Looking very well done.
Do keep in mind to minimise the total number of light sources in the map. Don't use more than one point light to boost the bloom on lamps. Try and not do it for every single light fitting either. Keep Specular disabled where you can. You will find that you will need to sacrifice the better looking appearance of your level in favour of performance.
Remember that all light sources are interacted with by a scripted game mechanic, the more lights the more work not only on the GPU to render them but on the CPU for the scripted sequences. You need to be creative with the lights and try to achieve the same initial desired look but with fewer lights.
All the official maps have had hundreds of lights removed because we tried to make them look too pretty.
We have been keeping an eye on the amount of light sources, there are only a few in any given area with specular, though I imagine that when finishing development of Hera we will have to make sacrifices to achieve the same look with the performance we want.
Looking great, but my need for eye candy has not been fully satisfied! More more more!
lol, We agreed to only release a sort of teaser, Alibi has been working his ass off on getting the RR as perfect as possible with very little input from me. It's almost complete aside from an extra detail pass so expect screenies and or possibly something better hopefully within the next week. Which might satisfy your eye candy need.
Since I'm finally back and able to continue with Hera almost full time expect updates to come quicker, next being Reception then possibly a grey box release for the community to playtest.
Sorry for delay! I have been melting my eyes to get this ready as quick as possible.
It seems like not much but this is a very complex piece. I've been using this to experiment with our style as well as different techniques, props/shaders/sounds etc.
I think original Hera ready room had the best concept/atmosphere so I was very excited to rebuild it. I just hope I did it a little justice.
Original:
New:
Closer:
Back toward Cryochambers:
Cryochambers:
Props aren't final and more (wall props etc) will come with time but for the moment this will be the last polished art from me for a while.
There are sounds and cinematics too, I think Janos wants to make a small video shortly if anyone is keen? We'll see when he gets back.
I think nobody is going to say you aren't amazing mappers.
That being said: from these images, the map looks visually exhausting to the point of being a nuisance to play.
It looks all over the place.
Everything is finely lit, lens flares everywhere, no calm spots.. I can't even say exactly what and why because I have no experience with this kind of things. But it's cluttered.
There's good visual design, and there's too much for the sake of "more". I don't see how you made all the lighting and detailing in order to support gameplay. It's just there because you can do it.
For example, the images on the first page (even if they are WIP) look great. Make me want to run around there and look in every corner.
The Marine spawn, RR... these actually make me want to not play the map. I'd rather play a map that "looks worse" (actually: "has a more professional, focused visual design") than this map.
I hope this doesn't sound too harsh. I'm trying to help.
Specifically about the RR: to me, it looks at least twice as big as the original gameplay wise.
I haven't played NS1, so you have to know what to make of this.
While the visuals look amazing... is there a greybox/playtesting? It'd be bad to let great art go to waste just because there's not been playtesting early on.
Edit: Also, in that last one, the atmospherics seem too much.
Thank you!
I know the lighting won't be final. I agree the yellow needs to be more saturated, becomes very obvious showing against original but not so much on it's own. I've experimented but not luck getting the values right without it looking funky yellow. I'll have a play with it today.
Also, yep, atmospherics accidentally too high on the last. I've toned them down since and updated it. At 5am, too tired to reupload the screenie lol.
Anyway, RR was just a style test I concepted so we can both use it. It has been invaluable for me to share my style ideas so we can both visualize how and where to place certain things. I can easily picture each room of the greybox how it will look since building this. I also don't have the most time to mapping so I'll make pretty stuff if I can! Rooms of this detail this take a long time, I just wanted to demonstrate what to expect from us with the final product. This is the last of it anyways, promise
I have updated the chambers shot so you can better see. I've had some trouble with alpha shaders not blowing out in dark environments but it come up alright (the atmospherics help).
Comments
We have been keeping an eye on the amount of light sources, there are only a few in any given area with specular, though I imagine that when finishing development of Hera we will have to make sacrifices to achieve the same look with the performance we want.
lol, We agreed to only release a sort of teaser, Alibi has been working his ass off on getting the RR as perfect as possible with very little input from me. It's almost complete aside from an extra detail pass so expect screenies and or possibly something better hopefully within the next week. Which might satisfy your eye candy need.
Since I'm finally back and able to continue with Hera almost full time expect updates to come quicker, next being Reception then possibly a grey box release for the community to playtest.
It seems like not much but this is a very complex piece. I've been using this to experiment with our style as well as different techniques, props/shaders/sounds etc.
I think original Hera ready room had the best concept/atmosphere so I was very excited to rebuild it. I just hope I did it a little justice.
Original:
New:
Closer:
Back toward Cryochambers:
Cryochambers:
Props aren't final and more (wall props etc) will come with time but for the moment this will be the last polished art from me for a while.
There are sounds and cinematics too, I think Janos wants to make a small video shortly if anyone is keen? We'll see when he gets back.
Cheers
edit: updated chamber shot.
edit2: simplified lighting for improved contrast (eyes drawn) toward chamber.
MORE MORE MORE
I'm just going to leave Caged as a greybox now.
I love it !!
But serisously guys, you are making all other map designers look like bloody amateurs :-D sooo unfair
(except for the deep blue shot, it's hard to critique that baby).
I'd go for some green like this
http://i.imgur.com/3WzvXYj.jpg
That being said: from these images, the map looks visually exhausting to the point of being a nuisance to play.
It looks all over the place.
Everything is finely lit, lens flares everywhere, no calm spots.. I can't even say exactly what and why because I have no experience with this kind of things. But it's cluttered.
There's good visual design, and there's too much for the sake of "more". I don't see how you made all the lighting and detailing in order to support gameplay. It's just there because you can do it.
For example, the images on the first page (even if they are WIP) look great. Make me want to run around there and look in every corner.
The Marine spawn, RR... these actually make me want to not play the map. I'd rather play a map that "looks worse" (actually: "has a more professional, focused visual design") than this map.
I hope this doesn't sound too harsh. I'm trying to help.
Specifically about the RR: to me, it looks at least twice as big as the original gameplay wise.
I haven't played NS1, so you have to know what to make of this.
Edit: Also, in that last one, the atmospherics seem too much.
I know the lighting won't be final. I agree the yellow needs to be more saturated, becomes very obvious showing against original but not so much on it's own. I've experimented but not luck getting the values right without it looking funky yellow. I'll have a play with it today.
Also, yep, atmospherics accidentally too high on the last. I've toned them down since and updated it. At 5am, too tired to reupload the screenie lol.
Anyway, RR was just a style test I concepted so we can both use it. It has been invaluable for me to share my style ideas so we can both visualize how and where to place certain things. I can easily picture each room of the greybox how it will look since building this. I also don't have the most time to mapping so I'll make pretty stuff if I can! Rooms of this detail this take a long time, I just wanted to demonstrate what to expect from us with the final product. This is the last of it anyways, promise
I have updated the chambers shot so you can better see. I've had some trouble with alpha shaders not blowing out in dark environments but it come up alright (the atmospherics help).
Here is a different perspective:
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8244/8590380087_6788ea326e_b.jpg
Oh and the big blast door to the west side of the map as well!
Oh and the RT in the vertical Pit, also with a big door!
In fact just fill the entire map with doors so I can just open and close them all game and not actually do anything useful...
Yeah that's the only way to play Hera.
I like the sound of this ^^
ot: fucking awesome looking map ! more screens !
:-O
Actually that was something we have discussed