Yokai

Wow acumen, I was going to post my WIP TF2 asset but damn, that blows my noobie stuff into the water.

This is my first non-crate model really, at least one I plan on implementing into something that is. So, just give me some pointers. It's untextured, but I'll work on it once I finalize my model itself. XD Anyway, was having a bit of fun with an idea I had:

Pyro's Love Armband

Now before I post the screenshots and have people go all "wtf why the pyro?", I decided to start a joke I was planning on making first in my machinima project (don't ask me how that's going btw, have the stages and then need to get a modeler better than I or become a better modeler myself to do player models) which was a recreation of a specific OP scene to an anime I quite like.

Basically this Misc item idea is based off this anime (A little NSFW, a bit sexual for western tastes) that I think I've posted before around here somewhere. Since the pyro's gender is labeled as a s/he (much like another game I fancy) by the TF2 developers frequently, I thought it would be funny to play it as though pyro is another one of cutie honey transformations in the machinema I planned to do (and probably will do at some point.) Well, this submit your custom assets thing is just too good to pass up, so I decided that while I practice my modeling for something bigger, I may as well try to make some TF2 worthy assets!

This is really one of my first attempt at modeling something that isn't a damn crate (why I can't do a machinema just yet) but I'm liking the way it's turning out so far. Untextured Results:

Based on this image of the original show:

Texturing is my next step, but I think I wan to redo the dangling part of the band, and maybe give it jiggle bones! The band is a bit lower on the arm but that was the only place I could put it without it messing up and getting stuck inside the pyro's armpit (which is rather low, probably because s/he wears such baggy clothing) I don't know though, this submission isn't really that of serious-ness and more for practicing. BUT, valentines day is coming around the corner, and it would sure make a funny unlock (If you know anything of this series of Japanese animated history).

Decided to do something anime because, well, a good source for getting cartoony content no? P.S. Yes, I hope to also have the Choker be packaged with the armband as the same piece, but I'm not sure what the limitations of TF2 misc items are.

I think you need to change the light_environment. The yellow lighting with a red sky doesn't really work.

Otherwise the map is solid while playing through it imo. Just work on some of the lighting.

I didn't buy the first one, but this one seems a million times better than the first one in many aspects. I think I'll buy both now just so I get the story all the way through.

so they're making us buy a new game to get all of this?

With the price reduction / rumor of 8 new character and stages, totally worth it imo. Especially if someone hasn't bought the game yet. Apparently if you own SF4 you get something special with SSF4.

Holy hell that's awesome. However,the latest screen seems to have a whole lot of texture seams which just look funky. For example around that cave entrance.

Do you investigate the problem or should we accept the different lightning?

I'm currently looking to find a solution. I haven't found a way to duplicate the event with my friends home-run server however I do not have a linux server to work with. Have you tried dying and letting the map reset at the end of the round? There have been very rare cases of the maps color correction not being activated until the begining of each round. It would also help if you told me the server specs / addons and modifications related to it because that can sometimes effect the color correction appearance. My assumption would be that the colorcorrection does not work perfectly on linux servers because of the lack of direct x support, however the color correction should be client sided and thus it shouldn't be the issue. I'll keep looking into it, sorry my answers aren't hasty since I've been working on another map and have been avoiding the internet recently since of its distracting nature.

Can anyone else confirm this occurrence / replicate the situation? This is really the first in a long run of betas that I have had this experience been mentioned. I appreciate your post because this was the type of stuff I really wanted to hear the first times I posted it on competing sites. Looks like mapcore will be be my best source for stress testing maps I assume. :ssj: For now, I will try to replicate it on my friends server and find a solution. Maybe run it on the server and comment on the game play experience / response from the community!

Wow, your map blows mine out of the water. Epic work.

Though may I ask whats up with the screenshots? Is it photoshop'd or did you use the cube maps to get that odd semi 3d look to them? I mean it looks cool but I am just wondering.

I feel as though the boats in the 3dskybox aren't really the best thing ever either, but that's just a nitpick. I loved this map in 1.6 so this remake seems to do it justice.

Sorry for the late response... Any computer not running direct x 9 cs:s cannot have color correction enabled, otherwise all direct x 9 computers should have color correction working. I believe it is because Color Correction REQUIRES direct x 9!

Anything else would be an unknown for me, can you link your computer specs and/or server specifications?

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I will take it into consideration with my upcoming TF2 map. Hopefully my next map will exceed expectations.

