dm_babble

Youre not a terrible artist, buddy.

Nice concept, im looking forward to some more screens .

Looks a little strange but that's the idea, eh? And I love the cel-shaded thanks to XIII so now you just need to add a temple to me somewhere in it, that'd be pretty unreal.

I hate how Jet Grind Radio never gets any credit for being the first cel-shaded game...

I love Jet Grind Radio, in fact I still play it time to time. XIII is really a pitiful excuse for cel-shading though - those French can't do anything right!

I was hoping to see more competition entries, but I guess it's up to
Paladin[NL] and me to start things off then, yes? Come on, people, it's
a Snarkpit competition! Wake up and get mapping! :smile:

So, anyway, some notes:

• Cel-shading is gone. Too much work for something that's just
  icing on a cake. Maybe I'll do it if I have time left over, but I doubt
  it.
  
  </li>
• Screenshots: 1st is before. 2nd is in-editor. 3rd is in-game.
  </li>
• Yes, I know the roof tile texture looks radioactive. I wanted to
  it to be shiny and such, but there's too much sky and the cubemaps just
  end up looking really bright. Argh.
  
  </li>
• Still some dev_ textures left over. They actually work pretty well for laying things out.
  </li>
• Framerate is looking good. Few textures use normal maps (it makes
  the textures look too realistic) if at all, so it's basically just
  generic lightmapped brushes.</li>
• There are no cartoony static props with exaggerated proportions.
  This is all pretty much going to be brushwork. But what am I going to
  do for physic props? I'm pretty sure func_physboxes aren't going to
  work too well.
  
  </li>
• The sky will be replaced with a more cartoony one. Somehow.
  </li>
• Environmental lighting is temporary. I think I want to do an
  evening setting instead, with orange-light torches (like last year). I
  don't like bright sunlight - while it's definitely more cartoony, it
  kind of washes everything out. Or maybe I just suck with picking out
  daylight colors.
  
  </li>

Comments? Questions? Insults?

I am sleepy, so I will comment more thoughtful later. For now the only thing that sticks out is "10%" completed.. just how big is this thing gonna get CJ?

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The best things in life, aren't things.

TBH, it doesn't look suited for the competition at all! Its quite a pheasable building, unless something really, really crazy is gunna happen with the insides or something... Thats probably why not many people are entering the contest- no one wants to make custom textures, and making a really unbelievable, crazy map is hard. Takes a while to think of a good idea.

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-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-

The sky will be replaced with a more cartoony one. Somehow

Make some sky textures and just make a sky brush...
Anyway looks good! Why doesn't it suit the compo?
Custom textures are a lot of work but to be honest it needs new models like a melting clock to be successful.

About your map:

It looks a bit blocky at the back but of course you are going to add to that :wink:
I really like the Persia feel to it so goodluck.

Whoo hoo! I remember when you were working hardcore on this map last year, so I was taken a little off guard to see that you're working on it again! :shocked:

While I haven't actually seen your precentage bar myself, just how big are you going to make this map? If there is a way to generate a number, (I'm not particularly familiar with HL2 mapping) then how many brushes have you used?

As far I can tell from the screens, the only thing I would suggest would be to work out some of the blockiness -- this map, if anything, could definetely benefit from the use of models. The map doesn't look bad or anything -- very nice in fact -- but it looks a little Half-Life onenissh...... (screen 3)

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Breaking the laws of mapping since 2003 and doing a damn fine job at it

Only thing I'd say is lighting. There's a really good tutorial
here. Other than
that - wow.

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My site

I have lost count of how many times I have not done a critique for you CJ.. If you want one, you will have to request it from me this time..

/ comment.

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The best things in life, aren't things.

Oops. Progress bar is more like 40 or 50, I forgot to update it. Which
actually brings me to one of my goals for this year's entry: don't make
it so damn big. I'm actually kind of proud of the restraint I'm showing
:wink:

Myrk: Good point. I'm still trying to decide what exactly I want to do.
But I have a few ideas though that should be "surreal" enough,
hopefully.

Everyone else: Sorry, I can't model, it's just going to be hardcore VM.
And thanks for that lighting tutorial (although I disagree with the
writer; we can't all make happy, sunlight-filled DM maps! it's like
that overused orange sunset skybox, too much of it already in the
community)

I am glad you're making progress on this map. It used to be on my watchlist for a while, until I took it off a week ago. It has been dormant for so long that I thought you've given up on it.

