[map] wild_west

This is a a discussion topic for the map "wild_west" by **Dedi** which can be found here

Map description:

This is a small map I was making for HL1 and like many other projects I've been doing for HL1, it also got left behind and abandoned. When I started mapping for HL2, and realised I can convert maps from HL1 to HL2, I used this map as a sort of tutorial map, and I've been adding on to it as I've been learning about HL2 editing. The map is a small 2-8 player map and is at 60% progress. My biggest goal at Snarkpit has been to add maps and contribute to the site because it is one of my favourite sites, hopefully, I'll have uploaded this map soon.

It is a map on which I have practiced lighting, texture, architecture. This is not my first map, but it may well end up being the first I post because it is the smallest. There isn't much gameplay to it at the moment, but it's only at 60% and will definitely be worth a run when it's complete.

Map screenshots:

Looks like a very nice map and layout! I hope you finish it at least for a beta release. If it has decent performance I will playtest it on my 14 player server, just let me know!

Ah thanks.. I was feeling a bit uncomfortable posting it, since most of the layout eg. the cliffs were done in HL1 editor, so they won't look as professional as one could make them for HL2. Nevertheless, I thought it was a worthwile conversion.

I realised this was a good step for me, adding the map to the Pit, because now I HAVE to finish it otherwise it would have been left behind like all the other projects.

The first screenshot looks weird, I was a bit thrown off because of the scale of the textures, the space looks a lot smaller than it is.

The structures in the map look quite bizarre, I can't make out what they're supposed to be. You really need to refine them a bit and make them look like something because they just look like textured geometry and not any sort of real life building.

I think it'd be nice if the outer cliffs around the map looked more organic. They're quite uniform, consistent and repetitive, they are all the same height and seem to be following a pattern in other words. Give them a bit more character, different height, unique curves, variation etc. Remember Source has displacements so if that cliff geometry is world geometry that you imported from Half-Life 1, you should delete them and use displacements.

You need some things in the distance, beyond the playable space to create more depth and give a sense that there is more world out there.

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Aaron's Stuff

Yeah, that's what I'm planning to do with the beyond playable space.. regarding the cliffs, yeah I know, it's from HL1 so I'm thinking, maaaybe I'll destroy the whole surrounding cliff and do a displacement thing to add to the character of the map.. if I end up doing that, I'll make the cliffs much higher and add playability into the cliffs to add a range of height to the map.

Yeah I'm still learning all the stuff for HL2 editing, so it may well be a long while until this map is 100% finished.

Regarding the beyond playable area, I'm thinking it will be the best to do that after I've finished all the 'inside' area. I've just uploaded a 3rd screenshot, with the beyond playable area blocked by the fence. I'm thinking I'll put extra cliffs on the other side to fill up the space.