HL2: Strikeback - recruiting

Hi, guys.

Thought I'd keep u updated on this mod.

We seem to be in some need for modellers. We do have a lot of level
designers now (5 to be true) and 2 programmers. Also, 2 quite inactive
modellers. Actually... they are VERY inactive :biggrin:

We want to see some new weapons in the mod, though... so we need someone skilled enough to make animated models HL2 ready.

We also need texturers to change the HEV suit and the FPS hands... they kinda don't fit in a rebel suit :smile:

Well... we have texturers' openings, too, so... if you feel that you
could want to help us - give me a note through PM, mail or msn.

strikeback.monzi.org is the strikeback's address ( for dummies :smile: )

Any more questions... don't hesitate to ask :biggrin:

(and please... no flame wars, okay?)

I don't want to be mean, but in the past mod recruiters get very little
feedback from this community, especially if you don't need
mappers. To get good modellers, I think it would be best to look
elsewhere. Unless Fishy wants to...

Sorry, I left some things unmentioned.

We can still use mappers, as many as possible. Not only modellers. The
mappers DO have the biggest pressure right now since we want to give
people a small game video, in which we have clips from ingame. With
these forces that we have right now, before summer nothing can be
shown. With more mappers (who can spend more time with this), we might
be able to release it in may already.

So, yeah... good level designers are always welcome:) As are those who
are still in a big learning stage. We do have couple of them. They do
well, though.

It's funny how one of the level design "sketches" is a pic taken ingame then photoshopped to look like a pencil sketch.

I don't have the skill to take on a project like this. But, good luck finding members!

Photoshopped? Which one of them? I didn't do any of these... and I am
not a graphic artist to tell anything like that though... which of
those?

Btw... what skills u got then? If you know how to map (don't have to be
EXPERT) then... :biggrin: hey... i can't see any reason why u cannot
learn mapping by doing some practice in such mod.

Don't worry... we'll recheck every map throuroughly to make sure it is a quality one :razz:

I was referring to this "Sketch"
http://strikeback.monzi.org/modules/xcgal/displayimage.php?pid=5&album=random&cat=&pos=-5

I'm just a novice mapper/full time student/full time job this summer,
definitely don't have to skills/time to put into a mod. I applaud
your attitude however, helping people get a start and some experience
is a good thing.

Thanks for the link. It feeled quite real-drawn to me, though... I
still have it somewhere I think... unscanned, and it is fully
pencil-drawn... I might get a digicam somewhere and picture it with
some points erased with pencil eraser.

Btw... I am that kind of guy who helps people who are not good at
something I am... I like to share knowledge and do it the most easiest
way (hey - i even have started my own series of HL2 mapping tuts in
madedog.pri.ee)

It is not real drawn. The size is 800 x 533 ... got to get rid of the 67 pixels of HUD at the bottom of the screen.

Yeah, and the author clearly used photoshop effects to make the
screenshot into a "sketch". Look at the detail on the tree's...
they outline the exact tree models.

hey check out this drawing i made of alyx and dog.

Its definately photoshopped, there are a bunch of tutorials on it on gt.

Hmm... I got to take on that guy! Darn...

I'm gonna remove it at once :smile:

But it has to be a nice place then... :smile:

Look at that attention to detail - he even drew the texture repeating on the walls.

damn it I want to see this now, some one pick through your history and upload it somewhere?

LoL yeah...me too.

Okay... I got him admitting it by showing him this thread :biggrin:

I never turned that attention onto this...

Well... apparently the screenshot itself seems nice from that point... but it is still a work-in-progress so...

Anyhow, let's stop the OT and perhaps... joining, anyone? For mappers?

Ahhh... the dreaded "inactive-or-non-existent-modellers" syndrome. The
mod I was working on suffered that so badly it had to shut down. Best
of luck with the mod, and I hope you have better luck than I did!

I dunno, I'm not too impressed. Particulary since I can't tell what the hell this mod is about from your website. You might want an 'about' page..?! But hey, based on the name, I'm sure it's a team-based tactical shooter- truly an original concept!

Hmmm... counterstrike... strikeback.... there are similarities.

aww dont be mean.

I still want to see that screen shot, err.. concept art.

Jinx said:
I dunno, I'm not too impressed. Particulary since I can't tell what the hell this mod is about from your website. You might want an 'about' page..?! But hey, based on the name, I'm sure it's a team-based tactical shooter- truly an original concept!

I truly have yet to see a good mod advertise on another site's messageboards.

Cassius said:
I truly have yet to see a good mod advertise on another site's messageboards.

I dunno, I read about a mod that eventually became this very site on another message board. I would consider the Snarkpit a prime example of a dedicated mapping site. It was a mod... once.

