Level Design what kind of hours are you guys putting in?

[Heinz]

300+ easily. You could say maybe 200+ for pure development work. Then another 100 is compiling, loading, testing. Then your alpha and beta test time on servers with players. Feedback sessions etc. Other development stuff like models, textures, scripting beyond the usual adds time. I waste most of my time spectating in my maps thinking of ideas, or near the end of the process just 'oooo-ing and awwwwwwing' myself at how it looks/feels... that or chasing IB or Lex in circles as we play 'grenade-bash only' after testing the latest componets...we literallly wasted hours doing that making the CoD/UO 'Barbarossa Vehicles' package. HOURS and HOURS!

damn. I envy you mapper dudes. really wish I could do it. all these ideas in my head. . I guess you have to sacrifice gaming time for mapping time, eh? man. a labor of love indeed.

 

[BobCobb]

damn. I envy you mapper dudes. really wish I could do it. all these ideas in my head. . I guess you have to sacrifice gaming time for mapping time, eh? man. a labor of love indeed.

Thats for sure. Since I started my map I haven't started ROOST unless it was to test out my map. It's very addicting once you get past the initial stages of shitting your pants in confusion.

 

[Heinz]

It's very addicting once you get past the initial stages of shitting your pants in confusion.

ha! funny stuff. maybe I will get insprired to map. got to quit the job and divorce the wife first though.

 

[Slyk]

I personally don't believe a good mapper can be a great player. There just isn't enough time for it. In the CoD days, I figured my ration was about 20-1 mapping vs playing and that included hours and hours of alpha and beta time on servers. You make choices.

 

[[TW]DrGuppy]

I personally don't believe a good mapper can be a great player. There just isn't enough time for it. In the CoD days, I figured my ration was about 20-1 mapping vs playing and that included hours and hours of alpha and beta time on servers. You make choices.

Ah but once you know how the game works you do a lot better. An example would be the random artillery on StatingradKessel. After looking at the properties in the editor I have a much higher survivability rate in the field.

 

[Nimsky]

I think our rule of thumb is that a map takes 2 months, full time.

So, 40x4x2 = 320 person hours.

Obviously, this will fluctuate based on the type of map you are making, but it seems accurate. This is partly why team mapping (if we can get it to work, that is) makes sense.

Seriously, this is the primary reason first person shooters keep getting shorter, playtime wise. 320 person hours is a lot of programmer time yet it results in one playable map. It's actually even worse because that 320 hours doesn't count the extra contributions of modellers and other artists. And it's only going to get worse as engines increase the level of detail they can support.

I was wondering, do you guys get paid for your efforts? Are you in an office or is it still a "global" effort?

Sorry for the rude question

 

[Nestor Makhno]

Ah but once you know how the game works you do a lot better. An example would be the random artillery on StatingradKessel. After looking at the properties in the editor I have a much higher survivability rate in the field.

Plus you get to know all the bugs/exploits in your own maps. I consider myself the champion 'wirewalker' on RO-Makhnovo, even though I didn't discover the bug on my OWN map .

 

[DingBat]

I was wondering, do you guys get paid for your efforts? Are you in an office or is it still a "global" effort?

Sorry for the rude question

Not a rude question at all. I'm not a "professional" level designer. I'd originally dropped out after the MSU win to re-engergize (I was a little burned out). I volunteered to help out with Tripwire's run to retail.

In real life I'm a software developer. That pays the bills. RO is for fun.

 

[DingBat]

I personally don't believe a good mapper can be a great player. There just isn't enough time for it. In the CoD days, I figured my ration was about 20-1 mapping vs playing and that included hours and hours of alpha and beta time on servers. You make choices.

I go in spurts. When I'm working hard on a map, you'll never see me on a game server except for times when I really need to burn off some steam.

I consider myself a pretty good RO player. But then, I may not be a good mapper.

 

[Lruce Bee]

Well there are very few excellent players who are also great mappers - it really doesn't work like that in my experience

For me it's not uncommon to go to work on my day job from 8:00am in the morning and arrive home at 5:30pm - quick bite to eat and start mapping around 6 oclock through to 1:00am and begin that cycle again throughout the week - I did that for 6 months solid making levels for another game a couple of years ago and yes - it takes dedication and commitment to pull those kind of hours - I actually find it quite difficult to wind down after a project with the only antidote being a new idea and a new level - it's a strange thing

Lruce

 

[Reddog]

I've put in about 10 hours on my map so far. At present I have my 'action zone' terrain and lighting complete. Just need to add in buildings, foliage and trees, all the relevant actors, objectives, spawns and then do the map edges.

 

[Killer9999]

hehe i play in {Core} lots of matches but yer i guess my gaming has brought down my level of ability on the game after i finish warsaw lodsz and orsha i think ill just play for a while

 

[BobCobb]

I consider myself a good ROOSTer for the most part. I also enjoy mapping having started my first one. However, I can see where you have to make the choice between one or the other. There isn't much time for both.

 

[Creutz]

ha! funny stuff. maybe I will get insprired to map. got to quit the job and divorce the wife first though.

Seems to me all you have to do is start mapping and all the other stuff will sort it self out by nature.

 

[Nestor Makhno]

*in Homer voice* It's funny because it's true.