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Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 9:14 am
by fug4life
Hi, glad your still working away.
From the screenshots I've seen, I'd recommened the following:
The map really looks bare and your texture choices really contrast against one another rather than blend with each other. Take the time to load up some heavily combine themed maps and find out what those sexy textures are and use them in a similar fashion. oc_broken_escape, and hl2 citadel maps. But even where there is small combine influence in the room, I still think you're choices are a little off putting.
Corridors and rooms need to have more geometrey, i.e grates with pipes running under the floors. Columms and struts to break up the walls, ceilings need alot of attention, dont be affraid to cut the brushes up and add new areas intot he same room. Just try to break up the four walls so that there is more depth.
Lighting in some areas is a bit too strong, make the lighting more subtle, less bright and lower tones of the colours you have in use.
Finally, cram more combine themed models in the heavily combine looking areas, and stick to normal models in less combined areas, blend here and there your choices of models.
Thats about it, really, you need to invest more time in, lighting, texturing, geometry.
Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2010 1:53 pm
by Andrax17
fug4life wrote:
The map really looks bare and your texture choices really contrast against one another rather than blend with each other.
Lighting in some areas is a bit too strong, make the lighting more subtle, less bright and lower tones of the colours you have in use.
Thats about it, really, you need to invest more time in, lighting, texturing, geometry.
ah no one reads the thing i said before the pics
about lightning being like that temporarely so i dont need to play the map on fullbright, so the lights are just half scattered only in a way that i can see something without fullbright.
I also said that textures are temporary and that im doing the final texturing at the end.
Otherwise your instructions are great.
Re: oc_c-facility
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 1:56 pm
by Andrax17
while ive been pretty much out of ideas for my map for a while now (mostly been redoing the areas ive already made, to make them look better) i finally suddenly got idea on how i want the first part of the map to be like.. the story of the map also changed a bit
here is some story/details that i wrote when immediately when i got the ideas to my head (some minor details in story can change at some point)
► Show Spoiler
Code: Select all
-Combine Fortress-
The Combine Fortess is combines main supply and research site on earth, its top priority is to send supplies
to Combine forces on surface via underground passage ways.
Combines also research and study different alien techonlogies in the fortress, but according to rebel spies,
Combines main research centers around this pitch black, or alternatively, pure white material.
Its pretty much unknown what that material is, but it seems to be mostly referred as "Dark/Light Crystal"
which seems to be the main power source of the entire fortress.
Rebel's have been trying to destroy the fortress for months, without any progress. The area around the fortress
has been a battleground for a long time now, while rebels have been lacking troops, Combines are constantly getting more.
Its rebels top priority to get inside the fortress and shutdown the fortess supply center and the main
Crystal reactor.
Some spies have managed to enter the fortress, but due to their low access levels, they never got underground, where everything important is.
But they have managed to hack some terminals, providing rebels with somewhat unfinished blueprint's of the fortress.
The blueprints only provides minimal information of the fortress, since the consoles on low access areas have very limited information.
in the first part of the (possibly 2 map series) involves players starting in a small rebel outpost and your objective is to reach the Combine Fortress and gain access inside of it. Meanwhile, you will encounter rebels fighting against combines at various points in the map, im trying to make it feel like rebels having constant fight against combines everywhere on the map.
So far, im planning on having lives on the map, and unrespawnable weapons, to add more to the "realism", so its good to share the equipment you find.
here is some pics of the redone parts of the actual fortress map (added more detail and such)
► Show Spoiler
the cooling tank room
here is how it looked before
► Show Spoiler
and thats the warehouse part (at the end of the elevator ride)
(the texturing of this room will change before the map is released)
and here is how that looked before
Re: oc_c-facility
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:37 pm
by Shana
use env_lightglows for those fluorescent lights, point_spotlights just look sooo wrong.
Re: oc_c-facility
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 2:52 pm
by Andrax17
oh, didnt know about that entity before, thanks, its changed now.
Re: oc_c-facility
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 3:18 pm
by Gary
I often used a mix of
env_sprite 
s(about 4) and a
point_spotlight (wide angle). I was too lazy to learn
env_lightglow .
HDR made my sprites even bigger, so I do recommend learning how to use lightglow.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9342075/tunnel0009.jpg
Your combine architecture needs a good amount of work, look at the maps in HL2, combine don't live in giant boxes. Also, human computers? :/
Cooling room needs to look more like a room devoted to keeping the tanks cool, yours look like they just tossed a tank in a computer room.
Re: oc_c-facility
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 4:51 pm
by Andrax17
i am quite aware of the insides lacking combineish architecture, doing large changes to the map now would require lots of work and redoing of almost entire map, so im most probably going to do and finish part 1 now..and redo the entire fortress from scratch. and the cooling thing, eheh..it actually makes sense in where it is now, if you would think what i think, but it doesent matter. (because from that room, to the room below it, i really havent figured out the use for them yet.. the purpose of both the cooling room/tanks and room below it has changed many times...)
my way of doing maps in the fortress part is really crappy, which took some time for me to realize, but it was too late to start doing changes to the old one. which is why im most probably redoing the entire map.
Re: oc_c-facility
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 5:18 pm
by Gary
Just giving my input on the map, take it or leave it. I honestly would redo my entire map if I could make it drastically better, but that is just me.
Good luck with it, as long as it plays better then it looks it people will like it.
(Sorry if I sound harsh)
Re: oc_c-facility
Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 5:29 pm
by fug4life
I like point_spot lights even if they aren't realistic, though having to use two stands out as being wrong (say's me, warmachine is full of them).
What would be cool is the option to increase the width from its stupidly small number (I'm sure its limited to something like 32 or 64 or something).
I've gone off the use of env_glows, prefer sprites.
Re: oc_c-facility
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 9:30 am
by AsG1Alligator
Yeah I agree with fug... These bare walls look a bit... odd. Some details needed. As for the cooling tank room, tank itself looks good but these computers... Get crazy, look at citadel design than add some details: combine pipes etc.
Re: oc_c-facility
Posted: Tue Dec 14, 2010 11:20 am
by Gary
If you don't want to, you could lend the vmf to me so I could *attempt to* pretty it up a bit. I would understand if you don't want to, just offering.
Re: oc_c-facility
Posted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:46 pm
by Andrax17
im going to stop developing this map for now, maybe forever, but im not planning on continuing with it anytime soon..instead of it, im currently planning, doing story and details for another OC map.
If anyone by some chance would actually want the .vmf of this map, i could give it.
The alarm i made specifically for this map (the Pray style alarm) is something im going to clean up a bit and probably release to the prefabs section soonish.
Re: oc_c-facility [Development stopped]
Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2011 2:54 am
by Axel_m3sh
Hmmm, I'd like the .vmf if you don't mind
I'd like to give a shot a re-detailing some stuff here and there but keep overall gameplay the same as the original.
Basically a graphics update lol but I don't plan on starting on it soon because of IRL stuff (so busy D:)
Either way, may I have the .vmf? If I ever get down to updating it, I'll keep ya under creds
(you did like 99% work here XD)
edit: After finishing my huge school project, I feel like dedicating some time for mapping each day. That one pic I left in the chatbox sold for like 50$ when I put it on a 18x24in posterboard
