Black all the way Blister. It makes it look very stylish, and portrays that idea of the evil villain base. I love the design.

I actually totally forgot about this thread altogether. But now I shall utilize it.

Behold!:

This was supposed to be part of my competition entry for round 2 of the "map from base" competition, but due to certain events and regardless of the week extension, I was unable to finish it . However, I do plan to complete it; for I have some interesting ideas to include in it, so now that some of these events are out of the way, I may continue to complete this map as planned, just a week or two overdue.

What do you think I could do to better up that "core?"

Well, that "ceiling" is actually the underside of a bridge, so those are trusses holding it up over the canal. It is a human scene with Combine architecture overlaid on top. I think what I'm going for here, if I don't leave this scene "as is," is a purpose for existence that portrays a Combine scene under construction. We always saw in HL2 all these Combine structures that were just there! Well after playing EP1 you could see while in the citadel, that these aren't just solid walls of metal. They have pipes and wires within them and they can burn, and blow up! So, it may be that these structures could (and have according to what I've read) just appear out of nowhere, but I would like to show the player a Combine structure "under construction."

The detail isn't ripe enough yet to portray that idea within these pictures, but if I have the drive (and the time) I'd like to give purpose to this scene. Otherwise I guess it just looks like another cool Combine "place"

I have read tutorials on those cool refraction shader effects. Never tried it mind you, but I could understand what they were doing. But you're right, Now could never be a better time to learn!

Thanks for the feedback reaper!