Nice file sizes.

2 Things.

What is that tree growing out of? To dark to tell.

I also cannot tell but think you could add true scale and height if you took some of those spires and added them to your skybox. Make it look as tall as Coruscant from somewhere down below.

If you already considered the skybox idea and I didn't catch it, ignore this post.

Allright, time for an update.
<br style="color: white;">Ive been working on making the map playable aswell as adding contrast, detail and lighting into the level.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Since barely have any new textures in the map, ive useed the orange dev-textures as contrast to the grey ones. I think it looks kinda nice. Perhaps going for orange steel? What do you guys think?<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Ive also had a friend make two textures for me. The first one is the glass, the second is a very dark texture used in an equally dark elevator shaft. <br style="color: white;">Personally, i think theese textures is top notch, looking veery nice =).<br style="color: white;">
As mentioned ive been working on making the lighting more bright, however i guess some of you will still think the map is very dark. Lets just say that I havent forgotten about you, I'm still working on it!<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">The 3D-sky has become even more bigger and nastier. The highest building in the 3D-sky is actually very close to the maximum size that Source can render. Its still a bit undetailed, but with some cutstom textures and more work on it, it will probably look cool. I tried using func_smokevolume in the 3D-sky to create a cloud effect, however that didnt work at all. Ill try to use the models used in <br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Counterstrike Source to simulate clouds, if possible. As mentioned ill try to add flying vehicles here aswell, but that completely depends on if that is possible to do inside the 3D-sky.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Ive also been working on making the map playable and I think im done with that, however i will not release a playable alpha before I have done some <br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">playtesting with my friends, but expect an update with a fully playable alpha, with weapons and spawnpoints, soon. Working on making the map playable is the main reason why you havent heard any updates until now.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Heres some fresh images:<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Added contrast, brighter lighting and more buildings in the 3D-sky<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">More contrast here aswell. The picture is taken from a platform that is newly made aswell. More spotlights has been added aswell.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">This area wasnt detailed at all before, and has gone through quite a remake. The boxes in the image will be replaced with more appropriate stuff later on.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">A quick overview, more contrast added aswell as brighter lighting.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Heres another overview of the playable area. Here you can see the custom glass texture aswell as more spotlights and more contrast.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Well, guess that was all i have to say to the time being.<br style="color: white;">As Ive said before, I LOVE feedback. I promise to take everything you suggest into consideration.

i think this idea would work better in a SP map, but it can't hurt. you thought this up yourself or you translated it from Doom3 ? :smile:

I think it's a great idea. A scavenger hunt for information
sounds like a fun way to flesh out and develop the map, for those who
are interested.

<br style="color: white;">aha, i love the glass window-floors. i used to have them in px_shockwave and i'm going to re-implement them in a new project. really nice. 1 more personal suggestion: lose Breen :razz: i agree there should be something light there like a tv screen but i think Breen is too HL2SP.<br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Ive got a friend ho's working on some custom windows right now, hopefully theyll turn out even better. Breen is very temporary, he is going to be replaced with commersial or some sort of public messages from the city council.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">

One of us needs to be really glad that those were worth the wait.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">My suggestion. Using that quantity of darker textures it might pay to have either more light, or less.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">I prefer a bright cheery map setting, but lots of spotlights at night would be great too.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Maybe you could have a day and a night version. Two maps for the price of one. <br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Im using grey developer textures at the moment. As I said, im trying to get custom textures.<br style="color: white;">The lighting is very much work in progress. I will definitly add some more light in there somehow, its way too dark.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Progress:<br style="color: white;">Ive added more detail to the 3D-sky, lots of detail has been added to other areas aswell. Ive also added stuff that will "tell" the background story of what has happened to the place. Im planning on having datapads with small info icons over them, and when you press "E", you can read a message. Each one of them will tell bits and pieces of the story about what has happened here. If you read them all you will get a pretty clear picture of what has happened and what is going on.<br style="color: white;">Im planning on adding this to give the map more depth, and let serious players who wants to know it all having fun looking for them. Some will be easy to find, but wont tell very much either, others, more hidden, will tell more "valuable" info.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">What do you think of this little idea? Is it good or bad?

One of us needs to be really glad that those were worth the wait.

My suggestion. Using that quantity of darker textures it might pay to have either more light, or less.

I prefer a bright cheery map setting, but lots of spotlights at night would be great too.

Maybe you could have a day and a night version. Two maps for the price of one.

aha, i love the glass window-floors. i used to have them in px_shockwave and i'm going to re-implement them in a new project. really nice. 1 more personal suggestion: lose Breen :razz: i agree there should be something light there like a tv screen but i think Breen is too HL2SP

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I really liked the timeline you posted over at interlopers. You should share it here!

Ok then










The current one is Alpha nr 27. It has taken three months to get this

I really liked the timeline you posted over at interlopers. You should share it here!

Progress:<br style="color: white;">Im currently adding detail here and there, adding fences, making the 3D-sky better, adding cables and such. Lots of progress is being made. Soon ill add elevators so that betatesters will have possibility to move around WITHOUT noclip. Im also planning to add weapons aswell. When this is done, the map will be fully playable, although it will still lack the visual stuff.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;">I don't know if you missed it, but what about the name dm_stratos ? stratos is just short for stratosphere.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Stratosphere definition:<br style="color: white;">1 : the part of the earth's atmosphere which extends from about 7 miles (11 kilometers) above the surface to 31 miles (50 kilometers) and in which temperature increases gradually to about 32? Fahrenheit (0? C) and clouds rarely form<br style="color: white;">2 : a very high or the highest region on or as if on a graded scale <construction costs in the stratosphere> <the celebrity stratosphere><br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Well... I guess it's not cloudy, but at least it's high up!<br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Yes stratos is a good candidate, but ill keep Cloudcity as a projectname to avoid any confusion until the map is actually finnished.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;">Entities can just be placed in the 3D skybox, only no player starts. The Valve wiki states that players and other objects cannot enter the 3D skybox, but any entity can be used within it.<br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Hhrrm! Guess i misunderstood the Source Wiki... Very good news indeed. Hopefully i will be able to make some real nice s**t in the 3D-sky... Hopefully.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;">So theoretically you should be able to create similar sky boxes to UT. Look at moving clouds, maybe some small ships or combine stuff flying around, fog, etc.<br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Yes, thats what im aiming on. Hopefully it will turn out as i want it to.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;">I would think that if you had a very large scrolling sky texture of some sort that you could have it exceed the edges of the visible sky but have say very broad edges of sky material to hide it in. In this way, you could have a slowly moving sky without any repeat say in a 15 minute frag.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">In fact, with the texture being transparent, you could have multiple ones at different heights and densities to simulate cirrus and cumulus clouds perhaps. <br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">Good suggestion, however it feels like an old school solution. I found some interesting stuff at the source wiki about Counter-strike source maps which uses cloud models.<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;">I like futuristic citiy themes a lot. My first impression of the screenshots was that they are very dark. If someone plays the map on a sunshiny day he might not see much.<br style="color: white;">

<br style="color: white;"><br style="color: white;">People has always complained about that in my maps when they have seen the screenshots. However, i have never heard anywone complaining about the darkness when they have played ingame.