Posts by KungFuSquirrel

  • Killzone 2

    What game does that by default? Every single dual-analog game I've played on the xbox, ps2, 360, and ps3 has movement on the left and look/aim on the right. There's the "southpaw" option some games include that swaps it, I guess, but that's all I've ever seen. :\

  • TF2 cp_rockdown

    Hey, I meant to get back to this thread sooner, sorry

    Looking at the top-down, I'd be worried about the distance that Red has to travel to reach that CP as well as the previous comments on the CP position. If the CP were moved back, maybe to where the stairs are or to the room in between, I think it'd be a much more serviceable defensive position. You'd have to shuffle things a bit to frame it properly in the level but that might also help break up the 4-way symmetry in the room right now.

    There's nothing wrong with the symmetry you have, but it might be worth looking into some more asymmetric options. Even the symmetric TF2 maps are only symmetric on the center point, not within the routes themselves (at least, once you clear the spawn area). Differences in those routes are things that'll help create differences in strategy, whether it be offensive routes, turret placement, sniper vantage points, rocket/double jump-accessible areas, sticky ambush points, spy hiding spots, etc.

  • [UT3] - Waterfall

    Looking much better! Huge improvements all-around. I'll try to run around this later today if I have time.

    My immediate feedback from the shots... I'd pull the tree trunk out of the middle of the path, keep the main route clear. I think you could toss in a little more foliage or smaller rock pile meshes around the points where the rock meshes meet terrain to hide the seam a bit more.

  • [cod4] AirBase

    Escape deselect is the only way to go - Hammer and Unreal both support it too.

    If you have a sub-1 grid, pop the decals off on the smallest you can. COD4 goes down to .5, D3 goes to .125. 1 unit is thick enough you might see the decal parallax or actually notice that it's floating.

    To clarify, middle click on any surface applies that texture to the selected brushes or faces.

    Unfortunately COD4's radiant doesn't include D3's texturing, which is the most awesome BSP texturing ever to exist (sorry Hammer, not even your edge align buttons make up for it).

  • Terminator 4

    Quote from Erratic

    Whaaa, millionaire actor was distracted from wandering lighting guy, I guess I'll bitch him out in front of the crew. Fuck stars

    word is this guy has a habit of constantly and repeatedly tweaking and changing lighting mid-take, and that people who have worked with him (and currently work under him) consider this explosion a long time coming.

  • TF2 cp_rockdown

    Well, it is only one base so far Let's see what he does with the midground!

    The one thing that sticks out is the CP area. I don't know what your intended layout is but if that's the base I'd re-work that point. If you look at the final cap points in every CP map in the game (that I can think of off the top of my head at least), there's some kind of barrier that lets defenders put their back to a wall and fight it out. Well has the semi-circle with the spawn behind it, Badlands has a similar setup but with the spawn above and behind a bit on either side. Granary has the back wall with the walkway and steps creating a semi-barrier on one side and plenty of other cover objects in the way. Every cap point on Dustbowl except 2-1 also includes some kind of backs-to-the-wall position. I think a big open point like that is just going to be too easily overrun - offensive spies would have a field day, stickies could be easily cleared out, soldiers and demomen would have to rely on direct hits (which I do anyway as a demo because I'm badass, but still... )

    That aside, I really like the look of what you've got going here. I think the sloped pillars in the CP area look a little out of place if only because the rest of the walls are still so axial, but the rest looks great. I actually really like the last shot, it's simple but in a really good way... Looking forward to seeing more

  • Mega UT3 update, plus activate retail copies on Steam!

    http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/57004

    I'm sure some of you read the Shack already but I figured I'd post it anyway... It's a bit late, but these are some impressive steps on Epic's part . Sounds like a beefy map pack is on the way, too.

    I also love any game that will allow retail CD keys to be activated on Steam. Unfortunately not many outside of Valve products do it

    Here's a link to the ridiculous changelog, also via the Shack: http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/56939

  • [DOD:S] dod_troddle

    I remember this map! Hooray for finally finishing it

    I agree with some of the points here, I think my only real complaint is that it's a bit on the clean side for what it is, but still looks like a solid map.

    I really like the elevation you got out of the bridge area (and the shape of the bridge itself). It's really cool looking up and seeing the side wall, steps, and then the normal buildings layered past that. Looks like it'd be a fun area to battle in and around.

  • What "Level Designer" means in our industry

    Assume that in most situations, level designers are doing some combination of layout and gameplay design, layout construction, and scripting. Some places distinguish between "level builders" and "level scripters," and some have them do all of the above.

