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The Zoo
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 Re: The Zoo
Posted by MisterBister on Sun Nov 4th at 10:29am 2007

This "level" is made for the mod "Decadence" and is just a dummy level (we call it "The Zoo") for us to define how the style should look like in-game.
The world geometry, lighting aswell as a few models is made by myself, but this level is truly a team effort.

Since this stage is quite critical for us as we really want to have a solid graphical profile, we really need all the help we can get.
Please give me your feedback.

For more info on decadence please visit:
www.decadencemod.com



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 Re: The Zoo
Posted by reaper47 on Sun Nov 4th at 11:01am 2007

Beautiful.

I can tell you that the ground is too dark. I get pitch-black spots on my monitor which should turn out to be fatal for gameplay as you can't see where you're going. Add more lights. Those cool Darwina-style glowing trees could emit some more light, couldn't they? Try turning down your monitor brightness to near-zero. Ideally, you should still be able to see at least the walkable areas.

You're also pushing towards the Unreal 3 look a little too much for my personal taste. What I mean are the constant brown/grey tones which swallow the map to a point where there is little variation. I'd give some of the background buildings brighter colors, different texturing. Something to contrast the brown tone which is only broken up by the (beautiful, beautiful) trees and a couple of fireplaces. To put it more drastically: The architecture looks very boring.

And let me tell you again how much I love the out-of-control vegetation. I'd put more of this in, if I were you. It's the game's unique visual and I think it would deserve to be a clear center point rather than purely decorative. You could try something even wilder with those chernobyl trees. Like cutting a whole building in half with their roots. I like the theme of genetically modified nature taking back the city. It could be way more extreme. Right now, except for the glowing leaves, it's subtle to a point where I think many players wouldn't even notice it.


Why snark works.



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 Re: The Zoo
Posted by The_Great_Dm on Sun Nov 4th at 10:25pm 2007

This is an absolutely amazing map. It seems all too perfect. Hopefully the mod is as good as the map. <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif">


-Define Misfit.



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 Re: The Zoo
Posted by Captain P on Wed Nov 7th at 5:27pm 2007

The genetically altered leaves don't fit with the branch colors. If the branches looked more mutated, then the point would get across much better I think. Those leaves are too bright for my taste anyway. I'd make the bushes look more mutated too, and some more overgrowing plantlife (instead of mainly trees/bushes) would be good. Some more mutated colors (blue, red) could help create more distinct area's and could give the plantlife more of a personality.

Having that said, it does look very promising. Reminds me of the levels seen in Tiberian Sun: FireStorm. You should definitely take a look at that game if you haven't already, it captures the mood of an alien plantlife infested earth pretty good.


As for the gameplay, how will the plantlife affect the gameplay? Using it as mere cover doesn't really do it justice imho - perhaps have characters use different kinds of plants as ammo or health replenishment, or as weaponry, or something like that?


Create-ivity - a game development blog



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 Re: The Zoo
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Wed Nov 7th at 7:54pm 2007

I would agree that there's something off with the lighting. As it stands the light areas are not bright enough and the dark areas are too dark. I'd suggest either brightening the environment light and keeping the harsh shadows or keeping the light the same and making the shadows less dark.

I'm so out of practice I can't quite determine the problem. It almost seems like you didn't run enough bounces on the light, the light isn't bright enough/too white, or HDR is doing something strange. However, I don't even remember if Source bothers with bounces or what and I can't really tell if you're using HDR. All I know is that there's something wrong :/





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 Re: The Zoo
Posted by reaper47 on Wed Nov 7th at 9:03pm 2007

The Source compiler bounces more or less infinitely unless you specifically turn it of or vis didn't run. I don't think there's a technical problem, just too little light. smiley

The "ambient" value for the light_environment could be turned up, maybe.


Why snark works.




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