User:Angry Beaver/Sandbox

I get short breaks and occasional times to work on this at work and school, you'll probably see a lot of tiny updates to this but this is my way of transproting documents under development between work, school, and home. TH wiki syntax gets difficult to read and understand without the preview button :). I'd appricate any advice or suggestions you have go in talk section and that you do not modify or move any content on/from/to this page, its a constant WIP untill it gets moved to another location, then feel free to edit the article. I just wanna keep my sandbox my work page.

This is a personal page on my own namespace. If you have anything to add, questions, comments, or managed to find something I didn't, please post on the talk page instead. Thanks!

Designing a Level

(this section will be the Level Design article once compelte)

Introduction

Level design begins deep where that first spark of inspiration comes from. It has many forms to take with a lot of work to be done before, during, and after [[Hammer] has been loaded. Hammer is a tool for level design, it allows the creation, design, and building of entire levels for the player to explore; thus, a deeper understanding of the level design process would allow the use of Hammer in the most effective way. Hammer makes the level it should not make the idea. Theres lots to learn about Hammer, but theres almost as much to learn about why your using it and the process using it takes, what other programs help and where Hammer sits in level design.

Start to Finish

Taking a level from start to finish is a difficult process...

Concept

Hammer isn't a blind development tool, have an image an picture a plan. Without one lots of time will be lots to accomodating changes...

Evaluation

<Does it work?>

Construction

<how to go about making it>

Re-Evaluation

<now you can see it, is it right? is it FUN?>

Releasing

<getting it ready for everyone else>

Architecture

<making the shapes you want and what thosoe shapes do>

Mechanics

<making the map do what you want and how important it is>

Gameplay

<working you map for the game your playing>

Conclusion

<something deep and meaningfull>

Hammer in Depth

(this section will be the Hammer in Depth article once compelte)

Template:Int lvl design

Introduction

Now the why has been covered lets get deeper into the how. While all the menus and buttons and functions are well documented its not often clear what tool you'll need. You want a slope, should you carve, vertex manipulate, split, or even use a primitive? All will work but it becomes a trick to know which tools to use where and why.

Todo:  guide the user through the toolbar documentation, recomend tools and procedures

Conclusion

<something deep and meaningfull>

Misc

This section aims to go through Valve Hammer Editor and show you whats availble, the tools and the processes you follow to get things done including what the tools are being used for, and the best ways to use them. While all the possible views, tools, and options are documented elsewhere this is the guide of where to look for them and how and when to use them. This is more than just how to use Hammer, its why your using it and what its doing when you take each step. This is important to know as understanding the reason is the best way to reach the goal.