Navigation and interface basics of Hammer World Editor. Before you can start creating maps, you need to know what the interface requires you in order to navigate around the editor.
CS:GO editor is the same for most Source based games. It is very simple to navigate and get used to the functions within the editor.
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CS:GO SDK Navigation and Interface Basics in 15 minutes
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CS:GO SDK Player and Architecture Scale, Dimension, Proportion
Essential principle to any map creation, is keeping your world to scale and proper proportion. Walls, hallways, windows, doorways have to look just right to make your map realistic. If one of architectural elements looks too big or too small, the illusion of the world is gone. No matter how beautifully lit and textured it is.
Before starting your map in CS:GO, you need to know key unit dimenions for characters and architecture. This includes character crouching, standing, width. Wall heights, depths, stairs height and depth, windows, doors etc. You can't fix this in the later stages of your production, without remaking and reworking your geometry. So you must make sure that when you build your first wall, your first doorway or your first window, that they look correct.
In this tutorial we are going to cover all the necessary dimensions that you need to know in order to keep your map to correct scale and proportion.
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CS:GO How to Create Your First Room - BSP Brush Geometry
Complete tutorial focusing on bsp brush geometry for beginners in CS:GO SDK.
A lot of key concepts covered in this tutorial. Creating your first room. Expand to second room and add hallways. Using developer textures and how to avoid having compile error leaks. Using player reference model for scale and why you shouldn't use make hollow feature.
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CS:GO SDK Adding Prop Models: Using Models In Your Map
Your final map will be a combination of BSP geometry and prop models. The shell of your map is going to be made up of brushes, then more detailed geometry are 3d models placed in your map.
There are 3 basic prop model types that you will be dealing with. Static, physics and dynamic. In this tutorial I will show you how to add all three model types. What the difference is between these props and how to manipulate them in the editor so you can detail your map.
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CS:GO SDK Adding Lights: How to Light Your First Room (Lighting Basics)
It is time to illuminate our simple map. To do that we need to insert light entities and tweak their properties for color and light intensity. There are a few bugs and errors we need to address. I will also cover how to problem solve some common light issues.
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CS:GO SDK Texturing: Applying Textures and Principles for Optimizing Early
It is time to get rid of our developer textures and make the simple room look like an environment. This requires to texture bsp brushes. There are hundreds if not thousands of textures available for you to use in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
In this tutorial I will cover how to texture your geometry, how to replace textures, how to apply and align your textures as well as how to start optimizing early and use nodraw texture.
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CS:GO SDK How to Compile and Run Your First Map
It is now time to run our map in-game. Up to this point we have created bsp geometry, placed prop models, textured our simple map and inserted lights. Lets compile and run the map in-game.
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CS:GO SDK Creating Buy Zones and Inserting Player Starts
We are now going add gameplay entities into our CS:GO map. In this tutorial we will insert player starts for T and CT side. As well as add buy zones for each team to purchase weapons and gear.
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CS:GO SDK Inserting Hostages and Creating Hostage Rescue Zones
In this tutorial we will insert hostage player models and create hostage rescue zones. Also we will define the rescue zones with visual cues using overlays.
This tutorial is for the new, updated hostage rescue rules. Only 2 hostages per map and 1 hostage needs to be rescued. CTs have to pick up the hostage and carry them to the rescue zone.
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CS:GO SDK Creating Standard Bomb Site Zones For Defuse Map
In this tutorial we will set up a standard bomb site zones for a defuse map. We will also define the bomb site zones with visual cues using overlays.
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CS:GO SDK Creating Advanced Bomb Site Zones to Trigger Fire and Dust
In this tutorial we'll take the standard bombsite zones we created in last tutorial and add visual and functional entities. We'll add environment fire and dust cloud to trigger when the bomb goes off. This will make the explosion a lot more interesting.
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Software for Game Environment Artist
What software/applications do you need to create game environment art?
