8 Rookie Mistakes Every Video Game Modder Always Makes
7. Tipping The Scale
While were on the subject of real-world settings, lets talk about sizing your world appropriately. Everything you create should have consistent measurements (even if youre slogging through an alien environment like the battered wreckage of a Dentrassi Cruiser) but problems with scaling will be much more noticeable if youre creating content for a game set on Earth. Video game characters tend to sprint everywhere, and most of the time theyre not clever enough to do things like tuck in their elbows when moving through doorways stuff we do automatically. As such, theres a delicate balance thats maintained when a games environments are being constructed. Lara Crofts personal gym needs to be huge so that she can flip and somersault easily around it, but she still needs to look like an adult when shes standing by a piece of scenery. Get the balance of scale wrong and your character will either struggle to move through buildings at speed, or wind up the size of a child, with lots of room to run around but no way to see over the waste paper basket. New mappers often plonk down an arbitrary space first to use as a canvas, and then come unravelled trying to fill it with interesting stuff. Instead, look closely at the size of doorways, ledges and ladders that are already in the game to get an idea of whatll feel correct, then think about the player how long do you want it to take them to get from one end of your level to the other? Thatll give you your starting measurements. And dont forget to leave space to swing the camera!
