hello. long time no see.

Post by **Scourge** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 1:16 am

zZCastleZz wrote:double post sorry..

For future reference, you can delete your second post if you do it before anyone else posts.

Post by **Hr.O** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:52 pm

ZOMG!!!!!! Another of those old farts has risen from the dead

Hi Castle

Post by **zZCastleZz** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 2:06 am

LOL

Zomg its HR.O!!

Its almost like old times here kinda

If Ydnar ever came back and flamed me again it would be 100% complete now!

lol j/k

Post by **scythe** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 5:35 pm

I can relate to your missing real level design. I made the mistake of taking a 'Level Design" job on an MMO. What a load of crap that has been. I've got to find an FPS shop that's hiring before I go completely insane.

Post by **wattro** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 9:10 pm

now if only aramique would come back

Post by **zZCastleZz** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 10:31 pm

scythe wrote:I can relate to your missing real level design. I made the mistake of taking a 'Level Design" job on an MMO. What a load of crap that has been. I've got to find an FPS shop that's hiring before I go completely insane.

woah
so you don't build levels in a MMO?

I suppose a great deal of the work would be monster placement and quest scripting.

Would take tons of tweaking and scripting. But imo you end up doing that with most single player games these days right? Even at the end of Sin Episode 1 90% of my work was fixing the end boss and going back to tweak scripting and enemy placement.

I suppose once the world is built that becomes the standard design process. lol I suppose I can see that being really harsh in a MMO when building the world might take a fraction of the actual project time...

sorry to hear that dude

Id actually like to know more about the process if you are willing to share!

Post by **Anwulf** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 4:57 am

wattro wrote:now if only aramique would come back

Please, don't tempt fate, 'cos after that it's a short step to a full pardon for Neodymium.

Post by **scythe** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 7:22 am

zZCastleZz wrote:
scythe wrote:I can relate to your missing real level design. I made the mistake of taking a 'Level Design" job on an MMO. What a load of crap that has been. I've got to find an FPS shop that's hiring before I go completely insane.
woah
so you don't build levels in a MMO?

I suppose a great deal of the work would be monster placement and quest scripting.

Would take tons of tweaking and scripting. But imo you end up doing that with most single player games these days right? Even at the end of Sin Episode 1 90% of my work was fixing the end boss and going back to tweak scripting and enemy placement.

I suppose once the world is built that becomes the standard design process. lol I suppose I can see that being really harsh in a MMO when building the world might take a fraction of the actual project time...

sorry to hear that dude

Id actually like to know more about the process if you are willing to share!

You're pretty much accurate about the building process, it's more about placing models, setting up AI and scripting than actually building anything, Well, besides the terrain mesh, but that doesn't take too long.

The real problem has been that the "management" has decided to completely redesign the game multiple times in the past 18 months, so it's been endless preproduction. Spend months writing and drawing maps, only to throw it all away and start over. Build the terrain for the entire world, then throw it all away and start over. I was hired to build areas and design dungeons, instead I've spec'd out close to a thousand pieces of art for concepting/outsourcing, and written a whole lot of game design that's been tossed out and re-written by somebody else, when they decide to change design direction.

I know all mmos aren't developed like this, but I'm turned off on the whole genre now. I wanted a break from shooters, but I'm ready to get back to my roots, hehe.

https://www.youtube.com/user/zZCastleZz · Post by **Castle** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 5:23 pm

You're pretty much accurate about the building process, it's more about placing models, setting up AI and scripting than actually building anything, Well, besides the terrain mesh, but that doesn't take too long.

The real problem has been that the "management" has decided to completely redesign the game multiple times in the past 18 months, so it's been endless preproduction. Spend months writing and drawing maps, only to throw it all away and start over. Build the terrain for the entire world, then throw it all away and start over. I was hired to build areas and design dungeons, instead I've spec'd out close to a thousand pieces of art for concepting/outsourcing, and written a whole lot of game design that's been tossed out and re-written by somebody else, when they decide to change design direction.

I know all mmos aren't developed like this, but I'm turned off on the whole genre now. I wanted a break from shooters, but I'm ready to get back to my roots, hehe.

I feel your pain... I feel your pain... I feel your pain.
Oh and .. I feel your pain...
This kind of thing scares me to no end too.
Either constant redesign, or not deciding to ever commit to a design by management is pure hell. top it off with being asked to not do what you were hired to do.. Yes that sounds frustrating. I wish you the best of luck with that situation.