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How long it takes to develop a planet?


Nur Ab Sal

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I'm not a programmer (only freakin' student of ancient history) so your world is

unknown to me, but I'm just curious how much time (months, days etc.) and human resources (2 devs? 5? 30?) is needed to develop a fully-operational planet like Telos or Dxun/Onderon? Thanks for answers guys.

HERMOCRATES:

Nur Ab Sal was one such king. He it was, say the wise men of Egypt, who first put men in the colossus, making many freaks

of nature at times when the celestial spheres were well aligned.

 

SOCRATES:

This I doubt. We are hearing a child's tale.

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I'm not a programmer (only freakin' student of ancient history) so your world is

unknown to me, but I'm just curious how much time (months, days etc.) and human resources (2 devs? 5? 30?) is needed to develop a fully-operational planet like Telos or Dxun/Onderon? Thanks for answers guys.

It depends on tons of different veribles.

"Your total disregard for the law and human decency both disgusts me and touches my heart. Bless you, sir."

"Soilent Green is people. This guy's just a homeless heroin junkie who got in a internet caf

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Och c'mon guys, you know what I mean. :p

HERMOCRATES:

Nur Ab Sal was one such king. He it was, say the wise men of Egypt, who first put men in the colossus, making many freaks

of nature at times when the celestial spheres were well aligned.

 

SOCRATES:

This I doubt. We are hearing a child's tale.

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It's more like one of those "How long is a piece of string?" questions. In other words, unless specifics are stated, the only possible answers start with "It depends...", which is generally not very useful.

 

Although the original poster gave an example (which not everyone is familiar with) for the approximate size, the level of detail, how much of the world can be directly interacted with, whether there is an existing frame of reference and the experience levels of those involved are also factors.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Most KOTOR2 levels were done by one artist, and took 2-3 weeks to model, texture, and light.

 

After all the levels were finished, many were given an extra week for polish; often by a different level artist.

 

One of my favorite levels that I built, the Peragus Station Hanger, took me 3 weeks (it was the first area I built for the game). It was masterfully polished by Tim Cox.

 

Another favorite, the Telos Station Entertainment mod, was done in 2 weeks.

Ed Lacabane helped with this area, by initially building the cop station, merchant shop, and cantina. I spent an additional week polishing the entire area.

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Are you actually using a level editor for building the maps or do you build all that stuff inside e.g. 3ds max? Not only the props, but the whole layout as well? If yes, how is the compiling process handled?

I just ask because I did myself some leveldesign (for UT and Quake3) two years ago, and those games provided powerful level editors, so I'm just wondering whether Bioware cared about programming similar powerful level editors for the KOTOR engine too or whether they just provide compiling tools for 3ds max export...

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Not bad... Hmm, I'm just wondering about the layout (i.e. there's that building, here's that way through etc.), is that a process you artists decide alone and the designers just try to fit all necessary "design stuff" (placing monsters, scripts, dialogs) or are the designers completely involved in the concept process of a level as well?

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  • 2 weeks later...

These are very interesting details Dennis! Thanks! You are really proficient if it only takes you 3 weeks! :)

HERMOCRATES:

Nur Ab Sal was one such king. He it was, say the wise men of Egypt, who first put men in the colossus, making many freaks

of nature at times when the celestial spheres were well aligned.

 

SOCRATES:

This I doubt. We are hearing a child's tale.

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Really? Share few secrets with me! :)"

HERMOCRATES:

Nur Ab Sal was one such king. He it was, say the wise men of Egypt, who first put men in the colossus, making many freaks

of nature at times when the celestial spheres were well aligned.

 

SOCRATES:

This I doubt. We are hearing a child's tale.

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It takes about 5 billion years to develope a planet...

 

(screw you if it's already been said.)

"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger."

 

- Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials

 

"I have also been slowly coming to the realisation that knowledge and happiness are not necessarily coincident, and quite often mutually exclusive" - meta

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Most KOTOR2 levels were done by one artist, and took 2-3 weeks to model, texture, and light.

 

After all the levels were finished, many were given an extra week for polish; often by a different  level artist.

 

One of my favorite levels that I built, the Peragus Station Hanger, took me 3 weeks (it was the first area I built for the game). It was masterfully polished by Tim Cox.

 

Another favorite, the Telos Station Entertainment mod, was done in 2 weeks.

Ed Lacabane helped with this area, by initially building the cop station, merchant shop, and cantina. I spent an additional week polishing the entire area.

Hmm....Peragus eh? Peragus was actually my least favorite 'planet', but good job nevertheless. What I want to know is who designed Dxun? That moon was Godsend! Everything from the lighting, to the music, to the rain/thunder and grassy jungle atmosphere was really quite breathtaking. It was just so mazy and intricate...just like what I expected from Tales of the Jedi. :lol:

manthing2.jpg
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Dxun was one of the more difficult areas to do. It had to go through three passes to get right.

 

All the cool mazy areas where done by Lucas Feld initially, as well as the 2nd pass. Then Glen Price made them shine.

 

I did the Mandalorian Camp, and Tomb exterior level. Lucas Feld did a pass after that. And then I did a third and final pass.

 

Sorry you didn't like Peragus. The Hanger area was pretty cool IMHO, unbiased of course.

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Wow...the mazy jungles, the Mandalorian camp and Freedon's Nadd's tomb were some of the high points of the game for me - very impressive. :)

 

Yeah, well, I didn't much care for Peragus, but's that just personal taste I suppose.

 

Anyway, thanks more taking the time to share your expertise Dennis. I greatly appreciate it. :lol:

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Thanks.

 

BTW Did you notice the lake monsters in the Tomb Exterior level? Its something that you've got to watch for next time.

Whoah - there were lake monsters? Must have missed it, but it's something for me to watch out for next time.

 

I guess those Dantooine flying manta ray thingies have some stiff competition. ^_^

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