My first serious mapping attempt

jmezach · April 2002

<div class="IPBDescription">It's not much, but it's something</div>Well, this is my first mapping attempt. I've created things before, but they never really worked out. Either they wouldn't compile or they just suck. Well, this is the first time I'm actually happy about a map I've made. It's only a hallway for now. I haven't got a plan or something, I just wanted to create something that really looked like something. So I did, and this was the result.

Just tell me what you think about lighting and everything. There isn't much detail yet either. I'm a newbie so don't be rough on me. I just like to know what you think, and what you think I should change. Well, here are those screens.

<a href="http://www.endoria.net/upload/?bekijk=2046202221" target="_blank">Picture 1</a>
<a href="http://www.endoria.net/upload/?bekijk=2448331429" target="_blank">Picture 2</a>
<a href="http://www.endoria.net/upload/?bekijk=2539600391" target="_blank">Picture 3</a>
<a href="http://www.endoria.net/upload/?bekijk=2370365941" target="_blank">Picture 4</a>
<a href="http://www.endoria.net/upload/?bekijk=1551845551" target="_blank">Picture 5</a>
<a href="http://www.endoria.net/upload/?bekijk=2472249014" target="_blank">Picture 7</a>
<a href="http://www.endoria.net/upload/?bekijk=1712288720" target="_blank">Picture 8</a>

Sorry, had to post the URLs cause it wouldn't allow me to post URL's to pictures without an extension.

Fam · April 2002

Yet more hallways, normally I wouldnt be too pleased. But for some reason this one reallyy floats my boat. maybe its the delicate lighting, the simplicity. Maybe its because I havnt been looking at any shots for a while now and ive just realised again how nice the textures are. Whichever, I would say carry on with it. Maybe but a bit more detail in there, pipe sections behind the wall, wires on the ceiling. And try and make a room to connect to the corridoor, theyre always received better than endless walkways.

One thing I would say, is make it a tad darker, but not much. Also, have we got any floorplans for a whole level yet, or is this just a product of Worldcraft and a bit of spare time?

jmezach · April 2002

Well, for now it's just spare time. I haven't got a plan for any future development yet. But if there are people around here that really like it, I might continue working on it after I've finished my exams (exams suck <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':angry:'>).

Thnx for the feedback in any case. I will try to make it a bit darker, but I'm not sure which part you mean. The upper part with the red lights or below??
BTW, I was already thinking of putting some wires around there, but this was just a basic idea, and something to go on with I think.

pielemuis · April 2002

well I'd change the floor texture or scale it down, like Fam said (BTW welcoem back Fam <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'> ) make it a bit darker, put some more contrast in the lighting (the hallway), as for the vent thingy, make the red a bit more intense, it's not that bad, add some detail, just a start i guess, oh and are you using env_gamma? The env_gamma doesn't show up on screenshots unless you "treat" them in photoshop, look for it in the mapping faq (not sure if it's in there)

humbaba · April 2002

Cool stuff, me like much. If you know how to do glows, you oughtta put those in. I would tell you, but I dont exactly remember how I used to do it (its been about 4 months sice Ive mapped, I was making a cathedral map). Someone has a link to a great tutorial sight that'll tell ya. OOOH! IDEA!!!!. You should section off the ceiling grate into three or four individual solids, than make each one a func_breakable so bobs can bust in on the silly billys below.

jmezach · April 2002

I'm not using env_gamma. In fact there are only two entities in my map yet. I've got an info_player_start (which of course would be replaced eventually, but for testing purposes it's useful), and an env_sound for the upper part of the hallway. I wanted it to be like a clanging sound when somebody walks over that grating, but I couldn't get it to work. Any ideas?

TychoCelchuuu · April 2002

although this hallway is one of my favorites for its simple shape and bold yet pastel <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'> colors, i say that a room is a wonderful addition. i pardon u though because this is one of yer first times. better than me, buddy.

Nemesis_Zero · April 2002

Really nice, however - don't forget what the textures you're using are portraying:

Look p.e. at those vent entrances in pic 7. While they're flawlessly modelled, they look as though somone had created something out of concrete and then painted it to resemble to metal. I can't exactely explain how to avoid this, but I generaly believe that carvings or blocky brushes and steel textures don't mix.

Otherwise, your lightning and brushwork are really excellent.

