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40oz

Mapping Time frames

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I'd like to dig a little deeper in this, as some mappers are awesomely fast and strategic speedmappers, while others tend to say they "take forever" to map and often spend weeks or even months on a single map. I'm not totally convinced that mappers are really taking that long drawing sectors and editing things, even for a mapper who doesn't know shortcuts or entirely understands what he/she's doing.

So my questions are in regards to the time spent mapping in one sitting, the length of the breaks in between mapping, and number of sittings in completing a single map.

A few years ago I was on an extreme roll, where it took be about 5-8 hours to complete a single, decently-sized map, and check to see if it was completely functional. Many of these were done entirely in one sitting, while resisting every inclination to stop, even to eat or go to the bathroom. I kinda got obsessed with the idea of not leaving anything incomplete lying around, and pushed myself to make it work, and get it uploaded to share with the community.

In the last few years I've been having trouble making progress in my mapping because I very rarely have more than one or two hours at a time anymore, which is enough to make a decent speedmap, but not without regular practice. Coming back to a map is tricky because my plan and ideas are lost after three or more days of not touching it, and it's difficult to find my original plan and intent with the map and get back into the mindset I had when I started it.

Who here maps in extremely long stretches, or in really short bursts? How many breaks do you take, and for how long? Do you find it helps or hurts you mapping style or the overall quality of the work? What would suggest is the best and most practical way?

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Back when I really had a passion for it, long sittings with very little in the way of breaks were the only way I'd map. The enthusiasm would carry me through from inception to completion for however long the process took. Back when the maps were small and simple this might have taken several hours as I was inexperienced. Then I gained experience, better hardware and software, more ambitious ideas and found that enthusiasm had to stretch over days around school, sleep and all sorts of other things.


These days I can map very quickly and produce the sort of thing I used to do in a day back in the early 2000s using DEU2 in just a couple of hours. The software is quicker, there's less scope for catastrophic errors to creep in (like running out of available RAM when saving and having the whole .WAD disappear into the ether) and my technical skills and understanding are stronger, so I get a lot of stuff done first time. But that stuff simply won't do anymore. I'm not learning Doom mapping now - throwing together concepts with enthusiasm and quick abandon, eager to get the idea down and move onto the next one.

And that's why nothing gets finished. I'm holding myself to standards I don't have the enthusiasm to meet. So today, to make a 10-room map with a 2-5 minute play time could well take an hour per room, on average. I'd want to add details to make a richer environment, make sure the textures are aligned, have an interesting concept behind each room or some sort of challenge that can be attacked from at least two angles as the map just has to be non-linear and have scope for re-playability, even though I know most people wouldn't play my maps even a first time unless it's part of some larger community effort. There'd probably be a plan all formed in my head that wouldn't survive the night's sleep and then, when I look at it the next day I'll realise I just can't be arsed to carry on.


Realistically, to finish a small map (like ph_quik5.zip on the archive) I'll need around 10-15 hours and that'll include everything from base layout to testing and bug fixes. So on a weekend that could be two sittings with breaks for food and drink or it could be spread over the course of a week or two. To make a big map, like Warpzone or Coils of the Twisted Tale? Best get ready for it to be "in development" on my hard drive for up to a year, if it gets finished at all.

The best way to actually get stuff done, in my mind, is to build everything for a given room or area in one sitting. Test it all out and, when you're happy, move on to the next area the next day or next chance you get. Odds are you're mapping in spare time between other commitments, so any grand plans are liable to seem like too much work to stay enthusiastic about. But a room? Maybe a small, interconnected cluster of rooms? That's doable. It's like people told me about not drinking - you don't think of the month ahead of you (or in this case, the finished project), you think of the day (or the room/area). One step at a time will get you there, however far you're going.


It's been ages since I mapped properly like that. Maybe that's why I don't finish things anymore... I think I've just inspired myself :\

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I am probably too fresh to say these, since I started only two or three years ago, on and mostly, off. But, if inspiration kicks in, it is just best to lash out everything you have. As right now, I am still learning stuff (lately, I've hopping between creating UDMF-map and few own, long-term projects), and inspired by that, I got ball rolling, so to speak.

My advice: Carpe Diem. Who knows when such "revelation" kicks in again.

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I map in long streches only during speedmapping contests since they don't leave any other options. Usually it's fun for about 1 hour +/- 30 minutes, after that I start to feel mentally exhausted from having to constantly come up with ideas, I start to see everything I make as very plain and unimaginative and I pretty much have to painfully force myself to continue.

Aside from these contests, I always map with lots of breaks, like literally after every 10-15 minutes in Doom Builder I alt+tab to chat in ICQ, check some forum or other website, play some game a bit or watch some anime, fap, etc. I need lots of pauses, I can't concentrate at all unless I'm forced to.

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I tend to spend either a lot of time on a new map, or very little. Often I'll just make a small map as an example of something that I want to include in a 'real' map. Kind of like jotting down some notes on paper, only I want to playtest it a bit. Then I'll think about it in my spare time.