    Beyond that, some will do art, some will do lighting, some will do AI/enemy design, some will write, some will do cinematics, some will do all of the above, but that all depends entirely on the project, the engine and tools, and the company's workflow and resources.

  • [UT3] DM-Autumn Fog (beta)

    Hey, welcome to Mapcore!

    This is a really solid first effort, especially with you creating the content yourself. I don't have time right now to give the map a proper runthrough but a few things come to mind from the screens, so hopefully that's still useful.

    Your concept is a great piece with really nice color and lighting. The variety in color between the ground textures and the rock really makes things pop out.

    In the level, I don't think the ground textures and grass have the same vibrance that you depicted in the concept. You might be able to bring that out more in the texture, and/or try some full-scene effects with a post-processing volume over the level to nudge just a little more color out of it. In the last shot there's a good shot of what I assume is a dead leaves texture that I think could benefit from a little more color variety in the red and yellow range instead of just orange across the board (though, if that's not dead leaves, that feedback might not apply ).

    I agree with Erratic that the lighting shown in the concept is stronger than the actual level, especially if you can pull off the god rays casting into the scene. I might be seeing this wrong, but it looks right now like you're relying more on a skylight and point lights throughout the level rather than a directional light. I'd rely much more on a directional light with point lights only for accents or fake bounces where needed, and try reducing the skylight to a dark color with a brightness around .1 or so.

    The lanterns are a nice touch, but in shot 3 especially I think they're a little overdone. If you are able to use a directional light, I think you could pull a lot of these out and use them in more situations like the entrance to the cave in shot 4 or in some of the lower-lying areas like shown in the back of shot 5. Also, something I've mentioned in a couple other UT3 map feedback posts is lighting fixtures like this - it's common and easy to just place a single point light, but this often results in too bright and too large a light for what's actually there - try using a smaller-radius bright light that only lights the immediate area, then using a larger-radius light at lower brightness to simulate the softer bounce you'd want to see around it. the same applies to that red glowy plant, which looks cool, but would probably improve with more subtle light casting from it.

    Something else that should help the lighting across the board is lightmapping on your meshes. It looks (and sounds, from your description) that both the rocks and the ground are mesh, so I'm assuming right now they're vertex lit (and forgive me if I'm telling you something you already know). I'm assuming right now that the textures are all using tiled UVs, so you'll have to create a second UV channel to use as lightmap UVs. You can try this out in the editor by opening your static mesh(es) in the static mesh viewer and generating unique UVs for the mesh and setting a default lightmap resolution (the larger the mesh, the higher you'll have to go, but I wouldn't start higher than 1024). The UVs it generates will probably be sloppy but it'll at least let you see the light and shadow detail you'll gain. To enable lightmaps on a mesh, either uncheck the "Override Static Lightmap Resolution" box, or enter a resolution in the "Overriden lightmap resolution" box (128, 256, 512, etc.)

    Your grass meshes hanging over the edge look really nice, but also have some poor lighting. These might benefit from one of two things: disabling shadow casting or being switched over to dynamic lighting. Easiest way to do the latter is just turning them into dynamic actors by right clicking and converting to movers. If you make them dynamic actors and keep shadow casting on, you might actually get some cool looking dynamic shadows (but you have to set the meshes under them to accept dynamic shadows and uncheck the "force lightmap" box), but this could also hinder performance, so unless it looks really good, plan on disabling shadows either way.

    A couple final shot-specific critiques, where #1 is the first one after the concept:

    #2:

    The blending where the rock meets the terrain helps, but I dunno if that's the right texture to blend to right there. Something that might give you better transitions at these edges would be more piles of rocks and scattered grass like you have behind that area. The more you can do to hide these kinds of seams the better it'll look.

    #3:

    This has a really cool shape to it, but it looks a little weird where the path on the left so suddenly drops into a rock ledge. I think that space could be filled with a few larger rocks that break up the view of the path a little bit and help cover the transitional seam... alternatively just covering a little more of the curve as it comes down might do the trick... maybe some of that grass/straw overhang mesh, too? Worth a look, however you go at it I'm also not sure the green tone inside the cave is the best color choice... more of a teal or light blue might match the rest of the scene a little better.

    Overall, like I said at first, this is a great start for a first shot in UT3, I think you'll be able to do a lot with it. Mad props for starting off with custom content, too!

  • [UT3] - Waterfall

    that is a huge difference. The red might not work on that side since it's so far, was just an idea. But the rest is looking a lot better already. The extra effects on the waterfall and the new lighting tone against the back wall is looking great. Looking forward to seeing what you've done with the rest