DEVELOPER NOTES for DE_OFFSHORE

This is the first of a series of developer notes I plan on releasing for both future maps, and maps I have decided to revisit for one last update (This map being an example of the latter.) The goal of these developer notes is both to help me analyze my own pieces and help everyone else understand how they should attempt to achieve the goals they have set for their own level designs. Hopefully, the subjects I discuss in this developer notes session will be intriguing and entertaining for the people reading as well as being an insightful piece of material for all level future level designers / game developers.

Part 1 - - - Layout and Gameplay

Within the development of this map I had many goals to focus on, but this is probably the one I wanted to focus on most. I've always found layout and gameplay design to be my biggest hurdle, and with de_offshore I planned to get over it without any trip-ups or mistakes. So I began by taking valve classic maps (in this case, de_dust2) and assessing them so I could apply my findings to my own level designs. So, lets begin by looking over a layout of de_dust2.

The above is the layout of DE_Dust2, which can arguably be (and is probably frequently) referred to as the best and most competitive cs layout that has ever been developed. Even if your opinion differs, there's certainly a few interesting points that I highlighted during my assessment of de_dust2.

Here is my assessment of the map layout, obviously the red lines serve the purpose of being a basic skeleton. As you can see, de_dust 2 has 2 vertical sniping lines which are renown as deadly awping areas, and make those areas and intersections very dangerous to the unprepared player. It also make it so that players with snipers can control the area of movement of the opposing players. You see, if two or more snipers occupy those sniping lines, it causes the players on the other team to chose 1 of three options. First, they can attempt to snipe the enemy snipers, which is a good counter technique but it also limits the player who chooses to snipe to only occupy those few sniper lines if they want to be of full use to the rest of your team. Second, they could attempt to flank the snipers. However, if the enemy sniper is being assisted by a few other snipers, the snipers can easily fight back with side arms and eliminate some of the opposing teams team-members, which makes this a a risky maneuver as well. Lastly, they can take one of the non-sniping routes and be safe from sniping attacks. This is the basic premise of area control, and is the fundamental of most player vs player games. Fighting games also use area control as the main source of strategy, all characters in a fighting game have some method of vertical and horizontal control that limits the opposing players movements. After observing this, what areas players control was taken into consideration while designing de_offshore.

If you further refer to the assessment of de_dust2, there's also other noticeable layout choices made. CT's have a very short distance to cover to get to the bombsites, which is understandable since the whole point of DE_ maps is to protect the bombsites from being blown up. Giving terrorists and counter terrorists equal walking distance to the bombsites would be a mistake. If they were to travel the same distance, the gameplay would be nullified and players would encounter each other at the bombsite, making it a chokepoint rather than an objective location. Each of the bombsites has 3 entryways, however 2 of the entrances share the same route for bombsite 1. One more thing I noticed is that elevation, or the z axis, plays a big role in some chokepoints, which makes it so that there's even further dimensions of area control that players must take into account. Typically, taking higher ground gives the opposing players an advantage. (Just ask Obi Wan Kenobi, "It's over Anarkin! I have the higher ground!".)

So with all of that in mind I created my layout, but I also took one more inspiration. While observing de_dust, I recognized a pattern that you can find in another type of map. fy_ maps. Just take the 4 box layout skeleton I made for dust2, even each of the squares, and remove the quick diagnal path from mid to bombsite 2. That's right, 4 boxes of glorious deathmatch goodness. It is little noticed, but the reason why dust and iceworld are so popular is mostly because of it's basic, easy to understand layout.

What I wanted to take from iceworld is the basic, very easy to understand layout, that allows players to jump right into the map. Nothing is worse than playing a map that is complicated for the first time, it takes a long while to understand each route and eventually players find out the best route and rush that one every time, thus making maps that don't follow this rather formulaic layout harder to balance between teams.

With all of that in mind, I made the layout below:

Notice the similarities I tried to capture from de_dust2, using this and adding a z-axis layer of depth, I feel as though I accomplished a similar but different sort of layout that players can jump right into and feel at ease while navigating. Chokepoints are exactly where I want them to be, with each route having been timed. Players will frequently be fighting near, but not too far away or inside, the bombsites. Whether or not this map is balanced is not really resolved as of yet, however I am confident that the map's layout makes it so neither team has a huge advantage over the other.

