Observation bridge (what's done anyway)

Relic25 · February 2002

A few shots. I found (as a pleasant surprise) that r-speeds are surprisingly low in this room, so I plan to add more detail. Some seats and some additional consoles will be added. I know it looks visually confusing from the screens, but it will be cleaned up a little, and I couldn't get really good angles yet, because I didn't want to show the parts that had not been completed yet. ;)

Relic25 · February 2002

another angle.

Relic25 · February 2002

a third.

ChromeAngel · February 2002

Sorry, yuk! The screens down the sides seem to be to low for anyone but Bob's to view comfortably and they do not appear to be giving of any light. You're right it does look cluttered. If you run into an alien there you don't stand a chance.

Relic25 · February 2002

The screens down the sides are a perfect example of what I meant by bad shot angles. I am standing at the entrance in that shot, which is elevated several feet above the floor in front of the screens. The screens are at eye-level when a marine player stands in front of them.

You're right, it is cluttered, and I like it that way. It's how a working bridge should be. Watch the landing sequence in Alien to see what I mean. And, yes, I hope an alien would be able to rip a marine to bits in here. It's a risky route to take for marine players.

Greedo · February 2002

Clutter is definitely good. I can really see this being a bit of a dangerous path to take, except that the lighting seems a bit too bright to give it that "ultimate" danger level. I can say that tension will be high here, and I'm only wondering what you could possibly mean by "add more detail."

realityisdead · February 2002

Wow Relic, from what I can see in the shots, this room looks like it's going to be amazing. The second shot looks so detailed. I'm not all that fond of the cluttered feel of the first shot, but I can just imagine how nice this is ingame.

Cremator · February 2002

looks to me a bit too messy, but i know you'll do a good job cleaning it up.

Scythe · February 2002

WOW!

If those r-speeds are below 700, I'll eat my cd rack. The detail is amazing in those pics. Is that the opposing forces teleporting gun thingi?

--Scythe--
the_only_scythe@yahoo.co.uk

Relic25 · February 2002

The r-speeds in this room (standing in the doorway looking in) are ~250. Remember, it's a very small room and most of the detail is from textures.

Yes, the teleporter from OpFor is being used as the placeholder for the welder.

badmofo · February 2002

"Remember, it's a very small room and most of the detail is from textures"

BS...I'm a mapper and i know brushwork detail when i see it. I don't get it...how do you do it? How do you not run out of clipnode space/max_planes limits? Every shot of your map is packed with tremendous amounts of brush work...and from what i've seen...you're map is huge...how the hell can you keep everything in line?<img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'> I love your mapping style relic...I'm more for big open spaces and a kind of "awesome" size grandure...but you...I love the "realness" of your cramped "cluster-####" rooms. Love the shots man...keep up the amazing work.

Cliff_Mellangard · February 2002

I think every body already replyed wath i was going to so ehhh looks really nice. <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'>
Maybe some more lightning work but looks good. <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':0'>

pielemuis · February 2002

hmm looks really good, and indeed it's amazing r-speeds are so low in that room.

RhoadsToNowhere · February 2002

r_speeds are 250?!! Oh my god. Relic's my hero. <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'> Your attention to detail is simply amazing.

Flayra · February 2002

Agreed. I think everyone has grown to love one of Relic's personal touches that come through on his maps: they feel like real environments. He also has this great layered complexity that just makes your jaw drop open.

My only suggestion is to make some of the textures a bit more uniform, scaling-wise. Some of the textures seem a bit scaled up compared to the others, so some surfaces feel out of place. I know you want to fit as many textures as possible using the 4 meg limit...maybe you could shrink down some of the surfaces instead?

Relic25 · February 2002

New angles. I've also modified things and added seats.

