vfig on 7/11/2018 at 16:12
Quote Posted by Djent
I'm just starting out in dromed and it's very demoralizing :p But I'll try and keep at it.
Yeah, Dromed can be a bit of a curmudgeon, especially at first! I started out with it for the first time back in April this year, so the pain of it is still pretty fresh in my memory.
The best advice I can give is: if your plan for your first map is really small, then just dive in! But if you have a grand vision for your first map. like I did, don't try building it all at once. Pick a very small part of it, like one building, and just work on that: starting with a blockout, then texturing, room brushing, lighting, detailing, adding AIs and so on, until that part feels 90% finished. You'll learn a ton doing that which will make the rest of your map much, much easier: you'll be familiar with the workflow and Dromed's features and foibles, and the inevitable mistake and corrections you make in that first building, you'll have learned how to avoid.
LarryG on 7/11/2018 at 17:06
And if you haven't seen any missions which do something like what you are thinking of, then odds are it is NOT a beginner project, and you should scope down what you want to do. Crawl before walk and walk before run.
bbb on 8/11/2018 at 20:55
Vfig and Larry are exactly right. For your first mission, think small and see it to the end. Much better to complete a smaller mission than to give up halfway through building a big mission which I suspect has happened often.
Welcome to the world of Dromed. It is great and frustrating at the same time but you have a very helpful community available for help 24x7.
Good luck. Look forward to seeing a mission from you in the future.
Nameless Voice on 8/11/2018 at 23:53
I'd suggest hiding the edges of the ocean with a long-distance fog.
gamophyte on 9/11/2018 at 01:35
Warning: The following is Stupid ambitious, and I've never tried it, so take this with a grain of salt. Perhaps someone else can chime in.
I was thinking the ocean floor can be the sky texture, that way the distant art can stretch all the way down so there won't be a noticeable divide on the horizon. Looking down can be sand at a distance. Then make the water murky some way so you can't quite see that it's distant art; attach to the player a plane of blurry heat disks that triggers when the head goes under or slightly just before. This is how I plan to make murky water in my mission but haven't done it yet. Still a noob, but long time lurker. Perhaps ditch the blurry heat disks (will make the screen lag on older machine) and trade with png disk fire of partially translucent blue bitmaps. Or maybe particle disks.
john9818a on 9/11/2018 at 14:02
I struggled with this same problem while making Derelict Dock District. I settled on using an oversized sfx that mimiced fog just above the ocean surface. I also used methods to prevent the player from getting close enough to the far edges to see them. I wish it was possible to make water motion effects like those used in Tomb Raider.
