the following describes the labor of mapping.
if you wanna push out some quality, that gets not such fucking fps drops like most maps do, because they are box maps...
and if you want the map to get played at all. nothing more frustrating than putting much effort into it, and all went to waste once the map went gold (final release happened), because noone bothers to play it after the first tries.
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* 1/4 of the workload is just to gather all programs together, make them work and learn how to use them as fast as possible
* 1/4 is understanding how the engine works, so you get to know the specs you have to work in, and more importantly: how to structure your work as good as possible.
you cannot even begin to imagine how much unneccessary work you can avoid!
either believe it and put some effort into it, or regret it after some months and see why and how i was right.
* another 1/4 is thinking about gameplay in general and planning the map, best with drawings and sketches, to improve the chances of it actually getting more playtime, than just like, lets say two weeks maximum?
* only the last 1/4 is actually doing the work of loading your radiant, lay out some brushes, texture them, put some lights into it. and some entities. compile it, add some surface sounds. zip it, rename it and you are done.
this also describes nicely why i tend to say:
give me some sketches, actually mapping the stuff is usually the smaller problem, if you design with the engine in mind.
because if you do not plan in that way in advance, you may even have to throw the map away after months you put into it.
you can always fix everything if you fucked up at a point, only question is how much effort you have to put into it. now re-read the stuff printed in bold above. (...)
if you already mapped, and have had problems with leaks, then re-read it for the third time before question me.
;>