ns2_chandra

DarkOmen · December 2011

<div class="IPBDescription">Futuristic supercomputing facility</div>I've been working on this map for a bit over a week now, and so far I've really been enjoying mapping with Spark. All of the following is WIP, and is the map is intended to be aggressive and bit on the smallish side, heavily inspired by games on Evil_bOb1's ns_turtle. I'm also trying to eliminate dead space on the minimap by designing rooms to be pretty close together.

So far, here's what I've got (red rooms on the layout have begun to be detailed; yellow sections are undetailed whatsoever):

Layout:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7019/6446132729_07505d29b3_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

Surface Access:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7020/6446174307_0bd8331216_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6446174313_35ecb05be9_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6446174315_121a2c00f9_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7018/6446174319_0040937388_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6446174321_3aebfe5d51_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

Warehouse:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6446178963_3bf9f7d0df_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7155/6446174323_a2f7126657_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

South Corridor:
<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7019/6446178967_db1816e4d9_b.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />

I'll keep posting as things flesh out.

Tig · December 2011

you need more seamless texturing if you're going to cover huge flat planes like that with one texture. even extruding some vertical trim panels back from the walls and ceilings and putting a different texture in would make it look better. same with the floors, mix it up, its why they don't make linoleum tetris tiling ever have an 8x8 grid seam: one block always breaks into the next 8x8 grid. divide and conquer or prop and darken.

edit: also not a fan of the rusty diamond plate on the walls, irl diamond plate is expensive (i work for a sign company) and besides being used for flash, it's purpose is to provide texture for grip, imho its a floor texture, but feel free to go your own route.

also, design-wise, i'm worried that central corridor is too easily locked down by marines.

otherwise, i like the scale of the rooms and you seem to have a theme in mind, which is good, i want to feel a sense of setting when i'm playing

DarkOmen · December 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tig @ Dec 3 2011, 09:40 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1888152"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>you need more seamless texturing if you're going to cover huge flat planes like that with one texture. even extruding some vertical trim panels back from the walls and ceilings and putting a different texture in would make it look better. same with the floors, mix it up, its why they don't make linoleum tetris tiling ever have an 8x8 grid seam: one block always breaks into the next 8x8 grid. divide and conquer or prop and darken.

edit: also not a fan of the rusty diamond plate on the walls, irl diamond plate is expensive (i work for a sign company) and besides being used for flash, it's purpose is to provide texture for grip, imho its a floor texture, but feel free to go your own route.</div>

I totally agree, and I plan to provide a custom, rosy-coloured concrete texture in it's place. I used that one for now, because it's hue was very close to what I will eventually want for that room. This room will eventually get another pass for detail, but for now I'd rather flesh out the rooms that connect to it, especially Warehouse. Gameplay is a big focus for me on this map. Actually, it is my goal to get the map to a playable state before really nitpicking on visuals so that making changes for gameplay later doesn't become prohibitively time-expensive.

Actually, specifically concerning Warehouse, I've moved the entrances around from my initial design and so have removed lots of details from the walls that used to be there in the first place. In fact, right now the northern side has lots of detail on it's eastern half, including a door that no longer has a place in the layout, and for that reason I made an effort to exclude that corner from the screenshots because it will be changing so much. I might post a screenshot of it later, but I'm a bit too pressed for time IRL to do it right this minute. The area underneath the catwalk will be blocked off by grate so that the underside is decorative only so that there is no level-over-level game play in this room, and the props will be rearranged to suit.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tig @ Dec 3 2011, 09:40 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1888152"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>also, design-wise, i'm worried that central corridor is too easily locked down by marines.</div>

Perhaps; it'll get changed if it needs to be. My plan is to have the ceiling collapse near the intersection in the middle, and have the debris block line of sight from one end of the hallway to the other. I'm not sure if it will be enough, but Marines should definitely not be allowed to see straight from one end to the other without having to move around some kind of obstacle.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Tig @ Dec 3 2011, 09:40 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1888152"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>otherwise, i like the scale of the rooms and you seem to have a theme in mind, which is good, i want to feel a sense of setting when i'm playing</div>

Thanks! The northern-most part of the map will be much cleaner than the southern, blue collar end. The "Cortex" room used to be finished, but I had decided to scrap it since it was a very round room and used a lot of extrude+rotate to build, and didn't turn out as nice as I had wanted it. The same thing is happening with Logistics right now.

