(Beta) ff_advantage (beta1 screens July 30,2006)

[o_sokrateas]

Ahoy, you can follow the original thread for this map at http://forums.fortress-forever.com/s...ead.php?t=4148 . That thread will more or less cover the concept of the gameplay, now to show you what I have.

I've gotten to a point now with this map where most of the architecture is done and I'm working on propping, lighting, and optimization. This map is about 70% complete I would say, minus all of the ff entity programming I will have to do to pull it off, but that should be simple being a comp sci major. Of course the textures are place-holders but this brick for the red team was about as close as I could get to anything worth showing, hope you enjoy it. I'm fully aware of the majority of things that are wrong with it so far, and there is a fair amount of work to be done still, but what I need from you guys is some suggestions for the certain areas i.e.) What you would like to see added or removed, or what you like. I'll take the community feedback and put it back into the map. Anyhow I do ask that you please read the captions on the photos so you can save the thread from rhetorical critique.

The flag-room. This shot is taken from just above where the flag will be. This room still feels a little bland to me, and I'm hoping to add something to it to really jazz it up. That flat piece of concrete smack dab in the middle of the shot is where the red team logo will be placed. The crate room connects to this room.



Another flag-room photo, flag location on right, taken from just above the stairwell entrance. I feel the same way about this one as the last, needs new lighting, or softer reds...



The crate-room, what good map doesn't have some sort of crate room? Not enough maps these days anyhow. Pretty standard right now, I'll be jazzing up the ceiling, and adding a conc area that will lead to the flag room, so that scouts can avoid any sort of spam fest in here.



The ramp-room. There were quite a few shader glitches in this room on all the curves, so the Screenshot doesn't do it much justive, but you can sort of see what I'm trying to pull off here.



One of the stairwells, these bad boys are going to be solldier dreams, but a wide corridor will allow for a skilled offence to get by without any problems. There are three of these in each base. There is still a lot of detail that needs to be added here.



What all of you snipers will be seeing a lot of. From the sniper deck you get your first glimpse of the battlements, and the mid-field base. There are some shading issues again on a few of my rocks, that will be looked into. The blue glow is a place holder for the gates that I will be adding. (The advantage 'mid-base' is in early development stages).



Red's battlements, another shot of the mid-base and battlements.



The front of Red's base, I redesigned this front base 3 or 4 times until I got something that was decent. I'm a little unhappy that it looks a little bit 'carnival-esque' but I'm hoping that some texture changes should clear that up. 3 Entrances, front door, side entrance, or water entrance. All three connect to the ramproom in some way, some safer than the others.



A preliminary look at the 'advantage base'. Standing from the button bunker, looking down at the plaza. The disadvantaged heavy players will be flodding out of the middle area on the right there, and the scouts/meds will be coming over the walls in the middle of the picture there. (Gate will be added soon).



The Underground side tunnel. This area is where all of the heavy traffic will be coming through, If it gets a little too spamtastic in here in playtesting I'll be opening this up quite a bit more, with a second level most likely. Much darker than I wanted, but we'll fix that too.



Overview shots. The next two shots are shots far above my map, just to sort of give you the idea of what layout I'm going for, keep in mind that there is no blue base added yet.





Hope I get SOME positive feedback on these, I've put a fair amount of time into it so far. But please let me know what you think.

[Circuitous]

IF YOUR SCREENSHOTS ARE HUGE, USE TEXT LINKS. THANK YOU.

[o_oblivion]

Your map looks like it will be pretty awsome, keep up the good work!

[o_own3r]

Im interested, is it possible to have a spiral ramp without having stairs?

One posability is using displacements maybe using the stairs as a template, are there alternative (quicker) methods just using brushwork?

[o_sokrateas]

Turning it into a ramp was something I'm considering, perhaps a rocky type ramp with slight bumps, might contrast well with the concrete etc.

PS. ScreenShot resolution size has been corrected.

[o_bumgravy]

Lookin veyr cool so far, i like your architecture and style! Heres my comments:

