Ns_susanowo
Yamazaki
Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 21Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Join Date: 2002-01-24 Member: 21Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
<div class="IPBDescription">In progress shots</div> Thought I was dead? I return from the grave to terrorize you all!
Er, wait... wrong intro... anyways...
Background story: Susanowo (Named after the Japanese god of chaos and strife) is a planet being terraformed for colonists, it has all the right ingredients for agriculture except for a toxic atmosphere. So some private interests gathered the funds to install atmospheric-processing stations across the planet's surface to clean out the poisons in the air. Mostly automated, these stations have minimal personnel and can run for months without maintenance... unfortunately they're quite expensive, so when an unknown biological presence knocks out station 3-F the marines are sent in to investigate.
Basic Theme: Gritty industrial throughout, with metal predominately in the upper level and concrete in the sub levels. Lots of vents in the sub levels, especially around the hives. More open and vertical areas in the upper level. Yada yada.
Still work in progress, here's the pics.
Er, wait... wrong intro... anyways...
Background story: Susanowo (Named after the Japanese god of chaos and strife) is a planet being terraformed for colonists, it has all the right ingredients for agriculture except for a toxic atmosphere. So some private interests gathered the funds to install atmospheric-processing stations across the planet's surface to clean out the poisons in the air. Mostly automated, these stations have minimal personnel and can run for months without maintenance... unfortunately they're quite expensive, so when an unknown biological presence knocks out station 3-F the marines are sent in to investigate.
Basic Theme: Gritty industrial throughout, with metal predominately in the upper level and concrete in the sub levels. Lots of vents in the sub levels, especially around the hives. More open and vertical areas in the upper level. Yada yada.
Still work in progress, here's the pics.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
By the way, none of these are gamma adjusted, so if they appear too dark on your monitor then you know why <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo--> Sorry.
/me likes it <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
sorry but found no other suitable pic that shows what I meant <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
They seem so clean that it makes them look cartoony.
Try and get some dirtier looking textures, that will make the map look real, and it will add a whole lot of atmosphere.
Anyhoo, the brushwork looks really nice, but I have to agree with the previous comments about lighting and textures - it feels far too grey and bland. Maybe add some subtle coloured lighting in there, and break up the concrete textures with some metal textures to offset the repetition and give it a less generic ambience.
Looking good, Yama, I'd just like to see more use of the ns.wad textures. The architectute is certainly good, but I'd like to see a little more interesting lighting. I thin this map could really shine if you adressed the above two points <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
Oh, and welcome back, sorry you had to be on the recieving end of this idiocy.
Now to form my own feedback more constructively.
The light fittings don't seem to be giving of enough light for their size. I suggest using fewer, smaller, brighter lights.
Are you using any ambient lighting? That will tend to reduce contrast.
Your custom textures (which I personally like) don't seem to be as gritty, pitted and worn as the official textures, which also detracts from the NS atmosphere.
Please, please, please use hazard stripes more sparingly.
How, as a very VERY frequent mapper, would you feel if someone said you didn't have a chance of producing a bland unatmospheric map, who's textures have been taken from a wadfile I have without any editing to create a sense of realism necessary for the ns universe?
If you want to improve it you will bin or completely remake ALL of the textures in the map, add in pipe overhangs and lots of extranous detail. Picture 2 looks almost fullbright, have you increased the gamma ramp? Try some differently coloured lighting to add ambience, and definately change the architecture, its all block block block, which makes everything a bit 'flat'.
What else can I constructively critisise? Its just grey grey grey, and thats my opinion as a knowledgeable mapper. Take an official NS map and compare it to one from the goldeneye mod, thats what Im seeing here.
P.S. in pic 3 I think you forgot to func_wall or 1unit gap the pipe!
What I want to know is, did he ever finish penumbra? Can we download it?
Yama - is this some pretty good looking stuff. If you remember our conversation via PM in IRC I suggested that Penumbra be toned down a little bit. I just want to reinforce that here. Penumbra is very fun when we sorta know where things are/how to get there but some parts of your map are still foggy just becuase of its massive size. A larger map with more particle effects also means higher CPU loads for those of us running linux servers, not good. My suggestion for your new map is that you keep it at a decent size. So far I like what you have here. I suggest making the light shadow in the pool shot a little wider - so it takes up more space in the pool/large puddle.
