Wip: Ns_flint

MrRadicalEd · August 2004

<div class="IPBDescription">The darker side of Natural Selection</div> <span style='color:orange'><b>Note</b>:Image intensive page</span>

This is my debut in to the mapping community for NS. Flint is only my second serious map for public release. I wanted to take a different direction with this map and so Flint is a proof of concept and a serious release.

Okay, so I move in four days and I will lose my net connection, like some of you have experienced before, and so there will be a blackout period from me on this project. I've been feverishly working the past week on this map along with daily life. The map is 50% complete. I just finished it's second compile and I am aware of issues I will get cleared. On with the good stuff!!!!

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><img src='http://myweb.cableone.net/optical/ns_flint/ns_flint020001.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
From here you can head on off towards the hive(still some distance away), or continue to the center of the map for the marine side node and the rest of the map</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

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Here is the observatory. The outside has only a place holding default sky and will be much darker. You can see the exterior of the complex you inhabit. Very nifty.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><img src='http://myweb.cableone.net/optical/ns_flint/ns_flint020003.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
This is one of many pieces of eye candy you will encounter. This is a small reactor room on your way down(way down) to one of the hives.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><img src='http://myweb.cableone.net/optical/ns_flint/ns_flint020004.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
The next room over from the reactor room is this lab room. An elevator awaits after here leading down to the hive level.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><img src='http://myweb.cableone.net/optical/ns_flint/ns_flint020005.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
From the lab this room holds the soon to be included elevator to take you down to the level with the hive room.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

Light levels and textures tweaking are still in order, but this half of the map is done in my book. I hope to have a release very soon. The current 50% of the map takes up half of the bounding box and takes 4 hours to compile on my 1ghz box. R_speeds are 30 - 668 with a average of 228 in many areas.

Chrono · August 2004

looks like there are alot of wide open hallways which means skulks = dead

MrRadicalEd · August 2004

Actually the halls are quite tight. What is seen in these screenshots are rooms..

The halls on the marine side of the map provide basic cover and high ceilings. Farther in to the map away from marine start the map makes a dramatic change to smaller awkward rooms that favor aliens more and marines less. I did try to take in to account the aliens for the marine half.

esuna · August 2004

Looks extremely bland and lacks any personality as a map. Even the "eye candy" doesn't stand out as being that memorable. The lighting lacks any contrast, and is pretty much, well, bland.

MrRadicalEd · August 2004

Actually you can blame that on my poor use of PSP. When I did contrast/brightness correction I washed out the colors. Granted it's not the typical lush, bright and vibrant NS map, but that isn't my vision for this map.

Merkaba · August 2004

It looks like it could be quite an interesting map, but you need to work on your lighting and geometry. That third pic could look extremely interesting if it weren't for the rahter bland geometry of the centre piece. If you made the brushes more complex and less blocky then those pics could look a lot better. I like the 2nd pic the most, the others look like they have potential but are ultimately lacking. You need to make the architecture flow more easily. For example, in that first picture the bases of the pillars are very thick and look rather clumbsy, if you were to add angled pieces to the sides of the pillars to connect the pillar and the base more visually, that would help a lot. Try addeding a -gamma setting to your RAD line too, a value of 1 or so will help a lot in removing the grey washed out look of a lot of the areas, but you will probably need to add more lights to keep it visually interesting. Also, please include some colour! A 'dark' map doesn't need to use white light everywhere...

Merkaba · August 2004

Here's some examples of how you could make those pillars look more fluent/balanced:

IMO it's all about where your eye is drawn to - in your original picture, my eyes always ended up on the base of the pillars because they're so huge, and they're not very visually appealing, so added some detail to other parts of the same area will stop your eyes resting on one point and keep them darting about.

-Drake- · August 2004

add some pipes between the pillars some nice bits keep it up

BlackPlague · August 2004

very interesting, you might want to decrease some lighting <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /> but other than that, it looks good <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' />

Hibame · August 2004

and here I thought it was one of them bench things around the pillar

Thaldarin · August 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (esuna @ Aug 23 2004, 10:45 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Looks extremely bland and lacks any personality as a map. Even the "eye candy" doesn't stand out as being that memorable. The lighting lacks any contrast, and is pretty much, well, bland.  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
Thats esunas way of saying more colour and contrast (and possibly emotion if you can stretch to that) in your lighting <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />

Coblet · August 2004

Yeah coloured lighting would help here somewhat. To keep the cold feel you could use blues and greens (green would help to suggest an alien presence), and remember that red is your friend around doorways, pipes and vent systems.

MrRadicalEd · August 2004

Thanks, Merkaba, for the suggestion. I have to admit I rushed that area, but when I made a sweep of the map that was compiled I tweaked A LOT of things including that area. It now has a very "sexy" looking two sided couch sort of deal and new pilons to boot.

After a compile time of 24 hours(VisLeafs under RAD took the longest while VIS took only 7 minutes) I have the first hive with all connections. I still need to tweak a few things, but as for being it's second compile I was mostly happy with the results.

