I'd love to have a little playtesting party, when the map is ready for it. I wish we had more of those, here at the snarkpit..... so count me in.

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<DIV></DIV>yeah, its an ugly sob right now.....but i like the way it feels in game
Honestly, don't worry about things being pretty until you have achieved the right layout. It's easy to get lost in the details, and screw up with major gameplay elements (which will hurt the map more than looks). I now try to bang out a solid and cleanly constructed layout with the basic developer textures (gray and orange) just to keep myself from going off on a tangent with the 'art'. The last map I approached like this came together about 50% faster. It really works, and it's very nice knowing that you have a solid layout and can then just pour yourself into the look/ambeince.

Get this map to a state taht is testable, and let us take a look at it so we can make sure it actually plays well. Even if half the level is gray developer textures and block geometry. Even with such simple construction, you can get a good idea of what shapes and compositions will work within the space you have created.

yeah, all good and accurate commentaries so far..... a few new screenies prolly wouldnrt hurt either, if'n ya'll are up to it...***rubs eyes

myrk, yer as succinct as ever.... yeah, its an ugly sob right now.....but i like the way it feels in game, i think its gonna be a decent gameplay effort in the end....lots yet to do bud....and, if i may, i'd definately like you to help me play test better, along with a few others id like to invite as well....ill be in touch... in a few weeks.....what say ye sir?

.....and that brings me to this.....i dont know how you guys do it honestly, but ive found the best way for me to locate, add, and angle appropriately as far as damage goes, is to sit in game with a bazooka, an attitude, and a half a 5th of cuervo under my belt, yell about the ole lady, life, work, the general pursuit of happiness as i/we know it, God, country, friends, family (is that redundant?)

....................and then run around and shoot the s**t out of everything.... :heee:

and obviously, im gonna have to send my family on vacation for a couple of days at least to accomplish this feat...

any takers??

Doc... :dodgy:

Shot 2 is a bit ugly- the building needs a frame to the door, nicer steps up to it, and maybe a mural on the wall or some paint jobby... Shot 3 also needs some spicing up, and the archway is a bit thin at the top.

As for shot 1, looks really good, but again maybe the windows could be bayed windows to add that extra architectural element. Also, it being source, try making the wooden beams on the buildings- they should stick out only a bit as they are cob infill walls (a wooden frame stuffed with a mud/hay/water mix).

I realize this map is in the early stages when I say this; but: Looks too clean. Add in some trash, fallen rubble, debris, ect.

Throw in an info_player_deathmatch or info_player_start and you should be good to go. If the game code can't create entities from those defined in hammer, it just ignores them. Or at least it does from my experience - I've been defining entities in the FGD file and placing them in hammer, but not linking them up to code, and it just gives me an error message on loading the map then continues on its merry way :smile:

As for the map, looks good so far. In the third pic there is an obvious roof that looks really tall, as in it seems like it has too steep an angle, and that strikes me as looking a bit awkward. Otherwise, what the others said. Needs a bit more detailing, liberal use of overlays to dirty things up and break up texture repetition, and a bit more sign of life/death :smile: Keep it up, and don't take too long posting a test release :razz:

i spose i could put together a hl2dm entity free version jon, but itll lose alot of whats there already... :/

Doc... :dodgy:

When I get home... Mondayish, I will give this a looksee.. Problem is, Can anyone look at it with only HLDM?

Anyway.. Looks nice.

yep....stated the pretty obvious there crono...lol glad you took the time though bud, tnx.....you too fingerdude......this thing isnt even close to being done yet, i guesstimate about half....its taken me 3 months and about 20 different layout designs to come up with something feasable....verticle play is good, lots of battle points, ambush points, and room to haul ass if'n yer feeling a bit, oh, chickens**t... :heee: natural cover is good, but prop placement for cover etc is proving a bit tricky...as far as the "clean and bland aspects, itll look like a s**thole coming up.... :wink:

finger, i chuckle as i ask,"would you offer up a download of a map thats half done, except to a trusted few" (of which you would definately be one ) that could enlighten me as to the not-so-obvious discrepancies ....and yer right about the gateway.....i started out to have the whole top side (you can see where the top brush was removed) with a railed fence continuing above the gateway....but no such model animal....ill figure something out....

ive just started detailing in earnest, things like sidewalks, and potholes, craters, stains, holes in the walls etc....

quite honestly, this is the first map ive done that ive taken past the "this looks like s**t" stage....and its the first ive done that ive actually started to feel good about...i have a set of textures that were bestowed upon me....thursday, and ive yet to even start with those...(btw, the dods texture/material sets are getting a bit boring, or is it just me??....)

lots to do, and i will take all critisisms and suggestions to heart....i need em, as my brain is turning to mush over this one....im at that point where, yer sick of yer own work, but yer too far along to waste ther time spent....savvy?

banzai!!

Doc B..... :dodgy:

I'll be glad to take a closer look at this tomorrow. Only comment atm: from the last screenshot, the brick archway looks awkward being so thin at the top.

Oh.. is there no download? chop chop!!

Maybe someone should figure out a mathematical equation to evaluate all the values given from the stats screen. Like ... take the average of that ... plug those values into some program someone writes and BAM gives you something as straight forward and meaningful as R-Speeds.

Anyway, it looks pretty. But, from screen-shots, as I'm sure you're aware, you can't really tell how game-flow will be ... meaning ... screen-shots are about the pretty and you haven't really started on that aspect yet.

But, architecturally, the buildings look a bit bland, not because of the design, it just looks like a peaceful town. Where's the evidence of war? The buildings are really clean. Can you go inside them? Is that clean too? It should at least look like people booked it in a hurray ... because Nazi's were coming to kill them ...

I'm mostly rambling; I apologize.

As far as I can see now: Your map needs more harmful chaos (Yes, there's a difference)