Part 2 - - - Design

First, I would like to highlight the process of the color correction choices. If you remember very early screenshots of de_offshore, you will remember something similar to this in tone:

This version of offshore's color correction captures the coldness I wanted to capture with the color correction, however I feel as though color correction is frequently used this way. You know what I mean, you see it all the time. They desaturate everything, change it to certain color, and dub it as an amazing use of color correction. It sure is cool if you are trying to make a film-noir esque mod for half life 2, but it isn't what I wanted. I just wanted a brief color change to make the map feel cold while also giving a few other rooms some warmth. This is why my color correction was altered to look more like this:

Notice how many of the colors still show through with this newer color correction .raw file. This is really the look I wanted to achieve, and I feel as though it makes it easier for the user to play when it isn't completely desaturated. For example, it makes it easier to know whether the user you spot is on your team or on the opposite team. It also makes it so that lighting can be more diverse color wise, which messes with the users perspective in terms of temperature.

Other than discussing the color correction, I want to highlight a few of the changes I made from b3 => Final.

In the pictures above, you may have noticed the rather extreme lighting change I made. I feel as though the green (or without color correction, yellow) lighting may have been a bit too strong, and just looked kind of poor in my opinion. However, I still wanted it to feel different than the rest of the map, because I didn't want people to think they were blue living in a blue world. (haha!) So I change it to be a very light yellow color. Remember, since there's a blue color correction, obviously the closer to white you go the more blue it gets, and anything that is yellow turns green, so this lighting is more of a a neon-green esque lighting that feels different from the rest of the map without feeling drastically different.

The two before and after pictures show how I wanted to revert to the maps theme more. I want this to be an abandoned oil rig that is being used as a military storage base for nukes. Because of this, I wanted to keep the destruction theme while also having concrete bags / repairing to make it seem as though the military is currently in the process of reconstructing this oil rig. And besides just lore in mind, I focused on adding more detail to rooms that felt a bit empty of fancy little mapping / brushwork use, so it is really a double wammy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TO BE CONTINUED.... Feel free to critique / check grammar. This will be on my website when I am finished reconstructing it!

FINAL UPDATE!

August 21st, 2009

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de_offshore (Final Edition)

Map created by Yokai

Email : YokaiSlayer@gmail.com

Twitter: TheYokai

DEVELOPERS NOTES in the next reply!

An article highlighting the development of de_offshore, the artistic / game-play goals I aimed to achieved, and miscellaneous developer notes.

>>DOWNLOAD DE_OFFSHORE<<

Overall Change List:

B3 => Final Changes:

* Aesthetic changes made to various interiors / exteriors. See Developer's Blog Entry for details.

* Ladder positioning changed to make scaffold climbing easy.

* Texture changes to various props. (Specifically placeholder officeinsp pictures.)

* Lighting adjustments made, making lights feel less intense by desaturating them a bit.

* Small changes to cover / prop positioning.

* Optimization Changes, specifically prop fade in / fade out distances and hint / skip placements.

* A few areaportals added to help performance on lower end machines.

* Adjustments made to physics model properties to remove unwanted player movement restrictions.

(I.E. Chairs / Phones / etc have been changed to "debris" to keep player movement unaffected, while

wanted obstacles such as file cabinets have remained unchanged.)

B2 => B3 Changes

* Added HDR

* Added point_viewcamera entities

* Made all sound files function properly.

* Modified a few hint+skip brushes to help performance on low end computers.

* Modified fade in/out distances of some props to help performance on lower end machines.

* Removed quite a bit of crates that didn't provide any need. All crates that provided cover and vertical height still remain to help game-play feel less linear.

* Added credits decal.

* Removed the ladder in the tall room near bombsite B in replace with the new "scaffold" system, providing more cover, detail, and intense game-play.

* Fog has been modified to fade in and out depending on distance to help low end machines' performance.

* Re-skinned and zipped the re-skinned model textures into the BSP to added a few extra custom content in the office area. This method should prevent re-skinned models appearing in other maps.

* Added TXT file with info and credits.

* Rescaled water to make it loop less frequently.

* Changed a few lighting options to help change the light intensity and darkness of certain areas. Few areas remain dark for game-play's sake.

* Removed whiteboards in office areas for they did not receive light properly.

B1 => B2 Changes

* Fully functional radar display.

* More Decals for extended detail

* Soundscapes added

* Removed ladders in favor for ramps and stairs in 2 locations.

* Removed one water tanker with a sheltered area instead, giving players more move around space.

":2fpuvki8]The Matrix?! A Ghost In the Shell rip-of? What kind of crack were you smoking dude?

We all know Ghost In the Shell is one of the great inspirations for The Matrix, but not a rip-of, c'mon!

