Hey guys. Just written up a quick overview of the mapping process in an email, decided it should probably go here so I can get some opinions. Blender is used, rather than our own mapping tool, because it's already a very functional suite that can be used for mapping, we don't have the time or resources to create anything that will compare.
There is still a good bunch to accomplish before we start with maps, (probably a good two weeks away). But I'm working on a early tutorial now, so mappers can hit the ground running. It's going to be a three stage system. The first, will be creating a static (but with animation if you want, i mean static as in no light or objectives/spawn points) map in Blender. Then, export it to our modeling format (JModel, I've got some resources about it on the Jottit site). Then load it into our custom tool that I will write (may be integrated into the game), in that tool, you will add stuff like per-pixel point lights, objectives and spawn points. It will be similar to the game itself, you will just be walking around in the level placing stuff down. Very simple. The final step is going to be a little bit of typing. Making sure texture filenames have properly exported, setting global map settings like ambient light. Then you package it up, say your map is called "Warzone", you would have a folder called "Warzone" with a "Warzone.jmdl" file (static mesh), a "Warzone.ini" file (will hold global settings), "Warzone.bin" file (will hold objectives, spawn points and ligths.
Warzone.jmdl : Made in Blender (Blender)
Warzone.ini : Typed up (Notepad)
Warzone.bin : Created, after loading up the static mesh and adding in final touches in our own program (Our Program)
Final part, is a /textures/ directory, within "Warzone", that will hold all of the textures for your map!
Done!
Oh, and to keep consistency, the game will take a hash check of the map, then compare the hash (mmm, hash
), to the one on the server. If they don't match, the player won't be able to join. This is to stop players, editing the maps, taking out all of the walls so that they can wall hack. It's a simple measure.
EDIT: Here's some more from the email:
But, what we're really going to start needing is mappers. Mapping is great, because it's generally quite easy and lots of people have great ideas for maps. What's going to happen, is we're going to have a competition, everybody makes as many maps as they want, then we all play through them and choose our favorites. Those (probably about 6), will go into the game and the creators will be a permanent edition to our team. (Well, everybody is a permanent member, this is a community project, but these mappers will have more of a say than the average joe).
