Level Editing - Community etc..

[Dubh]

As the game will be out soon.......(said while kneeling down, habd clasped in prayer):

Has there been any talk of people here establishing a community
for mapping. You know, when the game comes out, I know I will be creating my own levels etc. But it might be a good idea if say, each person submits a level, we all play it , then vote on it and then we could end up with like a DoomWorld Top 10 level pack available for download.

I think it's a good idea and because I am familiar with some of you now, I think it would be fun playing your levels rather than hitting some site somewhere and downloading levels from some unknown dude.
Like, at least we will know whats good and whats bad (i.e. worth downloading) Then things could move on from there (further projects with the top mappers involved)

Any thoughts?

[IMJack]

Trust me, as soon as Doom 3 comes out, this whole area of the boards will go from speculation to development and editing. I wouldn't think it'd be terribly dissimilar to the way the site handles .wads currently.

[Erik]

yep, some system for doom3 like the newstuff chronicles could be established or even integrated into the current system.

[Arno]

Erik said:

yep, some system for doom3 like the newstuff chronicles could be established or even integrated into the current system.

That's what I was thinking. But maybe the Doom3 map reviews should be seperated from the classic Doom map reviews, to make it less confusing.

[EllipsusD]

Arno said:
That's what I was thinking. But maybe the Doom3 map reviews should be seperated from the classic Doom map reviews, to make it less confusing.

I second that. With two separate sets of reviews there should (in theory) be equal emphasis given to each.

[AirRaid]

Well, yeah. Some people who do the /newstuff reveiws at the moment might not be able to play Doom3, so they'd have to be seperate.

I'm pretty sure Doom3 mapping willl take off quickyl after the game is released. Hell, some naughty people already started...

[insertwackynamehere]

Speaking of editing, I hope that the DOOM III editor is a real editor and not some THPS II type editor where you can move some objects around in a prefabricated square, and call it a level. That's my greatest fear, since id is such a big buisness now (unlike before) and may have to have the game apply to a bunch idiots as well as the true Doomer/gamer.

[Fredrik]

The level editor that ships with the game is the same that id Software used to build the game.

[insertwackynamehere]

Okay. That's cool.

[The_Aeromaster]

I just wanted to say that this is not my conversation. I was bored^

[AirRaid]

ya the Doom3 editor is almost identical to the Q3Radiant, as far as I can tell. It just... for Doom...

[Zoost]

For everybody that is interested in editing, look at BNA! his site.

doom3world.org It has everything you want to know about editing!

[BNA!]

Zoost said:

For everybody that is interested in editing, look at BNA! his site.

doom3world.org It has everything you want to know about editing!

Thx for pimping Zoost :)

Here's the direct link to the updated site (your link points to the old, archieved one):

http://www.doom3world.org/index.php

And this are the editing forums:

http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/index.php

I hope there will be some sort of constructive collaboration between the major boards like DoomWorld to exchange knowledge.
Creating basic content for Doom3 isn't any harder than for Quake3, but once it get's beyond basic mapping with a funky light, things require custom content creators to really learn the tools and scripting syntax.

The learning curve is pretty steep in the beginning, but then you'll really feel at home.

[The_Aeromaster]

In other words it'll require at least some degree of dedication so that every idiot isn't pumping out maps?

[Arno]

The_Aeromaster said:

In other words it'll require at least some degree of dedication so that every idiot isn't pumping out maps?

I'm affraid any idiot will be able to pull out a box map with a couple of enemies.
Creating a good, above average map will require a lot of dedication and mapping skillz.

[BNA!]

The_Aeromaster said:

In other words it'll require at least some degree of dedication so that every idiot isn't pumping out maps?

In other words:
The majority of the first wave of custom user maps will consist of swinging lights and stroboscobic lights - kinda like back in the days when untalented mappers discovered the possibilities of colored lighting. Expect every showcase effect to become overdone. You could identify a n00b Quake3 map by the total count of gargoyle models - you'll be able to do the same with Doom3 and swinging lights.

To produce an original Doom3 map requires real dedication and talent.
But if talented and dedicated people lay their hands on this engine, I'm sure we'll se amazing things, real amazing things.

[Dubh]

Nice, well I'm pretty solid with the last Radiant so hopefully this won't be too dissimilar. I'm also looking forward to giving the scripting language a good bash.

Nice, looking forward to being a part of this when it happens.

[BNA!]

Dubh said:

I'm also looking forward to giving the scripting language a good bash.

So this could probably be interesting for you:
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=4

[Julian]

BNA, since you're around, what kind of music format does Doom3 accept?

[Lord FlatHead]

The alpha used a whole bunch of WAV files. I think maybe mp3 is also supported, though I'm not sure.

[BNA!]

The Merovingian said:

BNA, since you're around, what kind of music format does Doom3 accept?

44khz wav files
Haven't heard about compatibility with mp3's tho.

You can write shaders for the sounds also to control the quality of possible fall back modes (like 2 instead of 6 speakers).
Pretty fun to work with this engine.

Many people tend to jump the HL2 bandwagon now, but I personally think that if id software would have spent as much time as Valve to show off advanced tech demos instead of short movie clips people would be as amazed as they are with HL2.

While it's completely unrelated, I haven't seen much in the HL2 vids that wouldn't be able with Doom3. Let me elaborate it quick:

Some things of course are unique to HL2 - first the visual expression system comes to mind. The AI might be more advanced as well (as if AI was ever the strongest point of id software...).

Other things like fancy render to texture effects (when the guy grabs the cam and waves it around while the monitor screens update) can be done with Doom3 as well (at least I'm 90% sure about that).

The displayed usage of shaders in HL2 is something you could surpass with ease in Doom3 - I'm 101% sure about that.
You can blend so many texture onto each other and change them on runtime, that I tend to say it's almost "unlimited" as far as mainstream realtime engines are concerned.
A character made of water? It's only smokes and mirros - apply a water texture to the model and you're done.

I think where HL2 may have a lead also is realtime deformation of level geometry via dsiplacement maps (no, not destructable walls, that's something different).
So far I haven't seen any sign of vertex deformation shaders, but generally speaking it's a good advice to reserve any judgement for the release build instead of a piece of software no one is supposed to have.

From my personal impression the Doom3 engine will be very much fun to work with - speaking from artist point of view as from a mod coder perspective.
Since any impression so far is based on an old build, I'd like to say that if they (id) have taken the engine further it'll be something that will be the killer engine for graphics dependant mods / TC's and the machinima community should instantly fall in love it (if not, I can't think of any reasons why). Mappers and 3D modellers should be in paradise with it that's something I take for granted.

If people moan that the engine might not be the next Counter Strike engine because of this and that - well, what gives.

So sorry that a short answer has turned into a love letter to the Doom3 engine, but I'm still very impressed with what id software has achieved.

The engine is a very elegant piece of code and id software's designers are still the best (personal opinion - feel free to disagree at any point of the post above).

BTW - I can't wait to see the first screens of Raven's vision for Quake4! The Doom3 engine just loves to render biomechanical creatures.

Thanks for reading and have fun :)

[Arno]

BNA! said:

So this could probably be interesting for you:
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=4

Thanks! I just bookmarked that site. The amount of interesting info is mindblowing!