Firtht Potht!

Okay, I'm fairly sure we can mark this point as my official descent into pure insanity.

Here's the deal: my life, complicated as it is, requires yet more complication. The Internet, as always, is more than ready to jump in and assist in as many ways as possible: it provides an amazing class-based multiplayer game, an SDK, access to user-created thoughts and content, and then blithely provides me with the tools to make my own content, as well as blather about it when I really should be sleeping!

I consider myself to be somewhat normal - I have a family I love and I job I dislike. I have chores, duties, and routines. What I don't have is a truly creative outlet right now. Ever since going to the TF2 Forums, however, I have realized that even more than playing, I would love to create.

I'm not a total novice - I designed and built a few maps for Descent 3, a couple of which were actually publised in an add-on racing mod. That experience taught me about visualizations, 3D mapping basics, and some debugging. Opening up Hammer, however, shows how much I still need to learn. So, while not a total novice, I still consider myself a novice.

So - enough about my past. I have recently found myself bursting with ideas for TF2 maps. My private (whoops) fantasy is to have Valve stumble upon this blog and my maps and say, "Hey! This guy is great, let's hire him!" and then fly me off to the Magical Land and give me my Dream Job, complete with chocolate pudding. Five seconds of Right-Brain fantasy are then inevitably interrupted by the crushing logic of Left-Brain: I'm too old, I have too many other restrictions in my life, and I have no way to catch up with those snotty little geniuses that Digi-Pen keeps belching out (I'm looking at you, Narbacular Drop/Portal Team).

This blog is the frustrated compromise - I think that I could possibly make a good map. I also think that it's very possible that, ultimately, I won't. This blog is a chronicle of my attempt, as well as a way to give others like me some insight into what it takes, where problems occur, and maybe, just maybe, that it really is possible.

Wish me luck, 'cause I know I'm gonna need it.