Reviewing all my old maps is fun and disappointing at the same time.
My scale ratios are off, shaders aren't working like they used to.
For some reason, maps that compiled OK before, won't compile now.
It's all like a 20 year old nightmare. Ug.
Doing this while trying learn to use a bunch of editing software I never
used before is fun but challenging. The idea is to record game play video
from many different viewpoints on my own server then edit it all together
and add a soundtrack. Simple.... right ?
Anyway, I also found a bunch of test maps I used to try out ideas and find
solutions.
Example:
1 map I called EOD (Elevators Of Death).
Just 1 room..... 1 way in... and 1 way out.
It's not playable..... just funnier than hell.
Once the bottom of the elevator drops out you fall.... and fall... and fall.......
Triggering different sound effects every 2 or 3 floors.
When you get to the bottom you teleport back to the top and keep falling.... basically forever.
There is a way out, you just have to find it.
THEN you would move on to the map, proper, and fight as usual.
I also have a lot of maps that I was using to learn things about the q3 engine.
Like:
The engine has little or no concept of things rolling up and down inclines.
When you fall, you achieve terminal velocity instantaneously.
Environmental damage (like when you fall) is not calculated like you might think.
The difference between leg damage and a lemming is silly and arbitrary.
Hitting a wall and hitting the ground are not interchangeable.
In theory, hitting a surface at a constant speed should cause equal damage, right ? Nope.
Then you add in the strafe jumping, sideways at superhuman speeds and any kind of real
world physics goes completely out the window.
(BTW, I believe that was originally a bug in the q3 engine legacy code that SID used to their
gameplay advantage.)
Bottom line is, it's only a game not a physics model. To expect "Real World" results from a
20+ year old game engine is asking a lot. So to make a fun UrT map the emphasis is less
reality and more creativity. Otherwise you wind up with a lot of maps that are no fun because
you get caught up in making the map and not PLANNING the map. A lot of maps (IMHO) look
really great but most of us want action not art so they never get played.
In short, the only good thing to come from self-imposed isolation for me is a spark in creativity in
an otherwise droll and boring existence.
TBC
_________________"The memories of a man in his old age
are the deeds of a man in his prime
You shuffle in the gloom of the sick room
and talk to yourself as you die"Well..... I used to be thin.
