Ns_quarry

WarpZone · November 2002

<div class="IPBDescription">I'm actually using NS textures this time</div> Rejoice! I finally thought of an idea for a map that uses the default textures without being a complete rip of the default maps. I give you ns_quarry, a map taking place in a mine on an asteroid.

The asteroid mining colony has an artificial atmosphere, so sections of the map can take place (sort of) outdoors.

I'm going to try a few experimental things with this map. Wish me luck!

<a href='http://warpzone.cust.nearlyfreespeech.net/halflife/graphics/ns_quarry0003.jpg' target='_blank'><img src='http://warpzone.cust.nearlyfreespeech.net/halflife/graphics/ns_quarry0003t.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'></a>
<a href='http://warpzone.cust.nearlyfreespeech.net/halflife/graphics/ns_quarry0003.jpg' target='_blank'>Marine Spawn: Loading Dock</a>

BiTMAP · November 2002

not bad <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'> but don't be afriad to use HL defualt textures..

Director · November 2002

excellent looking so far. odd cuz i was gonna do a map called quarry, but then i saw a map called mines and i changed my idea. but your map looks sweet and keep it up.

chubbysteve · November 2002

Very nice. So thats three maps on the go now then Warpzone:
A quarry
A museum
A Luxury Liner

realityisdead · November 2002

Looks great, warpzone. I really like the design of the concrete structure there. (I love thick support cords like that!) It has a really massive feeling to it.

Even with the railings, I'm having a hard time getting a sense of scale... but the room does obviously have quite a bit of open air in it. Regardless of how this might impact the gameplay (I'm focusing on just the visuals here), filling up space like this with large pieces of geometry usually helps things look even better.

Might I suggest some more similarily styled concrete structures coming out of the cliff face there, only with a vertical focus.

A couple more things that came to mind were:

-The rock face there could use a bit of variation.

-The red lense flares. I bet they could look better if they were a tad bit more translucent.

-Lighting: I'm not particularily fond of Green and Red lighting combinations, heh. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'> The lighting is good as-is, but I bet it might look better with a different combination of lighting colors. Dunno, experimentation is the key here. Mess around with different combinations, and you might find something you like even better.

WarpZone · November 2002

<b>BiTMAP-</b> It was a very big step to start using NS textures... don't rush me. Curing a person of wadfatheritis takes time, you know... but I'm making progress. One wad at a time.

<b>Director-</b> Glad you like it. If you have any leftover mine shaft ideas you didn't use, feel free to PM 'em to me. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'>

<b>chubbysteve-</b> Yup, those are my maps in progress, all right.

<b>ken20banks-</b> Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep them in mind. I'm going to skew the cliff face a bit more so it looks jagged and stuff, but I'll be doing that gradually in a series of stages so I can make sure it won't mess up skulks too badly.

Near as I can tell, an area this big will give the marines a bit of a range advantage, which would be bad in the middle of the map but should be okay for the marine base. The cavern walls may allow some interesting skulk play, as well.

I'm torn on whether or not to build structures under the platform where lerks could perch. The thing is if you get a lerk down there, the marines kinda CAN'T attack him. I wouldn't mind him making raids from under there, cuz he could get shot up pretty easily, but a lerk under there could cause massive havok with spore cloud. Then again, that wouldn't come into play till the endgame so maybe it would be okay after all... I'm unsure at this point.

Omega1 · November 2002

Just make sure to put everything in there as though it had a purpose, such as vents and the like. Say if you were to put a vent to the Marine Spawn there, I'd put it up and left of the door if your looking at it from the marine spawn, and add a little to the outside, just to give it that feel that it was there to pump out stuffy air or something. Good mapping to you <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'>

BiTMAP · November 2002

Try useing triangle brushes for the cliff
you can make it AMAZINGly detailed with a low r_count and good FPS as well as it doesn't screw up if you walk on it...

WarpZone · November 2002

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (BiTMAP @ Dec 1 2002, 02:15 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Try useing triangle brushes for the cliff
you can make it AMAZINGly detailed with a low r_count and good FPS as well as it doesn't screw up if you walk on it...</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
Wow, really? I didn't know that... I'll have to <a href='http://warpzone.cust.nearlyfreespeech.net/halflife/graphics/svenslug1.png' target='_blank'>*cough*</a> try that some time.

Psycho-Kinetic_Hyper-Geek · November 2002

There only seems to be one way in.

scioskulk · December 2002

<span style='font-size:8pt;line-height:100%'>Like, I do. I have one suggestion however. Perhaps add a small bit of cover on each of the green-lighted "platforms"-- just enough cover for a fade or marine to duck behind.