I truly have yet to see a good mod advertise on another site's messageboards.

http://www.mapcore.net/forums/viewforum.php?f=22

I agree its rare, but it does happen. As snarkpit is more of a
help/learning based community than Mapcore (which is kinda exclusively
a gallery/feedback community) I think we are better known to the
newcomers to the mod scene who are eager to build a mod and grab staff.
Also, as as our ranks are pretty diverse in terms of skill level
(compared to Mapcore being pretty much only experienced people) we
don't attract the big hitting mods that are only looking for long time
mod scene talent.

I think, gentlemen, that Reno has just insulted our honor. Let us quickly descend upon him like a ravenous swarm of locusts. :smile:

agreed!

Please! People! Enough OT!

I can explain it once more...

It is a single-player modification and is about the Leader of
Rebellion, James Edwards (nobody ever heard of him, but neither did you
heard about Cpl. Shepherd and Barney Calhoun in HL1). He has to lead
the rebels to strike back against The Combine forces. According to the
timescale, it takes place when Alyx and Gordon are on the week-worth of
teleport. (you remember teleporting from Nova Prospekt back to the City
17?)

But, as usual, he is, most of the time, separated from his team.
Travelling through all the City 17, exiting it and coming back...

Hope it got clearer for you now?

Yeah that sounds cool

The Image no longer exsist.. humm I wonder why. SMIRK.

ReNo said:
Also, as as our ranks are pretty diverse in terms of skill level (compared to Mapcore being pretty much only experienced people)

Why, does this mapcore place run off everyone else? I cannot fathom a site of only experienced mappers. Sounds like a truly boring place to be honest. Truth be told, I do not believe it. No one would ever visit any site with "only" experienced mappers. Experienced mappers tend to be assholes when they are the only ones around.

MoneyShot, ofcourse it doesn't exist! I took it down after reviewing this... darn u guys were right...

anyway, I am trying to get a feedback from mapcore :biggrin: and the only answer I've been able to get is "Interesting.." LOL :biggrin:

I repeat that again - I do not accept ONLY experienced ones, I can take
noobier ones, aswell.. As I said... I am willing to teach those who are
not so good at it.

Hehe, don't worry guys, this is my home and will always be my #1 community :biggrin:

Mapcore isn't really a boring place nor is it that quiet Orph, it just
doesn't really ever have any editing questions posted. It isn't just
experienced mappers that frequent the place, its pretty much a game
design community in which there are also quite a few good 3D modellers,
2D artists, and even animators. Discussions there are typically more to
do with game design and the gaming industry, so its quite a nice
balance with the general chat we tend to have here. It also has a load
of pro's in its ranks and so when their respective companies are
looking for staff, mapcore normally gets them asking in the classifieds
section :smile:

I can imagine that for newcomers it is quite a daunting place, given
the general high quality of most of the stuff posted. Those that brave
it normally see a sort of "well its not bad for a first effort, now go
get better and come back" kind of reply I guess. Its a great place for
going if you have a skill and want to learn others I'd say - if you
want to diversify into 3D modelling then you'll pick up plenty of
feedback and tips on your early work, likewise 3D modellers wanting to
go into level design or 2D art or whatever.

Come on guys, nobody of you interested??? I want to say, that OK, I
have 5 mappers afterall! But 4 of them are actually still learning
hard! They are quite noobs on this! OmegaSlayer is the most compentent
one I daresay, and he has lots of other projects aswell. I had a good
mapper, but he left, unfortunately, since he got a full-time job.
(wrong time :sad: ) And Belg, who I was recommended, was not interested
either.

So... this is a good community here, people are friendly and cool...
and I was hoping that I'd get at least some not-so-good mappers, train
them out and get them off and running on the maps!

I still haven't given up all hope just yet... perhaps there are some
people out there who are willing to give us a hand just for as long as
we get a good gameplay video done... that should attract more people...

I think one of the key problems is that as you aren't a community
member, people don't know if going on your word alone (and that is all
you have at the moment, I'm afraid) about this mod is enough. If, for
example,
Adam
Hawkin's said he was starting a mod, then people would be
interested (most likely regardless of the theme) simply because he is a
long time member here and people know he has the skills and dedication
to turn it into something good. With an outside member such as
yourself though, we don't know of you or any of your work, so without
media to show for your mod there isn't much chance of people joining
up. I guess if you stick around and participate in the community, your
chances of picking people up in the future will probably be better. If
you are a mapper, throw some of your work up in your user profile
(including screenshots), write some tutorials, comment on other
people's work, post in the forum discussions, help out people's editing
problems, and so on. I personally think getting known is the most
important thing in getting together a mod team.

