[Info] The Ten Commandments of TF2 Level Design.

[Zwiffle]

I disagree with the TF2 texture thing - there are plenty of cases where it is appropriate to use a texture from another Source game so that it doesn't break the TF2 feel. Like others have mentioned for carving (I just use clipping and vertex manipulation, but that's mainly because of my experience with Radiant-based editors) it's something you need to do responsibly, but you can do it.

[strangemodule]

Should be stickied.

Also, as a side note, I have yet to see a map where something was carved.

[Terr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grazr

Not really, game engines are licensed and baught.

Yeah, like with Natural Selection, Action Half-Life, Counterstrike, Day of Defeat, TFC... oh, wait, no, they didn't

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psy

Carving is only bad if you don't know you are doing. It's like saying, "Don't drive a car! You might crash!".

I used to think so too, but I realized most of the times I really wanted to make a square hole in a flat surface, it was often less work to slice it manually.

More like "Don't play with that arc-welder, you might burn or blind yourself". The average person will find various glues, tapes, staples, nails, etc. far safer and effective.

[XFunc_CaRteR]

I hate to admit it, but I have carved before. There were two instances in my current map when I had to carve. And guess what? It worked like a charm. (Of course, I was carving in a certain way...)

[SPHinx]

Curious if people feel the same way about "make hollow" as they do about carving.

I used to do both and have since stopped using either. I find I am happier with the results, even if it takes a bit longer.

[Psy]

The only time I use hollow is for 3D skyboxes.

[Terr]

"Make Hollow" is OK, but I always end up having to tune the way it has chosen to make the walls and ceiling match anyway... I think of it as a shortcut for making a bunch of brushes of roughly the right size that I will need to fine-tune.

Once you discover the 'x' and 'z' shortcuts, it's a lot faster to make you view twirl around and to size things just-right in the 3D view.

[Radaka]

Hollow= Initial Blocking Map-in-a-Box

[Psy]

No. You use the cordon tool for that.

[A Boojum Snark]

or if you are like me, you leave the map unsealed, put in a Void Saftey Bubble to protect your eyes from the Hall of Mirrors, then just run around your awesome ultraleaking map and sticky jump unhindered from one end of the map to the other clearing thousands of units of deadly void.