Mapping Idea

[Tortured_Soul]

This might be a crazy, but it's crazy enough to work out I reckon.

Now, most of the time, when someone makes maps, they have their own ideas about what they want and the point of the map and all this stuff, so the map truly is theirs. Now what if mapper where to use real life maps, to make their maps from.

This idea came to me from the submersible thread, I was thinking how nice it would look to have a Mech emerging out from a loch, then I thought, why not use a real location for the map? it would give an immense sense of realism.

Also, it can be applied to other areas or battlefields.

I just thought I'd mention it in passing, see if anyone felt up the challenge (I sure as hell don't). I know that they would need some tweaks made for gameplay and balance and engine cpabilities, but I think it'd work.

Discuss.

[death_grin]

Hi, in fact using real world terrain is a common practice among level designers both professional and among mod teams.  Crysis is modeled after a real world island (not exact because the isl  is rather flat in real life...)
There are alot of resources you can find on the internet for downloading  such data and importing and exporting that data to usable formats.

[Tortured_Soul]

That's me put right in my place then eh? jk

I didn't know that at all, I always just assumed that level designers made up their own levels from scratch. It's cool, cause I'd love to see some realistic looking land getting torn apart by BattleMechs.

What do you know, you do learn something new everyday.

[death_grin]

Yea, I didn't mean to sound like its something everyone knows because they don't.  I just have alot of experience with level design and I've studied it for awhile so I know.  And yes you are correct that using such terrain can help level designers create amazingly realistic terrain.  Alot of research on the particular landscapes flora and the specifics of the terain help as well.  For example certain plants will only grow on a certain incline of slope.  A living ecosystem is actually alot more complicated then people think.  It follows rules that level designers can learn and use to their advantage to create a believable, almost living world.