Some of your favorite mapping rules...
Maveric
Join Date: 2002-08-07 Member: 1101Members
Join Date: 2002-08-07 Member: 1101Members
<div class="IPBDescription">And mine too! expect em in my map!</div>My top 3 rules for NS maping:
1- Make shadows. lots of shadows. But have ballance as well.
2- Make things on the extremes. Small rooms, or big hallways, never "just ok" hallways that are "just the right size". make em feel clostrafobic, or afraid of whats up in those rafters; waaaaay up there.
3- Scare em like a hyperactive cat! Have ambiant noises of pipes being presurized and de-presurized, metal-on-metal sounds, and dont forget some "touch activated" goodies! <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->
meh tips:
Use trigger_multiple for those nice sound effects of stuff flowing through pipes, and dont forget to loop those mp3's!
monotiny sucks. when building a hall, have some objects always a fixed distance apart, but others at random intervals. you never know when that pipe's junction box (weld to cut open, sparks start if you weld it off completly, and that door just at the end of the hall way ceases to work...) will grab the player's attention and make em say "hmmm, i should <i>try</i> to weld that and see what happens" or, "ooo, looks nice. i wonder if i can destroy it."
those are my tips and rules, now... lets hear yours to get a good idea of what we can expect if you ever make a map. <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
1- Make shadows. lots of shadows. But have ballance as well.
2- Make things on the extremes. Small rooms, or big hallways, never "just ok" hallways that are "just the right size". make em feel clostrafobic, or afraid of whats up in those rafters; waaaaay up there.
3- Scare em like a hyperactive cat! Have ambiant noises of pipes being presurized and de-presurized, metal-on-metal sounds, and dont forget some "touch activated" goodies! <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->
meh tips:
Use trigger_multiple for those nice sound effects of stuff flowing through pipes, and dont forget to loop those mp3's!
monotiny sucks. when building a hall, have some objects always a fixed distance apart, but others at random intervals. you never know when that pipe's junction box (weld to cut open, sparks start if you weld it off completly, and that door just at the end of the hall way ceases to work...) will grab the player's attention and make em say "hmmm, i should <i>try</i> to weld that and see what happens" or, "ooo, looks nice. i wonder if i can destroy it."
those are my tips and rules, now... lets hear yours to get a good idea of what we can expect if you ever make a map. <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
Comments
2) Dark Crevaces
3) Steam filled hallways
4) Unexpected breakables
5) Scare-the-bajesus-outta-ya-the-first-time-you-try-the-map suprizes
6) Satanic moogles
7) Beanie Bobbies (The latest and greatest collection trend!<!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
8) Small stormy outdoor areas with ear shatteringly loud and quite infrequent thunder claps that echo through the level.
9) Tiny cracks in the ceiling of the level that show the outside storm (And will most likely be the only source of light in a few rooms/corridors)
10) Scripted power outages. >=) (If I can figure it out)
That's about it... Don't expect this level any time soon (Or at all for that matter)
(Will be apty named NS_Jourga)
2. Clausterphobia
3. Silence... works wonders scaring the crap out of people.
4. slow moving doors and elevators, works well to highten some points of action.
One amazing set of particle effects that stuned me only in its beta form. There was this door, you got near it and water leaked out. Then, to the best of my memoary the door broken, allowing a little more water to come out. Then the entire door got destroyed and a blast of water came rushing out into your hallway.
Stunning work - but I forget who did it!
Another thing that needs stressing, even though you've mentioned it is ambient noise. NS maps need to attack your eyes and your ears (but in a good way, mind you).
One amazing set of particle effects that stuned me only in its beta form. There was this door, you got near it and water leaked out. Then, to the best of my memoary the door broken, allowing a little more water to come out. Then the entire door got destroyed and a blast of water came rushing out into your hallway.
Stunning work - but I forget who did it!<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I am not sure, but I thought it was Mouse.
1.) Straight rooms and brushes suck. Curves are your friend.
2.) Make sure your rooms are Wall-climber friendly.
'Satanic moogles' are a no-no. What the hell are moogles, anyway?
Amen to that. If you want your rooms to be traversed in all 3 dimensions by our loveable Skulks, then you should refrain from struts and extrusions which can get in the way. If it's vital to your room's comsmetics that you have these features, then you can either:
a) Use an invisible func_wall to clip off the complex bits (Note: Skulks can't cling to clip brushes, but they can cling to a wall to within about 8 or possibly 16 units away, even if there is a clipbrush between him and the wall. This means that to some extent you can smooth over walls with clipbrushes.)
or, b) Integrate a flat smooth surface into the room which aliens can easily walk up allowing them to get to the ceiling, eg, ceiling supports.
Don't ever have lips around alien vents, as they can be frustrating to get around.
Anyway, I'm sure all you mappers have the NSTR2 at your disposal, so you can use your best judgement yourself within it.
Anyways... *ignoring moogle picture*
I like following/establishing a texture scheme; it feels weird to have a map full of different textures that don't really fit together or feel "cohesive".
And then particles effects other than steam like SentrySteve said... That's important. =)
And spotlights! Good placement of spotlights is important. I also like keeping the ceiling a bit darker than the rest of the parts of a room (wall, floor...); it makes it seem more "mysterious" and give more atmosphere. Not sure how it affects NS gameplay though...
BTW, picture below is a Moogle. Famous from the Final Fantasy series of video games.
One amazing set of particle effects that stuned me only in its beta form. There was this door, you got near it and water leaked out. Then, to the best of my memoary the door broken, allowing a little more water to come out. Then the entire door got destroyed and a blast of water came rushing out into your hallway.
Stunning work - but I forget who did it!<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I am not sure, but I thought it was Mouse.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yes your right Carbon that was me
<a href="http://www.natural-selection.org/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=4;t=3899;" target="_blank">And I decided to be nice and provide a link to the original topic</a> <!--emo&:p--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'><!--endemo-->