Not too much of a jump from Peter Manson cliffs, really...

I like it sofar... fan of windwaker :smile: What would be cool is to possibly mirror the general architecture here, with an alternate 'realistic' setting. You could then warp from abstract to realistic at certain points of the map and get the sense of an alternate yet parrallel universes.

Exactly how big are these hexagons gunna be?

I suppose I could make it actual water in the way it acts, but I'd
still want it to be the flat blue that you can see in the screenshots.
Better having bodies and whatnot floating around as opposed to sitting
on a solid lump of blue however :smile: HL2 is pretty good at doing large
areas of water, so it shouldn't be a performance issue (particularly if
I'm not using any fancy water effects like refraction and reflection).

It isn't cel shading, at the moment I just have black brushes around
the edges of all the faces. Its not ideal as it bumps up the poly count
when black trimmed textures would do the trick, but it was just last
nights experimentation so nothing was finalised. I'm pretty set on this
theme now I think (its quick and easy - if I feel like something else
as well, I can probably manage) so I'll work on optimising the
technique. Performance should be fine regardless, as even if there are
a lot of world polys on show, the materials used are all very basic.
They just use the unlitgeneric shader, meaning they are just single
pass diffuse maps, without the addtional complexity of even lightmaps,
let alone normal or specular maps.

i agree with myrk that it looks too simple and HL1 -even with the fact that probably only 10 ppl in the world are using hexagonal grid right now :smile: That technologically new approach will soon be overlooked i think, and ppl will only see the simple shapes and colors.

If you restrict yourself to hexagons in 2D you can only work in terms of pillars -like in those screens- which will always keep it too simple i think, even if you make it impressive in scale and grandeur. As great as your last-year's entry looked, i dunno if you're gonna achieve the same "wow"-effect (+the fact that it's not new anymore, only the hexagonal bit)

Anyway, it seems everyone is going back for their last year's theme so far :smile:

The HL2 alternate reality idea was kinda, for example, remaking a map, but using only hexagonal shapes. But yer, would take a while. Whens the deadline? I haven't even got an idea yet, but I'm sure I can chug out a map quickly when I know my direction.

The fact it removes the comments is my problem - by starting this
thread, the 4 comments that had been made are now deleted. Anyway I
posted my concerns in the suggestions thread, no point discussing them
here I guess.

Initially I was going for something entirely abstract, then I played
around with a beehive kinda thing, but eventually I settled on this
island setting. I think its because I've been playing the Wind Waker
that I've been turned back to this sort of theme :biggrin: I'm not really sure
what you mean about an alternate universe where everything is hexagonal

• you mean like doorways, windows, pillars, etc... are hexagonal? I

guess that could work, but I don't think I'm gonna have too much time
to work on this level before the deadline, and my current approach is
very playful and simplistic. Its like Lego or something - anybody could
do this, its quick and easy, and the creativity isn't at all hampered
by technical ability.

The 3D hexagonal grid idea sounds far too complex in my opinion.
Hexagonal prisms all slot together nicely on a grid, but I don't even
know if a shape exists that comprises wholy of hexagonal sides :biggrin: I
think "that would be crazy" is a fitting summary of that idea! I agree
that this is currently somewhat HL1 style of complexity, but it does
mean I can make it pretty damn huge and still have good performance.
I'll try and make it impressive in scale and grandeur as opposed to
small scale details.

We don't have both... When you post a forum thread it removes comments... I prefer having both, but maybe only comments on final versions so you can see if its worth downloading.

Anyway, your map. Looks cool, but I feel its lacking- not quite there. Maybe your should expand the grid to a 3 dimensional hexangonal grid? That would be crazy. Just looks like its lacking detail and I can't see how much could be added on the current theme, which may be a little too HL1 based.

Also ask yourself- does it have to be an island? It restricts your choices of what you can do considerably. I think maybe a Hexangonal gridded HL2 style level would be interesting, like an alternate universe where everything is hexagonal, but relates to the existing world.

I like it! Reminds me of an "inside the data in the computer" theme. Much like that game Darwinia. Maybe you could add some more of that. Like loose data flying around ala the movie "Hackers". Or perhaps that would ruin it. Cool sound effects with blipping sounds spread of through the map. That would be awesome!

Keep it up

Yeah Agent, the island setting for last year's entry was really pushing the boat out a bit far for the HL1 engine really, but this time around I think it should be quite managable. I'm not using any complex materials, all these are just single pass diffuse maps - all unlit so not even any lightmaps, let alone normal maps/specular maps to drag down performance. Combined with the fact that everything is fitting together in a hexagonal grid (so there isn't going to be much in the way of face splitting), it should run pretty damn nicely even if it grows to be quite massive. My only concern performance wise at the moment is that all the outlines on the hexagons are brush based just now, which is complicating the brushwork no end. If I can be bothered making some textures with the borders in place, it could actually mean each hexagon needs only two brushes, and you can't ask for more simple than that!

CP, I think the hexagonal style actually offers more gameplay potential than you might expect. I may experiment with using smaller hexagons in order to allow for more detail, but I think that might detract from its "board game" style.

Dietz, I had seen that before, so when I was playing around with a block type of level and not having much joy, I was reminded that hexagons can work. My first approach was along the same lines as his - a beehive type structure - but after playing around with this setting I decided it was working out better. Glad you like it so far

rs6 - get on it man, the contest is looking quiet so far so we need to drum up more entries!