W.I.P. Critique

[ifO]

Very nice stuff. Crossfire is superb, and the mapping standard on a whole is very high.

My only criticisms would be, firstly in Autumn - the rocky sections have 2 distinct levels and are a bit rounded-box-like, and it looks a bit odd.

Also in Factory - I think you need to break up some of those big expanses of plain concrete texturing (on walls/ceiling in particular) , even if only by adding some structural detail to the textures, or adding more grime overlays etc to break up the uniform clean look. A few extra pipe/cable props here and there wouldn't hurt either.

[Sa74n]

FrieChamp: GG_Factory was made off of a few shots like this one

ive seen this before. here is another take on this scene by a fellow mapper. hope it serves as some inspiration for you. http://littlelostpoly.co.uk/images/gall ... /nd039.jpg

btw. i think that crossfire is probably your strongest map atm. i wouldve liked to see a slightly different take on it but i guess you decided to stick as close as possible to it for the blackmesa mod. still looks good though

[TeddyBear]

ive seen this before. here is another take on this scene by a fellow mapper. hope it serves as some inspiration for you. http://littlelostpoly.co.uk/images/gall ... /nd039.jpg

btw. i think that crossfire is probably your strongest map atm. i wouldve liked to see a slightly different take on it but i guess you decided to stick as close as possible to it for the blackmesa mod. still looks good though

Now there's a great map!

[PhilipK]

mmm the generator~

[atrocity]

Well I can't deny that level designer did a great job with that. I think if I had the models or textures, well time too I could have achieved a simlilar effect, but going through game design school has not given me a lot of time to work on levels recently.

For the people who commented on crossfire thanks for the compliments, there are a lot of changes I have been making to the level still, because a lot of it looks uniform or in some cases doesn't make sense. I also have been doing gasworks which has some custom textures and models. I will be releasing screenshots after Black Mesa's next media release.

That's the actuall photo I went off of. It's a room similar to the one I posted but has cooler pillars and more interesting architecture all around. I really like the person who did the other rooms work obviously pretty well done.

[Dradz]

SA74: What map/mapper is that? Looks real!

[atrocity]

Ahhh a Nuclear Dawn guy Very nice work though. I would love to sit down and get a blue print of the plant and remake it, unfortunatly I don't have it. I have been into Urban Photography for awhile and have been workign on various things from photos I have taken.

The back end of Gasworks was completly restructed off of pictures I took in a powerplant. I think workign off of reference is pretty cool especially if you can go to the actual place and view it.

SA74: I am honestly inspired by the guys work on that powerplant cause he did an excellent job. The orginal purpose of my level was to prototype thigns in hammer that no one has ever seen before. However after I played the Gun Game server mod I decided I wanted to convert it. I do agree in the end I could have put A LOT more detail into it, and if I was smart I could have used my knowlege of max to push the level even further but failed to do so because of time restrictions.

[Dodger]

[TeddyBear]

Yup, it's Robert Briscoe. We worked together for a while, and his quality really surprised me.

[atrocity]

I hope he does, It's pretty hard to get into there so if he does more power to him.

[JeanPaul]

I dont mean to be rude, but that ND map looks as good as it does mearly because of strong custom assets that Sa74n didnt even make.

Atrocity, I, Ram, and many people have told you this on many accounts yet you dont listen. Your map needs more brushwork (preferably on the windows.)

[atrocity]

I actually did add more brushwork on the windows in the factory, however I have not updated the pictures since then. So don't think I didn't ignore good advice bud sorry I haven't updated the pictures yet.

[FMPONE]

I dont mean to be rude, but that ND map looks as good as it does mearly because of strong custom assets that Sa74n didnt even make.

Its not his map to begin with. And if you think the shot is impressive "merely" because of custom assets you're out of your mind, and apparently you miss the hl2 props directly in the foreground as well.

Back on subject atrocity I'd say that alot of your work could benefit from a general boost in detail, there are plenty of plain floors, ceilings and blank skyboxes that could benefit from decals or prop work. Another thing I've noticed is that your lighting tends to stay the same over a map, you should play with some tones that differ from the Valve maps the texture sets are from. Overall I'd say while there is tons of room for improvement everything looks pretty good.

[sk3tch]

Ya know...It's funny. I work in the city of Springfield Massachusetts all the time and notice how simplistic some of the archetecture is. If I was to re-create one of those simplistic buildings I could just hear the "Needs more props/gutters/shutter/etc."

My pointers:

The de_prodigy style bunkers look TOO much like the ones from that map. Also the ceiling from screen-shots 6-9 look way too clean.

Other than that it's all a matter of how much "real to life" detail you want to add. For example screenshots 10-14 could use some ridges/supports on the walls to make it appear like it is more detailed...Even though your photo probably didn't have it.

I like it alot though.

[atrocity]

FMPONE: thanks for the critique very good. I think I noticed the oens where I had a lot of detail like Rust, it's just missing a good skybox. And then you have autumn which has little detail and a plain skybox. The bunkers in autumn were based right off the ones in prodigy because I wanted the same style bunkers in the level. It took a bit to get the window sizes down, and get the beveled texture to fit right but I only had to make one and copy it over so it wasn't as bad in that sense.

sk3tch: Thank you for the pointers too. I think I realize that when you make somethign from a photo, the architecture could be pretty plain, and in some cases us as an artist could spice it up a little more, prob like that I should have done with those walls in factory.

I think I could prob make my factory map a lot better if I take some time to pour many more details into it, which I might do after my current projects are comepleted.

I am going to start a W.I.P. thread for all of my maps here on out, because it seems I am getting a lot of good critique from here and that to me is one of the best ways to learn.