1. Rude comments
2. Cries of bland lighting
3. Cries of non-NS textures
4. One comment about how ships wouldn't have concrete, even though the first post says this is a planetary base. Not to mention these shots are all of the basement area
5. Told to map for TFC, which I've never mapped for and probably never will
6. And a few folks coming to my defence
I'll ignore #1, so let's move on...
#2 can be ignored also, since I've only been working on this solidly for 2 days now, so I can't really expect to have perfect lighting yet. My main concern was to get good looking architecture first before I spend numerous RAD compiles on a perfect look.
#3 is mostly groundless. The NS wads are heavily lacking in concrete texture series, so that was not feasible. I wanted a distinct contrast between below ground and above ground, so using concrete below and NS metal panels above was my plan. A mix of NS and custom is planned, and I might run the concrete through a sharpening filter which is what Cory did to make the original NS ones. The textures I've got are just as dirty as the NS ones, maybe dirtier (Hera's metal panels look so shiny I can see myself)... it's just the sharpening that's needed.
As for them being 'ripped off' Wadfather... the NS ones aren't exactly mine either, so who cares? Either way I'm using someone else's work. Or was it assumed that I was passing them off as mine?
#4 was covered.
#5 will be ignored also.
#6 is nice, I thank you for your support. Glad to see I was not forgotten <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
As for Penumbra, it was left in a gameplay complete but visually incomplete state. It also has a glitch with entities disappearing, due to NS using up so many entities on its own to create all its HUD and commander effects. Doors disappear, lifts disappear... so to fix it would require an overhaul I'm not interested in doing.
Penumbra will never see the light of day on a public server.
NS_Susanowo has a chance though, but what I've posted is just 2 DAYS of work and doesn't include some of the currently unlit above ground sections I've been working on.
I suppose this taught me to never again post anything in-progress, just stick to showing off stuff that's complete or near-complete. Teasers just haunt you.
I think its got potential and I hope you finish (just not before me or else!)
Yama, it's looking very nice. Can't wait to give it a run-through! (Although I must say I'm not a big fan of concrete <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->)
Oh, lots of welding <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
This one definately looks like it is shaping up to be an awesome build of a map, but the way the textures are going to look is going to kill the atmosphere and enjoyability often represented in numerous other NS maps
Penumbra was a good map, even if only an early build, had a nice size and lay out to it. Your right, Hera does have shiny panels, but it isn't various shades of bland colors. It's like owning a house and never painting the walls anything but white. Sure it's simple and easy but people like to throw in something that will help remember it. That gignatic shaft you had on penumbra was major ownage, and I liekd that one hive with the 3 metal grate thigns inside, the big things, you know what I'm talking about
But it wasn't that "Marines and Aliens have been here and they are battling it out" ideal nature. You are making some kick **obscenity** maps in terms of how they are as a phsyical map, I loved all the hives on penumbra, not the way they looked, but the way they physically <b>were</b>, but there's no denying that the textures arn't awesome. they arn't bright, they're bland. Simple stuff. The levels _are not_ bland in design or playability, but the textures are =P
and on a different subject, why does Dark Forces look like NS ? why is he holding an LMG? why is he attacking that fade
Huh?
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->So some private interests gathered the funds to install atmospheric-processing stations across the planet's surface to clean out the poisons in the air.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
-Ryan!
Assuming either the Left Wing or the Right Wing gained control of the country, it would probably fly around in circles.
-- Pat Paulsen
[offtopic]Wow. I don't want to bother starting a new thread that Yama might miss, but I really hope you revisit that map and just...dirty is up a little bit. The map is amazing, it just needs more infestation (althought the bulging infestation is GREAT), and a little more grime.[/offtopic]
-Ryan!
Events in the past may be roughly divided into those which probably never happened and those which do not matter.
-- W. R. Inge
Edit: Sorry to hear you are leaving Penumbra. I hope you return to it one day.