ns2_tango development thread- from start to finish
<b>Dev Plan</b>:
1. Concepts
2. Interior Greyboxing
3. Interior gameplay pass
4. Outside greyboxing
5. Outside gameplay pass
6. Gameplay refinement
7. Basic Art Pass
8. QA and bughunting
9. Refined Art Pass
10. Betas
11. Release Candidates
12. Final
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Part I: Concepts<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
<a href="http://imgur.com/a/sKlm3" target="_blank">Concept Art Album</a> (Updated whenever I make a new sketch or drawing)
Layout: I'm going for a variation on the bottleneck layout, however I am mixing it up a bit by opening up the map.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/FiK2d.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>The outside will be accessible</b>, however I am taking several precautions to avoid the obvious problems;
1. There will be nothing of value outside, everything that's worth anything will be accessible normally. The outside is basically acting as a vent.
2. You'll be able to stand on the roofs, but there will be nothing there and you can't build there. No entrances to the interior will be on the roofs.
3. There will be 1 (or occasionally 2) easily covered entrance to most rooms from the outside. A mine or a sentry or welding a door or something will be easy enough to fix them.
4. The map is on a plateau several hundred feet in the air, so anything that can't fly can't reach the edge of the map. For things that can, I'll have some dropships playing a simple hovering cinematic surrounding the map and kill anyone getting too close, making a laser sound or something.
The outside offers several benefits:
1. It makes the map feel very tangible, like actual buildings rather then a series of rooms.
2. It offers flanking opportunities which will work against any team not paying attention.
3. It greatly expands strategies with minimal effort
<b>Asset Problems?</b>
I've tried to design the setting so that we need as few new assets as possible. The outside of the buildings will all have a simple white granite look, as that can work for both sides and roofs. The cliff will need a few new textures, and everything else can be reused from current assets.
<b>Avoiding generic corridors</b>
I'm going to make an effort to make each corridor rather interesting gameplay wise, rather then a flat hollow rectangular prism.
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Part II: Greyboxing<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
I should have a greybox complete by the end of this Wednesday. I have a few rooms done already and am mostly doing concept work.
1. Concepts
2. Interior Greyboxing
3. Interior gameplay pass
4. Outside greyboxing
5. Outside gameplay pass
6. Gameplay refinement
7. Basic Art Pass
8. QA and bughunting
9. Refined Art Pass
10. Betas
11. Release Candidates
12. Final
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Part I: Concepts<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
<a href="http://imgur.com/a/sKlm3" target="_blank">Concept Art Album</a> (Updated whenever I make a new sketch or drawing)
Layout: I'm going for a variation on the bottleneck layout, however I am mixing it up a bit by opening up the map.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/FiK2d.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<b>The outside will be accessible</b>, however I am taking several precautions to avoid the obvious problems;
1. There will be nothing of value outside, everything that's worth anything will be accessible normally. The outside is basically acting as a vent.
2. You'll be able to stand on the roofs, but there will be nothing there and you can't build there. No entrances to the interior will be on the roofs.
3. There will be 1 (or occasionally 2) easily covered entrance to most rooms from the outside. A mine or a sentry or welding a door or something will be easy enough to fix them.
4. The map is on a plateau several hundred feet in the air, so anything that can't fly can't reach the edge of the map. For things that can, I'll have some dropships playing a simple hovering cinematic surrounding the map and kill anyone getting too close, making a laser sound or something.
The outside offers several benefits:
1. It makes the map feel very tangible, like actual buildings rather then a series of rooms.
2. It offers flanking opportunities which will work against any team not paying attention.
3. It greatly expands strategies with minimal effort
<b>Asset Problems?</b>
I've tried to design the setting so that we need as few new assets as possible. The outside of the buildings will all have a simple white granite look, as that can work for both sides and roofs. The cliff will need a few new textures, and everything else can be reused from current assets.
<b>Avoiding generic corridors</b>
I'm going to make an effort to make each corridor rather interesting gameplay wise, rather then a flat hollow rectangular prism.
<!--sizeo:4--><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Part II: Greyboxing<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
I should have a greybox complete by the end of this Wednesday. I have a few rooms done already and am mostly doing concept work.