the bots united opinion is desired
 

i made this movie. im getting better at figuring out all the compression BS about making movies from demos. so if anyone should ever want to make one he can ask me about it, i will help :)

ok

i am applying to a game company as a Level Designer. For those who have heard of a recent release called "Söldner: Secret Wars", this is the company.

its similar to BF1942 but much more complicated and the graphics are pretty real world almost like far cry from crytec (who i will also apply for because i can point out about 30 mapping mistakes in their game (lol no shit...terrain coming up into the LOD so you can see it....tree models not all the way in the ground etc.)

i made this short clip of my map cs_johnwayne. i plan to do clips of 9 of my maps. please download this and check it out. Im asking if you (as a game company) would be interested in a mapper who can present his work in this way..........if you think the quality is good enough for them to see what i am able to do(not that i am great but hey).
just tell me if its ok.

http://soulfathermaps.de/cs_johnwayne.rar
16MB, 2 minute video

Re: the bots united opinion is desired
 

awww... .rar>:(

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rar is a really small download

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thats a pretty good map. You really like that cactus huh?:D:D I say you should make a video with bots(or real peoples) fighting each other.. that be great.

did you make those models? I really like the dancing cactus;)

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i cant model yet.....and i CANT FUCKIN get steam ru8nning suddenly.........last night i made demos of my next map........and went to watch the demos and steam updated........since then it wont log me in and gave some wierd errors.......so i reinstalled now 6 times and ti still will not log me in.....

WHAT THE..........

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N@rby works there, I guess thats why.

I think movie clips is a good way to show off your maps. Even though some firms dont like them its still better than online portofolios, no one will look at thoose.

The sound in ya movie clip did not work well for me.

Mazy got his job at IO Interactive(Hitman) through his videos. They were shown on Tv and spotted through there. Check out his videos to see how he does it at www.mazy.net

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toss me some advice

i downloaded mazy's "portfolio" movie(128MB)

do you think i should leave out all the original CS sounds(which are actually part of detailing) and just fly around in my maps in one movie....

or should i continue with single videos for the maps with real sounds and narrations?

do you think these companies only want to give an applying level designer time enough to click only one file?? or will they click on more of them if they are short and individually packed and "explained"?

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i think the talk that you did lifted the whole thing a bit, it was fun to listen to and nothing boring.. .. no cool musik but thats ok.. i guess

in my personal view i think the level was a bit flat in some cases.. like the windows at the start.. if they "stood" out from the wall it might look a bit better..

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unfortunately just a 56k here ... i'll see if I can warch it at the university :D

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thanks trub

its flat cuz its deathmatch and "shouldn't" be a speed problem...so i let the textures create the atmosphere.
as i make more of these movies you will see in my more detailed maps...that the windows are not flat :)

i just cant see myself making some trash like fy_iceworld with no detail at all

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lol cool movie. You surely want that cactus to die or something hehe. I'd like to see it with a battle or something, would be cool.

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ok 4 votes on "thats ok"

does this mean you think theres a better way?

the second movie is now finished of my de_cs_raidernation....the football stadium of the Oakland Raiders...but its a much bigger file so i dont know about upoading it.......(60MB)

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I don't know if there is a 'better' way, i would say i prefer some more action in your maps so you can 'show' how 'cool' it is in that sense. But i don't know if this is better, i just think its my personal preference.

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dude you forgot about your accent (only at one point though) !!! but dude very fuckin PIMP keep them comin !!!

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hey Matt hows tricks man :) the accent was really only at the beginning where the picture looked like an old movie........aside from a few other choice spots i tried to be normal.

in a newer version of this movie of cs_johnwayne.....theres 5 scenes of fire fighting....so thats exciting :)

its a little hard to do that on my other large maps tho because....well....they are big and i dont have much diskspace for huge clips and im not really sure theres a bunch of interest for those game company dudes to sit for an hour session on a cd(or 2) already cs_de_raidernation is over 5 minutes and its only showing the map !!

its fun but its racking my brain and i dont want to fuck it up on the first try because i should have done something else. i cant even sleep. after seeing some of the games this company produced.......i should be a shoe in considering what their sh...tuff looks like.

www.jowood.de

they have a bunch of kids stuff and some simulation games that im sure you may have heard of but never bought.......dudes.......i just want my foot in the door....im not going for Sony right off the bat :)
for non german speaking peeps:
look on the front page on the left for SPIELE (games), and when that page loads on the same spot theres "spiele wählen"(choose game) use the pull down lists and click on screenshots to check them out........

nothing really amazing besides "chaser"

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Good job. I got a chuckle out of the dancong cactus he he :)

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thanks botmeister :)

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Can you post a link to the map?

