i've actually been thinking of trying to make a map this way... built a couple of corridors, corners and outer walls for rooms that all snap together.
you could make something pretty big that way at the risk of it being boring, i guess... 

I actually tried that with Left for Dead 2 since Hammer supports instances. I made a bunch of standard sized rooms and hallways and tried to piece together an office building. It kinda worked but I got itchy to customize it very quickly after I started and it sort of fell apart. But I think the idea is sound... 

I made something like that for quake years ago - it requires a custom engine like dp so that statically* rotated bsp objects work. It was posted at qexpo
http://qexpo.quakedev.com/booth.php?id=32&page=113

The way it works is that a single bsp file contains a 'set' of tiles. Each tile is an individual bsp entity with entry points marked in the entity's fields. The progs then generates maps from these tiles each time you load the map. It obviously doesn't create the most exciting maps known to man, but I think the caverns map actually looks quite good.

Anyway, I'm sure I've posted about it before, but you know how it is when you did something first...

*ie SOLID_BSP entities which have an angle set, but no avelocity. 

automating it would be cool too, but i just meant like make a bunch of func_groups and CnP them yourself.

as willem said, i think the hardest part would be resisting the urge to start customizing at least until you're done. :P 

watched a few prototype gameplay videos on youtube. looks like you start in a street then randomly walk down more streets back and forth until all the innocent people are dead. absolutely no linearity, variance in gameplay or even a point. am i wrong?

people were raving on about this game, but seeing it in actual it looks crap. 

Almost feels like they created the environment and then just tacked on a few missions and game modes. But it's still fun - I enjoyed indulging in an excessive killing spree. 

Watched a few Quake gameplay videos on YouTube. Looks like you start in a hallway and then randomly run down other hallways and go through rooms shooting monsters and finding keys with no variance or point whatsoever. Am I wrong?

(sorry, had to be done) 

Sometimes you find secrets. 

Sometimes you die also :P 

The point is to have fun while randomly running down hallways to shoot monsters and find keys [and find secrets, health, ammo, places to walk where you're not supposed to and go 'he he he' at the author of the map because you're/you've doing/found something that they did not intend for you to do/find]. 

So who wants to be my StarCraft 2 friend? I would if I were you. 

feel free to add me if fancy a few games, I am a total starcraft scrub though :)

name : bughunt
character code : 292 

What is this character code shiz?

name: zwiffle

and I swear I thought yours was "bigcunt" at first. 

character code 650 

name : Bal
code : 384

Probably can't add Zwiffle cause he's not on EU server though. 

thats a bigcunt :(

I'll happily let you kick my arse though Bal =) 

I've got to around half way in the single player campaign (I think) and I've dabbled a little in the multiplayer so I guess its time to offer some 1st impressions.

On the single player:

They really pushed the boat out here, each and every mission has a unique mechanic involved in it that forces you to play differently and use different tactics. New units and explained a drip-fed into your pool as you complete missions and you have plenty of time to experiment and practice with them.

Also, the between mission story elements came as a complete surprise to me. I think the best example I can think of to explain it would be the planet surface "point and click" interface of Freelancer. You can click on items and characters in the environment and get a cutscene or some funny news broadcast on the tv or whatever. You can also research unit upgrades, hire mercenary forces to fight for you and further enhance specific units in the armoury. Its also polished to high heaven, very impressed!

On Multiplayer : Now I am a total starcraft scrub, I have no idea about build orders, micro/macro management or actions per minute, so I expected to get well and truly pasted in multiplayer, but Blizzard added a really great system whereby you play 5 "performance analysing" matches and then the game will put you in a bracket of other players with the same skill level as you. From what I can tell it works very, very well. When you learn to play better and start beating everyone in your bracket the game will move you up to the next bracket, and so on. Great stuff.

Other shizzle : The interface and menu's are fucking fantastic, really. "Challenge missions" to improve your multiplayer skills. When you load the game up, you only need to click twice to start a multiplayer game, its really streamlined. It also runs fairly well on my shitpile of a pc, which I am very thankful for :)

So, err. Yeah I guess I'm liking it so far. 

Yeah, it's nice, I've obviously played the beta quite a bit already, we should up for some coop later Daz, I could teach you some tricks. :D

The singleplayer is really well made, but what the hell, the characters and story is like the ultimate cliche in science fiction, it hurts to hear the dialogue sometimes. Fortunatly it's beautifully made. 

Yeah that would be nice, I finished my placement matches and got seeded right at the bottom of the copper league :P

I agree about the dialogue, some of it is pretty cringe worthy, but the characters are pure Blizzard clich�'s in a bottle like all their other other games :) 

Missions : yeah, they're fun and interesting. Just played the train-robbing one last night, it was pretty tough, just barely made it. I played it the wrong way (like a base-building mission) and so I got 0 of the achievements. I'm currently in Plat, but should def. be in Diamond, just gotta work my way there I guess. 

Yeah I think you can't be placed in Diamond directly after the placement matches.
I haven't done them myselves, too busy with the solo stuff, but if it's anything like the beta I should end up in Plat league I think. 

Oh yeah. I was able to befriend a BugHunt and saw him online, but when I said howdy there was no reply, so I'm sure whether it was Daz or not. 

I can't add you to my friends, so it's doubtful.
How do you befriend someone without his code anyways? 

FACEBOOK 

Don't recall seeing any messages from you :(

I thought USA & Europe players were separated anyhow?