Typically speaking, unless I'm in a really creative mood, I'll have to ruminate on a map concept for upwards to five to ten days before I even draw a single linedef. So I save most of my mapping for the week-ends or Friday afternoons. Ideally, I like to spend one complete day a week, doing nothing but mapping.

That all said, most of the maps I try really hard for, take at least a few months to complete. And when I say 'complete' I don't think a map is ever done: it's just that there comes a point where more time just isn't going to make it significantly any better, so you simply have to put the mouse down and accept what you've done.

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I tend to throw it together in as little sittings as possible. The more time a map sits the slower progress becomes until I stop working on it all together and it basically dies.

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I guess it's kind of a bad habit, but I rarely work on anything for more than an hour at a time. I might keep the editor open all day, but I don't design for long stretches of time.

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Most PWADs from the DEU days mention building times of a month or so, and that's for a single map.

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I am a slow mapper; my early stuff took around 40 to 100 hours to get done (most of that time spent playtesting and texture aligning). My "peak career" stuff took about a year per map if I were to average it out. On these maps, I would average 4 hours per day editing with another 1-4 hours playing other levels, etc.

My usual routine at peak mapping was to texture align over morning coffee, tweak monster placement in the last area I worked, then playtest. Repeat until happy with playtesting, then start working on geometry before printing off a printed copy of the map to work on during my lunch break.

After work, I'd usually dive straight into geometry based off of my drawings. I found myself most creative after work; the hours spent at work gave me time to think on what I wanted to do next. Usually time editing after work flowed effortlessly compared to say mornings. Breaks depend on whether I'm in the zone or not; if I am I can go without a break (because once I stop it's over).

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I think that the time frame depends on which phase of your map you're working on, for the core layout I prefer 1 or 2 long frames because some ideas need to be executed in one shot for the sake of its cohession, at least for me, over the time I've become more structured in phases when making maps, maybe not a good thing at all, like:

1 - general layout
2 - height levels
3 - texturing
4 - light levels
5 - decoration
6 - enemy placement with additional closets or teleport trap rooms
7 - ammo and health items
8 - difficulty settings

So in phase one I edit during very long frames and then I start decreasing them as tasks require less time, like 1 hour for editing and 15/20 minutes for recess, sometimes the steps mix, I can put some monsters or do some texturing, even to finish a whole room during the first phase if I have a solid setting idea and I don't want that idea to be forgot on the next phases.

For some tasks I'm average in speed and very lazy for those things that I feel there are semi-mandatory but I don't enjoy, like difficulty settings. I spend lots of time twisting rooms and dragging vertices to achieve the correct "organic" shapes of the rooms too.

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When I am in the right frame of mind I tend to sit at my computer and map for 12 hours straight with the odd break for a smoke and a bite to eat. It's rare I get these long sessions in though, which is a shame. In normal circumstances it can be two-four hours before I break off and do something completely different, not through choice but more through life wanting things done.

I can't speedmap, I've tried, even with a good idea of what I want to do I still end up looking at a (mostly) blank square sector!!

All in it probably takes me anywhere between 40-100 hours to churn out a map I'm happy with.

Dave

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4 to 8 hours for a level.. Maybe another 2 to 4 hours next day for some balancing, fine tuning, making some areas bigger or adding a few secret areas that are more than single sectors containing an item.

This time includes playtesting and short breaks.

If it seems I only get some start room done and then lose interest, I'll stop and do something else for an hour or more and then try again. I'll continue the same or start a new.

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It can take me an hour to make amendments to one small room. I do go into quite a bit of detail though. I just seem to get bogged down sometimes. It puts me off mapping after a while. There is no way that I could finish a map in 8 hours, or at least I haven't tried yet.

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It usually takes me a long time to make a really good map. My forte is deathmatch maps and CTF. On average it would take me about 10-15 hours to make a small map, 20-40 to make a medium size map, and possibly 45+ hours to make a large map. I typically keep my maps at a small to medium size.

For me, brainstorming ideas/themes is the most difficult aspect of designing maps. I sometimes waste a lot of time experimenting with layouts and deleting bad blueprints. I should look to design more using graphing paper before designing on doombuilder.

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Given that a single map takes about a man-month, it cannot be possibly done in a single sitting. Sessions can be 9 hours or more. During testing, sessions are usually only 2 hours.

This is very dependent upon the map and personal habits in dealing with problems. I recently was working on a castle, had finished the upper and lower areas, had added a winding stair and had aligned all textures.
During play testing I noticed a misaligned texture between the winding stair and the lower level. The only way to fix it 'properly' would be to adjust the lower level to align with the stone blocks of the upper level. This would change the floor and ceiling heights of all parts of the map connected to the lower level.

Simpler solutions would involve:
1. Ignoring the problem.
2. Sleeping on it.
3. Slip in another texture to hide the misalignment.
4. Work on something else for a while.
5. Complicate the join spot so the texture misalignment can be hid in corner.

So far I have tried all these, on this one map. This eats up time, and sessions.

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I managed to get a speed map done at the weekend in a total of about 2.5 hrs, including playtesting while the map was being constructed. Never thought that would be possible for me.

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