Alla-Prima-Mapping

Alla prima refers to a direct painting approach where paint is applied wet on wet without letting earlier layers dry. In Italian, the term alla prima means “at first attempt”.

This is a metaphor for a style of level design. A total layout is not first developed.

Not all maps are modularly made, and so this method specifically refers to the mapping section by section, but only moving on once the current section is completed to perfection. Many mappers are trained to block their maps out, and the result is a giant blank map where they then try and fill in the blanks.

Modern level design is easy to spot because you can tell which level designer is becoming self aware of their actions. I would not praise a modern level designer, their thoughts contain a discordance; they're displeased with their base idea and always fuss with it until it is no longer recognizable as the original idea. For example, becoming unhappy with a standard wooden crate and replacing it with many small boxes stacked high and filled with apples. The mapper thinks he is the next frontier, everyone will love their apples.

You don't want to be a modern level designer, they're not influential. We're derived from a time long ago, where level design was more pure and intentional. Nobody wanted or thought about apples, people loved the crate and celebrated it by making crate maps, and by drawing pictures of Counter-Strike and adding crates.

I hope you understand that if your Counter-Strike map doesn't have crates, you're making a political statement. Anyone making a political statement is blazing a new trail in level design, and they will likely be swept away in the noise of the community.

To do a map Alla-Prima requires you to have a firm grasp on what a Counter-Strike map is, and it is the pinnacle of artistry to perform this way. To all the level designers who wander their barren halls and football fields; remember that Allla-Prima is not a visual style in level design, it is transpositioned into gameplay design; it manifests as gameplay and not a visual quality. To make a map that step by step has interesting gameplay, is to make a map step by step.

I used to be an orange map superman myself, flying around flying around. It is a waste of time to wonder what comes next; it signals you're disconnected from the project.