(i can't believe reaper hasn't noticed me yet.....)

This is coming along nicely. The platforms in the room from screen 8 and the last screen, look a bit blocky and random... maybe unstable because they'd need more wall support.

Are these blood-red shadows? How cool. :biggrin:

I'll try this ingame.

[edit]

I like this map a lot so far. I'm not a big fan of extreme, unbroken symmetry (in fact, I think it wouldn't hurt the map if you added a little asymmetry by removing a few corridors ect.), but I think it works quite well as it is.

A few things I noticed:

• The map is pretty big. I think you could tighten it up a little. Some corridors are very, very wide and long. If you consider modifying the layout, I'd rather cut than paste.

• You added a lot of additional lighting which is a huge improvement IMO. I think you're still underestimating the darkness of this map. Maybe because of your monitor settings (or an LCD)? I've seen so many maps (including my own) failing because people simply felt they were too dark.

Maybe you heard it before, but this is simply the best tip I can come up with for map-brightness:
1) Move to a very bright, well lit part of your map.
2) Turn down your monitor brightness until you can barely make out the area around you.
3) Now, try to forget anything you know about the map's layout and move around freely and guided only by sight. Ideally there should be no walkable areas that seem to be completely in the dark. You should easily be able to navigate to ANY part of the map and see where you're going.
4) If you find any "dark spots" make a screenshot and then try to place some kind of lighting there in hammer.

You still have a handful of spots like that IMO, maybe I'll get around doing some screenshots but you should be able to find them by yourself pretty easily.

• Some of the railings and "door frames"(those arch-thingies) need clip-brushes badly. I got stuck a couple of times. Also there are a couple of lamps hanging from the ceiling in front of long stairways, so I alway bump into them when doing a fast duck-jump from the stairs. It's a bit distractive from the flow, especially when moving fast.

• There are hardly any physics props at all. A few hidden underwater, but they won't make a difference. Please add some more. Especially because this map has very wide corridors and would work nicely with lots of physics props.

• The teleport is a little illogical but OK, for gameplay reasons. I'd just make it even more obvious by adding a glowing sprite or something.

• Your floors could use a bit of extra-detail. I know it's difficult with all the curves but they are textured very repetitively. Also the texturing is generally still a bit random, I'm quite sure you could get rid of about a third of your texture palette (of course while carefully choosing which to keep) and it would actually help for consistency. Instead you could use a few (brush-based) trims and texture-combinations. Maybe you can think of something? It's the only true visual complaint I can come up with.

• At last, something I already noticed from looking at the screens you posted: The room with the many ramps (the RPG, the teleport...) looks a bit blocky and like it couldn't carry the weight. It could need thicker ramps, more support-beams etc. I generally like that place a lot, though.

All in all a very nice start. There are a couple of minor issues, though. I'm curious how you are going to solve them and how it will develop from there. Very interesting.

Please see beta 4 post for most recent screenies.

Thanks

Please see beta 4 post for most recent screens.

Thanks

Yea, it's in the news everywhere, the US produce about 90% of all the (better) entertainment shows in the world after all.

I was just curious how it affected you personally, juim, briefly imagining you as a writer waving signs with witty comments in front of abandoned studio buildings.

looks good so far Juim. Only suggestion I have is to incorporate sunshine to help alleviate claustrophobia; the cliche hole-in-the-ground setup might work here, a la dm_drift.

Yeah the writer's strike is an issue up here in Hollywood North ( Vancouver ) as well. I'm not IATSE but quite a few of my friends are, on shows like Stargate Atlantis and BSG.

Well the writers guild (here in Hollywood) is on strike since the beginning of November. They want internet royalties the likes of which no one else have recieved yet. Not the actors, directors, or producers. The Producers (Studio heads, show runners etc, who by the way are all basically employees of larger corporations), are the opposition. Basically they hav'ent developed a solid formula by which to guage internet profit and are not going to give into royalties until they do. It was an inevitable clash and now all of us below the line(you know, the hired help) are just sitting it out waiting for a resolve so we can all get back to work. Mostly television is whats affected at the moment, and thats where I am this year. I was on a show called "Dirty, Sey, Money". We have no scripts to shoot until the writers get back to work. It's the same for almost every television production in the country. At this point, if they settled tomorrow(which is'nt likely) I'll still be out of work until March sometime. Very soon all of 2008 television season will be lost. Such is life.

The external screens in the post don't show up for a reason. :sad: From what I see on the 3 profile-screens the map is shaped nicely! I'll try and have an in-game look sometime soon.

And what's that about the writer's strike?

I like it Juim, has a very Quake III feel to it, a game I enjoyed thoroughly. What will the ideal player load be? 4 players or thereabouts? I must say, your work is getting better and better and you're becoming quite the prolific mapper around these parts!

Perhaps one criticism so far would be to incorporate a little more detail/structure on shots #5 and #6, it all looks a little flat at the moment.