PX_Selfless

My old paroxysm map Colony was near completion, but was plagued with loads of problems such as hitting engine limits and whatnot. I could probably of fixed it all up and released it, but it was more work than it was worth, especially considering I was really pissed off with how half of it turned out. Some really nice parts I was pleased with were brought down by some nasty and boring bog-standard stuff.

So I decided to scrap the map, salvage the nice parts of PX_Colony, and create a new, more coherent level mixing new areas with the old parts. Hopefully this will result in a nicer map with a reasonably short development time.

If the PX guys don't object, I may release a certain portion of this map modified for HLDM, as I see some potential. This will come at a later date however, for now it is for Paroxysm.

For those who don't know, PX is a co-op sci-fi mod, in which the players take on the role of a military group called the ARU who take care of alien infestations. More info can be found on their website...

http://www.planethalflife.com/paroxysm

Anyway, below are the first screenshots of px_selfless...

First up, an in progress shot of the entrance mine. Not decided if it will actually be underground or above ground yet, just need to wait and see. Don't think I can afford to polies to make a roof though, so I'm guessing outside. I'm not very happy with this at the moment, I may well scrap it and change it somehow. It looks great in hammer but s**t in game, perhaps its the lighting.



A control room, which will probably be somewhat better equipped when I find some nicer computer things.



The central corridor, linking up the two locker rooms and two control rooms (one of each for both of the two mines).



Next up is a shot of one of the locker rooms, one of my favourite parts of the old px_colony. Somewhat different now, for better or worse.



The glass lift, something I was particularly fond of in colony, has been shifted over to a new home. I think its surroundings in these corridors suit it much better than the old ones.



And thats all for now. Any feedback on the style of the map would be greatly appreciated, as the sooner I have these suggestions the better I can implement them into the overall design. I'll release an alpha version in a few days probably.

straight up duncan?

lose the stripes on the ceilings, and pillars.. the rest is

Glad you said that orph, it was something I was kinda 50/50 on. I feel the trims need something more than just a normal texture on them, but as they are now they are much too brightly lit for the amount of light they give off. On that front though, I dont want them to give off more light, as that would bring up the overall room brightness and I've got that just as I want it already.

Anyway, I'll see what I can do

Actually, err you did mean the light strips didn't you?

I like the pillars in the corridors :smile: Kinda make it seem more segmented - like each side was intended for travelling down in opposite directions.

ReNo said:
Actually, err you did mean the light strips didn't you?

in pic #3 the arches, the face has the same sort of striping as the ceilings.. that hall looks great otherwise :smile:

the lights, i have always favored accentual lights.

No, I'm afraid thats staying mate, the entire support setup there is supposed to make it feel as one - the pillar down the middle and the overall arch it merges into is meant to feel like one structure. The rest of the ceiling down the corridor is different, but at ends it is like this to provide a sort of edging. Once you see it in game you will probably change your mind, but if not let me know :smile:

ReNo said:
No, I'm afraid thats staying mate, the entire support setup there is supposed to make it feel as one - the pillar down the middle and the overall arch it merges into is meant to feel like one structure. The rest of the ceiling down the corridor is different, but at ends it is like this to provide a sort of edging. Once you see it in game you will probably change your mind, but if not let me know :smile:

either its the floor in that shot, or its the arches, but one is clashing :/

could be the floor.. but you know, tis your call :smile:

you know me, i will hand it out, its up to you to use whats best .

omg, dont remove the supports. that shot is fkin awsome. + if you need any textures along the same theme gimme a shout, You have permission to textract my comp map.

Ah, so its the actual texture that you mean looks out of place - I get you now :smile: I guess perhaps that support texture does look a little outta place, it is clean while most of the other textures are dirty and rusted. I'll look at some alternatives and see if anything else is better.

I may do that mate, some of the textures in your comp map were beautiful and quite similar to my theme here. Glad you like the shot mate :smile:

Orpheus said:
straight up duncan?

lose the stripes on the ceilings, and pillars.. the rest is

damn guys, i didn't say a word about removing the arches :sad:

sometimes i really wonder is it truly ME

its the , that did it.

KoRnFlakes said:
its the , that did it.

you trying to tell me, that a stupid f**king comma completely altered that sentance?

sighs

i'm sorry, i just don't comprehend.

i suppose its possible, why else would you have been so concerened, but still... i just don't read it that way..

consider it a typo.

[edit]the comma was there because i was going to add floors too, but changed my mind at the end :sad:

heh, anyway back to the map, Are you going to send this map out before you finish it for people to check for errors etc m8?

Sorry, I guess I had the light strips on my mind and assumed thats what you commented about, and after that I was lost entirely. Re-reading it now it makes perfect sense, but for some reason it didn't click first time round :biggrin:

And yeah I will post an alpha here in a few days, maybe as soon as tomorrow if I finish off the mine entrance in the first shot. It will run in HL as normal, there aren't any PX specific entities in or anything yet.

it originally read
"lose the stripes on the ceilings, floors and pillars.. the rest is "

KoRnFlakes said:
heh, anyway back to the map, Are you going to send this map out before you finish it for people to check for errors etc m8?

