Posts by Idolon

Very, very nice! Some crits:

The gate here can't fully open.

A lot of the walls/floors here are very similar in value, which makes it a bit difficult to read. Darker floors (or darker walls) could help bring out more contrast.

I'm probably more clueless than you when it comes to CS:GO level design, but I did notice that there aren't a lot of opportunities to rotate between the bombsites. If you're at A and need to go to B (or vice versa) there's pretty much only one route to take (assuming you don't go onto the enemy's side of the map).

Quote from Squeebo

A CS:GO bomb diffuse map I've been working on; it takes place along a set of rooftops:

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de_escher

Unrelated note, I've been working on a grapple map for TF2, using the new Asteroid assets:

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I would define what exactly level design is at the start of your talk. I'm in a game development club at my university, and I don't think many people really understand what exactly level design is, and why it's important enough to be its own "thing" in game design. Also, if you can, when talking about iteration and blockout/detailing stuff, use pictures of an example map! Understanding that process is so much easier when you can literally see a dev-textured layout turn into a fully detailed environment.

From there, you could go one of two paths. You could talk about gaining experience, the professional environment, etc. like you've planned. You could also talk about the actual theory behind level design like flow, layout planning, detailing cues, etc. I'm not sure what would be more effective to teach in a "This is what level design is" lecture, and if either of those topics would be too "in depth" to cover properly in a shorter lecture.

I'm thinking of giving a talk/workshop of my own to the aforementioned game dev club, so I'm curious to know what you think. Good luck!

Quote from El_Exodus

More early WIP stuff for the ar_scifi map

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Reminds me of one of these toys

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Even if this is just another TF2, I'll gladly play it. The main thing I don't like about TF2 today is how scattered and chaotic the gameplay has gotten over the years due to all the new weapons and abilities that let so many classes play outside of their "normal" roles. If Overwatch does a better job of keeping the different classes in their particular role, I'll be a happy camper.

Also, I don't think this is gonna be just another TF2. There's definitely a fair amount of stuff that Blizzard took from TF2, but there seems to be a lot of new stuff thrown in the mix too. Overwatch is definitely it's own thing.

They added bumper cars to TF2! It's time to make race tracks.

Quote from Ubuska

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The yellow lighting on the right of this picture is sick. This makes me want to mess around with lighting now.

Quote from Mistral

working on a Mirror Edge map on UE4

-snip-

Are you using reference images? The scaling and proportions on those objects look way off, especially the stairs and the wood pallet.

To get some more brightness, add more observation rooms. You appear to only have the one 2 square wide room, which leads me to believe that this is an edit of a PTI map. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but keep in mind that building the map from scratch will keep everything cleaner and easier to manage, and it wont have that PTI-feel to it.

There's some pretty dark shadows behind your foliage props. Compile with -staticproppolys and -staticproplighting to get more accurate lighting on your props.

The puzzle is a bit strange. Everything felt very loose, in that I didn't feel as though I was solving a puzzle as much as I felt like I was just getting from point A to point B, with a single puzzle in the way. That is to say, the different aspects of the puzzle don't interact with each other much. The bit with the moving platform at the beginning was pretty cool though - it requires the combination of two elements to pull off, which requires a bit more thought to solve than the other puzzles in the map.

It's not very clear that you need to hold both buttons down at the end to get to the exit. A video of my blind playthrough:

Other than that, there's not much to really critique. Without any major detailing to be seen, the only thing that can really be commented on is the lighting and the puzzle layout.

feedback dump

All of the steam effects here are really opaque. Generally, the best environmental effects are the subtle ones that you see, but don't really "notice."

This metal texture is an odd choice for a doorway. That sort of metal plating is usually used for floors, since the texture provides grip for shoes. (I think that's why, at least!)

Concrete post for an otherwise chainlink fence? Seems costly for construction.

Who put these crates here? Really odd place for that many crates to be stacked.

The overgrowth of plants here looks pretty cool. Maybe put in a subtle green glow, as if the sunlight is filtering through the plants.

The biggest issue I have with this map is the setting. Things seem to be thrown in with little rhyme or reason. For example, this entire underground sewer-ish area. I can't figure out what it's purpose is! There's random boxes stacked up, which seems to imply storage. There's a wide metal scrolling door, which implies the same thing. However, there's a car parked on a ramp into the area, which seems to imply that it's also an area for residential traffic, but then there's a set of wide stairs leading down... even if this area could exist through the results of poor urban planning, it doesn't feel like anything you'd find in real life.

Another instance. How'd this van get here? Also, why is there an ad printed on the side of what appears to be a residential building?

What's up with this road?

I'd do some more nitpicky stuff, but I need to go to class. I like the fact that you're putting in lots of little details, but the overall theme of the map isn't pulling itself together. Look at your detailing from a larger perspective before diving into the little detals. Good effort.

One last note: heh

Holy cow, thanks everyone! These are for the Facepunch contest, but I'm mostly making them for my own enjoyment. It's a good exercise in design; I recommend you all to take a shot at it.

Mostly finished up the last 20 brush map, and started making another one! I should probably be studying instead

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Need to redo the color correction on the 2nd one for sure.

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My entry right now for a 20 brush challenge on Facepunch. Lighting errors and AA tearing ahoy!

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I've always wanted to use the construction props, but I never really liked how the maps that used them always seemed to be really brown. I think they work pretty well in this style too!

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Finally got a full detail pass! Still have a few rough edges to smooth out, but I'm pretty proud of this.

Oh man, Imbricatus was a great map. Not because it was fun to play (because the layout had a lot of issues), but I would want to play the thing just so I could look at it. He also made a couple of other TF2 maps that never got to the detailing stage, but gosh are they cool looking regardless.

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Almost ready for the 3D sky! yaaaaay

Not too shoddy for a first finished map! I think you mostly need to work on architectural details, as most of the buildings and walls you have follow the same formula of "Flat wall with ledge at the top." Still, not a bad job.

Wow, that's really impressive! My only complaint is there doesn't seem to be very much in the way of small detailing like stains, missing tiles, or junk laying about (janitorial equipment would be a good fit in this map). Keeping the style clean and simple is good for readability, but putting small details like that near doorways can help draw the player's eye to key locations where enemies are most likely to be. I could be wrong about this, Valve does it a lot in TF2, and I don't see why CS would be any different.