Thanks again for your comments! I'm thinking I should get on to making custom textures sooner than later.

Tig · December 2011

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DarkOmen @ Dec 3 2011, 08:27 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1888238"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>I'm thinking I should get on to making custom textures sooner than later.</div>

nope, you had the right idea already, get everything greyboxed first and then put your entities in and playtest it before committing the time to detailing rooms.

Obraxis · December 2011

Your map looks pretty good actually, the only thing that bothers me is the use of white lights throughout the map. Changing the light colour, even slightly, brings out more and affects the mood of the map or of certain areas. Good job tho :)

DarkOmen · January 2012

I feel I owe an explanation on what's going on with ns2_chandra.

No, the map is not dead! Over the holidays, I decidedly did not work on this map, but since then I've been having trouble running Steam. I can't yet speak on the source of the issue, but it may have to do with some WDM driver tweaking I did, or a conflict that may have cropped up with some other software. I've notified Valve of the issue, though so far they've asked me to change my account password through the Steam client, which I can neither do nor think will help solve the problem. It could be a long road, who knows?

Anyway, I definitely want to get back to working on this map, as I think it could make for a fun layout! Moreso, I'd love to try build 190/191 to experience all of the improvements that I've heard so much about.

I'll let you guys know when development is moving again... I want people to play this map!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Obraxis @ Dec 4 2011, 12:19 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1888338"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>Your map looks pretty good actually, the only thing that bothers me is the use of white lights throughout the map. Changing the light colour, even slightly, brings out more and affects the mood of the map or of certain areas. Good job tho :)</div>
Actually, while I agree that coloured lights can help unify everything, they seem somewhat fake to me. Why would anyone design an environment intended for human occupation with offset lighting? If possible, I'd like to break away from the hollywood method of colouring a scene uniformally to brute force a particular mood on the observer. I'd rather the mood be a little more flexible than be something that I typecast explicitly.

Kouji_San · January 2012

White light is usually very flat, why not mix it up with variants of white-ish light, with hints of blue/yellow/orange in there. Just not pure white :)

zombiehellmonkey · January 2012

I like your layout, it will be interesting to see how it plays. Makes a difference from the corridor linked rooms. But word of caution about infestation being able to spread between rooms if they are too close - may just be a case of adjusting pathing settings, but could end up a pain later on for gameplay.

Maybe UWE could allow mappers to mark <b>non-infestation zones</b>?

Evil_bOb1 · January 2012

This is something that needs to be checked, but I think if you have a floor prop without pathing included, you prevent from placing a building or a cyst on it. I think there is a nobuild group too.

Argathor · January 2012

Looks stunning, cannot wait to see it in-game!

swalk · January 2012

I think that having large rooms right next to each other will cause some problems with infestation and ARCs.
Other than that, looking great!

Vladimir Van Vodka · January 2012

I think large open sight-lines will be a nightmare for aliens, never played the map tho, so I can't make an educated opinion.

DarkOmen · January 2012

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Vladimir Van Vodka @ Jan 31 2012, 02:45 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1898460"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'>I think large open sight-lines will be a nightmare for aliens, never played the map tho, so I can't make an educated opinion.</div>
Actually, I think it's working pretty well in my limited testing. Here's how:

The rooms are large, but they are loosely populated with pretty large props, probably most similar to the Alien Start in ns2_turtle. Actually, I'd say it's generally a little more constricted, but still very large. Aliens have a lot of options for safe passage through large rooms, and Lerks can fly in straight paths from cover to cover spending minimal time inside the path Marines' gunfire.

With that said, though, I'm going to change up the layout a bit so that there are more narrow tunnels. I am getting a few artifacts because of how closely I've designed adjacent rooms to one another. Also, the general boxiness of the rooms can be improved on by introducing a bit more null space between the different areas.

Also, the setting I had in mind doesn't include any views of outdoor areas, which is something that I seriously want to include, so I'm presently reviewing the whole map. I plan to splice it up and use the various parts in a new layout. Details to come.

ns2_chandra

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