This is the final version of my latest map DM Neon. Set in the distant future this is an urban map set around several floors of an entertainment district. The map encourages both large and short scale intense weapon based deathmatch depending where you are in the map, as well as giving grav gun fans the chance to throw some stuff at each other on street level. Almsot the entire map is accesible including the roof area via jump pads.
The texture set is 99% custom and there a few custom physics objects (physbox) thrown in as well. Info nodes have been placed so there is a limited bot capability in mods such as GMOD. The map will also (with any luck) be converted to Dystopia in the coming months, seeing as the general themes are so similar (not intentionaly though!!).
The map supports 12 man DM and TDM and is fully BSPZIP'd.
The map looks great. Its nice to see all custom materials. But its almost unplayable on my system. i got below 20 fps on some places when i was alone. I guess if it was UT2004 it would have been no problem. But with source, it is.
Posted by Underdog on
Sat Oct 29th 2005 at 12:09am
Posted by Belgarion on
Fri Oct 28th 2005 at 11:46pm
Let's get straight to it. This map looks great. Nails the Star Wars Couruscant theme smack in the face with style. I was very glad to see all the custom textures though. Very well done with theme and coloring in mind. There is a great deal of custom content in this map, and it all looks great.
But equally as great is the lack of performance. It looks as if IZaNaGI used entirely world brushes to construct the map. There are a great many repeating world objects in the map that could easily have been prop models, and more than likely no one would notice (at least visually). No doubt that would have helped performance a great deal. I'm using a 6800, 768 ram, and a 2400 and it just crawls when I look at the center of the map, which is basically what this is. A large, multi-layered arena. I'd hate to see what this is like on a machine with less power than mine.
Sadly, I was only able to test this with 3 other people, so I cannot very accurately guage the gameplay, but it seemed thought out well enough in terms of item placement. Finding a gun when spawning was not difficult, and there are some fun toys to pick up here and there (like energy balls.. yum). The crossbow was set high atop the map, which at first you would say is very annoying, as you tend to sit there and pick people off from afar, but seems to be ok as you can't see most of the map from that point. Shotguns and magnums are around, along with smg grenades, ammo of various types, and plenty of health/energy pickups strewn here and there among the corridors. The RPG also makes an appearance on the walkway surrounding the very cool rotating center-peice, which sports some really sweet advertising shaders. It's not easy to get to, and usually incures a 10hp hit because of the distance you drop. To get the RPG is not without consequences, and you're extremely open when you get it. It's good to see a bit of danger involved with a power weapon.
Accessability was also well addressed. Vents here and there in more open areas allow access to the higher parts of the map, with some that actually move you latterally (if you are careful to follow the path). They're a little tricky, but they get the job done.
Performance aside, this is a great map. But, unfortunately, performance is really something we can't ignor this time around, and brings down an otherwise fun experience. Because of this I give it a seven(7). Fix the performance problems and it would have been a 9.
Design
Gameplay
Verdict
Pretty and fun, if you have a mega-powa rig.
Pros
Beautiful, well thought out, tons of custom content
Design
Performance
Posted by Belgarion on
Fri Oct 28th 2005 at 11:46pm
Let's get straight to it. This map looks great. Nails the Star Wars Couruscant theme smack in the face with style. I was very glad to see all the custom textures though. Very well done with theme and coloring in mind. There is a great deal of custom content in this map, and it all looks great.
But equally as great is the lack of performance. It looks as if IZaNaGI used entirely world brushes to construct the map. There are a great many repeating world objects in the map that could easily have been prop models, and more than likely no one would notice (at least visually). No doubt that would have helped performance a great deal. I'm using a 6800, 768 ram, and a 2400 and it just crawls when I look at the center of the map, which is basically what this is. A large, multi-layered arena. I'd hate to see what this is like on a machine with less power than mine.
Sadly, I was only able to test this with 3 other people, so I cannot very accurately guage the gameplay, but it seemed thought out well enough in terms of item placement. Finding a gun when spawning was not difficult, and there are some fun toys to pick up here and there (like energy balls.. yum). The crossbow was set high atop the map, which at first you would say is very annoying, as you tend to sit there and pick people off from afar, but seems to be ok as you can't see most of the map from that point. Shotguns and magnums are around, along with smg grenades, ammo of various types, and plenty of health/energy pickups strewn here and there among the corridors. The RPG also makes an appearance on the walkway surrounding the very cool rotating center-peice, which sports some really sweet advertising shaders. It's not easy to get to, and usually incures a 10hp hit because of the distance you drop. To get the RPG is not without consequences, and you're extremely open when you get it. It's good to see a bit of danger involved with a power weapon.
Accessability was also well addressed. Vents here and there in more open areas allow access to the higher parts of the map, with some that actually move you latterally (if you are careful to follow the path). They're a little tricky, but they get the job done.
Performance aside, this is a great map. But, unfortunately, performance is really something we can't ignor this time around, and brings down an otherwise fun experience. Because of this I give it a seven(7). Fix the performance problems and it would have been a 9.
