zajazd on 7/9/2017 at 14:09
How and when you started, how much time it took, how easy or hard it was etc.
I have an idea for a FM that I think is great but when I started reading the Absolute Beginner's Guide by Nicked, it seems like titanic and tedious work. I don't know if I will have the patience for it :tsktsk:
Zoro on 7/9/2017 at 15:33
Komag's DromEd tutorial learner there. I started pretty much of various maps, without even using grid. A first FM I had planned to make seriously was a protagonist's set in a big wooden house, surrounded by woods... That was the first time I encountered the poly crash, when it went over 1000 because of forest brushes :D (yeah, those were pre-New Dark times). Back then I enjoyed my work anyway and I started to learn things using the famous DromEd tutorial by Komag (if i remember his name correct). I learned pretty much of things...
The first FM I've got to complete was Son of Deja Vu 1: Mountain Maya (Maja, bless my typos)... It was a merely experiment for testing objectives creating, which then got it's story and many-many rooms to explore (sadly had to cut like 55% of the map, because of both DromEd limitations and my weak PC).
I then tried to make a sequel in a big deepsea underground, with icebergs and cold ocean around. Planned to be it like Lost City with elements of ice/snow and Opera... Another sequel attempt had an underground fort exploration with a prologue-mansion (I even started reboot of that map in 2013)...
Unfortunately neither of sequels still haven't seen a public light.
I've been trying various experiments, one of which was completed as a contest FM - "Anybody...home", which in my opinion would've been better, If i had clue that keyhunt can be plain-boring if used without arguments that'd make sense... Or the safe code that could use better clue (I should've mention that every floor has two rooms, but for some reason I didn't do that on my behalf to blame).
Another experiment was like -- What if I'd turn a comedian show, just like Garry's Mod, in Thief? That'd be "This FM haz no SENSE", which went as a pretty fun challenge to make and I enjoyed it. The last FM I've released publicly was "Time is Gold, Dreamlord Episode I", which was in my opinion an upgrade in mapping to me.
Sorry if my story took too long. :D
The thing is that if you do enjoy mapping, creating plot for your actors there, and -- stay on your flow -- you can DO anything (mostly)! It can be tricky to both have fun and stay on flow while you're working on the FM, but you can figure it out if you feel that's yours... Experience, experiments, mistakes, building brick upon brick, while having image of what you want to accomplish... Oh... by the way, if something won't work like you're expecting - don't push hard on yourself. That's also why most of the authors do backups of their map, in case something might get freaky in process. DromEd is like a sneaky old witch :ebil:
Hoping that might help. Cheers!
Renault on 7/9/2017 at 16:32
Dromed is pretty easy to learn, but start small. Save that huge, epic, multi-level campaign for later. First punch out a small, basic mission to learn the fundamentals, then go from there.
nicked's tutorial is great, Komag's tutorial is less in depth and might be a better place to start for a complete beginner. Dale_ also has a good video tutorial on youtube.
(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFIcXS4qx4E)
zajazd on 8/9/2017 at 09:37
Thanks for replies so far.
Come on introverts don't be shy, or lazy :D
zajazd on 12/9/2017 at 06:08
I guess I need to come to terms that I'm simply not a creative person but a consumer :(
nightshifter on 12/9/2017 at 13:19
I started to work with dromed with the komag tut. being not a native english speaker the official documentation from thief/dromed was too much info for me. ( esp. not knowing/understanding all the tech. stuff)
i remember the first time I created a airbrush and going in game. whoh... I made my own space in the digital world:eek::cool:
did follow komag's tut and made my first "mission"
funny: Komag did make a few suggestions about changing some things in various files. He worded it as: you might want to change this and this... I did misunderstand that (being dutch). I thought he meant: If you really want to, if you insist, go ahead, your own risk. Being so glad I got everything working so far, I didn't dare to change it.
started making my first mission. got it finished, what a hell, Komag never mentioned using area's..
(can you imagine building a three floor building..:rolleyes:)
In those days i got in contact with lady Rowena and she offered to have a look at it. When discussing the mission she pointed me at using areas and the changes i should make in the config files(the ones Komag did suggest);)
my first "real" mission (real as in being act. released), was the librarian. One night is was, with my co-working, watching the movie "(
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412915/) the Librarian" and my co-worker made a remark that it was nice to rebuild with dromed ( all the trapfloors etc)
then I took my about nine years to get part 2 (the spear) completed. It started way too ambitious and, about to give up because of all the crashes ( the mission was way too big, even when splitted in two), newdark came and I could finish my mission :cool: ( no more worries about too many pollys)
Renault on 12/9/2017 at 14:11
Kind of reiterating what I said above, but my first mission was an entry for (
http://www.wearytaffer.com/contest/missions.html) Yandros' SSR contest - kind of the perfect way to start out because it didn't allow any custom material, you had to use the stock resources for T2. I think that's the way to go for newcomers, unless you're already a very technical person and/or understand editing from other games. I'd love to see another contest with these restrictions, but I think at this point in Thief's lifespan, most people want to use new, high res textures.
Btw, here's a link to Komag's tutorial on my site: (
http://www.southquarter.com/komag/)
zajazd, dont' give up. Just make a few small connected rooms and decorate them, and you'll be hooked.
FrenchDecay on 13/9/2017 at 16:00
Kind of late for the party but here goes : I've been fiddling around with dromed for years before finally releasing something. Now this may sound cheesy but I feel like it's not right to spend time on dromed only to produce something. I feel like having fun is what matters, just learn the basics and start doing whatever you want. You'll eventually end up building something you'll be proud of and release it.
There was a topic similar to this one (by redleaf I believe), you may want to check it out.
Though I'm not that big of an author, I think this is the right way to tackle DromEd (plus you'll find that experimenting with it is quite fun)
zajazd on 13/9/2017 at 18:31
Quote Posted by FrenchDecay
Kind of late for the party but here goes : I've been fiddling around with dromed for years before finally releasing something. Now this may sound cheesy but I feel like it's not right to spend time on dromed only to produce something. I feel like having fun is what matters, just learn the basics and start doing whatever you want. You'll eventually end up building something you'll be proud of and release it.
Do you see similarities between Dromed and Minecraft? I think I wouldn't be able to play that game even with a gun pointed at my head lol
ObservingEye on 21/9/2017 at 17:36
I started with Nicked's guide, which, imho, is pretty darn great. He did a fantastic job of explaining the fundamentals but also urging that you explore yourself to find out what kind of Dromeder you are.
I like Komag's, but it being all text was too much for me personally, I need some imagery to get going.
Currently nearly finishing up on my first mission, which has grown to be a bit bigger than I wanted it to be.
Fiddle around and see what comes of it. Once you get in the groove, you start to wonder why it took forever to get a grasp of anything in the beginning. I thought I would never get to a decent point in Dromed, but now I'm almost done with my first FM!
As others have said, having fun counts too. It's just really cool when you start actually seeing what you visualized come to fruition in the editor.
Oh, and I haven't screwed around with any custom stuff, it's all been stock resources so far.