pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
edited January 2011
Thanks guys. I never played Quake 4 but sometimes I think that my map looks too much like a deathmatch map, because Tram, for example, looks so much more "real". But I guess I'm also just lacking a few unique props to give an area more purpose.
Anyway, I'm on a run at the moment. WIP-shot of the alien res location "Generator": <img src="http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/1959/ns58.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /> Still emtpy and haven't worked on the generator in the middle ( it's basicly 2 huge, stacked barrels at the moment to get that shape I want :D ).
Fantastic! I like how the room is dark while the floor is still bright enough to clearly see the aliens/marines. You are really good with lighting compositions, orange/black ftw.
<!--quoteo(post=1828618:date=Jan 30 2011, 02:29 PM:name=pSyk0mAn)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pSyk0mAn @ Jan 30 2011, 02:29 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1828618"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Thanks guys. I never played Quake 4 but sometimes I think that my map looks too much like a deathmatch map, because Tram, for example, looks so much more "real". But I guess I'm also just lacking a few unique props to give an area more purpose.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's right. Stick a big piece of machinery in one of your rooms and it'll look fine. And once marines/aliens have all their stuff up and running it'll look more alive im sure. Looking forward to see what you come up with.
Really impressed with the shots of that curved section. Great use of props and textures in that space to go along with the nice curving level geometry. Lot of detail, but everything works well together and is not too visually overwhelming.
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
Thanks a lot guys and especially thanks, Cory, that means a lot to me. I'm glad that curved section is detailed enough, where I considered it a bit empty. Good to know for the future.
McGlaspiewww.team156.comJoin Date: 2010-07-26Member: 73044Members, Super Administrators, Forum Admins, NS2 Developer, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, Squad Five Gold, Reinforced - Onos, WC 2013 - Gold, Subnautica Playtester
@xVisions: "a lerk on a stick", lmao. That just screams web comic ;)
pSyk0mAn, congrats on getting the "thumbs up" from UW Art Director. In reference to your comment about it looking empty, I guess this is proof of the saying "less is more". As always, your work is mighty impressive!
Bad News BearJoin Date: 2011-02-08Member: 80944Members
This map looks really great, especially since it's for a game not even finished! I love the use of different heights, but remember to bare in mind the bias towards a particular team that is created when you make use of height differences. The factors to consider are where the point of interest is (i.e. res node), area of platform and number of attack routes to it.
Basically if the res node is on the bottom layer it will be inherently kharaa biased, top layer marine biased. This is modified by the other two factors. If the area is small it becomes more kharaa biased due to spore area coverage and lack of dodging. If the number of attack routes is too low it will become marine biased by creating an awesome chokepoint to funnel aliens through. IMO it's best to edge on the under-used side of these bias' otherwise you end up with either insane attacker or defenders advantange in the room regardless of which team is doing what.
I'm sure you know this but because your map seems to have so many rooms featuring height differences it's worth saying in this thread just to remind everyone (and myself!)
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
<!--quoteo(post=1829424:date=Feb 3 2011, 08:28 PM:name=xVisions)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (xVisions @ Feb 3 2011, 08:28 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1829424"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->As for details maybe if there were a few dead skulks, some alien blood splattered across the wall, a lerk on a stick... wouldn't hurt you know?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Hehe, lerk on a stick sounds like a good prop for the marine start :D
Also, pretty good news from a Bad News Bear :D Thanks for the reminder regarding heights. Considering that Tram has some very high ceilings I'm not that concerned at the moment, but whatever issues come up during playtesting, I'm willing to fix them! I'm still playing ENSL gathers occasionally, which probably helps to get certain ideas about gameplay elements aswell, even though NS2 won't be exactly like NS1.
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
edited February 2011
When it's done :p
I have to build the alien start first and the last two hallways. Alien start will be some Atrium like location. I'm also not that happy with the generator location since these kind of rooms aren't usually located at the summit, so I'll probably gonna change it to something else without changing the room itself much.
<!--quoteo(post=1817764:date=Dec 21 2010, 01:33 PM:name=pSyk0mAn)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (pSyk0mAn @ Dec 21 2010, 01:33 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1817764"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Crevice is darker now, but basicly because I haven't changed the point lights much after they were changed in the engine. <img src="http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/6097/ns54.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--fonto:Times New Roman--><span style="font-family:Times New Roman"><!--/fonto-->variegated. unrivaled. beyond comparison.
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
edited April 2011
I'm at my parents' at the moment until I have a new flat, which means slow, costly internet :/ The good thing about that is that there is less distraction from mapping, the bad thing is it appears I can't even test the map without internet connection (authentication)?!
Anyway, I've started working on my map again after some busy days/weeks of work and moving out.
Edit: While we are at it, the red sky used in Tram doesn't show for me anymore. Anyone else? Is this a known bug or just another sign that my NS2 is somehow screwed up, since I can't use the cinematic editor properly aswell??
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
Thanks for clarifying. I'm currently updating my ns2 (170-172) with a 8kb/s connection (don't ask :D) in order to be able to test my map in-game, which will probably take a few more days. Spark doesn't work during the updating process aswell :/
I'll probably post an updated layout once I can check my mapping progress again.
psyk0man as I know your situation, if it's going on for an even longer time than you thought, mail me your address and i'll give you a return envelope containing NS2 dir/cache on flash drive.
