Jump to content

-Stratesiz-

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    691

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by -Stratesiz-

  10. hi_unitedthunder

    in Level Design

    Posted

    Looks nice but there are some things I would like to point out.

    Redo the stuff keeping the screens up in the last pic. It just doesn't look right now, the texture doesn't fit and the supports are too thick.

    The textures used for the walls and the floor in the second last pic don't really match up with the rest of the map. They are too low quality.

    Also, the book case in the room with the screens looks a tad odd. It's too thick and the texture isn't aligned properly.

    Hope that helps. Keep up the good work.

  13. Official E3 trailer

    in Off-Topic

    Posted

    Looks very promising but I have yet to see Europe from a European perspective. It's a tad cheesy with all the american flags and stuff in the background. From a movie's point of view it looks like a bad Pearl Harbor/Windtalkers B class movie with all the text and stuff flying at the screen and that... deep voice. While the trailers might have been epic and promising the movies sucked. Don't screw it up.

  16. Planning a map...

    in Engine Discussion

    Posted

    I've tested various styles for planning and I think it's a matter of taste which one people like the most.

    The first method I used was the simplest, improvising. Ya think of a theme and start creating after planning some key areas briefly. After that just go with the flow. It's a rather tricky method and can mess up the layout as friechamp said so I suggest you do the following:

    First come up with a theme that hasn't been done a million times, for example an location like Tokyo or a building like a library (I think people have seen enough dust styled sand and rocks already). Then try to find an answer to the question: "What will make your map stand out from the millions of maps out there?" (an 18th century library, urban residential areas in Tokyo).

    There are still themes that have not been discovered. One reason would be due to the limitations of the engine.

    Second, start refining the theme, work on architectural designs on paper, areas that go hand in hand with the architecture. Brushwork=architecture=layout, texturing is of secondary value.

    Once you come up with some nice solutions try to figure out how to diversify the different areas of the map.

    Finally think of something that noone else has. It can be something small to which the players can relate to.

    There are two basic methods for mapping, You can either start mapping room by room or map the entire layout and then start to work on detail and diversification. It's a matter of taste which method ya use. Outdoor areas would most likely use the latter.

    You can either draw the entire layout on paper or design some areas and figure out the rest while mapping. Either way, your original plans will change during mapping.

  18. tm_abandoned...ooooO!O~~~

    in Level Design

    Posted

    Yes it's damn hard to make dark maps since you never know how it will look on other screens. I guess the only method to fight back is to make the lighting rather dramatic as in black vs. white like in natural selection.

    I don't think that looks too dark though. Keep in mind that jpegs look darker than the map itself does.

  20. New screenies

    in Off-Topic

    Posted

    By blocky I meant the odd cliffs at the grave yard and at the harbor area seen in some other HL2 pics and the shadows casted from certain objects.

    I don't expect houses and structures to be all round and curvy but definately not as plain as the second picture indicates. Since the cliffs are blocky I will assume that they haven't implemented any powerful methods for making terrain or round structures.

    I never said the water looks like the water found it HL1 but it still looks repeating itself over and over again as it was a 256 x 256 texture. Hopefully these are things that are not seen on higher settings.

    Don't get me wrong. I expect HL2 to be great but after seing all these pictures I would have expected the engine to handle a greater load of detail instead of settling for all these compromises that resemble the ones used in HL1. I just feel disappointed.

    Then again Valve tends to show unfinished areas on the lowest detail level and slap outdated pictures of things on the box that aren't in the actual game.

  21. New screenies

    in Off-Topic

    Posted

    Yes that's true. I assume the playability to be of the finest quality and I'm almost 100 percent certain that it will look much better with a DX9 compatible card.

    However, given that the original HL1 looks ugly compared to its modern maps I am pretty sure that it won't take long to beat HL2's general level of mapping in mere months since the tools are basically the same.

    It's funny how most multiplayer maps nowadays tend to be more detailed than single player maps.

    As for 2+96872+6085804 polies and dynamic lighting and stuff I don't see any. The poly level I see in those pics is minimal. Notice how the lamp shadow to the right of the pic below is blocky just like in HL1. The bars with the misaligned texturing don't cast any shadows. See how the ever so original black and white tile floor has some odd bump mapping that doesn't look very realistic.

    http://www.aixgaming.com/archives/hl2-429-06.jpg

    Compare that pic to this one with less visible area and less stuff to see:

    http://media.pc.ign.com/media/482/48238 ... 19879.html

  22. New screenies

    in Off-Topic

    Posted

    hmmmz... I'm not impressed... at all, after all HL2 was supposed to be like the second coming of Jesus.

    http://www.aixgaming.com/archives/hl2-429-01.jpg

    First pic looks ok. Not very impressive though. Visible areas are a far cry from Far Cry. Buildings have extremely plain brushwork, for example the one to the right with the rooftop à la HL1 and the door as a part of the wall texture.

    http://www.aixgaming.com/archives/hl2-429-04.jpg

    The water looks ugly and extremely repetitive compared to Far Cry. The textures are blury, boring and undetailed. Brushwork is repetitive, overly simple and blocky. Why isn't there any anti-aliasing?

    http://www.aixgaming.com/archives/hl2-429-02.jpg

    There's that repetitive water again and textures that seem to be just as detailed as in HL1. Very plain areas in general.

    http://www.aixgaming.com/archives/hl2-429-07.jpg

    Very low poly and blury textures.

    http://www.aixgaming.com/archives/hl2-429-08.jpg

    Once again the cliffs look awful, just extremely unrealistic and blocky.

    http://www.aixgaming.com/archives/hl2-429-09.jpg

    This pic might as well be from HL1.

    http://www.aixgaming.com/archives/hl2-429-05.jpg

    Looks cool but rather nasty due to the lack of anti-aliasing. Surfaces are once more very blury.

    Heck, even the gun looks undetailed.

    In conclusion either the person who took those pics has a low-end computer or HL2 looks just extremely outdated. Even though the textures and stuff could be of higher quality the detail is still nothing close to modern standards.

    Let's just hope it plays well though.

×
×
  • Create New...