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http://excalibur.homeunix.net/module...=getit&lid=209

theres pics of my other maps on my website if you care to see more

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I watched the johnwayne movie and I'll try to give a few and hopefully constructive comments

It's good. But I think it could be even better.

The first thing is the AVI compression which kills all the details. Don't forget that you will put these videos on CD so NEVER hesitate to raise the detail quality at the expense of making bigger AVI files. The video quality was in fact quite ugly on this one. This is a problem because it's a pain to watch an ugly video. If you're short on disk space borrow your GF's new hard disk ;)

The next big thing is the way to present the map itself. As others pointed out, it seems mandatory to present the map while players (or bots) are fighting. Hide, or better DO NOT show, any part that is criticizeable (such as the map being "flat" - present view angles that do not make it obvious. And abuse of the spectator mode. At least 2/3 of your videos should happen in spectator mode to show overviews of the map. This is very important. People want to see the maximum of the map in the minimum of time. Spectator mode is ideally suited for that. Make pauses when roaming around ; for example, pause for a few seconds over the map to show the scene with cactus in the middle of the street. And if there were bots fighting here at this very moment, that would be a great plus.

Identify the most beautiful scenes and visit them all one after the other in spectator mode. Never cross walls, even if you can, instead fly around the map like a bird would do. Crossing the walls will make the usual garbage display in the video, you don't want the guy to see that. If you want to record a part in first-person mode, to show how a player would "feel" the map, don't wander around aimlessly like you do but instead move tactically as if you were playing for real. Visit the best looking hiding spots, too. Don't shoot without reason either unless it's for breaking stuff or making a cactus dance :D

About the voice comments: insist more on WHY you designed things this way. Show the guy that you knew pretty well what you were doing and why doing it as you did was the best way to do them. SURPRISE him by giving him reasons that he wouldn't expect and that only you could know. Make him understand that it is a CHANCE for him to hire you because of this unique experience you have that you are willing to employ for him. Mention whatever detail in the map, and say: "here is [something]. I did it this way because .... and because ... If I hadn't done it, the map would have such and such problem." ALWAYS talk like that. ALL the frikkin time. ALWAYS DO THAT. The guy must be convinced that you are the best. If there are disputable elements in your work, do not show them. If you can't help, JUSTIFY THEM. Never ever ever ever let something unjustified - that would simply ruin the whole thing and blow away your chances. The guy would close the video, eject the CD, throw it to the bin and do something else.

Avoid to show parts of the map that feel "empty" or "unfinished" or somehow just too flat. Always show the parts that are the more richly detailed, the more richly textured. If the rendering speed is a problem in CS, show how you can exploit it at best. And don't forget to show that you can do something else, too. Be a perfectionnist when selecting the scenes to present. Never forget that the guy will watch this stuff in a hurry, between two urgent works, from a distracted eye. You must catch his attention. The beginning of the movie is REALLY good for that: "welcome to cs_johnwayne" with the ambience music in the background... perfect :) The music should last longer and the same rhythm should have been kept for the rest of the presentation. Unfortunately there's a sort of "slowdown" in the tempo which makes the interest go lower and lower... and eventually vanish away before the video ends :(

That's all I can think of. Best quality AVIs, spectator mode, firefights, rich scenes, and: "I designed this part this way because ..." Let this be your credo and I hire you by the end of the first video I see :)

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if he knows whats bad or not.. isnt that enough to change it?

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THAT WAS A REVIEW I CAN TASTE

gee, now where to start and where to end this.....

now why did i have to wait so long that now i can pretty much do all 5 videos over again if i were to stricktly follow your guidelines ??? :(

lol ok

this is going to drive me crazy because of actually the amount of work each one of these things take....the amount of time mainly. and having to do them again is not a pretty idea in my head. I have already talked to this dude in person...and i dont think i am standing in noob shoes in his eyes....he has heard of SoUlFaThEr from the CS scene and i was intorduced to him with a superb title(internationaly famous Mapper....). "oh you are SoUlFaThEr?" i think i am already off to a good start.

back to the shit:

4 of the 5 videos are done in the same style as johnwayne with voice and me walking around showing things, details and routes(some with fighting some without)

the 5th is about my 5 ricochet maps of which i only show 4...no spectator mode...all first person....i am playing....but its still exciting ....the music fits it nicely.

damn.....the codecs and my hardrive space.

