Ns_calamus

MasterG · September 2004

<div class="IPBDescription">New thread. Why bump the old one?</div> Well.. The old thread is at the 4th page, so I cba to bumb it.
I have some new pictures and some more info.
But first, link to the old thread where all the other pictures are.
<a href='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=78234' target='_blank'>Old calamus thread</a>

On to the onformation.

The map is about 50% complete. Not everything is done yet(with what I have made so far) and what's left to do is complete the layout of the map, tweak things, then playtest, and tweak again and so on.

Pics:

Updated a room outside the "Pipeline 17C" hive and put in a broken elevator:
(it's a bit dark)
<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new4/calamus_hive1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Made a new hive(Main Pipeline).
Corridor outside the hive:
<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new4/calamus_mainpipe1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
The hive itself:
<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new4/calamus_mainpipe2.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

The updated and mostly finished marine start(Station Reception):
<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new4/calamus_ms_done.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Random node(completely new):
<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new4/calamus_node.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

And last, the so far overview:
<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new4/calamus_overview.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Please give comments. I need all the feedback I can get. Thanks

BobTheJanitor · September 2004

Nice. Map in general looks pretty clean. Hives are nice and infested. Sort of a lack of any real nice eyecatching details, but it's still WIP of course, so no fault there. The layout is promising and could lead to some good games without being too terribly complex and hard to learn. Keep it up.

Grizzly · September 2004

exelent kabeln <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />

Bizzy · September 2004

I would love to play a map like that any day of the week.

I really hate how most ns maps have a little brown on the walls here and there and then thats what defines the aliens and their hive. You have some nice dark creepy spots on the map that would actually make the marines put use to the flashlight for once and give aliens some early game stealth <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />

Great work =)

:: ps Bizzy loves dark maps that remind him of the movie aliens >.>

MrRadicalEd · September 2004

It's looking nice, Kabelen. The only thing I noticed that looked a tiny bit off is in the third picture where the large pipe goes down in to the floor. The edges of the floor that go down just suddenly drop down without any transition. Maybe a small beveling upwards with the infestation texture(as if it was leaking down with the floor) or some small kind of guard rail thing.

Samah · September 2004

One thing that stuck out like a sore thumb for me - in the third pic (the one showing the hive) the pipe could use some texture alignment. Where the pipe bends in an elbow shape, it seems the bottom of it is off by about 4 or 5 texels.

Another thing I thought I'd mention is the lighting in that shot of the hive. The texlights you have on the steps look too... clean. Suggestion: put some random infestation over them if you have the spare entities and see what that looks like. Same thing goes for the pipe itself.

Marine spawn looking very classy. Architecture reminds me of caged and delta, lighting is in a class of its own.

Keep up the good work <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />

MasterG · September 2004

MrRadicalEd: I'll make that railing you're talking about and give the "hole" som architechture aswell.

Samah: The texture isn't misaligned, it just repeats too many times, I will scale it up.
About the infestation, I would need a working transparent infestation texture. The one that comes with ns/ns2 .wad is fu***d up.

Keep the comments coming!

Edit: typos..

MarcosLostPW · September 2004

This map just gets better and better.
GJ~~

tommyd · September 2004

looks like this is coming out pretty well. the only thing that sticks out is that everything seems too 'blue'. some different colored texs/lights would be good.

Thaldarin · September 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (tommyd @ Sep 21 2004, 08:28 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> looks like this is coming out pretty well. the only thing that sticks out is that everything seems too 'blue'. some different colored texs/lights would be good.  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
To add from that I think there is a lack of light variation in colour and contrast.

MasterG · September 2004

Thanks guys.
I'll see what I can do about the colours. Any suggestions of other colours I could use? Green? Yellow? Pink? Purple? I need some help. Or, I can test it myself, see what looks good, what does not.
I'll see if I can get a compile done tomorrow.

All the things that I said I would do earlier are now done and I've made a new way out of the newest hive and I am atm. working on the room outside the hive.

TyrNemesis · September 2004

Remember that instead of creating dark rooms, use sharp texture and lighting contrast which makes a room feel dark without making people blind when they're inside it. True darkness hurts aliens more than it hurts marines, as aliens have no flashlight right now. What's more, dark areas will be much darker on some computers than on others, and many people who play competetively don't even know what a dark room is.

Overall, the non-infested areas of your map remind me too much of ns_ayumi. In most cases that'd be a great compliment, but for the sake of variation it's not. Try to adapt your style so it has your own fingerprint and people think "ns_calamus" instead of "the one map that reminds me of ayumi"

As far as suggestions for how to do that: Pick a door texture other than door_h-b. Vent2 is perhaps one of the most overused trim textures for lining a doorway. While that combination may contrast well with a predominately blue map, why not innovate a bit and find something else that works?

Also, the one hive room you posted a picture of might look awesome with a few "lumps" of infestation in the floor or a rounding of the hole in the middle (as if the carpet has grown around it rather than straight into it.)

moultano · September 2004

if you remove every instance of that trn texture, I can guarantee you the map will look a lot more realistic. No sane engineer puts lights like that right next to the floor, or as the kickboards on stairs! <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />

TyrNemesis · September 2004

I would walk around after a bad day at work kicking them out just because I'm a jerk. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

SamR · September 2004

I love your infested bits, they look totally cool!

