Honest replies please, don't worry about hurting my feelings. They'll be more hurt if you tell me I'm 100% guaranteed to win, and I don't end up winning ;) If you think something needs improvement, or something looks out of place, tell me! Basically this is a small 1v1 or team DM 2v2 map, focusing on long distance combat and smart grenade useage. Where does it take place? uh...I'll let you think that one up for yourself ;) http://www.infosprite.com/members/W01f/dm_void_1.jpg http://www.infosprite.com/members/W01f/dm_void_2.jpg http://www.infosprite.com/members/W01f/dm_void_3.jpg Personally, I think it's the best looking thing I've ever done, but then I won't win on visuals alone. I did put a ton of thought into layout, and spent the better part of my time on weapon/item/spawn placement. And that said, I don't think it will win. Maybe good enough for an honerable mention, but they'll probably dismiss it as too small, too weird, and not enough physical objects (because it's currently the cool thing to put 800 physics objects in your map). But I'm still proud of it, and will release it to the community as soon as I find out who the winners are. Btw, winner gets $5000. Second and third get $3000.

You're right, it LOOKS great! Reminds me of the god ol' unreal tournament 2k3 times! (Phobos)

Merry christmas.

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Original post by W01f Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3

Clickys:)

Looks really cool but a bit empty maybe, guess im just used to having lots of barrels and creates about :P Cant wait to play it.

Good luck with the contest;)

Back in the days when I was doing Half-Life mapping, I used to bow down to two excellent mappers, Apocalypso and Wolf. When I read your name and your topic, I thought you were THE Wolf. However, the pics you showed do not contain the same amount of detail that I'm used to seeing in classic Wolf maps.

Now, I know how hard the polygon limits become on open maps, but I still find that the map lacks a little detail, especially in the texture variety area. I mean, concrete and grey floor on most of the map? You might want to put some effort adding something more special to these areas (things painted on the walls, vents, maybe hi-tech stuff near the ray emitter, which looks nice BTW). Some interesting variations might consist in adding holes at the base of handrails, too (and adds for grenade usage as well).

Also, some additional smaller lights, on the floor for instance, might have relieved the large blueish grey floors of their dullness. Also an interesting touch would be to mark important areas (such as weapon pickups) with some distinctive decoration (maybe a small bit of wall, or a pedestal with a different texture, as in Q3A). Also, have you thought of adding metal railings in some areas (such as under the central bridge?

I won't comment on the blue tone you gave to the entire map, because this seems to be a choice rather than an error. I still stand by my point of lack of variety in this area though. I think it might keep all its consistency if you added white or yellowish lights in the indoor or not-totally-outdoor areas. Of course, I didn't see any of these in your screenshots, so it's only guesswork so far.

So, that's the comments I saw fit to make after seeing your map... Other than that, the (untextured) architecture looks great, and I cannot judge of the fun yet.

EDIT: also, Wolf made Rapidcore, which became an official HLDM map.

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Original post by grekster Quote: Original post by W01f Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Clickys:) Looks really cool but a bit empty maybe, guess im just used to having lots of barrels and creates about :P Cant wait to play it. Good luck with the contest;)

Yeah, since the playing field is already so small, it gets annoying tripping over various objects. I've tested it, and it just isn't fun :/

Tooh: The map lacks textures on purpose. I know it's kind of hard to understand, but think of this structure in real life. Would it really make sense if there were a bunch of vents, and spraypaint allover the walls ect? Maybe for your average HL2 map..but I don't think it would fit the theme of my map very well. Not sure what you mean about adding holes at the base of handrails...

There are a few smaller lights placed around the map, but I guess you can't really see them in those screenshots. I never really thought about changing their colour though..I'll test that out and see how it looks. I'm worried that it might clash..since I'm obviously going for a blue theme, and throwing yellow or red might not look right. I'll check it out tho.

It seems this other wolf is pretty talented. It's a hell of an accomplishment for an amateur mapper to have his map become an official ... anything.. I can only wish someday that mine does too.

Do you by any chance follow the quake3 mapping community? Thats where I come from and that is where my style of map comes from. Detail in architecture, not textures. Check these screens out:

http://www.planetquake.com/lvl/screen_shot.asp?shot=lae3dm3
http://www.planetquake.com/lvl/screen_shot.asp?shot=quimera

Just for some examples.. I'm not saying my map is as good as those..but that's the kinda of thing I was going for. It just depends on what kind of style you're going for as far as textures are concerned. It wouldn't make sense to build a normal HL2 map like this, or a doom3 map..:)

Thanks for the feedback tho!