1 piece of 30 second video uncompressed = 2.25GIG average(depending on amount of colors)
even with the extra HDD of 10 gig.....the film will be too short. I would need a clean 60 GIG hdd to make the dream come true. if you leave these videos in the original size they come in....they are NOT ugly(all but you have said they look really good to include NoName from 4players....(hes the video man!). to that, i plan to embed them directly into the presentation page, forcing one size....

the main problem is that in most of my good maps, they are so full of cool details that i wont be able to show everything....no friggin way. raidernation is the longest and theres no fighting in it. johnwayne is a fun map and thats exactly what i said on it.......i justified its lack of beauty by stating that speed is more important on a map type like deathmatch....there just happens to be a hostage because i added a story to the map.

i cannot use voice during the recording of the demo in its pure form. i wont be able to regulate the rest of the sounds so commentating is organized after everything is cut together and sits. johnwayne also now has fight scenes in it and music fitting the intro graphics.

there are some of the other videos, de_cs_raidernation where i speak a lot about all the many textures i made for it, and about working directly with modelers to give the man who ordered this map from me for 300$ excatly what he wanted to have. thats also very important....my ability to work together with others toward a common goal. just like they do.

in de_bitterwine i have done awesome pimp overviews of the map and presented even tactical layouts on it from a CT and a T standpoint for BOTH bombspots....then i show the map. there is no fighting in this video.
heres the main pic of it: http://soulfathermaps.de/bitterover1.jpg

in cs_brainwash_f i show all the detail, explain the story and a lot of special things that few other mappers do in thier maps that i do in mine and thats lots of interactive things. things that move by themselves, natural things that seem to happen random, and but also how i control the randomness of thier action during the experience on the map. i also speak about some of the reviews i have received for the map. then the hit comes:
and awesome array of fight scenes in first person and one in spectator with bots....beuatifully lined up with "killing in the name of..." by Rage against the Machine....this part of the video is really wickedly cool to watch. this piece alone does it all....im VERY proud of how that turned out.

i would surely show THAT one but the file is pretty big and i dont know if i can use so much bandwidth like that...its over 50 MB

i will continue to think about the tips you made and present them in the other maps as well....or i shall simply make only 3 or 4 videos of realy the best maps and trash shit like johnwayne and do it over...but damn....i already shot that video 4 times...it was my test map.....

end question:
how do you see me explaining the finer details of the map, while im in spectator flyING around the map filming fighting scenes? im seperating them for a reason.

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lol yeah well hey, that was just suggestions :D you're not forced to agree with all that I said obviously...
but that's what I am convinced to be the best way to do anyway.
about your question...
the "depth" of the explanations isn't the most important thing, what is the important thing is that the guy watching your clip must be assured that there is an explanation to everything... don't go too in depth, but talk about everything quickly. No need to give away all your mapping secrets before even being hired ;) Have the guy realize that you DID plan all the details and then he'll feel the need to find out more about them - then he'll want to see you in person again :)

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wheres 1001jedinights he was awsome at reviews for movies

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he got his hands on some heavy work.. he makin his own studion with 3d farms and everthing.. a few years project.. im invited when its suppose to be done.. ;)

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lol i remember his 3d stuff

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what have you seen.. his charachters?

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some house he made for his 3d class
\
not much tho

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oh that one.. the animation for his class.. yeah.. he done some more stuff now..

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cool

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im freakin out..........this isnt going the way i intended it to work.

im stuck between everyones comments and dont know what the hell to do anymore.....i had 5 finished, each one had its own special quality but when i look at them after this long break........its the narrations that bore me to death and they are too long...and not much is happening.

i began shooting footage of bitterwine with the bots but those fuckin bots run around backwards or sideways which looks fuckin retarded so i can get any good film........

so i took the old bitterwine finished movie clip and began splicing out parts of it and throwing these fighting clips in between special spots that were commented on as being 1. the main pinch point in the map, 2. the snipering area(with sniper scenes) etc........but these clips are without original sound.....because i intended to toss in some music for a decent mix across the board and then..........

i relaized these fight parts are too short to add music too....how do i start the song, how do i end it.....and then mix these parts in between all the narrated parts smoothly so it makes sense.....


this is irritating because its not about song and movie mixing....rather....about my mapping abilities(if i have any).

so now i am totally stumped and have shit here and am not happy with any of it.

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP

i get the feeling i have to start over from 0

and im running out of patience for it

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irc ------->