[color=lightblue]TRANSLATION: you have gotten into a rut of omitting this vital step :razz: [/color]

Hehe, perhaps I have let it slip a little lately, having no net connection at home kinda gets in the way I suppose. I'll be sure to get full SP input this time around :smile:

ReNo said:
Hehe, perhaps I have let it slip a little lately, having no net connection at home kinda gets in the way I suppose. I'll be sure to get full SP input this time around :smile:

if it will help, korn and i can record some canned critiques for you to play on your MP3 player?

its gotta be a bitch not having inet access on your mapping PC :sad:

Yup it sure is, gotta sneak onto the snarkpit during my lab sessions :wink:

Looks great to me - can't really find anything to suggest, based on those pics. :smile:

man.......

i really really, wish i had your natural eye for structural design.....on an architectural level, you could be awesome.....i see some real design potential on some REAL structures here duncan......ever thought of a carreer change???....

i gotta agree with the O man tho, something is just too stripey in there..... :heee:

Dr Brasso... :dodgy:

Sigh... once again an amazing map from ReNo. I'm not too keen on the stripes either, but the rest is fantastic. Where did you get those textures from? Please release part of this for HLDM, as I've got bots for that!

looks great. those corridors etc are just amazing. I know this is for a coop mod, but some areas at least would play great in DM etc. Any chance you could rework some of this into a multiplayer map as well?

Duncan looks great alot better than Colony

Pics 2 and 4 dont go along with the theme of rusted broken down place. If that what ur going for.. Their a bit to open and a bit to clean. the floor in shot 2 looks a little plane maybe break it up or put pipes running underneath the floor. And the locker texture looks awkward a bit to green and vibrant. Maybe Korn would be kind enough to make you a new one.

I suggest placing the map in an outsire area (w_polies would fly out the window with cieling and more detail) Maybe make the lighitng a bit more like your comp map. Which would be nice to see in Selfless.

Incredible, as always ReNo. yet I am bothered by the lack of reality in the archatecture. it's beautifull, but what engineer in their right mind would design a structure like that for a practical purpose? I supose public centers like museums, and convention centers often have such fancifull designs, but I just can't picture it in a mine/industrial type setting, even if it is suposed to be futureistic.

/2 cents

Looks great Reno. Makes me want to squeeze something industrial out, before HL takes it's final dive.

Glad to see you're doing something with all the work you spent on colony. Good luck with finishing it. A shame, though, really; Fox1 made some great textures for Paroxysm, but certain decisions / behavior by the team really just lost my interest and dedication.

Campaignjunkie
I know where you are coming from, I've occasionally found myself somewhat pissed off at certain folks over there, but I said a long time back I would make a map, and would feel really bad to go back on that. Plus making a co-op map is a new experience, and something I feel I need to learn.

Finger
Why not, I'd certainly be interested in seeing more maps from you, especially after Broken Palace.

Tracer Bullet
I admit its hardly realistic, but realism is something I've always ommited in my levels. I could perhaps knock up a realistic CS style map, but personally I think its something I would be quite bad at. I put together what I deem to be believable maps, which let me be a bit creative. Sure they are unlikely to exist in real life, but I try to avoid people going "No WAY is that a mine colony!". If I can make people believe the map represents what its supposed to represent, then I guess I'm happy.

Crackerjack
I'll try changing the colour of the locker texture to a grey or something to make it fit in more, however at the moment the map seems overall a bit too colourless, and the lockers provide a nice splash of colour to spruce it up. The central rusted corridor is kinda out of sync with the cleaner sections found elsewhere, so I might switch in some cleaner textures to make it all feel a bit more coherent. This is supposed to be a mine still in use, until a few days prior, so its not supposed to be long abandoned - perhaps the central corridor kinda suggests that :sad:

Jinx
Yeah I agree some of it could work really nicely in DM, so I'll certainly be trying to get a section of it out for HLDM. The problem is that the layout of the section I would consider is kinda linear, so it would take some layout tweaking to get working well. Still, no reason I shouldn't try.

Loco
Ok, the stripes are bad, point made guys :biggrin: Fact is though, if your all talking about the same stripes, they are actualy small pipes running up the texture I believe, rather than stripes. The textures are a mix of Korn's various sets, and Evil_Lair's (Yves Allaire) sets 3 and 8 mostly. The rock and ground textures are courtesy of MrBen.

Dr.Brasso
Your too kind mate...but hey who am I to not accept a compliment :biggrin:

Gollum
I'm sure your critical eye will find something to bitch about come the alpha release!

Thanks for all the feedback guys :smile:

Loco
Ok, the stripes are bad, point made guys :biggrin: Fact is though, if your all talking about the same stripes, they are actualy small pipes running up the texture I believe, rather than stripes. The textures are a mix of Korn's various sets, and Evil_Lair's (Yves Allaire) sets 3 and 8 mostly. The rock and ground textures are courtesy of MrBen.

Oh I see...! Fair enough. Nice work. You could try to scale them up a little, but this could lead to a rather nasty pixelly effect. Up to you. Great screenshots.

Reno: Dude, i love those light stripes on the floor!

me finds use in his ns map :biggrin:

I love this map.