Personally my favourite Half Life mapper has to be Scary One, so take my advice knowing it.

I think you need a bit of orange. See, orange balances blue. If you try adding a bit somewhere (possibly floor lamps, or emergency floor lights) you'll add a nice balance of tones on your map.

I like the sleek lines and the overall shapes of the building elements, very Quake 3-esque IMHO (the maps played in the void, mostly)

I like the overall blue tint, though, makes me think of an underwater base, a la The Abyss.

The laser is a very cool focal point, but I think the base for it is a bit of a let down. Just a sort of vent looking thingie ? A bit too, I dunno, awkward looking ?
Why not have a single standing pillar a little way away from the main complex, juuuust out of reach, but a bit more complex looking, like a sort of beacon, or lighthouse, but keeping with your sleek and clean lines style. Maybe add some pipes going from the main base to this pillar, underneath the "ground level", hinting that the brave guy trying to jump on them might be rewarded with something.

Oh, and that glass house alley is somewhat of an eye sore, I am not sure why. I think maybe its architecture is so very simplistic compared to the cool oblique lines you have chosen for the rest. It's a bit of a turn off to see this tunnel look like some sort of barn roof. Maybe something more circular in shape ? Or break the long line with some interesting looking architecture at the center of it (the tunnel), like a supporting pillar being pierced through ?

Oh, and dont worry about textures. Less is more if you know how to use them. Which you seem to know :-) Personally, I did a little map for my own education with almost only crete1, and the concrete textures, but with various lightings that gave them much more variety that you'd have expected from them.

Just my opinion, eh :-)

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I agree, the glass hallway does seem a little architectually plain. I've been trying to think of a way to make it look better, so i'll try some of your suggestions. It's kinda funny though, as plain as it looks, that's some pretty advanced brushwork with the weird angles + glass and all..which has been one of the reasons I haven't spiced it up a bit.

I never thought about using orange in the map, I'll try that out too :)

As for the building in the distance, it's possible, but I think it might make the polycounts too high. I'm using all detail brushes except for the outer hull of the map, meaning everything in the map is always being drawn. No VIS blocking at all. But I can always experimentate :) I'm just not sure how much longer I have. The contest ends on jan 15th, but does that mean I have to send it in by jan 1st to get it in on time?

ohh boy mapping.

Been a long, long time since I've picked up worldcraft.

(sorry I couldn't resist pimping my old maps [wink])

The map looks nice.

What I'd suggest, however, is it needs some points of contrast. The geometry looks good, and the general layout looks fine too, but it's quite flat, and very blue.
There need to be a few things that really grab attention, maybe some damage somewhere with some sort of electrical fire, for example, adding a bit of yellow into the blue. Or maybe some use of red. Just some point of contrast to break things up a bit.

What I'd also suggest, is that the ground is very flat, and being the same texture doesn't help.
To get around this, what may work is to have tracking lines running through. For example if some automated machine was to move around the map as a work site, then it would want to follow brighter paths on the ground (as an example) - maybe metal or a brighter white material would do the trick.

As I say, more contrast always looks good. I know my old maps arn't really good examples of this, but that was half-life 1 after all.
You could try experiementing with less ambient light (maybe even negative ambient if HL2 allows this) - and then use lots and lots of point lights. Don't relly on texture and physical lights. As mentioned, Scary_one was one of the all time half-life 1 mapping gods, and his maps alwesome use of point lights to add depth to a scene.
Hard shadows generally a are a bad thing.

The single plasma stream running up the map is good, but could possibly be more extreme.. Maybe have some crazy swirling vortex around it (this is the void after all [smile])

And don't be afraid to go nuts with lots of little downlights/uplights everywhere, and things like that. The little details often bring a map to life.

How about some random lightning arcing through the void?? :)

Overall it looks very good and you should be very proud. I'm not telling you to do everything I say, I'm just rattling off things that come to me in the hope that some might spark some even better idea in yourself [smile] - after all, it's your map


[edit]

on second thought it probably looks a lot better up close so maybe ignore half of what I've just said. :) - the flatness and all I was meaning.
Especially now I look much closer at pic 3..
(I was concentrating mostly on pic 1, which looks very very flat in comparison)

blah!

Thanks a lot for the tips. I actually like that lightning idea, and I think I could impliment it pretty nicely. Gonna have to do it quickly tho, as I only have three days left before I send it in. Thanks tho, much appreciated :)

cool :)

just make sure to backup your existing map ;P

I've had more than enough experiences in the past of "ohh this is the perfect thing to do" only to completly ruin my map.

I just don't want something to go wrong on my suggestion... :/