dm_vienna

Alright, I finally figured out how to link the map to a forum post. :smile:

Like always things take much longer than I expected. I decided to change some of the outside areas but currently I'm polishing the underground section.

Trying to find the most elegant way of doing complex arches I tested all kinds of displacement tricks but ultimately it didn't turn out the way I wanted. The canals levels from HL2 singleplayer came to my mind and I took a closer look at them only to realize that Valve just used good old brush techniques for even their most complex tunnels. I decided to give up on displacements and do it the "hard" way. The impact on FPS is more than acceptable.

I really like the little blue building in the second shot. Lovely use of subtle angles and it is made far more interesting for it. It also has a nice colour to it - something that is sorely lacking in some of shots which are textured with very bland tones. Could do with more of these sorts of buildings in my opinion. Oh and if you want to make complex arches, best way to do it would be the learn modelling if you haven't already I'm afraid :razz:

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[img]http://card.mygamercard.net/sig/Default/reno84.png[/img]
Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net

Oh and if you want to make complex arches, best way to do it would be the learn modelling if you haven't already I'm afraid

I'm afraid, too. Although the ones I'm using aren't complex enough yet to really justify a prop. I don't like the lighting on prop models in the source engine. Lightmaps on brushes (and displacements) still look better.

I agree with ReNo, the blue building looks great. I do really like the third picture as well, although like ReNo said it would benefit from some more color.

All around I'm really liking the architecture in this map, and I really like the fact that you've settled on a theme other than city17 and other HL2DM maps.

Looks interesting indeed and the HL2 textures are used in a fresh way. I do believe some custom textures will do the map well, but it's really nice so far. Love the little blue shop. :smile:

Having that said, I don't think a sewer part would do much good. It's a tad bit overused and I don't think it'll really add to this map. Perhaps some rocky cliff part or a park and such with nice green stuff (rather than dead HL2 trees)? That's what I really like to see in Source - some fresh green natural maps. I think it would really fit this kind of map provided you connect those parts logically.

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Create-ivity - a game development blog

Thanks for the input. I'll definately have a closer look at the textures. I know I have to do something with the white walls. The problem is: I want white walls, they're just part of the theme. Maybe I can get more structure in it.

I'm a bit scared of doing custom textures. It would push back the process for weeks and I don't plan to put in any in the first beta. Maybe later. Custom ones would look somewhat similar to the existing set and I'd like to use proper bump mapping and hi-res quality but I haven't done a texture for any game released after 2001 yet.

It's true, sewer parts have been done to death, I considered that. All I can say is that I want to make them a bit different from what you see in HL2 and other HL2DM maps. Less industrial. I like fresh green nature parts but I don't think it would fit well with the theme. Maybe a garden part, also if I ever use some custom textures there will definately some ivy covering whole buildings. :wink: