JPJan 22, 2019
"Doom mapping is often called simple because it's just like drawing a map on a piece of paper. Quake mapping, on the other hand, is a lot like building with Lego."
Thread on an interesting new (still in development) way of building Doom maps: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/103999-announcing-bsp2doom-build-doom-levels-with-a-quake-editor
Show threadJP
This tension between models is partly why some of my ideas for a truly powerful engine-agnostic level editor are still not as concrete as I'd like: ideally you want to be able to flip effortlessly between paper map and lego, making the ortho views truly useful for creating *and* revising, but keeping the perspective views powerful enough you can spend most of your time there during eg a detailing stage. Very possible, but AFAIK nobody has grappled with these questions in a broadly useful way.
Jan 22, 2019 at 9:32pmWeb
Show threadJPJan 23, 2019
Finding a lot of my thoughts about level design lately aren't much about building games at all, but about untapped meanings of simulated 3D/2D space to concepts of community.
"Virtual worlds" were this 90s-flavored approach that rode the wave of the internet's commercialization. What does it mean in 2019 to hang out with people in a 3D space? Fortnite has famously become the new mall, with all the attendant top-down corporate control. I'm most interested in alternatives built entirely by users.
Show threadJPJan 23, 2019
I keep coming back to the concept of linked hosted servers in Unreal Engine circa 1999 (ironically, given that Epic has presided over the user creativity booms of ZZT and Unreal Tournament, and over the current mallscape of centrally hosted Fortnite).
Show threadJPJan 23, 2019
Ah, I knew I'd already written a thread about this, so I'll just link that: https://mastodon.social/@jplebreton/100480254803643194
Show threadAlonealastalovedalongtheJan 23, 2019

@jplebreton

Fascinating! The most interesting virtual world hangout space I have encountered (there is a lot I haven't seen tho) is a minecraft server called nerd.nu. It has been through 23 revs which are when the world is saved and then wiped and everyone starts fresh on a new world. There isn't any fast travel so it is fascinating to watch cities and rail networks/nether roads connecting them grow. It really has an identity as a place unlike most online spaces.

Show threadAlonealastalovedalongtheJan 23, 2019

@jplebreton

One of my favorite parts is there are cities that keep rising out of the landscape every rev (new world) and have this history and dare I say soul because people keep coming back and rebuilding new versions (sometimes in wildly different themes but still). Every year or so when I get back into minecraft a little I can log on grab a minecart and ride the rail networks visiting the current world's version of rose city or pico city or any number of others. It is cool.

Show threadJPJan 23, 2019
@Alonealastalovedalongthe cool! yeah, i think minecraft servers are the closest thing we currently have to what i'm imagining.
Show threadCornflowerJan 27, 2019

@jplebreton I think about this a lot. I spent a lot of my late teens playing counter strike source zombie mod, a game mode where map familiarity was 90% of the skill involved.

I still vividly remember those spaces and all their secrets and tricks. It's not just that they were background to important conversations and moments, the spaces themselves have emotional meaning to me. Living now where I move apartments every year or so some of those maps feel more like my home than my actual home.

Show threadCornflowerJan 27, 2019
@jplebreton Everyone has and talks about those songs that take them back to a period in their life. zm_citylife and zm_moonlight are just as powerful as music from that time to me. I wonder if this is the same for others who grew up with video games. I wonder if kids will remember their minecraft worlds for the rest of their lives.
Show threadJPJan 28, 2019
@cornflower I totally hear ya, thanks for sharing. This idea is very much something I'm interested in exploring in some of my independent work.
Show threadAltazimuthJan 22, 2019
@jplebreton On this topic, a few people in the Doom community have bandied about ideas for a layer-based editor. Rough idea is something like you stucture areas separately then can combine them together. Such a thing could then be extended to work in proper 3D.
At the time it was last mentioned I was talking about how Jazz's NASTY could probably be leveraged for the 3D mode of a Unity-based editor. Additionally, me being me, I mentioned linked portal support in 3D mode as a possibility being super cool.
Show threadJPJan 22, 2019
@Altazimuth Cool, that all sounds worthwhile. I've thought a lot about how the concept of layers could relate to sector based editing and rendering, including Dark Forces style floors-upon-floors but also as an organizational aid.
I have no interest in a Unity-based editor but lots of people use it so clearly it would have some value.