DM_Castle

This is the project I've been working on for the past 3 months. It was going to be a complete surprise to the community, but i tohugh that a bad idea because i really need some beta testing. So, please test what i have got so far and let me know what you think about anything! Keep in mind it is only the most basic of layouts without much lighting.

I know there are no light SOURCES yet and that onelamp i have there is just a placeholder.

Based on the screens, I am very impressed as far as it goes. The architecture is solid, interesting, and realistic, but you really need to work on textures and lighting!

He said he hasn't started on lighting. BUT! This way of mapping is dangerous. As an architect in training, I am taught the ways- building the solid forms then doing lighting can be very dodgy, and you may find you'll change alot of the forms. However this is a castle, and people in those days didn't give a rats ass where the lights were- so just place em where it makes it pretty ;-)

Tracer is impressed, That makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. he's a tough critic. I still need to add lights, yes. I have the PLACE for them set up just not the entities themselves with thier custom brightnesses. All the rooms are not accessible as of now, because the were only added to complete the borders of the map, I will hopefully be completing most of the stuff on at least one side of the map. Also there will be a dungeon system connecting may places underground. there's lots yet to to, but i hope to have it finished soon!

please gimme your suggestions

Okay this is the beta 1 chapter! Please give me any and all suggestions. there's lost that is not done yet, i know. ALSO, the screens are much darker than the map itself

It looks stunning although I agree that the textures need to be better and from a first glimse of the pictures I felt as though I was playing 'They Hunger' again :biggrin:

habboi i have never played "they hunger" but i assure you this is totally my creation.

Lol your taking it as though i'm saying negatives but on catrare I am merely aplauding you for your efforts because what I mean is that 'when i see your screenshots, it's like playing 'They Hunger' again! which is a good thing because the Mod ruled!

Keep up the good work!

P.S. They Hunger was a spooky / scary mod and your map appears to be spooky at the moment :smile:

its big, its empty, and its raining.

all together makes for a strange maps indeed.

try to fill it up and get rid of the rain :smile:

don't worry habboi, I never took any offense. anyway, I thank you for your kind comments.

Playtested this briefly with some other Snarkpitters (I think Orph was
there too). But anyway, I agree with Orph - big and empty. Kudos for
attempting such a setting, but gameplay just really wasn't there. Plus,
you just threw a box around it so it would compile, and that worsened
the framerate a lot (averaged 20-30 FPS in the common area). Get rid of
the water too, you can't even really see it with the dark
light_environment setting.

EDIT: I noticed in the map profile you wanted to make it as "realistic as possible." Don't do this. Realism is a tool to make a map more attractive. You probably shouldn't build a map around realism, as gameplay will suffer as a result.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting Campaignjunkie</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>Playtested this briefly with some other Snarkpitters (I think Orph was there too). But anyway, I agree with Orph - big and empty. Kudos for attempting such a setting, but gameplay just really wasn't there. Plus, you just threw a box around it so it would compile, and that worsened the framerate a lot (averaged 20-30 FPS in the common area). Get rid of the water too, you can't even really see it with the dark light_environment setting.

EDIT: I noticed in the map profile you wanted to make it as "realistic as possible." Don't do this. Realism is a tool to make a map more attractive. You probably shouldn't build a map around realism, as gameplay will suffer as a result.
</DIV></DIV>

oh yeah, this old man, he played one, he played knickknack on his thumb...

i mean, i was there from beginning to end... i must confess, adding "noclip" to a playtest really blew my mind.. i was thinking "OH f**kING GREAT!!!, now my connection is truly f**ked.. look at these guys zoom around"

i couldn't hit a sole :sad:
then i notice, some jackass was floating in a tree..

I only added noclip because people kept bloody killing me while I was
TRYING to look around :biggrin: By that point I figured we had established it
wouldn't play well in its current state, so I didn't think it was an
issue. Besides, doing stunstick fly bys was a good laugh!

The level really still needs a lot of work done, mainly to make the
layout work better and improve performance. As it stands there are some
nice architectural ideas around, but obviously still a lot to recieve
ANY detail so its kinda hard to comment on the overall visuals. Having
such a large courtyard is a bad idea in my opinion, as if you spawn on
the grass area you had quite a distance to run before you got anywhere
of interest, and all that time you were completely exposed to
magnum/xbow/RPG users. It seems to me like you have felt you needed to
fill a box, and so you built some walls to match the dimensions of the
building, and filled it with a giant courtyard and grassy hills. Forget
this, and build your grounds to a shape that benefits gameplay. Scrap
all the redundant grass areas which are too far from the building, and
pull the walls inward at the extremities or something. No point
commenting on lighting or props at this stage of the map obviously.

Nice architecture, and I even like the textures. I can't comment
on the lighting, since you already said you haven't started on that
part yet.

The rain would be ok, if it doesn't happen all the time. Otherwise, I think it would get annoying after awhile.

The courtyard looks kinda big and empty. Yeah, my courtyard had the same problem.

My only comments on gameplay is this: Its hard to get good
gameplay with this type of map, at least for basic arena-type games
(such as hl2-dm). If you were making an RPG coop-style mod,
however, it could rock :biggrin: . Unfortunately, SOURCE is not a good
starting platform for creating an RPG; the amount of coding required to
make an RPG from SOURCE would be simply enormous. But I digress...