reno is right. A subtle light difference will do wonders. Not enough to be seen without LOOKING for it. But might "fake" color bounces, like the grass is bouncing green light against some stones. You'd have to play with it obviously but it could liven it up. Once you get some leaves in there, you'll reallly get some color variation that will liven the place up while maintaining your October atmosphere.

You could try some non-sourced lights for atmosphere purposes. Outdoor
maps like this with no man-made structures often rely too much on the
single light_environment, but if you shove some point lights, around
the water to give the flooded areas a slightly coloured glow or
something for example, it could spice things up a bit.

The water and trees are arranged nicely. Personally I don't see much
I'd change here, except for adding texture blends on the grassy
displacemnts. Maybe use a blend to rock or earthy textures under
the rocks and the steep parts of the hills.

The map just screams for some points of interest that stand out from
the background more. Maybe some bits of architecture and spotlights
that create some contrast to the uniform sky color. Like I said I
really like how the map is arranged currently but it needs something
more than than the plain hills and water. It feels like it only relies
on pretty water effects and prop models but it doesn't! Everything is
placed thoughtfully but currently there isn't much to explore.

PS: please make the screenshots 800x600, it's easier to view.

I think the water shouldn't be so still. Some rolling texture would be nice to spice the water up, especially near the rocks and the log.

I think light_environment is too dim. It should be brighter, but the color of the light is perfect.

And yes, careful application of some overlays is absolutely key.

The rocks are props guys.... can really do anything about them. But again this is a WIP... gameplay on this map is done I will post an overhead later. Its a king of the hill map.

The log in the stream is one of the driftwood props (from what I can tell), so I don't think Crackerjack can add branches to it.

I actually don't think adding snow is necessary... as long as he does
something to dull or break up the really green grass (which, like you
said, is an overly striking contrast).

I agree with what ReNo said earlier about the rolling hills being quite
steep for not having any rocky ridges, and it's a shame you can't 3-way
blend textures.

Crono said:
The ground is so clean. You need leafs.

Pages from a book? Now thats a novel idea.

About the pictures. Someday I am going to bop everyone in the nose for posting such needlessly oversized screens. But for now, I suggest a more wintry theme. You have naked trees, of which the leaves should be present someplace. The contrasting color between the green grass and the obviously bare trees is to striking to overlook.

The tranquil water would also benefit from a colder style of atmosphere as well.

The rock textures I do not really like much but could benefit from a bit of snow capping too.

The log? If thats what it is in the stream needs a bit of branches. Damned few logs are so straight.

A ray of sunshine focused on a key location would be good as well.

Winter days tend to be clear but placing some close ground fog to show a temperature inversion some place would add spice too.

Lose the planks. They don't fit.

Now, fix those damnable screens to a more beneficial size please.

At first glance, it's almost a photograph. At second glance, not only
leafs are missing but bushes and other low green stuff as well. A snowy
mountain in the distance wouldn't be a bad thing, too.

Also, what are your further plans with this? Some woodcutters camp
around or such, or a waterfall? There's plenty of room for more
landmarkable area's here. Keep it up. :smile:

rotate your tree models, so that it's not so obviuos that lots of them are clones of each other. in the last pic, top right, you can see that the outlines of at least three of the trees are identical.

I seem to recall de_inferno from CS Source having some leaf filled
fountains or something, but I've only checked it out once a fair while
back and can't remember how it was done. May even have been part of a
single model. Worth checking out though man. What stands out to me most
of all is the steep embankments covered in grass, which looks rather
unnatural. Real shame you can't do more than 2 way blends in source,
would be neat if you could go between 3 or something in a single
material. As it stands it takes some careful planning of how you build
your displacements to get nice blends between more than 2 textures.

I'm a bit concerned that there isn't much in the way of landmarks in
the map, at least judging by the screenshots. Flooded paths with steep
grassy embankments seems to define the setting, but from what I can see
those 3 first shots could all be of the same area or of entirely
seperate ones. Things like the more remarkable rock shapes and tree
jutting into the gameplay area go some way to providing landmarks for
gameplay purposes, but perhaps not quite far enough. If you shove up or
fire me a link I'll be able to take a look tomorrow and be able to give
a better prognosis :wink:

Good to see you back working again though mate!