Oilrig Mod / Map
polycounter lvl 10
Hello.
What would be the best place to learn modding and map making for an outsider ? I am completely oblivious to coding and scripting, so my initial thought was to use Source. Even though it's kind of an ancient system, it has so many built-in and ready to use features that would speed up the process. Although its kind of time consuming and pain in the ass.
Unity is another option, even though I don't really know how capable it is. I only know it's more user friendly compared to Source.
Some of the assets are ready to go, including some textures and theres a sketch of the map I made in Max. I'm in the very beginning of the project and didn't want to step further before deciding which app to go with.
This is the sketch of the map
What would be the best place to learn modding and map making for an outsider ? I am completely oblivious to coding and scripting, so my initial thought was to use Source. Even though it's kind of an ancient system, it has so many built-in and ready to use features that would speed up the process. Although its kind of time consuming and pain in the ass.
Unity is another option, even though I don't really know how capable it is. I only know it's more user friendly compared to Source.
Some of the assets are ready to go, including some textures and theres a sketch of the map I made in Max. I'm in the very beginning of the project and didn't want to step further before deciding which app to go with.
This is the sketch of the map
Replies
Foliage samples
And self illuminated rooms for fillers and general map props
In terms of engine selection, I personally would go with Unity. I have a fair bit of experience in both Source and Unity - Source is certainly dated although it can produce decent visuals and great performance on slower machines. Unity however wins by a landslide with its user friendliness in all areas ranging from ease of importing models to the streamlined game export process, and everything in between.
As you say you don't know how to script yet, I know of a great visual scripting tool that could help you out - it's called Playmaker... check it out.
As for engines, UDK, CryEngine3, Unity, all quite nice for presenting work in realtime. Additionally, you get to run around the maps. Very easy to setup deathmatch with bots in UDK, you just save the file as DM-MapName (where MapName is your map's name of course)
As for the engine I'm going back and forth between UDK and Unity. Unity seems easier to get familiar with but UDK looks more capable. This will presumably have high polycount and big textures with lots of particles and sprites. Maybe UDK is a better choice.
Personally I would choose UDK over Unity. Unity has many advantages over UDK when it comes to developing an actual game, however for presenting a scene or a map, UDK will allow you to make everything look nicer. This is mainly because of the lighting and the kick ass material editor.
There are plenty of tutorials out there for setting up a basic level in UDK as well.
If you want to go a step further, I know Eat3D, Digital Tutors, and 3Dmotive all have awesome (premium) tutorials. I think there is more than enough information on youtube though, but the unreal developer network is a great resource as well.
I need to make few of these, Did you find a download pack of them or make them by hand?
Thanks a bunch man. I'll definitely make sure to check all these. And yes, UDK seems to have amazing features including real-time reflections. I didn't even know Eat3D had UDK tuts.
@ Gannon
I lit the buildings and interiors with photometric lights in Max. You can find them under the name 'IES'. They look very sexy and modern indeed, although I don't think you can use them in real-time applications.
I know I'm not going somewhere with this scene but its nice to show what the assets look like in the scene. I fixed the grass and rebaked the building, and added a bit of color pimping
Building is 962 tri and only uses a 1024x1024 self illumination map.
thanks
@JoltZero
There you go. I'm planning to add different buildings and night-ish street scenery. The map should be around 4 times larger. And I'll upload an exe with basic FPS navigation soon where you can run around.