Looking good so far. I am sure you're still tweaking the lighting, so I won't make any comments at this point. The architecture looks magnificent though.

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"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -- Toulouse-Lautre, Moulin Rouge

continuing the persia theme; never change a winning horse eh? :wink:

i agree with myrk though: what's unreal ? so i wonder what things you're gonna add to make it "a place that you would never encounter"

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These words are my diaries screaming out loud

A night version. Not really liking how the torches came out, but oh well. Also threw together a three-dee skybocks for fun.

I think I'll distort the hell out of the indoor portion, but keep this
outdoor portion relatively normal so the player knows that it's
supposed to be some kind of palace.

EDIT: Oops, forgot the screenshot.

CJ, i could make you some models, if you tell me what you would like.
You'd have to skin them though :razz: Contact me through PM/Msn/Email and
i'll see what i can do :biggrin: Click
here to see some
models i made. (NOTE: Ignore the garbage skin)

Come to think of it, it sorta looks like 'Kingdom Hearts' style...Nice one!

Campaignjunkie you should really consider getting a job at Blizzard as
a level designer. Your style fits Blizzard's type of levels. In fact I
think they are looking for level designers.

"Consider getting a job at Blizzard" :biggrin: You make it sound so easy! Not
to suggest that CJ hasn't got the skills of course :wink: If he'd actually
try learning to model that is :razz:

Maps looking not bad so far, but I preferred it in HL1. Back then it
was jaw dropping in scale and stature, but now it feels far less so.
Lighting could certainly use work - ambient light level seems a bit
high in that night shot, though the lamps look pretty nice. Overall
design is nice and I like the more exaggerated shapes you are working
in, with leaning walls and whatnot giving a nice imposing feel to the
place in a cartoony way. I'd be inclined to suggest losing some of the
detail in the textures that is creating repetition, as it is quite
noticeable at the moment. If you have access to it, play the Wind Waker
and check out the Forsaken Fortress near the start for perhaps some
more ideas, even if it doesn't quite match your theme.

I'm afraid I'm gonna have to echo the others thoughts about models -
this could really benefit from them. Having drapes between pillars that
are simply masked textures doesn't really cut it anymore, and while it
added some welcome detail to the map in HL1, it just looks out of place
in HL2. Grab milkshape and have a go - I'll bet you won't find it as
daunting or difficult as you seem to be expecting.

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

Campaignjunkie, do you make all your own textures or do you have one of
those keebler elves locked away in your room making them?

Random idea: fireworks. The in game view looks like it would be awesome
with fireworks :smile: Would also completely set your map apart from any
others I've seen in...well...anything really. Dunno how it would best
be achieved - sprites are a bit old school and perhaps not suited to
all angles they could be seen from, but I've no idea about how
effective (or possible) any sort of custom particle systems are in
source without resorting to actual coding.

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

• Okay, since everyone thinks it needs models, I'm inclined to agree

and I'm going to try to learn the model pipeline and such. I was kind
of putting it off because I'm doubtful I'll have time for the deadline,
but I guess it's neccesary.

• I make all of my own textures. Before I would rework photos from

Mayang and such, but that wasn't producing very cartoony results, so
now I find myself painting more often. A Wacom really helps!

• Fireworks sound crazy enough to work. I'll look into it. :wink:

Geeze, this competition is turning into a lot more work than I thought. But I guess that's a good thing? :smile:

The thing I feel needs modelling the most are the tops of the buildings- BUT, a time saver....

De_dust for CS:S has domes and such, look into its props... You could always just reskin the de_dust props.

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-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-

I thought it was illegal to redistribute CS:S assets?

this is really looking awesome.

and yes, using CS:S stuff in anything other than CS:S is illegal, it's in the EULA.

Wow this map looks cool, especially the cartoony look!

I would like to those hanging sheets as models rather than textures.. It would look real nice.

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Nightwatch Level Designer
Crackerjack Level Design Site

I thought it was illegal to redistribute CS:S assets?

That's illeagal? Gah, what happen to valve's sense of allowing people to do what they want :razz:

I know stuff about HL1 moddeling, but HL2 stuff still escapes me.
I assume that maybe you can still decompile and HL2 model and "edit" it
just enough so nobody can say that it's from CS:S.. ?

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Breaking the laws of mapping since 2003 and doing a damn fine job at it

That Eula is a load of s**t- valve messed up with thier whole bronze silver and gold editions... big time, but yet all versions come with CS:S don't they?!

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-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-