Scene by scene comparison. If by "inspired" you mean lacking any sort of original direction. Opps, my bad. I mean, the matrix is a good movie, but if they had really told everyone who saw the matrix that it was heavily inspired by Ghost in the Shell I would feel as though The Matrix would have helped spread anime acceptance, which is a little to not common in the united states.

ghost in the shell: just another blade runner ripoff

Atleast the main character plot and scenario is different. I mean look a these two pictures:

Not necisarily a bad thing, many things are inspired by this manga/anime series since it was very popular in both Europe and Japan. I've read more about this game and I can easily say it isn't a blatant "rip" off.

Looks pretty awesome... Excuse me for asking a stupid question I could probably check myself, but I am away from home atm, so could you tell me if anybody on TF2 plays this on their servers? Like, are there any servers that host this map?

Looking great as usual, will run through.

You should do the de_dust technique: get a few dust clouds roaming around the place. Really adds a destroyed atmosphere and makes it look purty.

I would also say that the buildings just need a few more tiny details on them, like balconies or pipes. Also mess with the roofs a bit.

hmmm, looking pretty good in the screnshots. I'll give a test run when I get home.

Am I the only one who feels as though this is a rip off of the original ghost in the shell movie. I mean, look at the main character similarities. I thought the matrix was enough for us in the means of ghost in the shell rip-offs!

Otherwise, It's a little hard to tell from the footage is this ame is going to be a success. =/ Maybe, maybe not.

Looks like your catwalk is disappearing.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk20 ... bs0012.jpg

Because I don't have anti-aliasing, computer isn't good enough. D:

I don't recognise half of these rooms, did you make new ones?

Yes I did! Cool to see your reply spacer, cause I Liked the second version of the map you made for zp hl. To be honest, I released it as a custom because I was getting slightly aggravated with the team's work habits so I could move onto a different game / project.

Use Smoothing groups ( http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki ... ups_Dialog ) on pilars etc that will make them look better, good work though but some areas could use more color variation, better lighting and some areas in your map look strange, the green smoke looks odd and the water in the second screen doesn't quite belong there, in real life water has an impact on the walls, paint etc so try to make that more realistic (texture-wise)

Yeah I will add smoothing groups this time around. Thanks for the link though, cause that definitely explains more about how to use them. Yeah, color variation is definitely something I will focus on next time. While there are some rooms with mostly red / white lights, the white is a bit re-occuring. I think I may add a tint of blue to a few of the lights for the next version.

Textures are also something I've been getting a lot of comments on, so I may change that around a bit.

Could you care to elaborate? I feel theres quite a bit of color variation... I just didn't use colors out of a color scheme of any sort. Blue and Green are both used in the map a bit. Blue is used frequently, but I feel the blue adds a "High-Tech" feel to the lab.

Any other comments? I am still doing new versions with gameplay updates. I've heard a bit of complaints about the white wall texture so I may change it, although I sort of like it...

After quite some time, I've finally released my map to the public. Zps_thelabs is a recreation of the old HL1 zp classic. This one adds several new things to the plate that the old one didn't provide, and a totally rehashed design change. This newer version is more sleek while, at the same time, containing elements of grunge here and there. Rather than sticking the traditional, boring, bland mapping style for zombie mods where everything is dark and grungy, I decided that making a map that switches between light and dark and having the players provide the gore would be a more realistic and more enjoyable environment. I've always detested the statically placed gore because I feel that it eliminates the unique feel each round has.

Enough talk then, onto the pictures:

Download:

Mirror #1

Server:

Currently made deals with many zombiepanic source servers to host my map. The files have been sent to them so expect to see this map get quite a bit of action!

Please leave any feedback you have for future projects... Thanks!

Looks very good. =) I do agree that it feels like its empty... But I just don't know what you would should add...

The interior definitely needs a texture tune up. Everything looks black besides the seats which is a little unreal. Touch up the insides a bid. The red trimming around the windows on the interior is just messed up.

Nice poly work though!

That DOD map is looking F I N E...

What's the model format for Crysis and how is the importing process of the models done? Fairly straight forward stuff? (hl2) Just a bit of interest. As for the level itself, definitely coming along well.

I think we had a discussion like this a few pages back. Custom content can't be (or at least isn't normally) added because they haven't released SDK tools.

Haha tintin reference!

Wow, this is turning out well. Keep it up.

Streets currently feel a little empty though, but I am sure that you probably already know.

The lighting on the static meshes seem odd. I think that a lot of it is the lighting. I mean, it looks pretty nice, but there are some other issues with the looks. All the trees seem to be bending which makes it feel repetitive and the buildings all seem a little too white. Try adding more noise and a cloud effect to the textures. The pools don't seem to be affected by lighting... The building also don't look very tropical.