reaper47: I'm not sure what you mean - reducing the size of the parking lot by half or a third? And what do you mean by "ramp" of the park? The sidewalkish-area leading up and around the park?

I'll have to think about this.

Morph: Yep. I kind of want to detail the buildings first so I can conform whatever roofs I decide to make correctly to the buildings. I'm actually doing some detailing now, or trying.. it's so frustrating, I have some ideas for buildings but the problem is that the ones I've already got are kind of limited since they're pretty much.. done.. I mean like the destroyed one is limited because of the holes all over, the corner one is limited in its own way with the scaffolding/combine tower.. and yet the buildings in the distance can't be too detailed, that's performance problematic. Sigh.. remember next time, kids: detail first. :smile:

Irregardless (I like that word) - I'll just mess around and try my best to come up with something.

I just noticed that all the roofs look the same. Is there any way you could change a couple of them?

I'm not sure what to do about openness in the pointed-out areas, do you have any suggestions? Fences or something?

In the end I think all you can do is blocking off the areas by additional buildings. Half or a third of the parking lot, one ramp of the park. A high wall could also do the job. Please don't forget I never played the map. Just from looking at the screenshot I get the impression that these areas could create a sense of agoraphobia.

reaper47:

Thank you. :smile: I'm not sure what to do about openness in the pointed-out areas, do you have any suggestions? Fences or something?

The buildings really do need detailing.. I keep putting that off.

Elon Yariv:

That looks great, I'm just about to try it in HL2 as soon as I submit this. Thanks. :smile: submit launch HL2 ...

Too clean! Here is another map from the same style. It's everything but clean so it might help you in that area.

First, like I said before, I love the lighting in the map. You could probably tweak the sunlight a bit to cover more of the background buildings.

The park and parking areas still look a bit too open.

Someday you should try to change the facades of the buildings to make the repeating window textures less salient. They are very prominent in the background.

The destroyed building in the last screen has some nice detail.

I took some "polished" screenshots today of the latest build, just to have some to show off a "nearly complete" build of the map (to place in the Snarkpit profile, etc). These screenshots show out more of the layout of the map as opposed to all the screenshots I've posted in the past month or so showing specific features I'd worked on recently:

Screen 1
Screen 2
Screen 3
Screen 4
Screen 5
Screen 6

Alright guys,

So after the last "missed" beta that I hoped to release that passed without mention, I decided that I'd do what I had been wanting to for several weeks.

Lay out a plan of everything I have left to do, prioritize and above all make sure I don't miss even a casual "I hope to release a beta on so and so" date. I'd like to apologize for that, because I hate missing deadlines, however casual they may be. The next time you hear about a potential beta, it won't be for nothing.

So here's what I've got so far. I'll probably periodically update this and/or copy it over to new posts I make with some things removed/added/changed.

High-priority tasks

• New interiors. One connecting to the apartment building (with the extrusions) and one in the hotel, and connect the two new ones.
• More destruction realism. Chunks of debris, decals.
• Optimization. Map's performance, while not bad, could use some work, and there's plenty left to do.

Low(er)-priority tasks

• More decals all over. More debris littering the streets.
• Tweak spawn/weapon/health/battery spawn placement.
• More little details (brushwork-ish stuff) - signs, doors...

Very preliminary list.. I'll update it tomorrow, I need to head to bed now. :smile:

Thanks morph:

Screen 1: You're right. I used to have that ammo in the corner behind the door, and so when I added the door initially I had to move it out from behind where the door went. I never really thought about it, just absentmindedly moved it over a bit.. thanks for pointing that out. :smile:

Screen 6: Thanks, I feel the same - it makes more sense and looks nicer, IMO. :smile:

Screen 8: Right, there are quite a few possibilities this opens up, a major one of which is the potential for hiding on a mid-level in the back sniping or just hiding around, etc..

Not much else to say, hmm? :biggrin: Guess things are shaping up then! More soon. :smile:

Screen 1: It looks like that magnum ammo might be hard to pick up without running into the bike or the door. Why not put it more in the middle of the hallway, or against the far wall? If your item placement is very WIP, then sorry to mention it :smile:

Screen 6: I like the new color to the walls, gives the area a fresher and more appealing look.

Screen 8: I like the potential for z-axis stuff.

Sorry, I don't have more for you. Maybe someone else can step in with some more aggressive critiquing.