dod_harvest

This is the second release of this map (dod_harvest_b2). The first release was my very first map release, and it was moderately well received except for the horrendous optimization leading to pretty rough FPS. Between the original release and this release, I worked on and practically completed another map, so I returned with a stronger knowledge of mapping and hammer in general. Harvest for me is a mixed bag; I really enjoy some aspects, but I'm not entirely satisfied with the overall layout and some of the conventions I had to fall back on because of it. I was unwilling to attempt drastic changes in the layout for the update though, for the sake of consistency between versions. My amateur mapmaking skills are pretty much embedded in its DNA now!

Don't go easy on it... I could criticize the crap out of this map; you can too! It's the only way I can get better.

A download link can be found here.

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Quote from Minotauro

You could make it look twice as good making a proper 3d skybox, with distant mountains/buildings.

I'm glad you brought this up, because this was a problem I was having during development. Before the first beta release, there was no fog and the map was relatively sunny, so I had rolling hills in the background with a few other skybox props. It was at a later point I added the fog, but I kept the original skybox for the beta 1 release (which you can see in the screenshot at the end of this post).

The only problem was that with the fog, you get that "silhouette" effect, no matter what distance it is from the viewers eye. When I started development on the beta 2 version and changed a few visual aspects, I felt that effect got even more distracting. My solution was to drop all the rolling hills to bring the skybox somewhat level with the map. Right now I believe the fog is set to begin at 300 and end at 4000, which seems to be pretty reasonable. I believe I kept the same settings for the skybox fog as well. The fog made things trickier for sure, if there are any suggestions on how to properly handle fog with the skybox, I'd love to hear them.

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