Just so you guys don't think I'm crazy for posting a critique of such
an old map, it's purely because Juim PM'd me about a specific issue for
the map and I got carried away :smile:
My comments are very much small scale - I don't have many general
gameplay comments, but I think Finger hit the nail on the head about it
being sprawling and unfocused. Some really good and interesting areas
are diluted with superflouous others. Anyways, on with the show...
Oh and by the way, beware, this is a rather monstrous critique - I'm
flexing my muscles after not having done one for freaking ages.
The floor/walls/ceiling lack contrast in here - everything is so grey
that it looks really boring. The lighting is also purely functional
which doesn't help matters - the big yellowish light provides
sufficient illumination for gameplay, but it doesn't do anything for
the mood or atmosphere. Get some little drains or something in the wall
near the floor, and put lights behind them or something. Small touches
can make the world of difference.
These stairs, along with most others in the map, are too stumpy and
steep. I normally stick to a 3:2 ration for depth:height of steps, so
for steps with a height of 8 make them 12 units deep for example. It
feels far more natural and smooth to navigate that way.
I liked this area - far more atmospheric than the last one. The pools
of light on the walls are playing the biggest role in making this a
visually interesting scene - do this more often in your mapping and
you'll be on the right track. I'm a bit concerned that it is a very
cluttered area, but as most of the map is far less so, this variation
could keep things interesting. Making the walls a little less flat
(perhaps shallow arch shaped indents/alcoves) could make this corridor
even nicer to look at, and give opporunity for even more interesting
lighting setups with supplementary fixtures and different colours.
This door seems a bit wierd to me - possible too short for its width.
An arch shaped doorway may also be more in keeping with the arched
corridor it leads from, though may not work with the other side.
Again with the awkward stairs, and it looks like the wall texture is overscaled here.
Almost everything about the wall on the left is really cool - the
texture works, the staggered pyramid pillars look great, and the light
fixtures fit in nicely - but you let it down with the boring and bland
ceiling. Ceilings are typically a trouble area for less experienced
mappers and god knows I've struggled with making them interesting, but
to make this room something special it needs to be improved. The
pillars set you up nicely for providing support beams or something -
follow it through and the area could be improved no end.
This door is barely tall enough to let the player through - give some
space to stop it seeming like it is designed for a midget :smile:
This bit is looking a bit awkward. For one, the scale between the
textures on either side of the corner are off, and it stands out even
more so due to the metal pillar thing and the obvious discrepancy in
width. Secondly, the transition from the brick corridor to the concrete
room shouldn't be so sudden - put in a trim around the threshold or
something as an intermediary.
After the lovely wall and pillars from a couple of screenshots back,
this other wall within the same room is criminally flat. Having such a
long flat expanse looks really boring, and is made more so due to the
lack of anything between it and the equally flat ceiling.
I think if this glass was breakable you could get some cool gunfights here - flinging grenades into the hut and the like :smile:
The catwalk in the last room was near the ceiling but got away with it
to an extent because it
was a catwalk. This area doesn't pull it
off as it is a proper room with a proper floor, and really needs it's
ceiling raised.
Why not continue the internal walls with the arches in them on the
floor below onto this one? A second taller arch for this level would be
far more interesting than a flat texture trim across the ceiling.
I don't know if this is something to do with the SDK update glitches,
or my settings, or something else, but the water looked really poor for
me when viewed from above. If you get down to the water level and look
along then it is fine, but from above it looks like a featureless brown
expanse. If it is the actual water texture, I'd suggest replacing it.
These seemed too intense to me - I think a more subtle red would work better.
Now this I like! Subtle pillars on the walls, internal arches breaking
up the ceiling, functional
and aesthetic alcoves dotted along
the right hand wall - this is the stuff you want to be doing more
often. One thing you could do here is put clip brushes around the small
pillars to stop people getting snagged.
I'm not so keen on this room. The floor grate texture cuts out not too
far from the player due to texture filtering, leaving an obvious and
sudden cut-off line after which is just an expanse of that not-so-great
looking water. It's really just not all that suited to use over large
expanses to be honest, meaning you may want to reconsider using a
masked texture for such a large flooring area. The ceiling in here is
also entirely flat and of uniform height throughout, and the walls
aren't much better. From a gameplay standpoint, the internal walls
provide some potential, but the back corner has no real purpose since
it has no items and no connections.
This area was also pretty awkward - bland architecture, steep stairs,
and the textures don't work to well together in my opinion.
Pretty cool area, though not very believable. The ivy does provide some
visual interest but strikes me as out of place in this scenario. Also,
while this feels like a rather formal lobby area, the routes from it
lead to a sewer, a water tank, and some sort of treatment room, which
doesn't seem right to me. Put in a more logical entrance, such as an
elevator or front door - just for show of course, not to add any more
routes or anything.
These disks are hovering away from the wall, but I really do like the effect they have on the room :smile:
This furniture looks painfully out of place in a lobby, as I KNOW you must be aware :biggrin:
I like this area a lot - the water tank looks good, the steam effect is
a lovely touch, the lighting works well, and the floor grating is
perfect for the scene. On the other hand, it falls apart as you travel
upward - the ceiling texture clashes with the brick and robs your
attention by being so bright, and as usual it is completely flat. I'd
use another texture that is darker, and try having some trim around the
edges, and maybe some angled skylights or something. Good potential
here, would be a shame not to take advantage of it.
This corridor is too long to run in my opinion. A person with a
crossbow at one end has ages to pick off people running along it before
they can reasonably fight back. I'd suggest breaking it up with a side
room or two that act as parallel corridors - have a door at either end
so you can run into the side room, and exit further along the main
corridor. You could then put in some windows to let people see what is
going on in one from the other.
The corner area could use some light.
This stairwell is really pretty tall without offering the player any
route choice. I don't know how it could be reworked at this stage, but
just thought I'd put the point out there.
You are pretty inconsistant with your texturing here - chopping and
changing from the ridged concrete texture on the right and the flat
concrete texture in front.
This is one of my least f
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