Welcome To My Blog!
PLEASE READ ME FIRST!
If this is your first visit, or you would like to experience this site to its full potential - then please see the RED section
OR
If you are a returning visitor and are familiar with how the site is structured, off you go and enjoy your stay! :)
Welcome to my site and thank you for visiting!
Now, I have placed ALL my work on the same page for easy viewing, great huh?
But before you start, please
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM
As it is ordered from earliest first, meaning you will see my first work and how it has progressed over the years.
While the first maps I made are simple I agree, I have chosen to add everything with nothing to hide, so you can see my lifes work.
New additions will always be on the top of this page so you don't need to search for it.
Now with all that out the way,
let me introduce myself.
My name is Ricky - also known as Hiijinx or Terminator to my online friends.
I am a Games Design Student with Train2Game - and although you will find a few bits of Design work, the bulk of this is dedicated to my true passion - Level Design.
The purpose of this page is to act as my portfolio, showcasing all my work to you! :)
Please feel free to comment on anything you'd like, the goods, the bads, I want to hear it all!
Now, enough of me chatting - please enjoy my work and thank you for taking your time to visit:)
Hiijinx
LATEST UPDATES
Uploaded 28/08/2011
The Greenhouse - UDK
Work In Progress
2011
Expansion to Slaughtermart
Coming soon ....
Slaughtermart Video
(The one I threw together in 20 mins hehe)
Slaughtermart Walkthrough
Slaughtermart - UDK
2010
T2G Contest
Runner Up
First attempt with UDK - took 2 weeks to learn/build.
Also first ever INDOOR project - as you have seen all my previous work has been outdoor environments so this was definitely a change.
Extremely pleased with outcome.
Finished joint 1st - decided runner up by T2G, disappointed that only 30 or so people actually voted out of a possible few thousand of members at the time, given better awareness I believe the outcome would have been much different. Even more gutted when I received a late vote after the deadline which would have won it!
Train2game decided it was too big for a 4 player deathmatch which I disagreed on claiming it was still a very fun level with 4 - it was just a bit more challenging than the other entries, playing hide and seek within the dark shadows of the map which was the intended idea as I dislike repetitive arena shooters.
I received a very inspirational comment about my efforts from a renowned Level Designer, Alex Galuzin, saying;
Think of many successful movie directors. How true they stay to their vision even if the studio and producers and public say otherwise. Pablo Picasso was ridiculed for his abstract paintings. But, he didn’t care what others thought. He simply kept painting. So keep creating and don’t think too much of not getting the top spot. You got runner up. That is very good.
His words still ring true to me today and I continue creating with my "alternative" ideas.
I learnt a great deal with both the basic mechanics of the editor, including basic scripting which was a totally new experience for me - to disasterous bugs and almost complete failure hours before the deadline - where I realised my level was not standalone and models did not show up on another computer. Thankfully I checked this as I did with my Deerhunter days - discovering I had linked all 50+ models from the wrong directory, slowly dug through the mess and fixed it with minutes to spare - in which I threw together a very cheap video! (See above)
Looking at how my Deerhunter maps improved over the space of 3 or 4 years - I cannot wait to see what I can do with UDK!
Tower Idea WIP
Gazebo WIP
Gazebo Concept
Nightmare Top Down Map
Personal Project WIP
2011
Level Example Render
Misfit
Jinx and Misfit
Personal Project WIP
2011
Guildmaster Map Concept
Furious Moo Studios 2010-2011
Furious Moo Studios 2010-2011
Snowball Mayhem WIP - Level 2
Discontinued T2G project
Snowball Mayhem WIP - Level 1
Discontinued T2G project
T2G PROJECTS
Projects I have done whilst at Train2Game
May 2008
Tournament Map
CONTEST WINNERMy last Deerhunter 2005 map (for now anyway hehe).
Won 1st place in Map Making Contest - $200 prize.
Goal was to make the best looking map in 2 weeks, I am so proud how it turned out.
For the longest time people had wanted a tropical setting map, but did not have the correct foliage models in game - so I made them. Tweaked the water color to give a more tropical feel and ofcourse the usual Easter eggs hidden away too.
March 2008
Remake of my 2004 map, much more detailed including a heightmap terrain and virtually every single object recreated from real life location, something that no one had attempted before. I had wanted to include even more detail but was limited by the game's capabilities. I also had to tone down the view distance as many sadly could not play it. I recreated a low end spec version soon after which allowed everyone to experience it.
Without a doubt my most involved map to date, as well as any other DH2005 map out there. Over 100mb a piece, it also boasted the largest file and took about 6 working months to complete. (Had started it in 2005 but DH died down for a while - continued in 2008)
Each model, including trees - were hand placed one by one, not generated. This gave it a unique feel which others could not match - something I started doing since Hangman's Valley.
Very proud of this map.
December 2007
Tournament Map
Since my previous map alot happened - most importantly the next installment of The Deerhunter Series, Deerhunter Tournament, failed.... miserably. The developer got swallowed up by UBI and that was that - the community started to decline with no new hunting sim.
Taking a break from my current addiction of EQ2, i discovered people still played 2005 and maps were still in demand - so I dusted off my map editor and made my first map in over 2 years. These are the reborn maps which I think show in the improvement.
As always, it has a comical storyline revealing the super secret hideout of DH legend, Big Nasty as well as a few Easter eggs here and there.
