Questions asked after the talk or via email.

Q: How many people use the tool, how many people worked on creating it.

A: About 40 people across different departments use the tool more or less frequently as part of their workflow. It was initially created by 3 of us [Rachel Hunt, Dale Homburg and myself] over a relatively short period of time (1 week) and constantly improved with updates over time.

Q: What language / platform was used to create the toolset.

A: The toolkit is written in C# using .Net 4.0. 3D functionality and some advanced 2D rendering uses Direct X for better performance. Many of the basic 2D functions are implemented in GDI+.

Q: How did you create the 3 dimensional maps shown.

A: I use a 1024x1024 heightmap generated from the game toolset as part of the process of creating the in game 2d maps to create a terrain heightfield. We then texture map the final ingame map onto the terrain and run a number of D3D effects effects on it (specular / shaders). For your own sanity, I would suggest looking at your game levels straight out of MAX before venturing down a path like ours ;)