[WIP] Dm_cloudcity (updated 2006-09-05) (Final beta)

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The city looks not bad, but you should use heavy light_spots and maybye 2 or 3 in the same spot. This map needs some tune up in lighting, overall it looks dark.

work more on the light dude.

Indeed I will. ive got some nice plans for lighting, hopefully, theyll turn out as i hope for. Thanks for the feedback.

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That said, I'd recommend more colour. Maybe you are planning on adding that in with your textures rather than your lighting, but the flat white spotlights aren't doing it for me. Personally I think it might be cool to vary your point_spotlights a bit - have some fatter, others shorter, and different in colour. Not each and every one of them obviously as it would be garish, but differences between "sets" of them, such as those two pointing up near the top of the third screenshot.

Keep up the good work anyway, it's looking better and better

ive got more contrast with the dev textures, and now im moving over to lighting. Im going to add more colours, right now im planning to have light blue, white, red, and perhaps orange. But well see in what extent i will use the colours.

The spotlights are going to be completely remade, thanks for the tips.

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Yeah it doesnt look to dark for on the snarkpit forums. But damn does this map look fun to play on, alot of nice z-axis action, wide open areas but with restricted paths. Looks real nice. Maybe dont even add textures but instead color the map with different shades of blue for lighting?

This was exactly what I was thinking about then i drawed the map. I wanted Z-axis action and a big open chokepoint in the middle. Nice to see that others like that too.

I dont exactly understand what youre trying to say here: "color the map with different shades of blue for lighting?", could you try to explain that?

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how are you gonna texture this beast? looking good by the way, great geometry.

Hell i dont know.. right now ive got a friend who has made 2 textures and is working on a few more, but i dont think hell have the motivation to make textures for everything. Ill try to get some textures from IZaNaGI, who made dm_neon (very nice piece of artwork there, you should check it out if you havent already).

He has agreed on letting me use his textures, however i havent been able to extract them from the BSP yet..

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i like the city, looks very cool. I hope u use some custom textures for this one.

There are no other choice than making my own textures for this map =).

Allright everyone, time for an update.

Ive managed to make the map fully playable with weapons and all, and have playtested it with some friends.

The current Alphaversion is 44. Theres no real visual changes since the last update I made, I just made it playable.

You can download the alphaversion here:

[email protected]

URL: none specific.

Description:

This time its about Clouds, and a BIG sci-fi city high enough to reach them.

The map takes place on "streets" between the skyskrapers aswell as indoors.

In addition to the cool outdoor fighting, the players battle through scientific labs,

cargo areas aswell as elevator shafts.

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Play information

Deathmatch: Yes (4-12+)

Team deathmatch: No real support yet

New sounds: no

New music: no

New textures Yes, by skurmedel.

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Construction:

Base: none

Editor: Hammer World Editor V4

Other progs: Batchcompiler and CST

Known bugs: none

Build time: 4 months and counting

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Installation notes:

Unzip the dm_cloudcity_a44.zip file into this directory:

Steam\SteamApps\youraccountname\half-life 2 deathmatch\hl2mp

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Other notes:

This is an alpha-version and is compiled for playtesting purposes only.

If you have suggestions, feedback or anything you want to tell me, please don't hesitate to send me an email:

[email protected]

© 2005 Filip "MisterBister" Coulianos

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Zacker:

Yes, I know, its just that I havent found out how to make the clouds look good yet.

Time for another update!

Ive been experimenting with alot of colors back and forth, aswell as learning how to make textures.

Right now ive been stuck with the warm ones orange, red and so on.

Ive also changed the ambient light to a more blueish one. Feels like a good contrast to the warm lights I added.

Everything is very experimental, so please say what you think of it.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a480012.jpg]

I have added a bunch of spotlights to the left, aswell as given them a cold blue color.

Works pretty well with the red i think. The "bridge" in the lower part of the picture has

gotten blueish lights aswell.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a480010.jpg]

As you can see, ive added colours here aswell. Im not sure about the red ones though, i think i will make them more orange.

The orange spots are too small, or too few i think..

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a480013.jpg]

Here is an overview, the big tower in the middle is very grey compared to the rest, ill change that.

The red lights in the middle looks a bit out of place i think, probably going to make them more orange aswell.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a480006.jpg]

Here is a sample of an orange texture my friend made, i thought it was quite cool with gold-like metal so i added them.

If theyre going to stay there they need some more detail though.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a480000.jpg]

Ah, heres some result of my texture struggle. To the left is a failed attempt to bumpmap. To the right is a crate texture i made..

Im afraid it would have looked alright seven years ago.. Hopefully ill improve =).

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a480007.jpg]

Ah, finally another overview. The red spots are quite nice i think, aswell as the smoke above them.

Im planning to add more smoke from other chimneys in the map later on.

I read the "bens small bible of realistic multiplayer design" the other day and it really blowed me away.