Yamazaki · April 2002

I agree with Nemesis Zero, I'd use a different texture on the extruding part of the vent opening.

Otherwise this is definitely good work for a beginner, keep it up!

Relic25 · April 2002

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (jmezach @ April 04 2002,08:11)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I wanted it to be like a clanging sound when somebody walks over that grating, but I couldn't get it to work. Any ideas?</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
This is done by adding the floor grating texture to the materials.txt file in the sounds folder. If you open that file, it should be fairly obvious how this works. You can change this for testing, but unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the 'official' materials.txt will have the same texture in it or that the sound will be the same.

realityisdead · April 2002

If this is one of your first tries, then I think this level design thing is going to work out wonderfully for you! You already have an obvious sense of architecture (the shape) and style (the spiffy lights near the ground).

There is some things that would make this better suited for Natural Selection though. As the others said, it needs to be a little darker. Or at least have more contrast in the lighting. I can just see that hallway with more contrasting lighting, and it looks reeaallly cool.

If I were you, I'd try to aim for a bit of nice darkness in the areas between the white light fixtures, and let the areas near and in front of the lights be nice and bright.

It would definately help to use the env_gamma here. Try a setting around 1.8. Once it's in, you'll want to tweak your intensity settings in your lights.rad file to better suit the env_gamma, and make some nice shadows.

Again, this looks like a great start. Especially for someone's first serious attempt.

jmezach · April 2002

Well, first of all I'd like to thank you all for being so enthousiastic (hmmz, I'm not so sure that's the right way of writing it, but I'm sure you'll know what I mean). I was quite nervous when I was posting this. I didn't really think anyone would like it, but you guys seem to like it (unless you lie to me, but I can't think of a reason why you'd want to do that), so I think I'm going to continue working on this, and maybe even other maps in the future. For now though, I've got more important things to do, exams and such. So I think I'll have to stop on this for a while, but after I've finished my exams I'll certainly continue working on this.

Seconds, I've looked at the feedback. Seems that the vent wasn't really good. So I've put a grating in front of those vents. These are breakable of course. I'm still not happy about this though. I was thinking about extending the vent into the upper part of the hallway and carving a piece out of it so it's open on top. Just an idea <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>.

Then, the lighting. Although I was quite satisfied with the lighting you still had some ideas. Well, I've made the lights on the side a little bit less bright, and I made the lights on top a bit more intense. I think the contrast is beter this way, but you decide for yourselfs. I've also put a env_gamma in there. Haven't really seen a difference though.

Then, I've redone those pillars, because I had carved in them and they were quite screwed up. I personally think they are better this time. The grating at the top now consists out of 4 seperate brushes which are all breakable. I'm wondering if I should put some entities there to let them break when somebody walks over them. I'm not sure if I should do that.

Well, I think that was about it. I guess I now have to make a layout for the map and come up with a name. Right???

Here are the screenies:

<a href="http://www.endoria.net/upload/?bekijk=3079567243" target="_blank">Picture 1</a>
<a href="http://www.endoria.net/upload/?bekijk=2313867208" target="_blank">Picture 2</a>

Tzarcon · April 2002

ah, a bit nicer

Actually, if this is your first real attempt at mapping, I'm VERY impressed. This is fairly close to very good architecture, but I think the key is to make it a bit more curvy.

Also, make the red lights in the hallway darker, perhaps even a light value of only 16-32. Also, for this to work properly, you'll need to make the floor lights alot weaker. Once this is done, you should have a hallway that you can still see in, but is very eerie. The eerieness could be acomplished even more so by making one of the lights on the floor broken off the panel, with sparks behind it, and make it flicker. If you could do that, I could easily call you at least a partial expert. Just by looking at that work you're far past beginner, because you understand not only the basics of Level Design and architecture, but you can go beyond that to make it look decent. Keep mapping sir, some day you may surpass Me, DaveJ, or even Merkaba and Relic25

jmezach · April 2002

Hmmz, problem with those lights on the ground is that they are not point entities. It's a texture. I could still make it broken, and have some sparks behind them maybe, but I don't think I can make it flicker. Maybe if I make the texture a light that isn't on, and then put a light entity in front of it and put that to flicker. Well, I'll try it out sometime. Thnx for your feedback.

My first serious mapping attempt

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