Relic25 · February 2002

#2

Relic25 · February 2002

#3

Relic25 · February 2002

Oh, and I freely admit to 'borrowing' Cyonpro's design for the sides of the seat backs. He used that texture in his escape pod seats in the same way, and it looked so perfect that I just had to try it for these seats. I hope this is okay with him. If it's not, let me know and I'll change the design. <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Greedo · February 2002

I think that the brightness of those monitors is a little disturbing. Maybe it's just the way it show up in the pictures, but they just seem so much brighter than any of their surroundings, and they just aren't giving off any ambient light. Perhaps you could tone it down by darkening the additive overlay texture in photoshop, or something. But other than that, stellar work.

realityisdead · February 2002

Looks totaly awesome relic! Very realistic looking, and with the seats in place the whole room makes a lot more sense funtionwise and scalewise. As far as r_speeds go, I don't find it at all hard to believe they are only 250. In small areas where the textures (extremely detailed textures, mind you) don't have to tile much, you can produce some insanely detailed looking enviroments such as this. If you know what you're doing... Relic obviously does.

Anyway, I really disagree with some of you. It <i>is</i> the texturing that makes this room look so detailed. Don't get me wrong though... Any other person could take those same exact textures, and not be able to create something so nice and realistic looking. You could have the most beautiful and realistic looking texture set, but would definately still need the skill and creativity to apply (generally not technically) them to your levels with such... "amazingness". <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Geez, I have a horrible time expressing myself. Overall what I am trying to say is that it <i>is</i> really the texturing that makes this room look so amazing. But that's not to say that relic doesn't deserve the credit for it. Texturing is part of mapping too. And relic obviously has quite the talent in it. <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Great job.

Relic25 · February 2002

Good idea Greedo. I made the change and it looks a lot better. Sometimes it's hard to tell how those things are going to look because of the overbrightening of the env_gamma setting.

KungFuSquirrel · February 2002

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (badmofo @ Feb. 17 2002,02:14)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">BS...I'm a mapper and i know brushwork detail when i see it.</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
And I know texture detail when I see it. Excellent texture work, at that. You make a room like this in HL, that's about the only option. And really, if you look at the Bast screenshots... that's most of what it is. Texture detail. Does this make the map any less visually stunning? not at all. In fact, when someone is running down the corridor in the first shot I saw of Bast with a few aliens hot on their heels, the last thing you're going to notice is the fact that a lot of the details you see are textures. They'll be just as good as the real thing to that poor sap. <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'> Of course, that's just my opinion, and... as such, is probably completely useless.

I know I've said this before, but the more I see of shots like this, the more insecure I feel with my own NS work... and as much as I love the idea of challenging my skills to the level that NS has done, I can't help but let my inferiority complex get the best of me. And, as much as I'd like to offer some constructive criticism on these shots... I'm at a loss. Terrific work.

Ekaj · February 2002

Nice work, thats my new favorite area of bast.. And well, pretty much anything else in HL. Those shots have inspired me to stop playing that stupid Dark Age of Camelot game for a bit and do some mapping <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':0'>

Unknown · February 2002

it looks great but wont moving around be kind of hindered by the lack of free space? also what are the r_speeds because it looks like a lot of polygons.

Relic25 · February 2002

After the addition of the chairs & a few other details, r-speeds in this room peak at around 290.

Yes, movement will be hampered in this room. This room is really just part of a risky route that takes the marines towards one hive area. Even though it is a fully worked up 'room', it is really just a cul-de-sac on part of a narrow corridor leading to the large refiner room. For gameplay's sake, this room just provides a little area that could be used as a staging point, if the marines get this far.

realityisdead · February 2002

I'm sorry fingertips, but if you read the replies and discussions about these posts, you'd find that the r_speeds are discussed almost every time, and you wouldn't need to ask. <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'>

Unknown · February 2002

well i sorry Ken20banks, but i didnt ask you.

But thanks Relic i didnt know, also how do you keep you r_speeds that low with all that stuff in there?

Biomechanoid · February 2002

Don't know how I missed this thread before. Looks great, but one texture is bugging me. in that first shot you have a bright yellow light at the end of the consols on the left and right wall, it seems to stick out like a sore thumb, like it's asking for a fixture to recess or raise it above that panel.

as always, your mapping skillz are l337 sh1zn1t <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'>

Relic25 · February 2002

That has already been taken care of. <img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Matter of fact, you can see the replacement in the second set of screens (on page 2 of this thread).

Wurmspawn · February 2002

/me wipes the puddle of drool off his desk
stunning, simply stunning...
it looks so good now, i can hardly wait to see it in game.
(sorry, nothing productive to add. but i had to express my awe)

Observation bridge (what's done anyway)

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