"Like I remember creating some levels for half-life and if you made, say a house, exactly to scale it wouldn't look right in the game. You had to exaggerate some things."
That's only because of the Camera FOV they chose for the game, and because you're used to seeing things a certain way, and the guns look a certain way in your view.
If you play Counterstrike and go to CS_Office, and some guy jumps up on a desk, the monitor there will come up to his WAIST, and the top of the desk is almost at eye level. It looks fine when you're running around, but when someone is standing next to something recognizeable he looks tiny.
I'm not saying never use scales that are unrealistic. But even superhero comics use doorways that are the right size... And look at how effective that was in the Incredibles to show how big Mr. Incredible really was, when he would fill his tiny car?
Even if you're not going to make everything to scale, there's no reason not to use a scale like 1 meter = 1 unit that makes it easier to specify velocities and things. Even if everything untilately ends up being off by a bit for gameplay, being close at least gives you a frame of reference to start from.
That's only because of the Camera FOV they chose for the game, and because you're used to seeing things a certain way, and the guns look a certain way in your view.
If you play Counterstrike and go to CS_Office, and some guy jumps up on a desk, the monitor there will come up to his WAIST, and the top of the desk is almost at eye level. It looks fine when you're running around, but when someone is standing next to something recognizeable he looks tiny.
I'm not saying never use scales that are unrealistic. But even superhero comics use doorways that are the right size... And look at how effective that was in the Incredibles to show how big Mr. Incredible really was, when he would fill his tiny car?
Even if you're not going to make everything to scale, there's no reason not to use a scale like 1 meter = 1 unit that makes it easier to specify velocities and things. Even if everything untilately ends up being off by a bit for gameplay, being close at least gives you a frame of reference to start from.