A new mappers challenge begins. - Developers

So, for my first ever contest entry, I may have picked something slightly complex. Please note, that I have mapped before, I'm not a total newbie. I've just never released anything. So, for the Single Player challenge, (that has to involve water) I'm creating a map in which the player wakes up from being knocked out from the blast of a tsunami hitting his apartment. The player will then venture out of his apartment and downstairs, to find the place is ruined. He eventually notices another tsunami in the distance. His only chance of survival is to head for the tallest building in the area. And so the journey begins :3 Now, as a totally new mapper it's obviously gonna be really tough for me to create such a map, so I'm making a thread so I don't keep raping the megathread. Here I can log my rpogress and keep you guys updated on how I'm doing on what will be my first release. TL;DR = NEW MAPPER WITH A BIG PROJECT, THREADED SO PEOPLE CAN HELP. Anyways, here's my progress so far: [IMG]http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx190/LewayJay/hl2-20100621-1600532.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx190/LewayJay/hl2-20100621-1601201.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx190/LewayJay/hl2-20100621-1601329.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx190/LewayJay/hl2-20100621-1601583.jpg[/IMG] A issue underwater: How would I fix this? [IMG]http://i754.photobucket.com/albums/xx190/LewayJay/hl2-20100621-1601408.jpg[/IMG] I WILL BE USING CUSTOM TEXTURES. IGNORE THE SKYBOX. CORDON TOOL FTW. C&C on EVERYTHING.

Lighting then take pictures, makes it look prettier :smile: [B]Edit: [/B]900th post after 3 years of lurking, fuck yes! :holy:

:bang: From the title I thought this was another competition. For the water: Wasteland002a or something like that, just filter wasteland.

Doors look a little odd, I think some doorframes could help. Same with the window in the first picture. Also the staircase doesn't look very apartment-y, not sure how to describe that properly, but it looks as if the players apartment is the only one in the building. Also, I think perhaps the water would look a little better if it were raised just above the threshold of the stair lobby at the bottom so a thin layer of water is on it, would probably make it look less artificial and more like a flood.

Just as a question: Did you make drawings or plans before you started? Or are you just mapping as you go? a lot of my projects failed because I had no plan, I had little room left in the map and I just didn't know what to make so I discared the map. I can't really C&C because there is not a lot to see yet. I'd suggest having the door(s) bust down by the water, would be more realistic than opening a door half submerged in water.

I thought the idea of the competition is that you use your skills to create a map. I even decided not to get a tester for this project because of that fact.

[QUOTE=IronPhoenix;22757648]I thought the idea of the competition is that you use your skills to create a map. I even decided not to get a tester for this project because of that fact.[/QUOTE] Yeah, I am using my skills I suppose. I'm just taking hints off of people on how to improve, such as doorframes etc. [QUOTE=Wokkel;22757634]Just as a question: Did you make drawings or plans before you started? Or are you just mapping as you go? a lot of my projects failed because I had no plan, I had little room left in the map and I just didn't know what to make so I discared the map. I can't really C&C because there is not a lot to see yet. I'd suggest having the door(s) bust down by the water, would be more realistic than opening a door half submerged in water.[/QUOTE] I tend to map out a part of my map, (The apartment) and then map out the next part as I get it, so basically I just map as I go. Doors now burst down due to water. [QUOTE=Graviton;22757633]Doors look a little odd, I think some doorframes could help. Same with the window in the first picture. Also the staircase doesn't look very apartment-y, not sure how to describe that properly, but it looks as if the players apartment is the only one in the building. Also, I think perhaps the water would look a little better if it were raised just above the threshold of the stair lobby at the bottom so a thin layer of water is on it, would probably make it look less artificial and more like a flood.[/QUOTE] Door & Window frames added. I'm not too sure what you mean by the staircases, I'm sorry. Water level fixed. [QUOTE=Firegod522;22757550] For the water: Wasteland002a or something like that, just filter wasteland.[/QUOTE] Water texture fixed.

[URL="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=tsunami+buildings"]http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=tsunami+buildings[/URL] Try and get some reference pictures - right now the house / apartment doesn't exactly look like its been hit by a tsunami. Would the staircase even still be up? Especially if he'd been knocked out by the force

[QUOTE=IronPhoenix;22757648]I thought the idea of the competition is that you use your skills to create a map. I even decided not to get a tester for this project because of that fact.[/QUOTE] That's the way I play in a competition. At least I know there is someone else who'll be fair game (not saying what the OP is doing is wrong, but entirely solo work is so much more satisfying when you pull it off correctly).

What I wanna know is how are you going to make a tsunami model of the water, because water seams to be hard to get into source, so anyways, good luck with that, i dought it's possible, but good idea.

Align your textures.

[QUOTE=Dinonid;22768476]Align your textures.[/QUOTE] Textures aligned now. [QUOTE=Freakman23;22765882]What I wanna know is how are you going to make a tsunami model of the water, because water seams to be hard to get into source, so anyways, good luck with that, i dought it's possible, but good idea.[/QUOTE] Not a clue. I guess I'll figure that out when I come to it mate.. [QUOTE=HiddenMyst;22765539]That's the way I play in a competition. At least I know there is someone else who'll be fair game (not saying what the OP is doing is wrong, but entirely solo work is so much more satisfying when you pull it off correctly).[/QUOTE] I agree totally. Solo work is totally more satisfying. I know the feeling, although I've never released a map. I guess this is just such a big project for me that I need help with it. Thankyou anyway. [QUOTE=Dotmister;22759397][URL="http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=tsunami+buildings"]http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=tsunami+buildings[/URL] Try and get some reference pictures - right now the house / apartment doesn't exactly look like its been hit by a tsunami. Would the staircase even still be up? Especially if he'd been knocked out by the force[/QUOTE] Thankyou for the link to some ref. images, although I'm not sure how I should make the building look like it's been hit, without it being structurally unsafe and other factors. Any ideas?

Got any fresh content for us to see your improvements? (I like the way this topic is going, friendly and mature, wish I could say that about other topics.)

Updated OP with improvements, fixes etc which people requested.

You should use higher settings when taking screenshots

I do use high settings, it's just that the WeGame Screenshot taker murders the quality.

[QUOTE=LewyJudge12;22775662]I do use high settings, it's just that the WeGame Screenshot taker murders the quality.[/QUOTE] press F5 and upload it to a site.

[QUOTE=Firegod522;22775771]press F5 and upload it to a site.[/QUOTE] I'll do this from now on. Also, I think I might change the overall style.. Like.. not flooded, but the water is gone and just the damage is present. It'd be more realistic than a 20ft high block of water. D'you think?

Maybe, to show its structurally sound expose some concrete beams etc - then just have the walls in between damaged? EDIT: In a tsunami, the water all goes back out to sea anyway, so any flooding would just be where the water has been unable to get back to the shore. That's what makes them so dangerous, you can survive the original hit, then get dragged out to sea.

[QUOTE=Dotmister;22780183]Maybe, to show its structurally sound expose some concrete beams etc - then just have the walls in between damaged? EDIT: In a tsunami, the water all goes back out to sea anyway, so any flooding would just be where the water has been unable to get back to the shore. That's what makes them so dangerous, you can survive the original hit, then get dragged out to sea.[/QUOTE] I'm going to take this into account. I am currently editing the water, and showing that the building is damaged.

If you're going to have flooded parts, do it like they did in L4D2. Also, use a texture with a less intense bumpmap and diffusion map, because that looks extremely fucked at the moment (I understand it's a Valve texture, but HL2 is old now days. You'll notice that Ep2 water textures don't look like that and are much nicer as a result.).