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	<link>http://hit-the-apex.com</link>
	<description>Game design articles, theories and level concepts by Chris Roper.</description>
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		<title>Hit the Apex</title>
		<link>http://hit-the-apex.com</link>
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		<title>The Fault</title>
		<link>http://hit-the-apex.com/2012/04/05/the-fault/</link>
		<comments>http://hit-the-apex.com/2012/04/05/the-fault/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 05 Apr 2012 17:09:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Roper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Level Concepts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://hit-the-apex.com/?p=153</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Fault is a gameplay demo that I put together to highlight my working knowledge in a number of different disciplines with a strong focus on design. With the exception of a few 3D meshes (see the creation notes below for full details), I created practically everything that you&#8217;ll see in this short demo. If [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=hit-the-apex.com&amp;blog=13709105&amp;post=153&amp;subd=hittheapex&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Level Concept: Aftermath</title>
		<link>http://hit-the-apex.com/2011/10/22/level-concept-aftermath/</link>
		<comments>http://hit-the-apex.com/2011/10/22/level-concept-aftermath/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 23 Oct 2011 00:05:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Roper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Level Concepts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://hit-the-apex.com/?p=148</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Here&#8217;s an image from the latest environment that I&#8217;ve worked on. It was created with UDK using standard assets in somewhere around 5 hours. Don&#8217;t forget to click the image for a larger version.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=hit-the-apex.com&amp;blog=13709105&amp;post=148&amp;subd=hittheapex&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Level Concept: Aztec</title>
		<link>http://hit-the-apex.com/2011/09/03/level-concept-aztec/</link>
		<comments>http://hit-the-apex.com/2011/09/03/level-concept-aztec/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Sep 2011 23:08:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Roper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Level Concepts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://hit-the-apex.com/?p=131</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[These level concepts are a quick &#8220;sketch&#8221; of an area that could potentially be built out into a fully playable environment, akin to a highly-detailed piece of concept art. This one was probably about 6 hours of work, excluding the final lighting process, and was built using the July 2011 release of the Unreal Development Kit [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=hit-the-apex.com&amp;blog=13709105&amp;post=131&amp;subd=hittheapex&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>MP Maps</title>
		<link>http://hit-the-apex.com/2011/09/03/mp-maps/</link>
		<comments>http://hit-the-apex.com/2011/09/03/mp-maps/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 03 Sep 2011 23:03:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Roper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://hit-the-apex.com/?p=129</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I recently compiled a rough list of what players consider to be some of the best multiplayer maps ever created in an attempt to look for patterns, "rules", common themes or anything else that might stand out as the secret ingredient to creating a great skirmish environment. I had originally thought that, if anything, I might see commonalities in things like the number of entry points into a room or their general flow (circular, linear or otherwise), but as soon as you ignore sub-genres and just look at any great shooter map in general, most of the similarities immediately fly out the window. When you step back and look at maps like Q3DM17, de_dust, Blood Gulch and Strike at Karkand and are forced to ignore structural comparisons, the core thing that makes these maps great stands out: predictability.

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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Level Concept: Lost City</title>
		<link>http://hit-the-apex.com/2011/08/30/level-concept-lost-city/</link>
		<comments>http://hit-the-apex.com/2011/08/30/level-concept-lost-city/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:31:09 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Roper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Level Concepts]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://hit-the-apex.com/?p=110</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[These level concepts are a quick &#8220;sketch&#8221; of an area that could potentially be built out into a fully playable environment, akin to a highly-detailed piece of concept art. Here&#8217;s a quick level concept that I created in 4 or 5 hours with the Sandbox Editor 3 for Crysis 2. Be sure to click the &#8220;Read More&#8230;&#8221; [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=hit-the-apex.com&amp;blog=13709105&amp;post=110&amp;subd=hittheapex&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Welcome</title>
		<link>http://hit-the-apex.com/2011/08/30/welcome/</link>
		<comments>http://hit-the-apex.com/2011/08/30/welcome/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 30 Aug 2011 23:30:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Roper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://hit-the-apex.com/?p=72</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Hello, and welcome to Hit-the-Apex.com. This site serves as something of a &#8220;living&#8221; portfolio for me, a place where I can collect and highlight some of my design-oriented articles, theory pieces and level concepts. The newest content should appear directly below this post, or you can use the category navigation links either above or to the right to [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=hit-the-apex.com&amp;blog=13709105&amp;post=72&amp;subd=hittheapex&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Length</title>
		<link>http://hit-the-apex.com/2010/07/11/length/</link>
		<comments>http://hit-the-apex.com/2010/07/11/length/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:40:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Roper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://hit-the-apex.com/?p=55</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Game length is a fairly interesting facet of design as it's one of the most complained about but least praised aspects of many games, by both critics and consumers alike. How many times have you heard someone say that the length of a game is great? It happens, but it's rare. Maybe it's one of those things that you don't appreciate until it's wrong.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=hit-the-apex.com&amp;blog=13709105&amp;post=55&amp;subd=hittheapex&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>6</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Eye Candy</title>
		<link>http://hit-the-apex.com/2010/05/19/eye-candy/</link>
		<comments>http://hit-the-apex.com/2010/05/19/eye-candy/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 20 May 2010 06:43:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Roper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://hit-the-apex.com/?p=39</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Games these days probably average between 8 to 10 hours in length, give or take, not including any sort of multiplayer component. A fair number of releases get flack for their length, especially if they&#8217;re on the lower end of my guesstimated average. Regardless, that&#8217;s 8+ hours of interactive content where you&#8217;re constantly manipulating a [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=hit-the-apex.com&amp;blog=13709105&amp;post=39&amp;subd=hittheapex&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Rewarding the Player</title>
		<link>http://hit-the-apex.com/2010/05/16/rewarding-the-player/</link>
		<comments>http://hit-the-apex.com/2010/05/16/rewarding-the-player/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 16 May 2010 23:22:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Roper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://hit-the-apex.com/?p=17</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Back at the 2003 or 2004 DICE convention in Las Vegas (I can&#8217;t remember which one off-hand), Bill Roper (no relation, or so we think) gave a speech on rewarding the player and how properly doing so can keep people not only interested in your game in general, but also net you that &#8220;just 10 [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=hit-the-apex.com&amp;blog=13709105&amp;post=17&amp;subd=hittheapex&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
	
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		<title>Design Challenge: RTS on an Old-School Cell Phone</title>
		<link>http://hit-the-apex.com/2009/08/30/design-challenge-rts-on-an-old-school-cell-phone/</link>
		<comments>http://hit-the-apex.com/2009/08/30/design-challenge-rts-on-an-old-school-cell-phone/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2009 22:20:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Chris Roper</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://hit-the-apex.com/?p=60</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Note: This content was originally posted to an older blog of mine, and has since been relocated here. Any broken links or unclear references are likely the result of this relocation. So as my first design &#8220;challenge&#8221; of sorts, I&#8217;m going to talk about how I&#8217;d make an RTS for cell phones. Not the iPhone, [...]<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=hit-the-apex.com&amp;blog=13709105&amp;post=60&amp;subd=hittheapex&amp;ref=&amp;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	
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