Welcome back to another entry within this series. Let’s just jump right into it. As with any form of game development, we would need documentation to keep track of concepts, current work in progress, what is needed, etc. At the moment, you already created a piece of documentation - the papermap. This will help you envision your project and give you a reference for how you want your map to look like in the end. However, we need more. Now, we have to create the design document: This document is one of the most important things that you would have for your map. It outlines the theme of the map, the assets that the map will use, and an idea on how the map will be completed. Due to the flexibility of the design document and the project at hand, you can say that you can not fully complete a design document. However, to get a document that is useful for development, you should flesh out the following pieces of it.
Hakim Ottey
Recent Posts
IT’S HAMMER TIME: Using Valve’s Hammer Editor To Create Cool Portal 2 Maps - Part 2
Posted on Dec 7, 2019 12:00:00 PM by Hakim Ottey in game design degree, in Student Ambassador, in game apps, in Game art and animation degree, in Game Art and Design Degree, in game concept, in game designers, in game dev, in game engine programming, in game programmer, in game programming degree, in game studies, in game studies degree, in Editing, in hammer
IT’S HAMMER TIME: Using Valve’s Hammer Editor To Create Cool Portal 2 Maps - Part 1
Posted on Dec 6, 2019 9:00:00 AM by Hakim Ottey in game degree, in game design degree, in game developers, in Gaming Industry, in gaming is my passion, in Student Ambassador, in Editing, in game design tips, in hammer
For my Advanced Level Design class, I decided that I would create a map for one of my favorite games - Portal 2. I have played the game multiple times, struggling through all of the main story’s puzzles and the community-made puzzles that can be found in the Steam Workshop. I wanted to see what developing these maps were like, so I jumped right into the Hammer editor and got myself started. It was a long and rather exhausting process, but I believe that learning about how maps within Team Fortress, Portal, and Left 4 Dead are made is a fun skill to have, as it would allow me and other people to join Source modding communities and create cool content that would keep these old games alive. So today, I am going to tell you the process that you need to go through to create a decent looking map and some tips about using the Hammer editor. Keep in mind, I am going to talk about Hammer from the perspective of developing a map for Portal 2, but most of the content within this post should be usable across all Source games.
Tour After Tour: When Hard Work Pays Off
Posted on Dec 4, 2019 9:00:00 AM by Hakim Ottey in campus visit, in Student Ambassador, in campus life, in campus tour, in human computer interaction degree, in UX, in ux design
My take on First Person Shooters
Posted on Dec 2, 2019 12:27:54 PM by Hakim Ottey in game degree, in Game Art & Animation, in video game, in video game reviews, in degree in game art, in video game producer, in game development college, in Game Production
The earliest memories that I have of First Person Shooters would be sitting down and watching my dad play Medal of Honor: European Assault on his PlayStation 2. I bet the only reason that I became such a Medal of Honor fan was due to the time that I spent watching my father take down enemies. Even while I did not play the game, I still felt like I was there, fighting in World War 2 and fighting with my allies. I actually felt immersed in the game.
The Importance of Maxwell: Being a UAT Student and Being Social
Posted on Nov 8, 2019 2:10:18 PM by Hakim Ottey in founder's hall, in campus life, in instagram stories, in tours, in cats, in maxwell
Maxwell has been a resident of the quad for about two years now. Believe it or not, last month was the anniversary of Maxwell’s first appearance on campus!
Blended Strategies: My Time in Thinking Strategies
Posted on Aug 6, 2019 4:48:07 AM by Hakim Ottey in UAT Classes, in Blended Strategies
I loved many of the classes that I took here. The teachers are extremely sociable and the lessons are always made to be interesting! I gained something new from each class that I took, making my experiences in these classes to be amazing. So imagine how hard it was for me to have to choose one to be considered my favorite class! The first thing that came to mind was Introduction to Game Tools, since I was allowed to learn about the tools relevant to my industry and even create something unique in them. That is definitely up there on my list of favorite classes, but then I thought about how much I loved Composition, due to my love for writing and research. I had a lot of choices and it was a hard to choose one.In the end, the class that I choose to be my favorite ended up being Nathan Eskue’s TCH115 - Thinking Strategies!
Stress in College: How to Handle Stress While Learning
Posted on Jul 24, 2019 1:54:53 PM by Hakim Ottey
Consider this scenario; You are in the middle of your college semester, and your classes are starting to get harder. The number of assignments that you need to complete has grown, while your time to complete them has shrunk. On top of that, these assignments make up a large portion of your grade, so skipping them or doing poorly on them is not an option. If you were ever in this situation, What did you end up feeling? What did you do during these instances?
How It Feels to Move across the Country for College
Posted on Mar 20, 2019 2:41:20 PM by Hakim Ottey in freshman, in college success, in moving, in freshmen
“The only thing a person can ever really do is keep moving forward. Take that big leap forward without hesitation, without once looking back. Simply forget the past and forge toward the future.” – Alyson Noel
It was a day that I will never forget. I had been preparing for a week, having cleared my drawer of all of my clothes and determining what toiletries I would need to pack into my bag. The time had come; it was time for me leave my small childhood home and start my long journey as a college student.