Test

oh my... a 1.5MB BMP :biggrin:

Don't you have a scanner? or digi cam? It's much easier to draw this with a pencil and please save it as a JPG. I think even Paint can save JPGs. Don't get carried away with exact units ect. Don't even use a ruler.

I think a strict, flat overview is the easiest and most helpful. But to give you an example for what is theoretically possible, look at this sketch for HL1. You don't have to draw everything in perspective yourself. But feel free to make a few bigger layout sketches, then scratch and combine parts till it is densely filled with interesting stuff.

Make sure a room adds something besides being a room, for example. Don't draw a "room" draw a rectangle that you label with "kitchen" or "tire store". Make sure it makes sense to be there, also.

Think of how a base like this would be structured in the real world, which parts would be interesting and then play architect and draw a sketch for a blueprint.

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Why snark works.

I'm confused at the .bmp picture. Is the green box the info_player_start? Is the top left portion the overhead view, and the other a side view? This picture really doesn't reflect anything that you were mentioning in your first post.

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202

lol actually I'm confused myself

I completely forgot to mention my gameplay idea: I want the player to emerge outside in the staging area and to blow up all the equipment with the round balls that the helicopter drops.

But they won't be being dropped by the chopper; they will just be lying dormant until the player uses them.

I just can't quite grasp the concept of making a good map.

I know it's all in the details, like having areas that the player can see but can't get to etc.

Would the map be made better if some kind of walkway would be put around the areas to add some much needed height variation?

I'm never rly one for making layouts as such; I like to make areas up as I go along, even Adam Foster does that. But he is much more experienced than me...so... :razz:

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Just Kidding

Just Kidding

Adam Foster has more experience in single player mapping than most of us together. Also I'm sure he plans his environments carefully, no matter if he draws them on paper or not.

Just try and, for example, take a HL2 map, noclip in the sky and look at its structure then imagine you'd draw a sketch of it on paper. You'll see it's quite easy to capture a map's layout in a quick sketch and you already see many problems and possibilities showing up.

Speaking of Adam Foster, do you know this article on map design? It's quite informative.

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Why snark works.