Heres my very first attempt to make a texture.
Its a sci-fi crate texture for my dm_cloudcity map. It would look OK about 7 years ago... but hey, you have to start somewhere, right?
hopefully ill improve =).
[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/textures/box2.jpg]
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.
Its a pretty good idea i think, however right now it feels too barren. Add more cactuses and stuff. Props here and there would be nice aswell.
I agree with those saying the rocks look too smooth.
Maybe you should replace the ground texture with something more interesting?
Right now both the mountains and the ground have the same colour, and that just adds to the empty feeling.
Judging by the pics of the area, the ground looks alot brighter than the mountains around it.
Quote from SkjalgI know I'm so far from the greatest mapper on these forums and I'd love to have an opportunity to work with some of those that are. Even if we wont use that much custom material.
Yeah i agree with that.
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:
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.
====================================================
Play information
Deathmatch: Yes (4-12+)
Team deathmatch: No real support yet
New sounds: no
New music: no
New textures Yes, by skurmedel.
====================================================
Construction:
Base: none
Editor: Hammer World Editor V4
Other progs: Batchcompiler and CST
Known bugs: none
Build time: 4 months and counting
====================================================
Installation notes:
Unzip the dm_cloudcity_a44.zip file into this directory:
Steam\SteamApps\youraccountname\half-life 2 deathmatch\hl2mp
====================================================
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:
© 2005 Filip "MisterBister" Coulianos
====================================================
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.
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.
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?
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..
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 =).
The narrow feeling of the trench is certainly there. Very nice job!
However the displacements looks a bit uneven and sharp, Smoothing would be nice, but thats up to you.
It says U.S army on the box, is this because of US airplanes dropping them or is it going to be replaced?
The grass looks very cool, however a bit too green to fit in the mud. Perhaps a bit more brown/yellowish colour?
Is that german a Prop or something?
Allright, time for an update.
Ive been working on making the map playable aswell as adding contrast, detail and lighting into the level.
Since barely have any new textures in the map, ive useed the orange dev-textures as contrast to the grey ones.
I think it looks kinda nice. Perhaps going for orange steel? What do you guys think?
Ive also had a friend make two textures for me. The first one is the glass, the second is a very dark texture used in an equally dark elevator shaft.
Personally, i think theese textures is top notch, looking veery nice =).
As mentioned ive been working on making the lighting more bright, however i guess some of you will still think the map is very dark.
Lets just say that I havent forgotten about you, I'm still working on it!
The 3D-sky has become even more bigger and nastier. The highest building in the 3D-sky is actually very close to the maximum sice that Source can
render. Its still a bit undetailed, but with some cutstom textures and more work on it, it will probably look cool.
I tried using func_smokevolume in the 3D-sky to create a cloud effect, however that didnt work at all. Ill try to use the models used in
Counterstrike Source to simulate clouds, if possible. As mentioned ill try to add flying vehicles here aswell, but that completely depends on if that is possible to do inside the 3D-sky.
Ive also been working on making the map playable and I think im done with that, however i will not release a playable alpha before I have done some
playtesting with my friends, but expect an update with a fully playable alpha, with weapons and spawnpoints, soon. Working on making the map playable is the main reason why you havent heard any updates until now.
Heres some fresh images:
[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a440015.jpg]
Added contrast, brighter lighting and more buildings in the 3D-sky
[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a440021.jpg]
More contrast here aswell. The picture is taken from a platform that is newly made aswell. More spotlights has been added aswell.
[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a440023.jpg]
This area wasnt detailed at all before, and has gone through quite a remake. The boxes in the image will be replaced with more appropriate stuff later
on.
[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a440025.jpg]
A quick overview, more contrast added aswell as brighter lighting.
[Blocked Image: http://www.home.no/misterbister/Bilder/dm_cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a440026.jpg]
Heres another overview of the playable area. Here you can see the custom glass texture aswell as more spotlights and more contrast.
Well, guess that was all i have to say to the time being.
As Ive said before, I LOVE feedback. I promise to take everything you suggest into consideration.
Thanks for your feedback, its really great that so many has replied so fast!
Since there has been very many remarks on the lighting, I took a look at the map on a school computer, and i could barely see a thing.
At home, I have no problems with seeing the enviroment. Well, i guess ill have to increase the brightness and maybe add some shiny white stuff in there aswell...
Looking pretty good, if not a little too dark for my liking. I actually liked the overall look of the level in the 'progress' folder, back when it had a dusk skybox.
Im looking for a dark, cold and uneasy atmosphere. The lighting used with the dusk skybox was too warm to give that impression.
Little too dark. Either adjust the global light or use a lot of artificial lighting to illuminate areas. I like how you're using dev textures to map out the general area. I think its the wise thing to do for everyone. I do not like you boxes/crates. Thats an atmopshere ive seen before, and I thought you were going for somehting i've never seen before. I'd suggest upping the lights, and getting a lot of reflections in here. Ithink this is SP so you can handle it.
Well the crates are only used in a big storage area.