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><img src='http://myweb.cableone.net/optical/ns_flint/flint030000.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
What Observation looks like currently. I'd like to tone down the amount of light and focus more on color(yes I see the texture too)</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><img src='http://myweb.cableone.net/optical/ns_flint/flint030005.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
Central Corridor leaving an unnamed room with first free node. An elevator at each side</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><img src='http://myweb.cableone.net/optical/ns_flint/flint030001.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
After taking an elevator down (not from CC) we arrive in Crew Access Junction leading to the first hive</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

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Overflow Station hive. I have yet to add particle systems yet(I'll include steam from pipes and other details not shown) but this is the room basically</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

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Leaving the hive towards the next exit point there is an elevator here at Monitoring 2j</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><img src='http://myweb.cableone.net/optical/ns_flint/flint030004.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
After taking the elevator up we are in CC now</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><img src='http://myweb.cableone.net/optical/ns_flint/flint030006.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
What Reactor looks like currently. After the particle system and vents are finalized there will be a red light or two</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>

Despite the size of some rooms, like CC, r_speeds are VERY low. I had expected higher r_speeds but it read mostly 200 - 266 in every room and rarely spiked above 400. If this keeps up I will sweep the map again for more detail additions.

On an important note my intentions with this map was to never make it as an official map(or a typical vibrant NS map as well), and it's quite evident now as I have exceeded the texture limit with this new addition. Though I hope when it's done it will be well recieved as I know it will cator to those few who like dark and dingy settings.

radforChrist · August 2004

Personally I like it. The simple geometry and "bland" texturing would be what you'd expect form a deep space outpost. Why have all these fancy pilons and lighting, if it's a mining facility? Are the workers, stranded in the middle of nowhere in space, going to stop and sy" ooh, that wall is pretty"?

I like this. Gives the game a little of a real world feel.

Coblet · August 2004

Looks much better <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />. Remember to keep those ceilings interesting though <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' />

Tip: r_drawviewmodel 0 for screenshots.

HanzGrub3r · August 2004

I like what you are doing in this map. It's got a rawness about it which is quite fresh. I'd still like to see a few trimmings and bows here and there (metaphoricly speaking of course <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' />)... If you've got the r_speeds to spare that is...

For the lighting - have you thought of trying a more open approach? In the more bland areas perhaps a few extra windows or perhaps some funky light source ...

It's always been my philosophy that each room should have at least one focal point.. For example, if you look at the old ns_cage(d?) - the marine spawn focal point was the comm chair in the funky computer area up the ladder because it was attention grabbing.. I think you need more things like that...

Few points about different areas:

Observation: Nice overall lighting feel - perhaps a bit bright but the warm feeling is really nice. Doesn't seem to be much in the room besides the pillars tho.

Central Corridor: I really like those airport style monitors on the roof - really nice touch. Feels a bit bare though.

Crew Access Junction: Nice. Nice lighting especially in the center bit - not really sure of light source tho.

Hive: Overflow Station: Really really nice feel. Could be a little darker tho, not sure how it looks in game or whether you've corrected the gamma.

Monitoring 2: Really nice again - although the floating unsupported stairs are a bit of a mystery to me.

Reactor Station: Again, you've got nice design concepts - I'd go a bit darker still..

Anyway, thats my two cents...take it or leave it <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' />

MrRadicalEd · August 2004

The floating stairs was a duh moment for me. They were more or less a place holder for something else. Since the compile I had tappered the ceiling in the Hive(looks nice now) added pipes that will drip down in to pools inside the hive, lighting in crew access is more pronounced(less omni directional) Those floating stairs have been replaced by small side rails holding plates acting as stairs.

There are little things sprinkled throughout the map that the screenshots wont show. I have payed a lot of attention to sounds and almost every room has a different sound with it. Also random spurting steam jets in pipe-ladened rooms.

The new texture memory cap is just below 16mb for compatibility for those TNT/voodoo 8mb cards and up. I wont reach it, but it's my limit for the map. Currently the texture usage is at 4.18mb with 2 hives, their connections, and the ready room to go. I estimate the usage to climb to around 6.5mb at the end.(Yeah I have been reusing textures throughout the map)

Lt_Gravity · August 2004

thats a pretty nice example how you can improve the look of your map, just by changing the textureset. ^^

MrRadicalEd · August 2004

The last huge chunk of Flint was compiled not too long ago. After a small playtest there is an issue with a ceiling that doesn't allowing skulks to wall climb. That was the only major problem with it. Some texture and lighting adjustments are needed, but I expect a release candidate by Sunday or Monday night at the earliest. Here are some screenshots to show my progress:

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><img src='http://myweb.cableone.net/optical/ns_flint/flint040001.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
This is one of the many defensive ceiling vents to drop down on the marines near the center of the map. The red lighting filters down to the halls below which adds a very eery tone to those halls
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This is a hive location that's currently without a name at the moment.
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</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><img src='http://myweb.cableone.net/optical/ns_flint/flint040003.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
After an elevator trip down you are in route to the hive shown above
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Wake_Jumper · August 2004

whoa i love the look of this so far, cant wait till release

Wip: Ns_flint

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