Im currently looking at the map from a whole new perspective gameplay-wise, and its really exciting.

I also found out that it lacks lots of gameplay tweaks that I havent thought of before. Solutions to these issues has bombarded me today, and ive got lots of new great ideas. Im currently playing around with them.

It feels a bit funny too.

You have been a leveldesigner for about five years and you "think" you know it all, and then something like this shows up just totally turns everything upside down.

I have to email the author and thank him. Its a must read, doesnt matter if youre a hardcore mapper or not.

It can be found here:

http://www.crymod.com/uploads/tutorials ... Design.pdf

Im currently struggling with the textures aswell. Ive done lots of progress, but its a loong road. Im getting help from a friend who is very talented though. Hopefully, some of the textures in the final version will be by myself =).

Right, time for an update.

Ive been mainly working on texturing, but also optimizing and some gameplay elements.

Ive got hold of Dm_neons textures and got permission from IZaNaGI to use them.

Since they have a pretty special theme ill use them sparsly to avoid making my map looking like his.

Ive added some stuff that clearly gave the map a whole new look. ive also made one texture that fitted in the map, and im very proud of that after just a few weels of training in photoshop =).

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a510000.jpg]

In this image you can clearly see that windows has been added to the skyskrapers. Spaceships has been added which is a scrolling texture, a very cheap and cool looking solution. An Ad (Bistercola) has replaced Breen however it will probably be replaced or enhanced. Lots of textures has been added to this seen, however its pretty hard to detect.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a510002.jpg]

Same scene from another view. It looks much more detailed thanks to the textures.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a510003.jpg]

A view of some skyscrapers, you can clearly see the spaceships here aswell.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a520007.jpg]

An overview of the main battle area. Windows has been added to the building in the background, and as more detailed decals. You can see them if you look closely. Ads has been added by those found in Dm_neon. However ill probably change those aswell. Starwars stuff just doesnt fit..

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a520009.jpg]

The warehouse part has been enhanced with more detail (the "elevators" with crates on them). Ive added a floor texture and other textures here and there. Ive decided to make the crate textures myself, but I havent started doing them just yet.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a520012.jpg]

Inside the lab. More textures has been added, but no geometry. Ive got some ideas that im planning to ad, but that will come later on.

So, what do you guys think?

Feedback is appreciated, as always.

Progress:

Im currently working alot with textures and have given most of the map textures. However some areas, like the warehouse, is almost untouched at present. Im also experimenting with cratetextures that ive made. Perhaps ill keep them, perhaps not. Ive also added lots of small detail, and areas, that will increase the fun-factor. Im also working on the lighting to make it more colourful. Hopefully ill give you some images in about a week.

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Things that might use some improvement:

- spaceships: they look sort of flat (are you using a texture for them?)

- the quality of your screenshots!

Yes im using textures for the spaceships to save precious GPU power.

Ill bring fresh and meaty screenshots when it is worth it.

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Yeah, jpeg artifacts are doing your screens no favours. Bit more variation in the skyscraper texturing would be nice. Too uniform and too 'busy' at present.

Have fewer lights in some and maybe some yellow in there as well.

It's starting to really shape up now. GJ

Im going to make my own texture for the skyskrapers with more detail and variation in colour, aswell as less lights.

Regarding the screenies:

Its all a big dilemma, if i use high resolution, people will complain about them being too big. If I make them small ,people will complain of the poor quality.

Progress:

It has been a long time since i updated you with some pics, but now im here again.

Since the last update ive been working mainly on learning photoshop and adding colours to the map. Enough said, heres the images:

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a580000.jpg]

First off is an overview. Ive lighten it up a bit and added more colour. Here you can also see the clouds ive been working with, however im havinga real hard time adding the same spritebased clouds in the 3D-sky. They just wont show up. Ive tried func_smokevolume aswell, but then i just get an error saying that the material hasnt been precached or something like that.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a580001.jpg]

An overview from another angle. The most notable thing is the blue and red screens, however ive also added two big holes on the "bridges".

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a580002.jpg]

Same scene from another angle (again..). Here you can see some of the spotlights added in the 3D-sky aswell as ads in the 3D-sky. They will be replaced with something more appropriate in due time.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a580005.jpg]

Ive added the red area to make this tunnel more interesting. The crate textures is actually made by me aswell.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a580008.jpg]

Ive added some textures in here aswell. The crate textures are all made by me. Not the most pretty work you have seen i guess, but they work =P.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a580010.jpg]

Ive added the red area aswell. You can actually jump down there and get yourself healed and get armor with suitcharges. The bad thing is that people can easily drop down grenades when you heal up, and since its difficult to get out of that area you will probably get killed trying to get out of there if you are discovered.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a580007.jpg]

A pic of the 3D-sky. Ive added the glow to the lights aswell as new textures to the buildings.

[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a580009.jpg]

This area is shaping up pretty well. I dont remember showing a pic of this area until now.