LZ 129 HINDENBURG ROADMAP ------------------------- Table Of Contents: 1.0 - How Did I Come Up With The Concept? 2.0 - How Long Did I Work On The Map? When Was It Released? 2.1 - What Was The Hardest Part? 2.2 - What Was The Easiest Part? 2.3 - If I Could Go Back, What Would I Change? 2.4 - How Would Those Changes Impact The Map & Dev Time? 2.5 - Who Did What Exactly? 2.6 - What Software Packages Were Used? 3.0 - How Did The Map Get Valued By People? 3.1 - View & Download Counts? Any Noteworthy Credentials? === 1.0 === I really enjoyed developing for The Ship while doing The Ship Fawlty Towers however that was technically a port. I wanted to do something proprietary and from the start associated with The Ship, to increase buzz for the game mainly. It also meant sticking to the concept of a ship, so I was browsing around The Ship Online's forums and lots of people had great ideas but one stood out for me, an airship. Keeping in-vain with The Ship itself I chose a doomed (and famous) airship 'The Hindenburg'. Though I did decide to re-construct it unlike The Ship's stock maps which don't share major resemblences to the names of their ships. Which is absolutely fine. And in doing a re-construction (for this project) is something new and different, just what one needs! I watched The Hindenburg, a movie from 1975 which has very accurate sets and I got a lot out of that! Also a book called Hindenburg - An Illustrated History which I managed to read all the way through even though I don't really care that much about airships. Goes to show that it's a good book, I'd say. It especially had a wonderful perspective drawing of the layout of the ship, major kudos! Obviously The Internet helped tons aswell. There was only a few thing I couldn't find anywhere. The artwork from Otto Arpke scattered around the airship and photographs of most crew quarters and keel/axial walkways. But those are all relatively minor issues. === 2.0 === Approximately 370 hours during the scope of approximately 5 months. The biggest developmental time of any of my levels... but also the biggest level and with the most custom content without begging other people to do things for me ;) Release Date: 09/23/07 (MM/DD/YY) === 2.1 === The models. Because this is my first project where I did my own models (and how -> 65 models!) but the hardest part wasn't modeling. Oh no... It also wasn't texturing, nope, not even unwrapping! It was getting the models into the game. Given, once you know the process it's simple and logical but to do it the first time it's just sheer agony! As there is no diagnosis of why it doesn't want to work and there are loads of thing that could go wrong. But as I've said. Now that I know, it's thankfully not a problem nomore! === 2.2 === The music. Just searching for old German propaganda music to fit into the levels, it was both lots of fun and comparatively to everything else also quite easy. Though finding the right tune for the right environment (sickbay having a softer vibe for which I chose "Wildganse Rauchen", prison having a more punishing vibe for which I chose "Prinz Eugen", etc...) was a little tricky, it still wasn't that hard. === 2.3 === I would've used my unwrap-space more efficiently for most of my models. Also the general scale of the chairs is a little to big but it all has to be done sooner not later. I didn't do either because the models would almost need to be re-done and it'd take to much work for little gain. But had I spotted these issues earlier in development (which I should from now on, with this experience) I would've done them. === 2.4 === If I would do them now with the finished level. It would take lots of time and fairly little noticeable improvement. If I had done it earlier on during development, it would've taken a little bit of time but again not much improvement eitherway. === 2.5 === Brushwork: 100% Materials: Several standard materials were used but most are custom materials. Most of these were created by hand, exceptions being posters and the sky which are photographs taken from the internet. Models: Several standard models, all custom models were done by me. That's modeling/texturing/unwrapping and everything game-related (qc files, etc...). Sounds: Some standard sounds, nearly all soundscapes are custom. Though I didn't record any, they are old German WW propaganda music but not war related lyrically more national pride and such. Typical for a 1935 Nazi Germany. Lighting: Done by me, calculated with the compiler (CSTBSP) a tweaked version of the one supplied by Valve. Optimization: Done by me, calculated with the compiler (CSTVIS) a tweaked version of the one supplied by Valve. BSP Tree: Generated with the compiler (CSTRAD) a tweaked version of the one supplied by Valve. === 2.6 === Hammer Editor Autodesk 3D Studio Max Adobe Photoshop GoldWave Boutell MapEdit === 3.0 === Feedback has been great. There's just one concern which are narrow corridors but I don't see it as a problem, it increases tension. It's not always about what's easy or fun, it's about what's rewarding in the end. === 3.1 === FPSBANANA: 1,287 Views 187 DLs 0 Favorites