Some tips on styling your maps
by LAzerMANiac (view all articles)
unrated
Box rooms are boring. Spice them up!!!
by LAzerMANiac (view all articles)
unrated
Box rooms are boring. Spice them up!!!
EDIT: Sorry for no pics. I will post them ASAP.
You know how you make those boring cube rooms and think: what should I add? Here is a list of objects that might be present in 3 different environments:
Industrial
Pipes. Make some big and some small, use different textures and remember, originality counts!
Machinery. Everyone has to agree, that is what industrial areas are all about. Use your imagination and create appropriate devices, maybe include them into a puzzle, like in On A Rail where you had to break the boxes so the turbine will work.
Texturing: Use low-tech metallic and concrete textures. Add a little machine/gadget here and there.
Lighting: this is the area that depends on what you want the final level look like. For example, in a pre-disaster map, use plenty of lighting in yellow tones and the area will wow the player with all the neat machinery (you did put it in first, right?) On the other hand, in a creepy, zombie-infested factory that reeks of blood and rotting flesh, use lots of shades and add red emergency lights. Do NOT be repetitive in neither of the cases. Have some of the lights not work with appropriate effests, like sparks, etc.
Lab areas
Curves are a nice way to make your lab look better. You shouldnt over-do it though. There are some nice curve tutorials on this site, i think.
Add computers and cool-looking machines like those ionization cells in the original game. Don't cover the whole map in them. Keep the player wondering: I wonder what other totally sweet things are there? Do give them clues to gently direct their guessing.
Example: you have a machine that has some wires going out of it and going along a wall into a room around the corner. the player sees the machiine and naturally thinks the next room would have some kind of controls for the machine.
A nice lab is organized. That is why you should use color-coding. The color-coded textures are included in the halflife.wad file.
Lighting: Use lots of white and yellowish toned lights, adding some color here and there to avoid the environment from becoming too uniform.
Texturing: There are a lot of textures that have LAB in them. Type LA or LAB into the texture browswer and go nuts! Keep texture sets together, though. You can't just have the metallic lab textures attached to the green lab textures. you need some kind of transition. Use different textures of the same set to avoid the walls from becoming boring. Remember: Most of the textures can and should be used on more than one brush.
Example: You have a 16-unit-thick (I like 16 as a wall thickness) color-coded wall. Set your grid to 16 and clip off the bottom 16 units without deleting them. You have the vent border thing separated. Now skew it 16 units inwards and observe how cool it looks! Another idea: don't skew it, just set the grid to 8 and resize the vent border to be 8 units thinner. It is going to be under the wall which looks kind of cool, too.
Warehouse areas
Crates! If you have to have crates, make them the coolest crates you can. Make some of them broken, some open, but you can still leave most of them just plain ol' crates. And beat the stereotype that the orange explosive crates explode! Make some of them spawn satchels on break.
Add other things that can be stored. Barrels, support beams, holow pipes-all get the job well done.
Lighting: Use cheap, cost-effective light fixtures like lightbulbs and the such. For the smart ones out there: make the bulb go out if broken.
Texturing: Here you can have more flat surfaces. Use less curves and skewed walls as in labs and industrial areas. The textures you should use are "out" textures, concrete and metal. Again, you can be a little more repetitive in this kind of environment.
You know how you make those boring cube rooms and think: what should I add? Here is a list of objects that might be present in 3 different environments:
Industrial
Pipes. Make some big and some small, use different textures and remember, originality counts!
Machinery. Everyone has to agree, that is what industrial areas are all about. Use your imagination and create appropriate devices, maybe include them into a puzzle, like in On A Rail where you had to break the boxes so the turbine will work.
Texturing: Use low-tech metallic and concrete textures. Add a little machine/gadget here and there.
Lighting: this is the area that depends on what you want the final level look like. For example, in a pre-disaster map, use plenty of lighting in yellow tones and the area will wow the player with all the neat machinery (you did put it in first, right?) On the other hand, in a creepy, zombie-infested factory that reeks of blood and rotting flesh, use lots of shades and add red emergency lights. Do NOT be repetitive in neither of the cases. Have some of the lights not work with appropriate effests, like sparks, etc.
Lab areas
Curves are a nice way to make your lab look better. You shouldnt over-do it though. There are some nice curve tutorials on this site, i think.
Add computers and cool-looking machines like those ionization cells in the original game. Don't cover the whole map in them. Keep the player wondering: I wonder what other totally sweet things are there? Do give them clues to gently direct their guessing.
Example: you have a machine that has some wires going out of it and going along a wall into a room around the corner. the player sees the machiine and naturally thinks the next room would have some kind of controls for the machine.
A nice lab is organized. That is why you should use color-coding. The color-coded textures are included in the halflife.wad file.
Lighting: Use lots of white and yellowish toned lights, adding some color here and there to avoid the environment from becoming too uniform.
Texturing: There are a lot of textures that have LAB in them. Type LA or LAB into the texture browswer and go nuts! Keep texture sets together, though. You can't just have the metallic lab textures attached to the green lab textures. you need some kind of transition. Use different textures of the same set to avoid the walls from becoming boring. Remember: Most of the textures can and should be used on more than one brush.
Example: You have a 16-unit-thick (I like 16 as a wall thickness) color-coded wall. Set your grid to 16 and clip off the bottom 16 units without deleting them. You have the vent border thing separated. Now skew it 16 units inwards and observe how cool it looks! Another idea: don't skew it, just set the grid to 8 and resize the vent border to be 8 units thinner. It is going to be under the wall which looks kind of cool, too.
Warehouse areas
Crates! If you have to have crates, make them the coolest crates you can. Make some of them broken, some open, but you can still leave most of them just plain ol' crates. And beat the stereotype that the orange explosive crates explode! Make some of them spawn satchels on break.
Add other things that can be stored. Barrels, support beams, holow pipes-all get the job well done.
Lighting: Use cheap, cost-effective light fixtures like lightbulbs and the such. For the smart ones out there: make the bulb go out if broken.
Texturing: Here you can have more flat surfaces. Use less curves and skewed walls as in labs and industrial areas. The textures you should use are "out" textures, concrete and metal. Again, you can be a little more repetitive in this kind of environment.
