How to achieve that Futuristic Deathmatch look

I know Orph used to have some great brush work when it came to this style, and a few others here do as well. I am wondering how do you achieve that look, is it angles, or large open spaces, is it the textures?

I keep trying to get that feel/look, but I never seem to get it right, any advice or suggestions? Besides give up.

I am unsure what you mean about futuristic but if you could point to a map (not necessarily mine) and ask how that was done it would help.

(and I hesitate to say this but posting several screens would help more since I cannot remember all the names of so and so's maps)

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The best things in life, aren't things.

I will get together some screen shots and try to limit their size for you Orph..

Not exactly what I am after but pretty close and cool in my eyes..

http://www.quakelive.com/#!preview/classicduel/

By the way love the signature quote you have now.. I think the answer is TALKING ON A CELLPHONE for most.

That URL goes to Blood Run which is more Gothic than anything else. Maybe you want to look into that style if that's what you're looking for.

The trick there, is to make everything blocky and complex, not smooth and elegant. Also, rust helps. A lot of rust.

If that's not the correct map, then ... link the correct map.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

As said in my post, not exactly what I am looking for. And the link was more for the whole site rather than the one map.. the over all concept and look each of those maps has in common. I am also looking for more images to link here to give an idea.

Did'ja find those screens yet? I'd kinda like to see'em.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

This is the great example... As is this: and this: Lastly: This page has some great concepts too, I love the multi-leveled criss cross action, I just am not sure how to achieve it and have that look as seen above...

http://www.born-robotic.net/quakemaps.html

Given the texture pack, all of those would be fairly easy to recreate methinks. That said, I am way out of practice and have yet to reinstall Hammer. But it looks to me its just lights and whistles.

All of those have excellent depth and use of space. Each one of those examples also uses textures to break up the flat plane of the walls.

Let me get home and I'll see if I can get hammer to function and we'll move from there.

If you got a copy of Spit 5 or 7 look at Yaks areas. his are chock full of these things. Try Cataclysm too.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

If I'm ever looking for ideas and find myself in a rut, I'll start making lists. I like to make "rule sets" that I know I want to follow. and finding words or phrases that describe these rule sets helps me understand better what I'm looking for in the long run. So If I were in your shoes, and found plenty of precedents studies to look at for inspiration, I would begin describing what it is I like about each of those images, or actual maps.

Looking at these right now, I would distill:

• Interior
• large central atrium space
• "cold" texture sets with warm areas, (usually denoted by light)
• Lights usually come in strips, or are very long and narrow, and run along several walls continuously.
• High ceilings and low passageways, or narrow corridors opening into large spaces
• Thickness. Most planes are very thick (~2'). Lots of trim textures to break up monotony,
• lots of cantilevers, and balcony-like areas.
• Plenty of angles. No curves, and most shapes cut at a 45 degree angle.
• Many protrusions on the walls. No such thing as a 'clean' wall, everything is purposed for something.
• Stairs. It looks like almost every one of those screenshots had a case of stairs which almost appear as central themes in the big rooms. That may be it: stairs stay in big spaces, where multi-height floors are present, but corridors are long and flat.
• Very clean sterile spaces. No clutter, and no mis-used spaces. These places are meant for other purposes than fraging. -Although, I'd imagine even within the fiction for these, they're supposed to be fraging arenas.

So there ya go; all I did was describe what I liked about each of those images, and the things I found they had in common. You could keep going on with a list like that, and then even distill that down further to get you a quick reference of descriptive words that guide you on what your level will look like. It's an exercise that's helped me out of many a jam. Don't fear mimicking a good space. Don't copy it mind you, but don't be afraid to look at a screenshot while you map or draw. Good ideas are mostly iterations of already existing ones. Good luck!

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Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202