Noob Mapper - Critique
hjduk
Join Date: 2005-03-03 Member: 43092Members, Constellation
Join Date: 2005-03-03 Member: 43092Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">ns_gothic</div> Hi, im fairly new to mapping, but I was thinking about making a map for NS, to make things easier I might end up making this a CO map.
Could you crit on the style more than the layout ATM - the level design isnt finished but I wanted to start on the structural ideas to see if its practical / possible.
What do you think?
Cheers, hjd_uk.
<a href='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth.zip' target='_blank'>Map, Wad and Env (Zip)</a>
<img src='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth_030000.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth_030002.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth_030004.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth_030006.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Could you crit on the style more than the layout ATM - the level design isnt finished but I wanted to start on the structural ideas to see if its practical / possible.
What do you think?
Cheers, hjd_uk.
<a href='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth.zip' target='_blank'>Map, Wad and Env (Zip)</a>
<img src='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth_030000.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth_030002.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth_030004.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth_030006.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Comments
[edit] Also maybe work on the lighting, its quite plain at the moment.
I can see it now!!! The divebombing skulk is back <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Getting it to work with gameplay will be the hard part. I can't wait to see what
you make once you get more experience.
Like said before, I would take out the hard green colors in the water and the window skybox and stick to the harsh dark greys and blacks, they really maintain the feel of the map.
If you really want to use green lights I would use much darker shades then you are right now, other wize I would just stick with the harsh white and gray lights, they maintain the feel of the map much better.
The green water just looks gross and totally out of the feel of the first picture. If you are determined to keep water I would use a dark or gray texture for it.
One suggestion I would like to make, for the hive infestation, copy the feel of areas like refinary hive on bast or furnace on origin. Use harsh red colors to really hammer in the gothic riligeous mythological heaven VS hell environment. This map retains the feel of a futuristic structure simply with the all metal played walls. Ditch the green light panels, they just don't follow the flow and aren't nessicary to retain the futuristic feel and story location.
[edit] looking at the screenshots some more, I have to agree with the comments others have made. Keep the feel but you are going to need to expand the dimentions of MS to make the gameplay aspect work.
The kind of map that could get a 10/10 rating from the dev team and still not be included as an official map...
EDIT: Also, why is there a pit of infestation under the command chair?
The gothic style gives it a very unique feel, and the extra vertical element could even be used to help Aliens if you made it super dark at the very top and graduating the light sensibly. By sensibly, I mean that the Aliens should have to be easily visible before they are within range to leap/blink at the Marines with lightning speed.
An alternate option would be to have the top reasonably well-lit, with a grating upon which Aliens could go to heal/egg/or just Parasite (make sure that you can shoot through it and that the Aliens can be seen if you take the time to look up though).
You could keep the style going and put in a bigger area with pillars to hide behind. It might be nice to put the CC in an apse and the two Armouries in the lectern/pulpit (although the latter might make them too inaccessible).
If you are gonna give it a cathedral style, then check out this link to help you with the naming scheme for the map:
<a href='http://www.kencollins.com/glossary/architecture.htm' target='_blank'>http://www.kencollins.com/glossary/architecture.htm</a>
P.S. An undercroft would be pretty kewl. You could even have a shrine to some dead, great leader. A breakaway group of religious radicals who decided to bring back the teachings of the Bible have constructed this place as a sanctum for its teachings, but -uho- Khaara attaaaack!!!
And here's where we cue the music <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
[Edit]Technically the lectern and pulpit are not the same thing.
The hive roon was a quick doodle, just throwing blocks together - it was crap - no movement flow.
Ive spent some time on it today, found the light_environment entity - nice - the shadows cast by the window support arces really come out well. The marines now have a room to call their own, not just a crossroads / T-junction.
Whadya think?
PS: Crispy - I was aiming towards a 'sepritist' kind of community as the late occupants of the facility / complex / building - not a religious sect but more of a notion that; *deep breath*- due to the huge expansion of humanity across the galaxy, the isolation of groups leads to a re-diversification of cultures. Every social group that exists would / could end up expanding & coalessing into entire planetary communities. So that bascially means lots of groups that exist now could end up being entire nations or cutlures in the NS universe. Hence NS_Goth.(heheh how about NS_vally_girl or NS_hiphop) Plus not every space colony would be pre-fab space-corps hab-module stuff.
Now im thinking of it though I like the idea of a space-colony being made up of religous types - theyre the only ones feverent (naive?) enough to go into the unknown and set up on some unexplored world.
(re minds me of the puritans sailing for hte new-world lol ) - No offense <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
<img src='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth_040000.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<img src='http://www.henrydurrant.co.uk/stuff/ns_goth_040002.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
the light is very better the darkness give some nice feature to aliens hide but is so open u can aim that one easy but fade and lerks could be a pain , but onos cant run well in this close area making marines ms better.
so in final i say the onos cant fight but marines can save their bse so a far long game will be thre in this fightining with fades and lerk flying maybe leapers but no onos will be very hard against 3 hives fades acid rocketing every stuff and lerks clouding all ms and blocked onos in the halls and skulkies falling in your heads.
but it's a funmap I think. If you like it, it's okay because it's your own map
Looking alot better for gameplay. Lighting slightly improved, however the marine spawn should not be so dark. Also some slightly misaligned textures on the supports near the ceiling.
Posts like these always make me go o.O when I can see the screenshots just fine with no brightness issues at all (everything in windows at standart settings).
On the crt's on college I'd probably would have trouble seeing the new screenshots though. Well that's it... I just need to get myself a crt, this tft is just way to good <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
I felt somewhat depressed while playing it...I guess its the darkness of it. I LOVE that feeling...let those marines think that it is hopeless! Mwahahaha!
Oh, and I was working with a simular lighting fixture. Yours looks better.
for a beginer its a very nice piece of work. only thing I would remark here is the lightning. make it more colorful and people will love you <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
The armoury in the example map is just temporary, this is WIP - nowhere near a beta release.
The skybox was a quick temp one done to see if I could do one. Ill probably do another one later ( needs to be darker ?)
For some reason skulks get stuck when trying to move from an overhang to a straigt vertical wall - ive posted a bug report about it.
The lighting will come later, just trying to get the structures and spaces sorted out 1st.
The place is going to be a start-up colony (on a titan like planet - ice and hydrocarbons) with some ice-water,frozen methane, excavation stuff going on in the cellars etc and there will be technology aparent when im finished.
NS universe script:
The facility produces lots of resources for trade with other systems and organisations - when contact was lost the TSA sent in the rhines - significant dollar value attached etc <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->.
To prevent that from happening, you should have the underhang <b>part of the same brush</b> as the wall above it. This will create a smooth flowing set of clipnodes which you can freely walk across. Compiling CSG with '-cliptype precise' might fix this as well, but I am not entirely sure about that.
The same principle applies for -all- angled brushes like that, and can be noticed frequently in HL maps (getting caught on corners <90 degrees being the most obvious example).
i think this is exactly what ns needs at the moment, somehing new, fresh, different... i like it when every map needs a completely different strategy! jetpacks would be really good here, and fades have a lot of room to blink around. maybe you can add some more cover for the skulks here an there, maybe things like "confession boxes" and reliquary stands and whatnot.
...Yes i had the idea of an map like this...but i dropped it...(yours better <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> )