Co_poseidon
Yamazaki
Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 21Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 21Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
<div class="IPBDescription">Under the sea!</div> Poseidon Underwater Marine Biology Research Facility
The Poseidon facility was busy collecting specimen samples from a distant oceanic planet when their latest discovery ended up busting loose and terrorizing the inhabitants. The TSA marines have been called in to cleanse the underwater station and make it safe for research to resume.
Combat map that supports teams of 8 - 16, suitably large but well-connected so you won't be too far from the action.
Marines start off at a Service Dock, and the Aliens have an infested specimen observation lab all to themselves. The map takes place on multiple levels so players will have to look up and down quite regularly, but there are enough tight spots to ensure that Jetpackers and Lerks don't dominate.
NEW VERSION 1.1
- Service Dock elevator now has a cagedoor to prevent players from falling in
- Specimen Retrieval elevator is faster
- Junction area now has ramps that provide an additional route to the top floor
- Top floor of Specimen Retrieval now has crawlspaces
- More lights in some locations
- Hive fog is now a High Detail particle system, so lower end users can turn it off
- BUGFIX: Players no longer get stuck on some stairs
- BUGFIX: Some NULL-face holes removed
DOWNLOAD NOW:
<a href='http://www.jarhedz.com/dload.php?action=file&id=65' target='_blank'>Co_Poseidon.zip version 1.1 (JarHedz site)</a>
<a href='http://www.polyillusions.com/downloads/co_poseidon.zip' target='_blank'>Co_Poseidon.zip version 1.1 (Polyillusions site)</a>
More Download mirrors will be posted if I can find them. If anyone wants to host this file please PM me or msg Yamazaki on irc.gamesurge.net, I'd appreciate it.
8 screenshots to show off in total.
1st - Looking down into the Specimen Retrieval area
The Poseidon facility was busy collecting specimen samples from a distant oceanic planet when their latest discovery ended up busting loose and terrorizing the inhabitants. The TSA marines have been called in to cleanse the underwater station and make it safe for research to resume.
Combat map that supports teams of 8 - 16, suitably large but well-connected so you won't be too far from the action.
Marines start off at a Service Dock, and the Aliens have an infested specimen observation lab all to themselves. The map takes place on multiple levels so players will have to look up and down quite regularly, but there are enough tight spots to ensure that Jetpackers and Lerks don't dominate.
NEW VERSION 1.1
- Service Dock elevator now has a cagedoor to prevent players from falling in
- Specimen Retrieval elevator is faster
- Junction area now has ramps that provide an additional route to the top floor
- Top floor of Specimen Retrieval now has crawlspaces
- More lights in some locations
- Hive fog is now a High Detail particle system, so lower end users can turn it off
- BUGFIX: Players no longer get stuck on some stairs
- BUGFIX: Some NULL-face holes removed
DOWNLOAD NOW:
<a href='http://www.jarhedz.com/dload.php?action=file&id=65' target='_blank'>Co_Poseidon.zip version 1.1 (JarHedz site)</a>
<a href='http://www.polyillusions.com/downloads/co_poseidon.zip' target='_blank'>Co_Poseidon.zip version 1.1 (Polyillusions site)</a>
More Download mirrors will be posted if I can find them. If anyone wants to host this file please PM me or msg Yamazaki on irc.gamesurge.net, I'd appreciate it.
8 screenshots to show off in total.
1st - Looking down into the Specimen Retrieval area
Comments
The only fully original textures are the computer screens.
Edit: I would suggest that maybe you try making those blue lights on the stairs give off light with more of a blue colour, perhaps?
~ DarkATi
Keep at it!
Slightly over 700, it's the highest spot in the map. Everywhere else the poly count is a smooth 400 - 650.
Not really sure what to say to that, since these are textures from, and derived from, the NS2.wad. I certainly didn't run them through a Bland filter in Photoshop, I even ran a few through a Sharpen filter to ensure they looked good next to untouched NS2.wad textures.
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>And the textures doesn't look bland at all IMO.</span>
/DM
<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>And the textures doesn't look bland at all IMO.</span>
/DM <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Agreed!
Nice job <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
If anyone is interested in betatesting the map, or putting it up on a public server, let me know and give me some feedback on it <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Good luck with the playtesting.
Good luck with the playtesting. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, same here although I hope to be doing it in a different way.
Looking good so far. I'm downloading it right now.
Edit:
Beautiful map. Really gives the feeling of a high tech lab. I especially love the new textures like the custom computer screens and the nitrogen sign. It really adds to the authinticity. The stairwells give me the feeling of Aliens (which is a good thing). I look forward to fighting in those halls I think it will be a lot like Aliens. Keep up the good work.
Edit2: I had that FPS drop at the hive also.
A few points
1) There are a few areas that are completely black. Just small corners mostly, but dark enough that I can't see the gun against the background at all. They offer nice looking contrast, but maybe just a weeee bit of light in there so that things aren't terribly invisible.
2) The hive, while that fog looks beautiful, I drop down in FPS horribly. From 30 to about 9 (based on cl_showfps 1 method) And that's with nobody else playing. (Much like the first point, the question becomes atmosphere > all?)
3) Ambient sounds! I heard a few sparks and things... but it needs some more noise in places. (Atmosphere!)
Great use of textures. Fantastic looking map. Very well done all around.
There are ambient sounds, there's the gurgling of the water when you're close to windows, the hum and beeps of computers when you're near a terminal, and a few other spots. I could add more though.
The FPS drop at the hive doesn't show on my comp, so I didn't know it'd be a problem for older card/CPUs. I can reduce the size of the particle sprites a bit and thin them out, but if your max FPS is 30 in HL then you might want to invest in a better videocard or CPU, or other maps will do the same.
There are a few spots in the map which I intended to have dark corners, such as the upper alcoves of the Specimen Retrieval area, but if other spots have dark corners then it's because your monitor is way darker than mine. I'll probably add in a few small accent lights to bring it up a notch here and there to compensate.
In IRC I was asked if I could tone done the stair step lights a bit, and I might do that. Probably just have them bright enough that they stand out, but without any colour saturation.
Falling into the shaft of the elevator next to the command chair as a marine is a Bad Thing since there isn't a ladder or switch to raise the elevator -- you need to wait for assistance. There were also two small HOM (null textured?) squares visible on the underside of two vertical beams visible from on top of the lowered elevator.
If a marine is running along the stairs to the upper deck overlooking the Observation Lab hive (see attached pic), it's possible to get jammed between the wall and the stairs -- when this happens, the player can't move up or sideways, can't jump, and has to move very slowly down the staircase to free themselves. Easily fixed by extending the reach of the stairs with some clip brushes, but it's potentially annoying to have that happen during combat. To reproduce, get halfway up those stairs as a marine, run off them perpendicularly into the wall, and then try to run up/jump/move sideways.
As for the elevator, I didn't realize I missed a few null faces underneath. I'll have that fixed up pronto. I also didn't add a ladder because originally there was going to be a cagedoor that came down to block the shaft when the lift wasn't on your floor, but when I discarded that idea I forgot to compensate for it. So either a little ladder will get tossed in or the cagedoor gets added. The cagedoor probably is the cleaner solution, otherwise you might get caught on the func_ladder at the top when the elevator is moving, causing all sorts of gravity-defying weirdness.
Also, as a result of Prseale's work, I've added in detail textures that I'm toying around with. So far the results are mixed, but hopefully I can add these into the next version.
Thanks for pointing out those bugs.