I think bast looks great too...I don't really know what the rest of the maps look like (except for the ones Angel just listed), so I can't really tell.
Let's just agree that they all look great <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo--> .
Holy sweet jesus monkeys. I have never had the privalege to veiw something made with the HL engine that looks so good. I dont know how you managed to do it, but those are the closet to photo-real shots of a level I have ever seen. Your detail and texturing is simlpy amazing..I had no idea the HL engine(ooo how I love it) could do what you just made it do. Thanks for your hard work.
realityisdeadEmployed by Raven Software after making ns_nothingJoin Date: 2002-01-26Member: 94Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
Regarding wall climbing: I ran around as a skulk for a couple minutes, and (to my surprise) the walls in the first shot are very easy to climb. All that's required is to simply aim up the wall and run. There's no place you really get stuck anywhere on those walls. Flayra's obviously done a tremendous job with the wall climbing code.
I'm not so lucky in the second (red) hallway. You can't make it up past those midsection panels without some attention-distracting effort. It's certainly possible, but it's not the quick effortless glide up the walls that you would hope for while running from (or after) a marine. I'll definitely look into making it more skulk friendly. Thanks for pointing this out.
RBY: Heh, yeah. I've had past experience in dealing with these kinds of issues, and I'm always watching my counts. Note I said watching. Didn't say anything about <b>doing anything about it!</b> ;D
Greedo: :/ I guess I can see how it is a bit pink now that you mention it. The light is a VERY dark red at 64 0 0, but I'll look into it anyway. I won't be modifying it a whole lot though.
Radiocage: TEH HAMMRE!!!1
H'BNayr: Thanks for the comments. Glad to hear that you think it's convincingly sci-fi. As mentioned above, wallclimbing is half-not-an-issue, and half-being-addressed. Concerning the repetativeness. It is fairly limited there. What you see is all there is to both corridors, and I'm going to try to make an effort to keep areas unique looking from each other. Let's clarify though, do you think it's too repetative in what you see in the shots? Or are you saying that it would get too repetative if it were to get any longer? Regardless, thanks for the comments/suggestions. <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
Everyone else: Thanks! And Vyvn... yes, bast is amazing. Very.
<!--QuoteBegin--ken20banks+Oct. 07 2002,23<!--emo&:0--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (ken20banks @ Oct. 07 2002,23<!--emo&<!--emo&:0--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':0'><!--endemo-->)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->Glad to hear that you think it's convincingly sci-fi.
Concerning the repetativeness...Let's clarify though, do you think it's too repetative in what you see in the shots? Or are you saying that it would get too repetative if it were to get any longer?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd--> First of all, to say that it's convincingly science fiction-like is a significant understatement. It immediately brings to mind situations and events that could normally be born only through the written word. And there's not even any action there! There's not a marine, or an alien, not even motion, and yet, I can get a clear, vivid image of what's to come there. I could write a thousand words, perhaps ten thousand, and not convey what I can see in that simple shot. It's astounding, probably the best images of maps for the Half-Life engine I've seen. I couldn't imagine how it might look in-game, and, again, it looks far too detailed to look as though it might run smoothly.
As far as it being repetitive, I don't think that what I see in the shots is repetitve, but if I were walking down a hallway like that for, say, more than about 10 or 15 seconds, my brain would stop picking out the eye candy, and start to phase out, at least until a skulk fell off the ceiling. The first shot, for example, I think would look good if it were no longer than just over two or three times as long as what you can see; and for the second shot, about three or four times as long as what you can see. That turn, also, takes away from the repetitiveness, so you can consider that a "reset," and you can go another three or four times that length around the corner. But if you had a long, straight hallway that extends out of our view for a distance, then my brain would start get a little stale. If that's the right word.
Understand, though, that I could be wrong, and in game, I'd end up staring at the walls all the way down the hallway. You've already shown, with these shots alone, that your aesthetic tastes are far better than most, mine (especially) included. My suggestions are just that, suggestions. I'm no mapper, and my assistance is often poor. I can tell you whether or not I like something artistic, but I'm at a loss as to how to make it better. These shots look amazing, and my commenting on how it may have the potential to be repetitive is just searching for criticism. What you have there is certainly not repetitive, and is some of the most innovative work I've seen in a map. But, if you decide to use one style over and over through a hallway, it MAY become repetive. But I could be wrong.
My other question was about the lerk. On that second shot, with the emergency lighting, it would be awesome to have *just* enough room to squeeze a lerk in, waiting to ambush anyone that might come by. Maybe even enough room for him to climb across the ceiling, going from light to light. But because I don't know how NS plays out, that idea might just be a pipe dream.
I seemed to have rambled on, as is sometimes my wont. I hope that my words make some sort of sense to you, Ken, as I ocassionally have trouble conveying ideas such as this. But if there's any confusion on what I mean, just ask, and I'll try to re-explain it.
I love those shots, and can't wait to see more.
Oh, and I just visited <a href="http://tald.readyroom.org/" target="_blank">your site</a> a couple of nights ago, and was surprised to see myself noted twice. I absolutely love being acknowledged. It's not as bad as having a ravenous fan club, and much better than being ignored. [If you have time (and made it this far into my ramblings), go see what he wrote on just a couple of pages of my fan-fic-ish thingy. To have someone of his talents write something so glowing on something of mine was a HUGE boost...]
[Edit: And don't think I just say these things because of your post, Ken. When you posted your comments, I was excitedly telling my girlfriend, "Look, see, see, Ken Banks posted this!" "Oh, that's nice. Who's Ken Banks?" And I proceeded to search for bits of work that I could find of yours, telling her how talented I thought you were. OK, I've often thought these things, but now I feel compelled to tell them to you, as these shots are much more awesome than most. OK, that was incredibly off-topic. Need sleep now. End "Edit."]
Thanks, Ken. And keep up the good work. I want to see what else you can pull off using the Half-Life engine.
-Ryan!
"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity." -- G.B. Shaw
Comments
ns_eclipse
ns_nothing
ns_hera
ns_kara
ns_powehouse
These great, exciting, vividly amazing and fantastically speculating pictures have me on the edge of my seat.
(Most description you will probably hear meaning the same thing on these mapping forums)
Let's just agree that they all look great <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo--> .
Gotta map!!! *get's the mad scientist look*
I'm not so lucky in the second (red) hallway. You can't make it up past those midsection panels without some attention-distracting effort. It's certainly possible, but it's not the quick effortless glide up the walls that you would hope for while running from (or after) a marine. I'll definitely look into making it more skulk friendly. Thanks for pointing this out.
RBY: Heh, yeah. I've had past experience in dealing with these kinds of issues, and I'm always watching my counts. Note I said watching. Didn't say anything about <b>doing anything about it!</b> ;D
Greedo: :/ I guess I can see how it is a bit pink now that you mention it. The light is a VERY dark red at 64 0 0, but I'll look into it anyway. I won't be modifying it a whole lot though.
Radiocage: TEH HAMMRE!!!1
H'BNayr: Thanks for the comments. Glad to hear that you think it's convincingly sci-fi. As mentioned above, wallclimbing is half-not-an-issue, and half-being-addressed. Concerning the repetativeness. It is fairly limited there. What you see is all there is to both corridors, and I'm going to try to make an effort to keep areas unique looking from each other. Let's clarify though, do you think it's too repetative in what you see in the shots? Or are you saying that it would get too repetative if it were to get any longer? Regardless, thanks for the comments/suggestions. <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
Everyone else: Thanks! And Vyvn... yes, bast is amazing. Very.
<!--EDIT|ken20banks|Oct. 07 2002,22:06-->
Concerning the repetativeness...Let's clarify though, do you think it's too repetative in what you see in the shots? Or are you saying that it would get too repetative if it were to get any longer?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
First of all, to say that it's convincingly science fiction-like is a significant understatement. It immediately brings to mind situations and events that could normally be born only through the written word. And there's not even any action there! There's not a marine, or an alien, not even motion, and yet, I can get a clear, vivid image of what's to come there. I could write a thousand words, perhaps ten thousand, and not convey what I can see in that simple shot. It's astounding, probably the best images of maps for the Half-Life engine I've seen. I couldn't imagine how it might look in-game, and, again, it looks far too detailed to look as though it might run smoothly.
As far as it being repetitive, I don't think that what I see in the shots is repetitve, but if I were walking down a hallway like that for, say, more than about 10 or 15 seconds, my brain would stop picking out the eye candy, and start to phase out, at least until a skulk fell off the ceiling. The first shot, for example, I think would look good if it were no longer than just over two or three times as long as what you can see; and for the second shot, about three or four times as long as what you can see. That turn, also, takes away from the repetitiveness, so you can consider that a "reset," and you can go another three or four times that length around the corner. But if you had a long, straight hallway that extends out of our view for a distance, then my brain would start get a little stale. If that's the right word.
Understand, though, that I could be wrong, and in game, I'd end up staring at the walls all the way down the hallway. You've already shown, with these shots alone, that your aesthetic tastes are far better than most, mine (especially) included. My suggestions are just that, suggestions. I'm no mapper, and my assistance is often poor. I can tell you whether or not I like something artistic, but I'm at a loss as to how to make it better. These shots look amazing, and my commenting on how it may have the potential to be repetitive is just searching for criticism. What you have there is certainly not repetitive, and is some of the most innovative work I've seen in a map. But, if you decide to use one style over and over through a hallway, it MAY become repetive. But I could be wrong.
My other question was about the lerk. On that second shot, with the emergency lighting, it would be awesome to have *just* enough room to squeeze a lerk in, waiting to ambush anyone that might come by. Maybe even enough room for him to climb across the ceiling, going from light to light. But because I don't know how NS plays out, that idea might just be a pipe dream.
I seemed to have rambled on, as is sometimes my wont. I hope that my words make some sort of sense to you, Ken, as I ocassionally have trouble conveying ideas such as this. But if there's any confusion on what I mean, just ask, and I'll try to re-explain it.
I love those shots, and can't wait to see more.
Oh, and I just visited <a href="http://tald.readyroom.org/" target="_blank">your site</a> a couple of nights ago, and was surprised to see myself noted twice. I absolutely love being acknowledged. It's not as bad as having a ravenous fan club, and much better than being ignored. [If you have time (and made it this far into my ramblings), go see what he wrote on just a couple of pages of my fan-fic-ish thingy. To have someone of his talents write something so glowing on something of mine was a HUGE boost...]
[Edit: And don't think I just say these things because of your post, Ken. When you posted your comments, I was excitedly telling my girlfriend, "Look, see, see, Ken Banks posted this!" "Oh, that's nice. Who's Ken Banks?" And I proceeded to search for bits of work that I could find of yours, telling her how talented I thought you were. OK, I've often thought these things, but now I feel compelled to tell them to you, as these shots are much more awesome than most. OK, that was incredibly off-topic. Need sleep now. End "Edit."]
Thanks, Ken. And keep up the good work. I want to see what else you can pull off using the Half-Life engine.
-Ryan!
"The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them; that's the essence of inhumanity."
-- G.B. Shaw