I'm going to suppose the CC is located in another room along with a different starting resource node.</span>

BiTMAP · December 2002

mmmm nice rock face <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'>

WarpZone · December 2002

Thanks. That shot in the cough was from a SvenCoop map I couldn't finish due to exceeding the max_planes limit. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='sad.gif'>

I updated the screenshot with a new version showing off some more detailed cliffs. The only problem is, you're wrong, BiTMAP, these things are TERRIBLE for skulks to climb on! <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='sad.gif'>

evoLvingeviL · December 2002

Swifty! Very swifty indeed. I'll wait for some more screenies before opening my mouth in a torrent of suggestions, but:

The platform with the res node looks a little plain. I suggest:
- 'Stuff' around the edges for marine/alien cover... crates or cylinders that look like 'res containers' or sumpin.
- Pipes or tubes?
- Just some random metal bumps.
- Small holes or grates in the floor showing the darkness beneath the platform!
- Make it a double node. Might give the Marines too much advantage if the area is generally not Alien-accessible, though...

BiTMAP · December 2002

Its his marine spawn room isnt it??

WarpZone · December 2002

Yeah. I'm gonna add another entrance and a *couple* pieces of cargo.

I may need to scrap the concept though, because skulks can't climb the fancy cliff faces. =/

blueman · December 2002

oh my GOD! really nice. I tried something like that in Nirvana but wasnt very happy with the result, but yours looks amazing. I really like it. The main problem i see is the. how to say....., well, it looks more like an asteroid than like a planet, and you must think about the lerk here. You will have to put some glass or somethiong like that to protect that area from lerks just flying into the rocks. just look tanith. Well. i like it. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='wink.gif'>.

DjArcas · December 2002

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (blueman @ Dec 2 2002, 02:41 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>You will have to put some glass or somethiong like that to protect that area from lerks just flying into the rocks</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
Why? it's quite funny seeing a lerk get up to it's full speed then bounce off of a rock race and kill them selves with worldspawn.

muahahah.

WarpZone · December 2002

I worked out a way to make cliff faces that skulks can walk on easily (thought they do have to mouselook while walking to follow the angle of the wall, or they'll fall off.) Basically, instead of making it out of triangles, I make it out of diamonds (actually 4-sided pyramids with the top of the pyramid pointing in towards the center of the room) so that each convex angle on the wall consists of a single brush. It's okay for a concave angle to be made up fo 2 seperate brushes (indeed, there is no other way to make a concave angle in HL) but a convex angle made from 2 purshes stuck together always causes clipping problems like an invisible wall that blocks the player's movement.

I'm glad I was able to solve the problem. The walls might be a little bit less detailed now, because I have to follow certian rules to make all the convex angles be diamonds, but it's better than the skulks getting blocked all the time by invisible obstructions.

KungFuSquirrel · December 2002

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (WarpZone @ Dec 4 2002, 03:27 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>but a convex angle made from 2 purshes stuck together always causes clipping problems like an invisible wall that blocks the player's movement.</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
This does not -always- happen, and can be best repaired by, believe it or not, random slight vertex adjustments on the problematic edges.

WarpZone · December 2002

Yeah I've experienced that, particularly when working on that ill-fated SvenCoop map, but in this case there were clipping problems EVERYWHERE in the cliffs in that screenshot, so I worked out a different method of making the cliffs. I also brought the walls together at the bottom to form a floor, which A) looks more realistic than a "bottomless pit, and 2) Catches skulks who do manage to fall off the walls and &) makes the map seem smaller and more enclosed. Less like a planet; more like an asteroid.

Thank you, KungFuSquirrel.

evoLvingeviL · December 2002

Sounds nifty.

Screenie! Gimme a screenie!

<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='tounge.gif'>

Sephiroth2k · December 2002

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (BiTMAP @ Dec 1 2002, 01:19 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>not bad <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'> but don't be afriad to use HL defualt textures..</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
be afraid... be very afraid...

HellNinjaCommando · December 2002

ACK! my map idea! x-P

Pod · December 2002

for an enginerring / phyisics point of view : would those wire cables actually help? D:

also, very nice, a small cave in the cliff would be nice for the odd lerk attack <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' valign='absmiddle' alt='smile.gif'>

WarpZone · December 2002

Excellent question! There's gonna be big metal beams embedded in the rock that actually <i>support</i> the platform. The cables are just there as an afterthought to distribute the stress more evenly into the rock face.

Also, I've updated the screenshot.

CaptainPanaka · January 2003

any news, yet?

I'm really looking forward to playing this map. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'>

Revenant · January 2003

personally i like the idea, and the way its executed just . . . i can't lay my finger on it, we need something else more ns like, maybe a pipe or crate?

Ns_quarry

Comments