2 YEAR BREAK
May 2005
April 2005
Tournament Map
March 2005
Tournament Map
I loved the colors of this map, inspired by the New England foliage, I created 3 seasons for this map to show its full beauty with different textures for the trees done by photoshopping the texture files.
March 2005
Tournament Map
March 2005
February 2005
Tournament Map
Took his map a step further and added information signs about the real life state park which included hiking trails and trivia.
It was about here where I consistently started including a back story, focal points and hidden easter eggs into each map which the players could find by exploring.
Oak Grove, Missouri - Deerhunter 2005
January 2005
Tournement Map
CONTEST MAP
This was an entry for a map making contest held by a rival site - the task was the best looking map - sounds simple enough right? I worked hard on this one, figured out how to make a much more professional looking map screen aswell as water FX.
Unfortunately, it finished in 3rd place after 2 flat maps, also commonly called "Slaughter maps" (Slaughtermart was a reference to this hehe, see UDK work) - a very primitive and exploitative map which is just that, a flat map with very few, if any models in - a large view distance which gave hunters an arcade experience of spawning and respawning time and time again until a big buck was loaded.
Unfortunately again, these maps always seemed to spawn large quantities of Big Bucks - which the developers always denied saying it was random, this made it very tough to think of a map type which would be popular with the majority of hunters and actually be played.
I detested those lazy flat maps at the best of times but to be beaten in a CASH contest by that was simply an outrage. $100 first prize - I did get $25 in the end but politley told them to shove it up their asses.
This only increased my hunger to become the best.
January 2005
Remake of my 2004 map which was much more succesful this time around.
Proved to be a very popular map - not only was it based on the World Record Mule Deer shot there in 1914 - it ironically also seemed to be a great map for big scoring bucks.
December 2004
November 2004
Remake of my 2004 title, alot more detailed this time around with custom made models and higher spec game to run them in. At the time it was hailed as one of the best maps around and I was very proud of this, but in hindsight I wished I had perhaps waited a few months before I made it , once I was fully editor savvy and perhaps not focus on how it looked in real life as it compromised some aspect of gameplay - view distance for example was hideous.
All in all, used in many tournaments and European hunters who loved it for its authentic feel and box stands.
November 2004
Remake of original DH2 map
November 2004
November 2004
Tournement Map
November 2004
With the addition of infrared thermal scopes and binoculars, the prospect of a night map was just begging to be done after I learnt how to adjust the lightmaps and day cycles. First, and to my knowledge, only night map ever made. It was originally much darker but the map testers complained it was "too dark" ... lol.
November 2004
November 2004
First 2005 map - was asked by ATARI to create a map to host on their site for a map pack which could be accessed via in game, many many downloads. Very proud of that achievement :)
DEERHUNTER 2005
With the new release of Deerhunter came a much better editor, one that actually worked half the time! And although this game was fairly simple and the editor was nothing compared to todays UDK - it was still a tricky program to use due to not only the sheer size of the maps, which were adjustable in this installment, but dealing with the bugs which plagued it.
It was from here that my level design passion really took hold, eventually realizing that I could make maps much better than I had been and therefore started taking more time on each adding great amounts of detail and planning. The average stock map was around 3-5mb in size, the average custom map was anything up to 15mb with the use of some extra models and textures. Mine were consistently over 20mb with the last maps I made 60-150mb!
As always, I loved to add the ever present easter eggs for players to discover - I enjoy seeing them in games so decided to add some myself as you will see from some of the next (and previous) maps. Now that I was confident with 3DSMax, map planning was so much more fun!
July 2004
June 2004
June 2004
June 2004
June 2004
June 2004
June 2004
Another random fun map
June 2004
Random map using custom heightmap terrain
May 2004
Tournament Map
Certainly my most successful map to date, having learnt 3DSmax the possibilities here on out were limitless.
May 2004
May 2004
May 2004
May 2004
April 2004
Terminators Wildlife Reserve - Deer Hunter 2005
April 2005
Redrock Cliffs - Deer Hunter 2004
April 2004
Terminators Camping Grounds - Deer Hunter 2004
April 2004
April 2004
April 2004
Winter Wonder Land - Deer Hunter 2004
April 2004
Marxhagen, Germany - Deer Hunter 2004
April 2004
Continuing on European popularity
Terminators Mulies - Deer Hunter 2004
April 2004
{Same map, different wildlife}
Terminators Blacktails - Deer Hunter 2004
April 2004
{Same map, different wildlife}
Terminators Whitetails - Deer Hunter 2004
April 2004
April 2004
{Same map, different wildlife}
April 2004
{Same map, different wildlife}
April 2004
Mecklenbürgische Seenplatte, Germany - Deer Hunter 2004
April 2004
Coyote Meadows, Oregon - Deer Hunter 2004
April 2004
Grabowhöfe Germany - Deer Hunter 2004
March 2004
Following the success of Kleinhau with the European players, I made a second installment of another Germany based map.
Kleinhau Germany, Deer Hunter 2004
March 2004
This was perhaps my best map to date - helped by the fact it was a real location I have visited, I was also becoming more familiar with the editor and custom objects were now a possibility.
Chip Lake, Alberta - Deer Hunter 2004
March 2004
Terminator Flat lands - Deer Hunter 2004
March 2004
Terminator Isles - Deer Hunter 2004
March 2004
Perfection Plains - Deer Hunter 2004
March 2004
Island of No Return - Deer Hunter 2004
March 2004
Bear Woods - Deer Hunter 2004
March 2004
Sherlock Woods - Deer Hunter 2004
March 2004
First ever map.
March 2004.
