Ok, today we started with some weapons concept  Just making silhouetted shapes in Photoshop really, but it was still interesting thinking about things like weapon weighting and balance. It also made me realise that more games need a scythe as it is perfect for swarming enemies and well, who doesn't want to use the weapon associated with the grim reaper? I mean, its fast, its lethal and its got a really good broad sweep.

We also did some Map design and concept, by far the best class of the day. Its great to learn about things that you just don't really realise until you actually sit down and think about it. I mean, I always play games and loo at things trying to see how they did something or why they do it that way. The downside to this is not being impressed by aesthetics as you know how they make a game look pretty by hiding its flaws. But one doesn't really think about things like, where am I running too? Why do I feel like I need to hide here? So its really fun to think of a map like that, just to get a better understanding of how to build one.

 

I find I'm rather inspired by Jak 2 and 3 in the way they used the same walls throughout the entire city, but used props like pipes to make each wall seem unique. I also find I'm thinking about how to make a good pile of rubble, or chunks out of walls like in Killzone or Crysis. It should be easy if I made the wall, then the broken bit and then subtracted that from the wall... It could work, I'm just concerned about texture and object clipping...

But I'm over all quite excited by the whole proses of making a map. its fun. not as fun as coming up with a new idea or planning out game play. But its really one of the best parts of what I do.