You have a pretty good attitude about things though, so I wish you the
best of luck :smile: All too often we see people getting angry when they
don't get the response they hoped for to their recruitment posts.

Well said ReNo.

Additionally, Madedog I really applaud your attitude and desire to
"train" and teach young mappers but I think you would attract more
people if you posted some impressive media on your site. People
have to be convinced that they can learn something from you before they
decide to join your mod. People rise or sink to the level of
their peers, and you have to prove to visitors that by joining your mod
they'll be working with at least a few talented people.

Haha, a long story short... post some good media and I'm sure more
people will want to join up. Right now I just see some sketches
and 1 shot of a map that needs a lot of work. Perhaps you can
have your mapper post that map here and get some feedback to make it
better?

I know, ffs, i know about the media... that's why i need people right
now. To get some more media. And with only five of us (most of them
still learning and 2 not even active atm) the video is in a long time
to come.

So erm... yeah... i know that I need some good sh*t to show up in the page :biggrin: but it takes a long time to make a good one.

Additionally, I need someone to work on Ravenholm (yes, it is still
there together with Father Gregory) so we have something cool to show,
too, instead of the good ole' C17 :biggrin:

I hope OmegaSlayer gets his level to some point I could start using it in video, though.

Edit: ReNo, I have been a viewer for this site for quite a long, long
before it came to snarkpit.net. I even have started a topic on an HL2
map.

This is the place where I got my first skills in Source mapping, these
more-advanced things. Sorry for being so inactive in forums :biggrin: And not
writing any tuts... I could do that but I am quite busy with some other
things aswell.

Well, I still think you should consider posting the map here so we can help you with it.

Er.. which map do you precicely mean? Ravenholm? I told you I need someone to start making it :biggrin: probably you misunderstood :razz:

I was referring to your "bunker" level set in C17:

http://strikeback.monzi.org/modules/xcgal/displayimage.php?pid=6&album=random&cat=&pos=-6

basicaly I think that a MOD needs to have some content that took them
some time and effort to make. Honestly unskinned gun models and
basic map screens wont cut it.

I've joined a hand full of MODs that never made it becuase the people
just were not getting into it. You dont need screen shots or
skinned models you need more than just a blurb about the story and you
need to put your goals and mission statment in writing. Then you
need to network on a personal level to find good people who are willing
to work.

I would have never signed up for RT but they came to me, they needed
mappers and it turns out they had quite a bit of stuff ready to
go.

Once you have a strong base, you can start asking large groups of people "hey look what we have, want to be a part of it?"

The secret to starting your own mod is that you've got to have a lot of talent yourself- whether you're an awesome modeller, coder or mapper (I'm not saying that Madedog or anyone else doesn't have such skills) otherwise getting the things that DrGlass says you need above will be very difficult to do. And secondly, you need a decent looking website, not some phpnuke-mashup :argh: After those comes storyline and concept :smile:

The secret to starting your own mod is that you've got to have a
lot of talent yourself- whether you're an awesome modeller, coder or
mapper (I'm not saying that Madedog or anyone else doesn't have such
skills) otherwise getting the things that DrGlass says you need above
will be very difficult to do. And secondly, you need a decent looking
website, not some phpnuke-mashup :argh: After those comes storyline and concept :smile:

I dissagree, I think that if you have a really great concept and story
with some kind of goal or time line layed out people will be more
intrested than if you just have a nice web site (though it does help)

I don't know which view is correct, but I feel like most people just
judge a MOD by the website and the media, not the storyline. In
fact, I don't think you'd even need a good storyline if you had the
media to back your mod up. Obviously there are some people out
there who value a well fleshed out story and sense of detail, but for
the most part I think the average player doesn't spend any time reading
those "journal entries" or "dossiers" that are written by one of the
MOD's characters.

I just judge most mods by the "Features" page, when you actually find
out what the mod is exactly about. The second I see "revolutionary",
"highly-anticipated", or "immersive", I'm instantly disinterested.
Which leads to a big problem I see with mods today: They try to emulate
the game industry, when they don't have the talent, time, or resources
to do so. Maybe I've just grown a bit jaded of the entire mod
community, I don't know. It just takes more than some unskinned model
renders to swoon me these days. :smile:

Also, if I did join a mod, I would expect the mod leader to do the
majority of the work, not just rig up a phpnuke website and forum. It's
"their passion", not mine.

