of repeating myself, I would say the golden rule is that whenever you are unsure how you should do something, look at how they did it in a similar level from the main campaign and do it that way (with your own twist). Once you have built your first level and are familiar with the tools and the process, then you can get more creative.
Modifié par Kilrogg_, 08 mai 2010 - 12:54 .
#3
Posté 08 mai 2010 - 01:29
Kilrogg_
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Oh and one more thing, regularly render your lightmaps/post your level and look at it in-game. It looks fairly different (mostly in terms of scale, but also a bit graphically) in-game than in the editor.
Also, there is a limit of 8 ground textures you can use, so plan those ahead of time so you don't find yourself having to replace one of the textures with one you needed and having to repaint all the areas you had painted with that replaced texture. I found myself having to do that with my current level.
Also, there is a limit of 8 ground textures you can use, so plan those ahead of time so you don't find yourself having to replace one of the textures with one you needed and having to repaint all the areas you had painted with that replaced texture. I found myself having to do that with my current level.
Modifié par Kilrogg_, 08 mai 2010 - 01:38 .
#4
Posté 08 mai 2010 - 01:45
AmstradHero
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May I suggest that before you start attacking the toolset itself, you make a plan for your level. I recently wrote this article with some tips I put together on a planning process that might work for you.
Kilrogg_ has given some excellent advice on the actual level creation process once you get started. However, level design is very much a skill learned through experience. It takes artistry in order to make a level look good, design knowledge in order to make it functional, and planning, skill and practice to combine the two.
Finally, if you have not done so already, I would strongly recommend making a small level first in order to cut your teeth and become familiar with using the level editor. As someone who has used a number of different level editors in various genres, in general, the very first level you make in an editor is best treated as a learning experience rather than a highly polished releasable product, as the amount that you learn from making your first complete level is phenomenal.
Kilrogg_ has given some excellent advice on the actual level creation process once you get started. However, level design is very much a skill learned through experience. It takes artistry in order to make a level look good, design knowledge in order to make it functional, and planning, skill and practice to combine the two.
Finally, if you have not done so already, I would strongly recommend making a small level first in order to cut your teeth and become familiar with using the level editor. As someone who has used a number of different level editors in various genres, in general, the very first level you make in an editor is best treated as a learning experience rather than a highly polished releasable product, as the amount that you learn from making your first complete level is phenomenal.