Pics 1 +2:
Like the architecture, dont like the lighting. I would use slightly less lights, space them out more but make them brighter. Also remember to skybrush your windows and add a light_environment. remember to map the small bits of roof outside the windows - as you can see in the second pic, you can see "through" the roof. I would put lightbeam effects coming through the window too, with some dustmotes maybe.
Pic 3:
Ahhhhh, boxes of stuff! Putting crates in is just lazy mapping, you should turn this room into something more interesting. Also, those lights on the walls ae double-sided, so put more light ents on top so they shine up, too.
Pic 4:
this is what im talking about, this room looks cool. One thing i noticed - can a player get stuck in that gap in the centre of the image, between the curved stairs and the wall beside it?
Thi room again needs sky outside for environmental light.
Pic 5:
Dont know whats going on here, it looks like its snowing. Use dustmotes with beams of light for better effect, like in windows or under spotlights. Use func_illusionary brush with vol_light texture, shape the brush how you want the beam of light, this effect looks really cool. Not much to say other than that... Some stairs.
Pic 6+7:
Really liking the architecture, i think it will look awesome when retextured. I like your displacements and texturing for the ground, and the rocks blend in nicely. Its cool how youve managed to make it look so Fortress!
Pic 8:
Same here, really liking what you decided for your base design. The only thing i would say is the wheel on the left should be the same size as the one on the right, if you need the door blocked by rocks you should still have the wheel but half-submerge it in rock, so you can still see the shape.
Pic 9:
I think this area looks really cool, i can imagine having some cool fights around these parts. You can see the layout better in the last image, looks good.
Pic 10,11,12:
Cant say much about the caves til you get the lghting sorted.
The layouts looking interesting, i didnt really follow what you meant in the original thread, but im starting to get the idea now. I like the lighting theme you have running through the map, and the architecture is all top-notch.

Hope you can get some use out of my ramblings!

[o_sokrateas]

Thanks a lot for the feedback there. Some useful suggestions, I'll definitely change that crate room if there is enough people who think it should be done. They're non-destroyable so that's why I thought I could get away with it. I'll be taking the rest of your comments to work as well.

Thanks

[o_bumgravy]

Well if your going to have a crate room you should make it a crazy crate room - put in scaffolding and a crane with suspended crates, make a hole in the floor for vehicles coming in for loading or something. This is source, we no longer have to make do with low-poly crate rooms!

[o_sokrateas]

Yeah, you're pretty much dead on, I just got lazy is all... LoL, I'll pimp that area out then.

[o_addicted to morphine]

At such an early stage I'd really appreciate screenshots of about 100k, especially since they're hotlinked.

I have a crappy connection at the moment and it's been 10 minutes with only half the screenshots loaded... not really optimal for giving feedback.

In general, I love the original look of the exteriors, and I think you have some really good displacement work with the rocks and other organic areas. The insides I'm not so happy with. I don't know if its the texture choice, or the cramped feeling, especially in the flag room. If everything is so tightly packed in the FR, concing gets harder.

[o_kam]

bit dark
up the constant or quadratic

[o_alligator]

Map looks great, I hope the gameplay is up with the level of the looks as well. It doesn't look anything dark to me, but it could be the brightness of my monitor.

[o_coalesce]

love your game play idea from the previous thread. the map is looking very good but there's still a lot of work to be done. in pic 4 (ramproom... LOVE ramprooms!) you have one main set of stairs leading up to a platform with one set of stairs to the right and one to the left. the right set seems to lead up into another room (correct?) but the left set doesn't appear to go anywhere? i may be seeing it wrong? fill me in or maybe post a new shot from a new angle so i (or we if im not alone) can see where this thing leads...

[o_sokrateas]

The left side leads to the Sniper deck and to the side-outdoor entrance.

[o_coalesce]

Originally Posted by sokrateas

The left side leads to the Sniper deck and to the side-outdoor entrance.

gotcha thanks

[o_sacred]

Thats probably the best map ive seen here, though you seem to be repeating the stairs type architecture everywhere.

It might need to be streamlined a little to make it flow better. But looking good

[o_nalf]

I love the architecture, its got a kind of wolfenstineish futuristic fortress feel to it.

Reminds me of some of eschers drawings also in parts, really cool mate.

[o_war peanut]

This map is making me horny for FF

[o_player]

Nice work, Sokrateas. I really like the look of your overall map, I especially like looking at the last screenshot; it just looks very unique and interesting. At the moment I can't really comment on much. Although there are a few questionable areas. Those gaint sniper rifle beams you call lights are far too strong in my opinion, you should try altering the strength of the lights but this is all down to you. When looking at them they do currently add something to the areas at which they have been added, but they do look a little over-the-top. Also, from looking at screenshot 5, I have noticed that those stairs look gigantic. They appear to be the size of a wild boar :P It may just be the perspective, the distance from the steps and the FOV all contributing to this effect but they just look abnormally large I also think you should sort a specific bit of fencing demonstrated in the image coming up:



In this image, I have also brightened it a bit to see what it would look and feel like a bit brighter. You are, however, the decision maker so I shall leave that up to you

Again, nice looking work and I will comment on it with greater detail if you release a beta

[o_sokrateas]

I was hoping no one would notice that bit of fence. LOL, oh well, I was definitely considering removing it, then it got into a balancing act as far as the right side goes... I 100% agree with the red lights being over powered, and those are something I will definitely be editing. I felt that the base didn't have enough 'color specific' identifiers so I just threw in some quick lights to give the idea. As far as the stair-well goes, they are enormous. What it works out to is a semi-circle with a width of 256 units. The entire room is stairs. I think when I make them look pretty and you can run around in them, you'll see what I'm trying to go for here.

Thanks for all the great feedback guys.