Snarkpit Forum Index » Maps » dm_ortho
dm_ortho
« previous page 1
2
Post Reply
Quote
 Re: dm_ortho
Posted by Campaignjunkie on Fri Jun 10th at 5:16am 2005

Sorry if I'm a bit blunt, but here's my appraisal:
Way too dark for multiplayer and kind of boring (visually). I suggest finding a real, definitive theme that anyone can look at and say "Wow, that definitely looks like a ____ !" As of now, it just looks like a fog-filled concrete bunker. Why is there fog there in the first place?

Emphasis on gameplay is great and everything, but it is all ultimately useless if it isn't visually interesting enough to engage the player! Visuals have a lot to do with gameplay - people respond to lighting cues (red maintenance lights for vents in Natural Selection, for example) and architectural cues, and need strong definitive visual landmarks to navigate a map easily.

Looks like you have a good grasp of the editor, now you just need to branch out more!




Quote
 Re: dm_ortho
Posted by Bl1tz on Fri Jun 10th at 8:53am 2005

? quote:
Sorry if I'm a bit blunt, but here's my appraisal:
Way too dark for multiplayer and kind of boring (visually). I suggest finding a real, definitive theme that anyone can look at and say "Wow, that definitely looks like a ____ !" As of now, it just looks like a fog-filled concrete bunker. Why is there fog there in the first place?

Emphasis on gameplay is great and everything, but it is all ultimately useless if it isn't visually interesting enough to engage the player! Visuals have a lot to do with gameplay - people respond to lighting cues (red maintenance lights for vents in Natural Selection, for example) and architectural cues, and need strong definitive visual landmarks to navigate a map easily.

Looks like you have a good grasp of the editor, now you just need to branch out more!


I appreicate you taking the time to comment.

First the fog is coming off the slime...to give it a chemical nastiness. Secondly, I've never believed in making maps that are definite pieces of architecture -- I like to let the player use their imagination instead of sucking at the teat of obviousness. I'm not a big fan of emphasis on realism in recent games, and I think HL2 was a good platform to map for, because the game did an excellent job of blending real with surreal, and I sort of hoped to do that with this map instead of making dm_WALMART or whatever.




Quote
 Re: dm_ortho
Posted by Campaignjunkie on Fri Jun 10th at 9:57pm 2005

I disagree. Maps have to have definite themes, and communicate that (visually) to the player. For something to be surrealistic, it needs something realistic to compare it to. The Citadel looks strange only because it is compared to the rest of City 17. If it was a Citadel on, say, a barren alien planet, then it would obviously have a very different effect than in City 17. I feel that some degree of realism is needed as a "control" for surrealism.

Imagine you're trying to pitch the theme of your level to someone in a single sentence. How would you pitch this map's theme? It's vague, ambiguous, and ultimately uninteresting as a result. I'm not saying it has to be a realistic place, it just has to be a specific place.




Quote
 Re: dm_ortho
Posted by Addicted to Morphine on Sat Jun 11th at 3:34am 2005

I gave your map a runaround and I don't think the theme is as ambiguous as the screenshots may suggest. It definitely felt like a dirty, stench-ridden, waste processing plant from the moment I spawned. Some of the architecture was nice (the central room and the fan room come to mind) and while it seems fairly simple in the screenshots, its not too dark nor too boring. It's just not flashy and sunny like a map like dm_island. I think you did a good job with it, and I hope to be able to play it sometime to see how the gameplay holds up... there seemed to be a lot of potential for vertical combat.





« previous page 1
2
Post Reply