I have to face it: This map is more dead than anything. If I ever feel like working on a map of this title again it will likely be from scratch. So I call it abandoned.
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I always wanted to do a map based on the city of Vienna, Austria. Mostly you only hear of the royal palaces and big, pompous streets. But I always prefered the little backstreets and alleys in the inner city but also the more quiet outskirts. Although not a copy of an actual place, this map is based on real streets and architecture mixed together in a way I found it attractive. I also plan an underground/sewer section inspired by "The Third Man" but this area isn't textured yet. Stay tuned!
Update (Mar 22, 2006)
Like always things take much longer than I expected. I decided to change some of the outside areas but currently I'm polishing the underground section.
Trying to find the most elegant way of doing complex arches I tested all kinds of displacement tricks but ultimately it didn't turn out the way I wanted. The canals levels from HL2 singleplayer came to my mind and I took a closer look at them only to realize that Valve just used good old brush techniques for even their most complex tunnels. I decided to give up on displacements and do it the "hard" way. The impact on FPS is more than acceptable.
Update (Jan 03, 2006)
I added an inner-city street section (new screenshot) which pretty much completes the outside areas of the map.
Currently I try to get the lighting and texturing right for the underground part with cellars and sewers. It's pretty hard because of all the arches. I want that part to resemble the atmosphere of "The Third Man". It's a black and white movie which makes it even harder.
Also I messed around with soundscapes, actually writing my own one. I'm quite proud of the underground ambience. It's scarier than the lockdown/ravenholm soundscapes IMHO