The following article is a list of software you would need to know and use to create game environments.
I narrowed the list down to essentials few to get you started in the right direction. After you've gone through this article you should have a strong foundation of what software you would need. From there you could choose to explore alternative applications. This is not a complete list of software and it is subjective, based on my experience and what I've seen environment artist use majority of the time.
I included 'What I Use' section, to see what software I use and recommend.
I've split software into pipeline categories. From visual development to modeling to rendering your work inside a game engine.
I've also listed free alternative applications that you could use.
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Deliberate Practice for Level Designers and Game Environment Artist
The following post/tutorial has been sitting in my queue for about a year. It is something I've wanted to finish and share with you for a while, but other tutorials would get in the way. Until I took last few months off from posting and focused on practicing and improving my skillset. I realized how important what I am about to share with you is. So now I am back and completely refocused on WoLD. To get things moving again, the topic of today's blog post is practice.
Deliberate practice.
Deliberate practice isn't daily work. It isn't what most call, practice. It is a specific kind of practice with its own steps, actions and principles to follow.
What I used to consider "practice" is merely working on a map or a game environment.
The process went something like this...
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CS:GO How to Design Gameplay Map Layout (Complete In-Depth Guide)
The following is a study; a how-to guide for gameplay layout map design in Counter-Strike. I will be using Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but this should apply to any Counter-Strike versions released.
I will go into depth of popular maps in CS:GO and dissect why these maps are structured the way they are. I will analyze what makes a good map and what creates good gameplay, flow and pacing.
I will tell you exactly how you can do the same for your maps.
This tutorial will also apply to any level designer that uses any form of attack/defend, assault or search/destroy type of multiplayer layout will greatly benefit from this guide. A lot of my insights come from variety of online multiplayer games that I've studied.
Principles of good multiplayer level design for first-person shooters don't change very much. The applications of the techniques do, but principles stay the same.
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CS:GO 6 Principles of Choke Point Level Design
Choke points are areas of the map where the attacking team meets resistance from the defending team before reaching the objective. Choke point areas are specifically designed to enhance gameplay. They are used to control flow, pacing and balance within the map.
I've narrowed down choke point design to 6 core principles.
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Top 6 Tutorials on Productivity, Focus and Time Management
Time management, focus, discipline and being able to finish a project have been very important topics for me, since I've struggled with this so much. I am constantly trying new ways to improve my work output.
With 2014 under way, I wanted to highlight top articles on the site to get the year going. The following are a small hand-picked collection of tutorials that will guide you to have a better year in 2014.
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CS:GO From Top Down Layout to BSP Block-In Workflow
In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to take your top down map layout sketch for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive map and begin blocking in BSP in Hammer level editor.
We will create a floor plan of the map in order to test gameplay timing of choke points, objectives and path routes. This process has to happen before creating the shell of the environment, add any detail, props, texture or light the map.
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WoLD Website Redesign
I've had the redesign goal on the to do list for a while now. But other goals would tend to take its place. After months and months of avoiding wanting to update the design, I finally decided to get it done.
My goal wasn't to change the entire layout, but to improve it and to update the design. I wanted the site to be less boxy and more united in terms of color. I wanted to have more white space and more open. I wanted to include an option in design to offer bigger video sizes for each tutorial page.
What's in this new redesign for you?
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UDK: Difference Between Textures and Materials
When I first started with UDK I had a lot of confusion understanding the difference between textures and materials.
There are few fundamental distinctions between textures and materials. For example, you cannot apply a texture on a static mesh or BSP geometry. Textures have to be a part of a material. The material is what you would use to texture your environment and apply to Static Meshes.
Here are the differences between a texture and a material in UDK.
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UDK: Material Editor Beginner Basics
Material Editor is an important element of UDK environment creation. It is where you will create and edit materials that will be used to texture your environment.
This is an introduction to UDK Material Editor before we get into more detail on how to import your own textures and create your own materials.
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