To be quite honest with you, your first room in Spark looks pretty damn good, blatantly it proves that Spark is friggin awesome and very usable, it clearly shows us that there is going to be an abundance of maps that come out which are truly of great quality.
Comments on the map itself, it seems pretty damn good to me, Perhaps based on some comments which worry of imbalanced tech to RT ratios, maybe this is a good thing? Rather than having every map with 11 Rts to 5 TP maybe we could see some smaller maps which use 3 TP to 5 or 7 RTs?
In that sense of thinking there really is no limit, I mean not every map on Command and conquer or even starcraft made use of a races full tech!
on another unrelated note maybe smaller maps will be better for testing the game during its beta stage anyway ;)
pSyk0mAnNerdish by NatureGermanyJoin Date: 2003-08-07Member: 19166Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Community Developer
Thanks, Thaldy, thats very kind of you, but I'm fine for now; should be ready tomorrow afternoon and I was busy anyway.
Rhysjones81, I agree about the map balance/gameplay. I'd rather try something less common and put some work into balancing to make it work...who knows what exactly works anyway considering the current state of ns2.
Comments
I never played Quake 4 but sometimes I think that my map looks too much like a deathmatch map, because Tram, for example, looks so much more "real". But I guess I'm also just lacking a few unique props to give an area more purpose.
Anyway, I'm on a run at the moment.
WIP-shot of the alien res location "Generator":
<img src="http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/1959/ns58.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Still emtpy and haven't worked on the generator in the middle ( it's basicly 2 huge, stacked barrels at the moment to get that shape I want :D ).
I never played Quake 4 but sometimes I think that my map looks too much like a deathmatch map, because Tram, for example, looks so much more "real". But I guess I'm also just lacking a few unique props to give an area more purpose.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's right. Stick a big piece of machinery in one of your rooms and it'll look fine. And once marines/aliens have all their stuff up and running it'll look more alive im sure. Looking forward to see what you come up with.
--Cory
I'm glad that curved section is detailed enough, where I considered it a bit empty. Good to know for the future.
And thus we come to how a mapper creates his final area... on his 10th attempt :D
pSyk0mAn, congrats on getting the "thumbs up" from UW Art Director. In reference to your comment about it looking empty, I guess this is proof of the saying "less is more". As always, your work is mighty impressive!
Basically if the res node is on the bottom layer it will be inherently kharaa biased, top layer marine biased. This is modified by the other two factors. If the area is small it becomes more kharaa biased due to spore area coverage and lack of dodging. If the number of attack routes is too low it will become marine biased by creating an awesome chokepoint to funnel aliens through. IMO it's best to edge on the under-used side of these bias' otherwise you end up with either insane attacker or defenders advantange in the room regardless of which team is doing what.
I'm sure you know this but because your map seems to have so many rooms featuring height differences it's worth saying in this thread just to remind everyone (and myself!)
Keep going with those curves!
Hehe, lerk on a stick sounds like a good prop for the marine start :D
Also, pretty good news from a Bad News Bear :D
Thanks for the reminder regarding heights. Considering that Tram has some very high ceilings I'm not that concerned at the moment, but whatever issues come up during playtesting, I'm willing to fix them!
I'm still playing ENSL gathers occasionally, which probably helps to get certain ideas about gameplay elements aswell, even though NS2 won't be exactly like NS1.
I have to build the alien start first and the last two hallways. Alien start will be some Atrium like location.
I'm also not that happy with the generator location since these kind of rooms aren't usually located at the summit, so I'll probably gonna change it to something else without changing the room itself much.
It is looking awesome! :D
<img src="http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/6097/ns54.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--fonto:Times New Roman--><span style="font-family:Times New Roman"><!--/fonto-->variegated. unrivaled. beyond comparison.
just amazing!<!--fontc--></span><!--/fontc-->
The good thing about that is that there is less distraction from mapping, the bad thing is it appears I can't even test the map without internet connection (authentication)?!
Anyway, I've started working on my map again after some busy days/weeks of work and moving out.
Edit: While we are at it, the red sky used in Tram doesn't show for me anymore. Anyone else?
Is this a known bug or just another sign that my NS2 is somehow screwed up, since I can't use the cinematic editor properly aswell??
If you need a run around to make sure visuals work, scaling etc. You know where I am ;)
I'm currently updating my ns2 (170-172) with a 8kb/s connection (don't ask :D) in order to be able to test my map in-game, which will probably take a few more days. Spark doesn't work during the updating process aswell :/
I'll probably post an updated layout once I can check my mapping progress again.
Sorry, had to. Glade to hear you still moving forward even if it is "S L O W" going!
Flash drive pen pal ftw.
Comments on the map itself, it seems pretty damn good to me, Perhaps based on some comments which worry of imbalanced tech to RT ratios, maybe this is a good thing? Rather than having every map with 11 Rts to 5 TP maybe we could see some smaller maps which use 3 TP to 5 or 7 RTs?
In that sense of thinking there really is no limit, I mean not every map on Command and conquer or even starcraft made use of a races full tech!
on another unrelated note maybe smaller maps will be better for testing the game during its beta stage anyway ;)
Rhysjones81, I agree about the map balance/gameplay.
I'd rather try something less common and put some work into balancing to make it work...who knows what exactly works anyway considering the current state of ns2.