It looks good in some parts but tha light'n is almost tha same. If i was you i would spicy it up wit some baller light colours here n there.
Yes, the map looks colorless right now. im currently placing orange developer textures where the map needs some contrast. Ill add more colourful lighting in there aswell. Just wait and see =).
Map looks cool but as has been said, really dark. Reminds me of Halo in style for some reason; dunno if thats an intention or not but it's what it makes me think of. I'd tone down the glows around the lights, and possibly introduce a bit of colour into them instead of having them plain white.
Welcome to mapcore as well by the way mate, nice to see another Snarkpit face around Smile
More colours is on the way! =P
Thanks for the welcome ReNo, its nice to see a familiar face =).
Nice! I don't think it's too dark. It's giving the map atmosphere and makes those lightbeams fit right in! I also like the brushwork but atm there are too many devtexures too really comment on the map as whole, so I'll leave that out. SmileNice map. Keep us updated!
I guess that the lighting is very different depending on wich screen you are using. As I said before, at home i can see verything perfectly clear, but at school I cant see shit.
everything was black for me, i wasnt even going to comment because frankly i couldnt see ANYTHING...but i boosted my monitor brightness (alot) ... anyway i think its too dark for sure, i agree, that there are a whole lot of boxes in that 1 screen, but i think the whole visual dynamic would change a lot if you textured it white (ala vespin cloud city [starwars 5]) and that might even solve the darkness problem you got. you have nice brush work, so good work so far. also maybe think about changing the hl2's guy's face with Billy Dee Williams!
Adding white textures here and there would ceirtanly look different. Ill think about that =).
Breens face is very temporary, hes going to be replaced with either commersial or public messages from the city counsil.
Neato. Get some neon and stuff in there. Upliighting on the walkways, recessed lighting here and there, just make the whoel thing brighter in general. Custom textures would really, really help that, but without making you're own I'm slightly at a loss as to where you'd get something suitable. One thing you might like to consider is making quick 5 minute textures for everything you need giving ideas of colour and purpose and then asking very nicely for people to come up with proper versions of the textures. The you could at least get a better idea of the colouration etc that you're going for.
Im planning on adding neon lights, however i will use them very sparse. Thanks for the tip about 5 min textures, havent thought about that before.
However, ive barely ever made a texture so even that seems difficult. Well, i guess thats what i have to do. Do you know a good site with tutorials for making textures?
Im probably the only one, but i think its too dark. Besides that, i like the crate area. Probably because i dont really like this kinda futuristic manga city theme (just my taste) and its nice to see the purpose of an area
I dont like the manga style either. Im trying to make something of my own here.
If you're gonna post em dark, keep em high res! All i see is black with some bulbs of white here and there.. (I think i saw a breen in there somewhere too).
The size of the screenshots is small because other forums dont allow big ones.
I there, im very new to this community and i must say im very impressed with all ive seen so far, very nice work indeed.
What is it about
Im looking for atmosphere that no one has done before in the source. So I chose a futuristic city stretching to the skies, the actual map takes place above the clouds.
Progress
Ive been working on the project for three months and everything is going forward.
The map is currently working very well and demands very little from the computer.
It is still in very early alpha stage and there is a lot of changes going on as I’m trying to find the right atmosphere and all that.
As you can see, there is almost no textures applied to the faces, this is because the map demands something extra this time…
A new idea
Im planning on having datapads with small info icons over them, and when you press "E", you can read a message. Each one of them will tell bits and pieces of the story about what has happened here. If you read them all you will get a pretty clear picture of what has happened and what is going on. Im planning on adding this to give the map more depth, and let serious players who wants to know it all, having fun looking for them. Some will be easy to find, but wont tell very much either, others, more hidden, will tell more "valuable" info.
The BIG problem…
As I mentioned earlier, the map demanded something extra, bythat I mean new textures, or at least custom textures from an already created texture pack. I don’t know how to accomplish this since I know nothing about making textures on my own. I hoped that you could help me out with this, either by helping me out and making textures to the map or by knowing someone who is willing to help. Please let me know if you know a good texture site which is making texture packs for Half-life
Please give me feedback!
As you can see, the map isn’t finished by far, and that is why I have posted this thread here.
Please bombard me with ideas on how to change the map to the better, no ideas are bad.
Here is a few images taken ingame:
[Blocked Image: http://www.leveldesign.nu/bilder/skit/cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a970016.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://www.leveldesign.nu/bilder/skit/cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a970004.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://www.leveldesign.nu/bilder/skit/cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a970031.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://www.leveldesign.nu/bilder/skit/cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a970040.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://www.leveldesign.nu/bilder/skit/cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a970012.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://www.leveldesign.nu/bilder/skit/cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a970048.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://www.leveldesign.nu/bilder/skit/cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a970006.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://www.leveldesign.nu/bilder/skit/cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a970007.jpg]
[Blocked Image: http://www.leveldesign.nu/bilder/skit/cloudcity/dm_cloudcity_a970009.jpg]
