Initial Experiments and Alpha Tests
The first few weeks of working with the hammer editor were trying. Having not delved into level editing in years, it became apparent that even the fundamentals were lost from me. I had to take it from scratch, with a much more sophisticated editor, working with technological capacity far beyond that of something like Quake 2. It's taken me to this point just to learn basic bug-free map implementation, and some of the dynamic design ideas I've had have proven to be difficult to implement using the source engine.
Advantages/Disadvantages
Useability. Simply put, the Second Life engine is designe specifically to be completely open, for open potential for users to create anything they wish. The interface directly revolves around this aspect of creation. Thus, most of the issues that have made progress so incredibly slow with the Source engine are non-existent with Second Life. At this point, i've managed to integrate some of the fundamentals of the project by manipulating materials and utilizing the hammer world editor in a somewhat unorthodox fashion. In order to do something as simple as importing an image for hosting and display, for instance, it is necessary to take an existing .vtf material file, extract it from a .gcf library file (which contains whole groups of textures and materials), overlay the desired image in photoshop, resave it as a .vtf (special plugin necessary, as well as extraction application), and then re-introduce it into a materials folder deep in the super-byzantine directory structure. At this point, the texture is just about ready to be useable in the hammer world editor. However, for each texture added, a separate and distinct .vmt link reference file must be made, in order for hammer to recognize it. Finally, in order to make the texture displayable in-game, a square brush must be rendered, and the texture applied to a face, then positioned accordingly. In Second Life, the same process involves clicking import, selecting the particular file, and confirming. Much simpler, obviously.
Left: partitioning for 512x512px export :: Right: Textures applied to 512x512px brushes, paneled and arranged
Audience. So, based on my comparative experiences with Secod Life & Source, why aren't I going directly for the engine that's made specifically for this kind of endeavor? The key element here is the audience, an important factor in the project, and an element that differs greatly between games. The audience base is one of the most fundamental differences in the potential behind each of these engines. On the one hand is Source, whose primary audience base is more dedicated gamers. Moreso, at least, than a hybrid game like Second Life, which is used as an informational, networking, and social space as well as a competetive gaming space. Along this vein, the Second Life audience would be more automatically conducive to the artistic exhibition format, but I believe that one of the strong points of this project, establishing some unique angle, is the fact that using the Source engine offers to bridge a gap between gaming and art communities in ways not typically approached. So, while utilizing the source engine for this project requires an entirely different level of expertise, knowledgeability, experimentation, and research, the final impact, I believe, will be more substantial working with the gaming community instead of one that is already exposed to projects like this one.
Source Work
Map1: Station An early attempt at a train paddock was my first trial run at creating a map with the hammer editor. Basic brush creation, lighting, vertex manipulation, entity placement, basically lots and lots of stuff I'd never done before, and to this point still only posses a modicum of proficiency with.
Entity placement in a wonderfully decorated room :)
Map2: Beach
The beach was my experiment with scripted sound events, proximity event triggers, water dynamics (the bane of my existence), the skybox, as well as utilizing prefab building structures, and more actual level creation.
Proximity event triggers for scripted events and sounds
Map3: Rooftop
Most prominently featured in the video (more below), the rooftop map involved my first non-buggy water creation (as well as placement of active entities within the water), until at some point for reasons that still elude me, the surface of the water from above renders now as a nodraw texture. This has been an incredible pain in the ass, but also tipped me off to another idea for an exhibition. The nodraw texture does just what it sounds like: it's a non-texture, a void that has no texture content. Thus, when looking at a brush that has had the nodraw texture applied to it, the very last bits of graphical info that were on the screen at the moment before that texture began being rendered and processed by the computer end up dragging across the screen in a very crazy fashion. This is a typical problem with bugged-out maps, but very interesting from an artistic design perspective. Nodraw is used for all 'walls' within which water sits, except for the surface (which gets a rippled, reflective, very cool water texture). It was working, but now is not... I have, however, integrated the nodraw bug into the map as a test. Areas that look clear are actually underwater, and some of those watery areas have no actual solid button. They just end, and normal gravity takes over afterward. The immense amount of bugs i've encountered thus far has funnelled me into actually utilizing them, taming bugs to a point where the game isn't recursive, is still playable (albeit semi-purposefully confusing), and interesting.
Left: 2D work applied as texture, brush mixed with brick background :: Right: Water from beneath, texture still works
Second Life Work
Broadcast Complex: Another factor that's become an issue with the source engine, and hammer editor, is the integration of audio into the exhibition space. Audio can be triggered through scripted event sequences that can be set up via perimeter markers and checks, but formatting is much more specific, and is meant more for looped ambient environmental audio, dialogue, or quick sound effects. I had an idea to integrate an interactive audio sequencer as one of the exhibitions. Basically, it would involve the player using his character's body, and objects around him to trigger different samples or note flourishes, creating a cacophony of sounds taken from a selection that features only complimentary notes and chords. Basically an instant-gratification sequencing game. Fun, yes, but difficult to implement in source. I wanted to try it with Second Life, and just passed the plans along to a builder friend. Second Life can also immediately link and play .asx or shoutcast streaming audio, as well as live microphone feed, and live video (!!!), all of which are not possible with the source engine, if only for the fact that it wasn't built for that.
| VV |
Video
(click to download .wmv)
A quick runthrough of early versions of two of maps 2 & 3, exhibiting some work with static lighting, custom texture work, imported 2D art of my own integrated into the rooftop map. Effective nodraw use is demonstrated here, as oxymoronic as that sounds. Water dynamics in combination with nodraw provide for an interesting disorientation, and can be pretty deadly apparently when mixed with extreme heights. Besides that, basic brush creation, entity placement, skybox and ambient light work, and some other basic accoutrement of the virtual.