dm_marooned

Like it says in the map description, I was inspired to take a crack at
the island theme after seeing
this map on the
front page.

I know I still have to work on lighting (specifically the angle and the
hue-- yes it is too orange, I'll tone that down) and add an env_sun to
capture the dawn/sunset feeling. I'm also going to flesh out the
3D skybox and add a distant coastline, so it doesn't seem too isolated.

I haven't added weapons yet, but I'm thinking that I'll only include
shotguns, secondary ammo for the SMG (right in the shallow water in the
middle) and perhaps the combine rifle. Ideas?

I'm happy with the way I got the water to blend, but I still need to
add trigger_hurts to keep people from thinking they can swim way out :smile:

What I want to know is do the trees and rocks fit? Unfortunately
they are the only foliage assets I have access to, and I don't think
they look too bad... but to be honest it doesn't make much
sense. What do you think? If you think they should be
scrapped, I'd love to hear some ideas for what to use as cover instead.

I need some long grass, I just don't know where to get it. Any ideas?

Anyway -- I'd love to hear what you think I've done well, and what I
need to improve (obviously, there will be more talk of the latter).

Thanks in advance!

i like the look of it. you managed to capture the feeling of desolation. and i love the dusk atmosphere. but i'm not sure it would provide good gameplay due to the overall open-ness and limited acces routes. players can see each-other's every move. atm it woud be suited for 1on1 or 2on2 imo. maybe make more small islands around ? maybe more rocks for cover.

keep it up!

---

These words are my diaries screaming out loud

How about some sort of elevated areas; small-ish hills with
cliffs/steep bits so you have to have to follow some gradual paths to
reach the higher ground rather than just running anywhere? Would
require making the playable area a little larger perhaps, but not to a
huge extent.

---

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

I agree so far on the looks and the gameplay with BlisTer and ReNo. For both I have some suggestions:

Visually, you've set the mood, you're tweaking the lighting and all,
but think about it... a small island in the middle of an ocean with a
shed placed on it? Feels odd to me. I'd say, add a coastline or other
islands in the 3D skybox, not too far away, so it's part of a serie of
islands or a sandbank. I assume it's a fisherman shed or such so some
specific items wouldn't be wrong. Anyway, I believe it's quite a small
island for housing or even trees. It looks like it's going to be
flooded every 12 hours, so you may want to increase it's size somewhat
or add some rocks to make it more believable.

Gameplay-wise, you could do something with elevation to provide more
visual and physical cover, but you could also choose another way. I'm
thinking of a stranded, bigger ship, which hull could provide some
extra possibilities, a deck could provide more vertical gameplay and
the inside would allow for some different routes so it's not just a
free-to-go playground. This also gives you a reason to scatter ship
debris to provide cover on the island itself.

---

Create-ivity - a game development blog

Thanks for all the great feedback so far!

<div class="quote"><div class="quotetitle">? quoting BlisTer:</div><div class="quotetext">i like the look of it. you managed to capture the feeling of
desolation. and i love the dusk atmosphere. but i'm not sure it would
provide good gameplay due to the overall open-ness and limited acces
routes. players can see each-other's every move. atm it woud be suited
for 1on1 or 2on2 imo. maybe make more small islands around ? maybe more
rocks for cover.
keep it up!

</div></div>

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad the atmosphere is going over
well. You're right, as it stands right now, this map would only
work for 1v1 or 2v2, but the gameplay is pretty stale right now.
I'm thinking I'll expand the two islands that don't have the shack on
it, and add another couple islands opposite the shack. I don't
want my map to become too much of a clone of mazemaster's Island17 map,
so I have to make sure I keep my atmosphere when I expand.

<div class="quote"><div class="quotetitle">? quoting ReNo:</div><div class="quotetext">How about some sort of elevated areas; small-ish hills with
cliffs/steep bits so you have to have to follow some gradual paths to
reach the higher ground rather than just running anywhere? Would
require making the playable area a little larger perhaps, but not to a
huge extent.

</div></div>

I'll work on expanding the map. I'll try to add additional
islands, and a few steep faces so you can't approach the top from every
side. Thanks for the suggestion.

<div class="quote"><div class="quotetitle">? quoting Captain P:</div><div class="quotetext">I agree so far on the looks and the gameplay with BlisTer and ReNo. For both I have some suggestions:

Visually, you've set the mood, you're tweaking the lighting and all,
but think about it... a small island in the middle of an ocean with a
shed placed on it? Feels odd to me. I'd say, add a coastline or other
islands in the 3D skybox, not too far away, so it's part of a serie of
islands or a sandbank. I assume it's a fisherman shed or such so some
specific items wouldn't be wrong. Anyway, I believe it's quite a small
island for housing or even trees. It looks like it's going to be
flooded every 12 hours, so you may want to increase it's size somewhat
or add some rocks to make it more believable.

Gameplay-wise, you could do something with elevation to provide more
visual and physical cover, but you could also choose another way. I'm
thinking of a stranded, bigger ship, which hull could provide some
extra possibilities, a deck could provide more vertical gameplay and
the inside would allow for some different routes so it's not just a
free-to-go playground. This also gives you a reason to scatter ship
debris to provide cover on the island itself.

</div></div>

I'll definitely modify the 3D skybox (once I finish building the main
parts of the map itself) with a distant coastline with some houses and
a smallish port, and perhaps I'll put a fishing trawler out in the
distance.

The shipwreck would offer some interesting gameplay and some
good cover for the rest of the map, but I'm afraid I don't think I
could map one realistically. I was thinking of putting a fishing
boat beached on the sandbar, but I'm a little worried about the
performance hit of disecting the water with such a complicated
prop. Do you think it would be a bad idea? I think
mazemaster circumvented this by making the boat covered in sand, not
water, but I don't know if I'll end up with a big enough beach area to
pull this off. I'll try.

Additionally, most of the exterior bits of the island drop of quite
sharply into the water so I'm thinking of putting some bluffs on the
back of each island, with decent sized beaches that run almost a circle
around the map. That should offer some more variety.

Thanks a lot for all the feedback. I'll post a reply once I've updated the screenshots.

If anyone else has something to say, please go right ahead. :smile:

I was gunna make a map like this actually- just like Farcry island maps.

---

-[Better to be Honest than Kind]-

What about a small dock or something? It could be a smuggler's hideout, so you'll have some crates and stuff. Some rocks along the coast could provide some cover too. And a large stranded boat on one side (that hides some seriously tasty goodies, like shotgun ammo or a bunch of batteries).

And I am thinking only short-range weapons, like the shotgun and grenades and phys objects.

What about a lagoon? With the water in the center infested with leeches or something (like in Hl2). Provide multiple ways of getting across the lagoon, but just not walk straight through. With the short-range weapons, you can see the opponent, but you just can't shoot him. That should add to the tension.

---

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

Yeah, the small dock or jetty is a good idea. As for crates, I
think I'll try to make this map without putting in a single one, just
for the challenge of it :wink:

The large boat might work well when I expand the map, I'll see how it looks.

I agree, this map should be mostly close combat weapons, so even though
you can see people from far away, you can't kill them effectively
without going after them.

How did HL2 do the leeches? Anyone know?

Try the trigger_waterydeath. :smile:

---

Create-ivity - a game development blog