1 - False expectations WARNING - I have based this video on what
has worked for me in the past, so I may come across as opinionated and self-obsessed.
You have been warned.
Finishing something is hard, and to finish it to the best of our ability impossible.
We always aim too high and often have nothing to show to the world because of it.
Forums are rife with people criticising others yet having nothing to show for themselves.
In this video I explain how I have overcome problems in the past and hope that it will
help you too, regardless of what you're trying to make, be it a map, game or pretty sewing
pattern.
Though I will mainly be talking about mapping.
First, go away and look at the projects that you have finished.
What do they have in common?
Why did you start them?
I find that my best projects have the humblest of beginnings.
I don't start them with any idea of how they are meant to turn out and because of that
I am happy with whatever I get.
My best maps and games are those I built for the gameplay, with the graphics coming naturally
once the map was proven to be fun.
Now, what about the projects you didn't finish?
Perhaps you planned to make the next Half Life, or played something you liked and set
out to copy it.
Both are, in my opinion, things that doom you to fail.
Even if you carry out everything you desired, they're only going to be clones of the things
you tried to copy and the chances are they won't be as good and certainly won't be as
successful.
Sadly I find that the higher my hopes and inspiration to make a project, the more likely
I am to fail as they cannot live up to my expectations- or perhaps they are still good,
but in ways that I can't see because they aren't what I was hoping for them to be.
Like how Faramir was to his Father.
I've never had trouble finishing the songs that I make.
Unlike my maps, I never had any ideas about what I wanted them to become but simply messed
around and went with what worked.
Employing this tactic in other things I work on has delivered positive results.
Instead of trying to make it something, I go with what it is and build on it.
This is the key to finishing a project.
Oddly enough it also makes new commercial games and movies more enjoyable once they're
released since I had no expectations from them.
Suddenly it sounds as though you have a lot less control over the project.
With my music-making I found this to be the case- I was powerless to determine how the
song would develop when I started off, but as I learned more about the program and what
sounded right I ended up being able to better steer the project in a direction I wanted,
and began to develop my own style at the same time.
Although you might get frustrated with this lack of control I find it comforting.
It's the reason that you should play test and get feedback from others from an early
stage as it gets more difficult to adapt the project later on, as extra details gradually
solidify the project into what it is.
In my opinion there are two ways of designing something this way: starting from a point
and building outwards based on what works well in playtesting, or starting with a draft
of the entire thing then using playtesting to get the smaller details right.
Both have their pros and cons.
For this example I'm going to compare my two latest maps: balfour and kyrenia.
Balfour was gameplay based.
I made a small bit of the level and worked outwards based on what was fun.
I ended up with a very alien map, different to others but in my opinion more fun.
It was smaller and allowed for all different types of weapons to be used, rather than just
the long-range ones that are normally relied upon in CSGO.
I neglected the aesthetics of the level however, and ended with a layout that played well but
held no real relation to places within the real world.
It also received criticism from players who suggested that it should be more like other
levels out there, though I don't know whether this was a rersult from playtesting or them
feeling clever for seeing that mine was different and assuming it must be inferior.
With my next map, kyrenia, I did the opposite by starting with the level overview to allow
for convincing areas for buildings and other structures, as well as a size and style that
gamers were used to.
I left it bare so that it was easy to change the layout extensively in response to playtesting.
In short, it was made the opposite way that balfour was, working from the top down rather
than from a point and working out.
As a result it ended up similar to other maps and received good feedback from those who
played it, while de_gwailior, in my opinion the best map in the competition, did extremely
well for its graphics but was shunned for being smaller and more vertically-based than
other maps by the cevo community, who seem to favour more traditional layouts and perhaps
unfairly treat maps that go against the trend.
I'm sure that this trend exists in everything and not just levels for games.
Give it a go, you'll find it's great fun and a refreshing change from the usual maps.
How you motivate yourself also depends who you're making the map for.
If you're making it for other people or for a competition then it makes sense to get their
feedback.
With a competition you also have a natural push to completion in the form of a deadlines.
Without them, you have to motivate yourself to finish.
Simply by entering a competition it will help to inspire you to work hard and to finish
by a certain date.
Knowing that it will be enjoyed and reviewed by the community gives you even more motivation
to complete it and even if you don't make the deadline, the chances are you'll be left
with something you wouldn't have made otherwise, and is something you can then release with
little extra effort.
Most competitions tend to be fairly open ended so you can normally make the most of them
to create a project you might have been thinking about for a while, but perhaps almost needed
a bit of guidance or an excuse to make it.
Competitions present themselves as a perfect opportunity to do so.
If you're making it for yourself however, you should be the one doing the playtesting.
Make sure it's fun for you to play from the very start and you can always play it just
to remind yourself of why it's worth finishing.
With my two maps I got to the playtesting stage as soon as possible.
Starting from a point lets you do so straight away, while if you're making the level overview
there's a fair bit you need to do before you can playtest it but you will have more control
over its outcome.
I'm not saying that's necessarily a positive thing.
You will, however have to grit your teeth as you rush to complete the layout before
you lose interest.
If you struggle to do this I recommend starting from a point as I did from balfour, it could
lead to some interesting, unexpected and original results...