Oh, and Reno: I disagree. I find conversation in Mapcore to be next to
impossible (no offense to anyone there). Snarkpit members are generally
more inclined to write coherent sentences, instead of plastering
"Something Awful" pictures everywhere and answering with nonsensical
L33t. In this respect, I find it boring. But yes, there's some great
talented people there anyway. :wink:

Hmm I guess there is a fair amount of that at Mapcore CJ, but to be
honest its fairly easily avoided provided you just completely ignore
the off topic forums. Perhaps its better now than it used to be also, I
dunno. Most of the time the Mapcore Discussion forum is worth reading
at any rate.

The secret to starting your own mod is that you've got to have a lot of talent yourself- whether you're an awesome modeller, coder or mapper (I'm not saying that Madedog or anyone else doesn't have such skills) otherwise getting the things that DrGlass says you need above will be very difficult to do. And secondly, you need a decent looking website, not some phpnuke-mashup :argh: After those comes storyline and concept :smile:

Yeah, if you don't have some good experience mapping, modeling, or coding you really have no business trying to start a mod. I see a lot of kids who have some 'great concept' they basically want other people to make for them (but they get to be 'leader'..). But if you don't have any creative talent to contribute to a mod, why should anyone listen to you? You can't expect a bunch of smart, talented people to rush to work for someone far below their own skill level. (oh, wait, I just described my RL job cries)

ps: when I insert a smiley it DELETES EVERYTHING, and I can't even control-z to get it back!! !#$%!#%

I don't know which view is correct, but I feel like most people just
judge a MOD by the website and the media, not the storyline. In
fact, I don't think you'd even need a good storyline if you had the
media to back your mod up. Obviously there are some people out
there who value a well fleshed out story and sense of detail, but for
the most part I think the average player doesn't spend any time reading
those "journal entries" or "dossiers" that are written by one of the
MOD's characters.

Well, what I mean is that the MOD (I'm talking single player here)
needs to be fleshed out for a person to want to join the team.

If I'm just looking at MODs damn right there better be a cool web
site. If I want to join a MOD I want to see structure and some
kind of plan to make that mod a reality.

I agree with CJ, alot of stuff dosn't impress me anymore. I would
be more impressed by one or two skinned models or maybe one in game
shot of some wepons or player models than a boat load of concept art or
unskinned models.

[edit] Jinx is right, but I think that it is possible to not have much
talent and still be a great leader. I've been in a few MODs where
the leader didn't lead. They just told us what he would like us
to do. I'd much rather have some one say "ok do this, like this,
by this time" The leader needs to know what everyone is doing and
who needs what from who. I dont want to have to find the person
working on the first part of my map and have to ask them whats going on
only to find out that we have been doing the same level for the past
three weeks.

To make things more certain and tight... let us start from the bottom.

I DO say "do this, like this, by this time". Really. I also give (if I
have) every sketch and storyline I have. All that is needed.

I try to communicate with my team and motivate them every possible time
that they need it. I am like a central connection between every other
participant.

I also organize the levels that everybody do and I am willing to
synchronize them as well. Afterall... most of my crew consists of
people who are not in my or Leperous' or other people's levels (sorry
if you ain't mapping, Leperous, you just popped into my mind when
thinkind about it :biggrin: ) in level design.

I've been mapping since Worldcraft for Quake. When I got Half-Life, I
was like... "Yea baby! Let's map!" And well... when the Source came
in... It was some bit of different style than I was used to... Block
tool remembered last selected block's measurements and positions... hey

• cool :biggrin: - I thought. But now I am much more skilled than I was these

days and I know c++ coding and IF (and only if) necessary I am able to
use 3ds max to some extents. The heck... I can even use photoshop to
make skins, but why am I not doing this? Because these are not things I
can do well! The only thing I am good at, is Level Design. So... Jinx -
Don't be afraid :biggrin: The reason that I don't find experienced mappers
(better than me) is that there are very little! And I haven't shown
anyone my work. At least I have some with Strikeback :biggrin:

Again, people... I am not working only with the website (particularly
when I don't have the time to write PHP to create my own CMS). So...
hem hem, but I think the number 1 thing is still the media :smile: Moving
media. Like videos and such.

Again... I get to the point that says "I just need few more good (or
lot more not-so-good) mappers until the video. Then we have proof and
some good stuff to show to people in all kinds of forums so they'll
want to help us. That's the point where others who have done hard work
can rest and take their time."

ps: if anyone read out from my text something angry-like, you're wrong
:biggrin: I am not an angry or upset person, I like to jest and make fun and
laugh... so... everything I wrote was written in good mood. :smile:

Well bottom line, I cant help but good luck finding people, tbh you
have alot more drive than most people. Others would have left
this thread days ago, you stuck with it and argued your point.

I am not a give-upper, I shall fight till the end...

I hate when people give up of something they are searching for... not my type :biggrin: