A look at NS_Prometheus (b34)
ZiGGY
Join Date: 2003-01-19 Member: 12479Members
Join Date: 2003-01-19 Member: 12479Members
So this map is scheduled for official release :O Didnt know that at the time but figure Id take a good old look at it. Yarrr!
You couldnt hold it against anyone for thinking at first glance that theyd just been molested by the mortal incarnation Bertie Basset pumped with Starbursts. This map has colour, LOTS of colour, and for the most part that colour is ###### SICK. Let's take a few examples.
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post1.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post2.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post3.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post4.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post5.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post6.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Personally I welcome all the colour, a map where you can see where youre going is absolutely essential <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
and for the most part the lighting really gives life to the halls and corridors of ns_prometheus.
Unfortunatley sometimes the colours dont gel.
Here flourescent yellow meets pink, orange and a bright blue OH DEAR!
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post7.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Pink, lime green and blue? Um...
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post8.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Now for the majority of the map the coloured lighting is FANTASTIC, there are dark floors with bright red lights underneath, white sparkly things, good contrasts and its never boring. I cant stress this enough because I DONT WANT THEM TO TAKE IT AWAY ; ; . Most maps of this nature have this ballsy in-your-face greatness but then totally tone it down to conform and pretend the few bad areas of such maps never existed. DONT DO IT! KEEP THEM! CHANGE THEM! JUST DONT GET RID OF EM D:
Something that really stands out for me are the vents, yes I like the <i>VENTS</i>.
The textures in these vents are slick, the lighting is happy and THEY HAVE LADDERS! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" /> Vent + ladder = GENIUS <3
Ladder1:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post9.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Textures & Lights:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post10.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Ladder2:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post11.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
You see a damnload of vents in this game, but these ones REALLY stand out <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
This map also has a lot of fun multi-layered combat areas, which offers advantage to the more devious players and as such will offer very varied and deep combat possibilities <3.
Here are just two examples of the setpieces on this map:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post12.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post13.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
As for the hives:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post14.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<b>Power Banks</b>
This hive has 2 catwalks either side of the mainhive with easy access double ladders to both, there are easy paths into the hive from both sides with devastating siege spots on both sides, though this shouldnt really be a problem but its quite a double-edged hive to have and looks very vulnerably to a sneak attack(its even feasible to makea a bottlenecked phase gate on the catwalks).
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post15.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<b>Observation Lounge</b>
A large open space hive with cover scattered in the middle and a res nozzle on an elevated platform, I envisage this hive being(to be blunt) a fades wet dream, this hive is also VERY orange from the big giant (one assumes observation) windows looking over Prometheus.
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post16.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<b>Water Treatment</b>
Kinda unsurprisingly this hive has a LOT of water, water combat you either hate it or you dont like it; with plenty of accompanying land around this hive though it'll be interesting to see how it pans out.
Map Layout:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post17.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
The res nodes on this map are quite spread out, but they look reasonably defensible. Most rooms and corridors do not have a particularly high ceiling but are often seperated into smaller compartments with tight corners and some ambush spots. The map though seemingly large is quickly traversable. Itll be interesting to see how this map plays out for either team.
Annoyances:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post18.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
One thing that annoys me in this map, and thats WTH Display screens, you have these elegant delicate video screens on one side with the most bizzare linking structures/textures EVER ;p But its only a beta, and maybe im just being too picky on such things <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post19.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
And then theres this room, small confined space, very low res textures, a screen you cant see through and jagged edges on one side :O
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post20.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
so im getting REALLY picky now <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> but these walls just make me think of some reject structure from Buck Rogers In The 25th Century!
(oh ya I also found a fault, but I posted that earlier and elsewhere :o)
You couldnt hold it against anyone for thinking at first glance that theyd just been molested by the mortal incarnation Bertie Basset pumped with Starbursts. This map has colour, LOTS of colour, and for the most part that colour is ###### SICK. Let's take a few examples.
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post1.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post2.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post3.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post4.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post5.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post6.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Personally I welcome all the colour, a map where you can see where youre going is absolutely essential <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
and for the most part the lighting really gives life to the halls and corridors of ns_prometheus.
Unfortunatley sometimes the colours dont gel.
Here flourescent yellow meets pink, orange and a bright blue OH DEAR!
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post7.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Pink, lime green and blue? Um...
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post8.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Now for the majority of the map the coloured lighting is FANTASTIC, there are dark floors with bright red lights underneath, white sparkly things, good contrasts and its never boring. I cant stress this enough because I DONT WANT THEM TO TAKE IT AWAY ; ; . Most maps of this nature have this ballsy in-your-face greatness but then totally tone it down to conform and pretend the few bad areas of such maps never existed. DONT DO IT! KEEP THEM! CHANGE THEM! JUST DONT GET RID OF EM D:
Something that really stands out for me are the vents, yes I like the <i>VENTS</i>.
The textures in these vents are slick, the lighting is happy and THEY HAVE LADDERS! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" /> Vent + ladder = GENIUS <3
Ladder1:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post9.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Textures & Lights:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post10.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
Ladder2:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post11.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
You see a damnload of vents in this game, but these ones REALLY stand out <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
This map also has a lot of fun multi-layered combat areas, which offers advantage to the more devious players and as such will offer very varied and deep combat possibilities <3.
Here are just two examples of the setpieces on this map:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post12.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post13.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
As for the hives:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post14.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<b>Power Banks</b>
This hive has 2 catwalks either side of the mainhive with easy access double ladders to both, there are easy paths into the hive from both sides with devastating siege spots on both sides, though this shouldnt really be a problem but its quite a double-edged hive to have and looks very vulnerably to a sneak attack(its even feasible to makea a bottlenecked phase gate on the catwalks).
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post15.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<b>Observation Lounge</b>
A large open space hive with cover scattered in the middle and a res nozzle on an elevated platform, I envisage this hive being(to be blunt) a fades wet dream, this hive is also VERY orange from the big giant (one assumes observation) windows looking over Prometheus.
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post16.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
<b>Water Treatment</b>
Kinda unsurprisingly this hive has a LOT of water, water combat you either hate it or you dont like it; with plenty of accompanying land around this hive though it'll be interesting to see how it pans out.
Map Layout:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post17.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
The res nodes on this map are quite spread out, but they look reasonably defensible. Most rooms and corridors do not have a particularly high ceiling but are often seperated into smaller compartments with tight corners and some ambush spots. The map though seemingly large is quickly traversable. Itll be interesting to see how this map plays out for either team.
Annoyances:
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post18.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
One thing that annoys me in this map, and thats WTH Display screens, you have these elegant delicate video screens on one side with the most bizzare linking structures/textures EVER ;p But its only a beta, and maybe im just being too picky on such things <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post19.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
And then theres this room, small confined space, very low res textures, a screen you cant see through and jagged edges on one side :O
<img src="http://www.hl2.co.uk/ziggy/post20.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" />
so im getting REALLY picky now <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> but these walls just make me think of some reject structure from Buck Rogers In The 25th Century!
(oh ya I also found a fault, but I posted that earlier and elsewhere :o)
Comments
However you seemed to miss one small thing. Pithlit kept movement of the players in check. Have a look at vents which look like they are a horror show waiting to happen for a fleeing skulk trying to get in there. But Pithlit put the mighty clipbrush in these locations. I love it when a mapper uses this often overlooked tool.
Oh and I love the detail in the map, probably need to post that in the map thread...
<a href="http://img399.imageshack.us/my.php?image=displayrx0.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/6702/displayrx0.th.jpg" border="0" alt="IPB Image" /></a>