DM-Observatory WIP

[Mclogenog]

This is my first map. Please tell me your thoughts, as what you say may (and likely will) determine the release of this map.
Enjoy?





The first picture is a bit distorted. The 2nd looks more accurate.

[Festering Anus]

Looks good so far. Not really much to say because it's just a small part of the map (I hope). You may want to put a door frame over the bricks.

[sWs»Cheapshot]

Although the floor looks nice... I think I would scale it up a bit. Bricks are usually around 2 - 3 inches in height, and you have the wood at about 75% of the hieght in width.

Not a big concern, and for that matter noone would probably even notice, but if you are going for realism...(to some extent) its good practice looking out for issues of scale.

[Kou]

I like the look, but like Cheapshot said, the handrails and the bricks make the wood floor look like kindling. What's further down the hall?

[Mclogenog]

Thanks for the praise. I took these screen shots before I read about adjusting the scale of the wooden panels, so I may try that and see how it looks. The same goes for the bricks. Well, in reply to "what's down the hall-way?" I have what is down the hall way and to the right, an elevator shaft!

Elevator Shaft view 1


Elevator Shaft view 2


Some cool rotating gear like things (I may remove them due to trouble with player blocking)

[ne_skaju]

Observatory is an Unreal 1 custom map

[Mclogenog]

Okay, I guess I'll need another title. I didn't think it was a great title anyhow!

[nELsOn]

i like the style but the corridor is a bit tight indeed and i also think it's too square-cut. you might want to go for something more... hmm... 'organic'. a more natural shape.

but keep us posted about the progress

[Wowbagger]

Awww so its not a remake of the old Observatory then?

[_Lynx]

Seems not.

[Larkin]

That hallway looks fine. Do you have any Z-axis shoots to show of the DM map? I hope you didn't do just a hallway and then try to finish that area without at least doing the rest of the layout in bsp first.

From what you have I would say put your pickups in the middle of the hallway where the people will be. To me at least there is no reason to put you pickups in corners or near walls unless that is where you expect the people to be when just walking. Doing this would also fix that block player problem you would have with that deco stuff you talked about in the thrid pic. Without that pickup there you can just block from one pillar to the other.

Oh and I think you should round out that block of bsp you have behind the lift meshes. It would clean everything up allitle.

[Wowbagger]

It looks nice although its a bit hard to get an overall feel for the map.

[Mclogenog]

Yeah, I know what you guys mean by what you are saying, I'll try and make it a little more organic, maybe some less angular structures, and a little curve at the back of the elevator shaft would work nicely. Also, I have most of the layout completed, what I don't have completed I have drawn out on some papers. The shots are the areas leading to the main room which I haven't started on yet. The main room is where there will be a little more z axis.

Also, the pictures are a bit distorted, and they make the halls look thinner than they are.

More pictures coming soon, I hope!

[Sjosz]

You know, if you had a downloadable build, it'd probably be easier to comment on the level.

From the shots, the wooden floor seems to be scaled too small. Also, there are handrails in an otherwise perfectly safe and straight little corridor, which seems a bit strange. (I'd only use handrails where there's places to fall down or some sort of danger behind it, you could open up the wall on a side and have pipes run along but below the floor which would give you a valid reason to use the handrails, and probably would make your hallways look less square)
Seeing as you're using curved metal support structures like that in the corridors, you could come with impressive looking halls with proper metal construction all over the place. Take a look at a map like CTF-Pistola in UT2004 and you can see how metal supports everywhere make the place look fantastic.
Lighting will probably be done properly, but when you do, I'd suggest using more than 1 colour lightsource.

[Mclogenog]

Another screen, with a slightly more organic feel. The weapon placement still needs to be thought out better.



If you click on the image to inlarge it doesn't distort.

[Mclogenog]

after listening to some advice...



I'm working through some conceptual ideas that were not part of the original design. Such as the theme. The theme was originaly based very loosely off of the style of the Oblivion expansion The Oratory, but now I'm thinking of giving it a little open air area with snow blowing in, and such.

The layout should remain loosely the same with maybe a change in the main room's shape from a circular shape to a multi-level elongated hall much like the grand hall of a midieval fortress.

Please comment, whether it be bashing or praising, the only negative is to say nothing at all.

[Checker]

I really like the style of this map. Here are a couple small tips:

In the last shot I see the wood floor go over into a brick wall. Try and put a little trim along the edge, it will make it look better.

Something about the lighting looks a bit weird too, first I thought it was just the whiteness of it, but that is kind of neat. I think it lacks a bit of contrast. Try and put a lower radius light near the source, and up the brightness to say 3 or 5. Then add a low brightness light with a big radius, and set the fall off quite high (between 12 - 20 or bigger depending on what kind of a room). This way you can lower the ambient lighting in the level a tad, and it will look much better.

Keep up the good work!

Edit:Woopsy, old sig, removed

[Mclogenog]

Funny thing about the lighting Checker, I'm doing what you said in those shots (sort of). I have small radius, high brightness lights around the static meshes, and I have a central light with a very dim brightness level that covers up the room. I'll try messing with the fall off exponent a bit. Also, the trim will be added, I was mainly curious to see if the stair system would even work.

Also, a question, how do I make something like a static mesh move realisticly yet remain attached to a surface? I was thinking that linked K actors might do it, but what I'm suggesting is something like the wire collision effects seen in modern games (Rainbow Six Vegas, Half-Life 2) where they move dynamically with the environment. I would like to apply this to the dangling wires.

[Checker]

Hey man,

yeah I can see the hot spots on wall and ceiling, but the floor is really evenly lit. maybe add another lower radius, higher brightness light near the floor under each light, to create some pools there

Not sure about the wire. If you completely fake it, you can use interp actors and matinee it, else your only option is to toy with the kActors. But I haven't really used those, so I cannot help you there.

[Kantham]

Corridors looks great. What about the gameplay though?