[Crysis] - The Call of the Fireflies

Here's the project I've been spending my time on lately: The Call of the Fireflies.

It's a short puzzle-based mod: you don't get to fire any gun, but to explore detailed environments, survive and avoid hazards, and solve puzzles to progress.

There's no synopsis to mention really, you simply are an old man following mysterious fireflies in the mountains up to their hive.

I'm currently putting the final touches to the level (intro scene, gameplay tweaks, additional details) and I should get it ready for playtest quite soon.

I'm particularly looking forward to what you guys have to say about the looks of it, since I'm not a very good artist I assume there's lots to improve upon.

Website

[Blocked Image: http://fireflies.clement-melendez.com/pics/FirefliesM_0020.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://fireflies.clement-melendez.com/pics/FirefliesM_0013.jpg]

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[Blocked Image: http://fireflies.clement-melendez.com/pics/FirefliesM_0005.jpg]

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[Blocked Image: http://fireflies.clement-melendez.com/pics/FirefliesM_0002.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://fireflies.clement-melendez.com/pics/FirefliesM_0000.jpg]

Thanks for the advices and comments!

@Step: Actually, the fire is supposed to have more light around it, it's just that the light flickers,

and I didn't notice it but I've taken the screenshot right when it was off. Here's what it looks like really:

[Blocked Image: http://fireflies.clement-melendez.com/temp/mapcore02.jpg]

On the next shot you can see that the snow does look like it reflects some of the light,

but around the campfire the dirt/pebbles texture doesn't (that's intentional).

I'll tweak the brightness/HDR of these lights and see if I can find a more contrasting setting.

[Blocked Image: http://fireflies.clement-melendez.com/temp/mapcore01.jpg]

I may add a corona to that lamp too, I guess it could use one.

BTW, do you think it'd look better with the shadows on the lantern itself? (that cross on the ground)

The level actually is moonlit, as you can see here, although it's far less bright than on the shots you posted.

I don't think I'll rise the brightness though, as the level is supposed to be moody and dark, and with a brighter

level the other lightsources (torches, campfire, etc) and the fireflies will be less visible.

[Blocked Image: http://fireflies.clement-melendez.com/temp/mapcore03.jpg]

It's also my decision that the lights radius is fairly small, that has to do with the gameplay actually:

lights serve as heat sources, but only if the player stands close to them, so increasing the radius of a

light would mean increasing the heat radius, and that would fuck up the balance in some points.

Sweet! Thanks for the visuals, that'll definitely help more than simply mentioning contrast, and it does look less bland the way you suggest.

I'm leaving on vacation for a week, and then I'll tweak the lighting settings and see if I can get something close to what you showed there.

I'll post updates then! Cheers!

So, anybody willing to playtest this thing? I'll have a prototype ready within a week, top.

Thanks guys, I'll send you the link when it's up!

Quote from e-freak

Yes! (and i can play crysis on High settings now, so no "that texture flickers" comments )

Heh, it was actually a very much valid comment, it was caused by all the buildings from the temple being a single model, so it was hit by too many lightsources for the medium settings to handle. I divided the thing into about 20 models and it worked fine afterwards.