Samah · September 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Kabelen @ Sep 21 2004, 10:28 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>About the infestation, I would need a working transparent infestation texture. The one that comes with ns/ns2 .wad is fu***d up.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
I assume you mean the ones with blue background?
They don't work properly because:
a) They don't begin with { and for halflife to recognize it as having a color key I believe it is required.
b) The blue is blurred in with the actual infestation so once the 0,0,255 blue is removed, you get lovely blue outlines.

Instead, use the one with the black background. Just make it a func_illusionary with Solid/255 like you would any.

MasterG · September 2004

Thanks for all comments and help. New 5 pictured update.
I updated the hive, and now I think you guys will like it, it is a bit bright, but that will be fixed asap.

Hive in 3 different angles(1st pic is the other way in(from the one way in showed earlier))

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new4/calamus_updtdhive1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new4/calamus_updtdhive2.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new4/calamus_updtdhive3.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

I fixed alittle on the trim from ns_caged, and ehm:

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new4/calamus_newtrim.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Found an other door texture:

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new4/calamus_newdoor.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Currently I'm tweaking the lighting, and these pics are prolly not correct with the gamma and so on. I will show you pics with correct gamma as soon as I have tweaked the lighting so I'm happy with it.

That's all for now.

Varathar · September 2004

Hmm.. It's looking good.
Only notice would be "flashlight" looks terrible.

MasterG · September 2004

Yeah I know the flashlight looks terrible, I need a model. That was just to add a bit more athmosphere to the room.
I'm happy with the lighting tweak now.. So:::

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/tweaked_lights/calamus_lighttweak1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/tweaked_lights/calamus_lighttweak2.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/tweaked_lights/calamus_lighttweak3.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/tweaked_lights/calamus_lighttweak4.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/tweaked_lights/calamus_lighttweak5.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Screenshot nr. 4 shows it best. And the "white" lights in the hive room there, they will be removed, as they made the room too lightened up.
All for now.

MarcosLostPW · September 2004

I dig the new lighting~ Only thing that would look better was if you got some more diffrent light coulours in the same room

Varathar · September 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Kabelen @ Sep 26 2004, 09:12 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Yeah I know the flashlight looks terrible, I need a model. That was just to add a bit more athmosphere to the room.
I'm happy with the lighting tweak now.. So:::

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/tweaked_lights/calamus_lighttweak2.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Screenshot nr. 4 shows it best. And the "white" lights in the hive room there, they will be removed, as they made the room too lightened up.
All for now.</td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
Maybe hive needs slightly orange light. Top of picture on that salient.

<b>MarcosLostPW:</b> Nah. I like it that way..

MasterG · September 2004

Thanks for comments.. I've been a bit too busy the last days, so I haven't been able to post anything before now.
I will do whatever I can do with the lighting in that hive, I'll have to test what works and what does not work.
I also have 4 new screenshots, 2 screens of rooms/areas that are done, and 2 screens of the latest WIP areas.

The finished areas:

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new5/calamus_newroom1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new5/calamus_newroom2.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

The WIP areas:

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new5/calamus_wiproom1.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/new5/calamus_wiproom2.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

That's all for now. Please give me feedback on what can be changed. I need it, as I has allways said.

Rendy_CZech · September 2004

The map is great, nice ideas and details there but emm.... ehmmm... ummm... em... I don't want to be 3vil, but emm... it's only another Aymi... sorry it's nasty but it's true <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused-fix.gif' />

MasterG · September 2004

Well, my main inspiration was ayumi, besides some other maps that I don't want to mention <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />
I can't help it. Too late to change style at 55% complete IMO. I can assure you, next map, no copy of any other map.
(PS: I have higher ceilings than ayumi, and no outdoors area <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />)

Rendy_CZech · September 2004

Yeah, changing style at 55% is idiocy <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />. Thinking about it while, I've realized there is nothing bad on your Ayumi style. Better than overused wall_lab textureset <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' />

Must admit, my map is only mix of ns_bast, ns_nancy and ns_metal <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /> , but I have nice ideas for my next map (combat)

MasterG · September 2004

Thanks dude..

(/me is thinking: yet another mind twisted around to believe me <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />)

I'll work on this as much as I can. Several areas that have already been made is going through tweakage before I go on with new areas and designing the rest of the map layout. I haven't even drawn the 3rd last part of the layout <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

Keep the comments coming <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' />

Crispy · September 2004

Ive come up of a lsit of things for you to get busy on:

- Draw the 3rd part of the layout!

- Make the 3rd part of the layout!

That's about all I could come up with. Me likes!

Oh wait one more thing, overhead shot of layout so far please, either map or ccmode.

MasterG · September 2004

I'll draw the 3rd part as soon as I have made the 1st part <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /> the 2nd part didn't come out as planned, but it's finished, only the tweakings left there.
I have also found out that I'm gonna edit some textures to make the floor not so repetetive.
Also, I'm going away this weekend. And that pisses me off as I would have a lot of time this weekend to work on the map.

raqualevangel · September 2004

i like what i see.

Krad · September 2004

Ooooh, sexy. Some of the areas are a little dark though, but overall, it looks pretty good! Keep up the good work!

MasterG · October 2004

Someone asked for an overview so far.. Nothing much new for the overview really.. I've stashed it up with where things are located(nodes etc.)

<img src='http://home.no/kabelen/pictures/calamus/calamus50percent.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

Ns_calamus

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