Ns_sisyphus
Soylent_green
Join Date: 2002-12-20 Member: 11220Members, Reinforced - Shadow
Join Date: 2002-12-20 Member: 11220Members, Reinforced - Shadow
<div class="IPBDescription">ready by the time NS 3.0 is out, maybe..</div> I've been working on playful tiny maps and pieces of maps for a quite a long time(and not just for NS). Mapping is almost fun in itself witout the goal of creating a map that will play well and be balanced. Given my inclination to abandon half done maps and leap onto new projects and never get anything really complete, I have decided to give my new map project the name ns_sisyphus.
I decided to make the design entirely 'modular', making, lighting and testing important rooms in their own .rfm files and sticking it all togheter when done. Corridors will be tossed around as required by r_speeds, balance and estethics. Just maybe I can get a map complete by this approach since I will actually be working on many tiny maps which I do anyway, and then puzzling it togheter.
Right now I have made several pieces and rejected most. 2 Rooms are almost complete needing only some lighting, sparking buttons, fake doors and some texture work and such. Whatever else the w_poly budget will allow will be put in when they are done and have been pieced togheter to adjacent rooms with corridors.
I have a basic corridor prototype which is going to be used for most corridors in the map, It is a bit heavy and I plan to get a plainish corridor type as well.
At my current pace of ~12 hours of leisurely and sporadic mapping a week it will of course not be finished anytime soon.
Feel free to comment on details you would like to see added or things you find ugly or flawed. I will add some screenies from time to time(everyone but modemers like screenies don't they? <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->)
I decided to make the design entirely 'modular', making, lighting and testing important rooms in their own .rfm files and sticking it all togheter when done. Corridors will be tossed around as required by r_speeds, balance and estethics. Just maybe I can get a map complete by this approach since I will actually be working on many tiny maps which I do anyway, and then puzzling it togheter.
Right now I have made several pieces and rejected most. 2 Rooms are almost complete needing only some lighting, sparking buttons, fake doors and some texture work and such. Whatever else the w_poly budget will allow will be put in when they are done and have been pieced togheter to adjacent rooms with corridors.
I have a basic corridor prototype which is going to be used for most corridors in the map, It is a bit heavy and I plan to get a plainish corridor type as well.
At my current pace of ~12 hours of leisurely and sporadic mapping a week it will of course not be finished anytime soon.
Feel free to comment on details you would like to see added or things you find ugly or flawed. I will add some screenies from time to time(everyone but modemers like screenies don't they? <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->)
Comments
The platform is a rotating platform on a pillar that rotates 90 degrees as it accends and decends. It is pretty slow and is down when the map starts. Marines should be able to get to this room pretty quickly and the oposite entrance on the top leads of towards a hive room, the platform slows them down a bit.
At first the room was flat and I was trying out different ideas to texture it. It now contains a res node, a 'infinetly deep' 12 sided pit with railings you can jump over. R_speeds are well under controll toping ~350 W_polys at most and going down to 60-ish in well ocluded areas. It will contain one entrance and one exit, and it is not yet completely textured. I will add lots more stuff(like fake doors and stuff... improve the lighting etc.).
There is one problem I have not yet bothered to fix, there are some minor glitches in the glass dome above the pit.
I'm experimenting with trying to get in lots of crates without having them look neatly stacked and without using to many resources. I could put in a deviding centerwall or something in order for at least some of the crates to be occluded at all times but I wish I don't have to, I'd probably rather make it small enough to allow for no strategically placed walls to be needed.
Looks VERY nice, great for a first full map project of ns.
The platform is a rotating platform on a pillar that rotates 90 degrees as it accends and decends. It is pretty slow and is down when the map starts. Marines should be able to get to this room pretty quickly and the oposite entrance on the top leads of towards a hive room, the platform slows them down a bit. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is completely off topic but man your handle rocks, that movie rocked, Soylent Green baby with Charleton Heston, sweet I thought I was the only man alive who liked or knew that movie, pimp daddy man awesome.
On topic I do the same thing so I feel you man, sporadic is my middle name, not really that would be weird i Know.
~ DarkATi
The platform is a rotating platform on a pillar that rotates 90 degrees as it accends and decends. It is pretty slow and is down when the map starts. Marines should be able to get to this room pretty quickly and the oposite entrance on the top leads of towards a hive room, the platform slows them down a bit. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
This is completely off topic but man your handle rocks, that movie rocked, Soylent Green baby with Charleton Heston, sweet I thought I was the only man alive who liked or knew that movie, pimp daddy man awesome.
On topic I do the same thing so I feel you man, sporadic is my middle name, not really that would be weird i Know.
~ DarkATi <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
they made us watch that movie in school. Or read the book, I forget.
On a seperate note, I really hope you keep that "pod/honeycomb" theme going for your layout. That could still meet guidelines as far as conectivity, but could really offer up refreshing gameplay from the usual "web cooridor labrynth". Those big hole/dome things could be replaced by pillars where nescesary. And as far as exits, Id say keep them at the 0 and 90 degree walls, leading to short halls (as long as needed to break up VIS) that lead to another "pod".
It is because I am too lazy to make my own texture until I feel the room is complete-ish and if I feel I cannot use the ns.wad textures. This texture coudn't be fit any other way. If you want to know the status of the texture work, see that yellow patch that looks out of place? it has a text on it saying under construction <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->, I still haven't tried all the textures I want for the ceiling in that room. The floor looks pretty OK though and I don't think I will need my own texture for it. If this map gets to a playtestable state and deemed playable I will go through it more thoroughly.
If you look at the overview in VHE of that same room(the next post) you will see that there are 2 big 12 sided pillars identical in shape to the big hole but right now they are textured with the same wall type texture.
It is very hard to do any substancial hight differences inside this area without problems with texturing or endless tinkering so the area feels a little flat-ish. I can possibly add some stairs on some of the rectangular pieces or at least an incline as to relieve some of the flatness. There are some more of these repeating patterns that I like which are somewhat similar and I might use one to make another such room but I hardly think I could get away with making a map with mostly 'pod' layout connecting marine spawn and hives.
A pod layout could work...infact once you made a few "pre-fab" pod rooms, youd pretty much be able to speed through the layout.
Out of boredom....