HiddenSpaceBeta2b (first map attempt. Now prettier)

[HideInLight]

Name: HiddenSpace
Version:Beta2b

Compatibility:Version 2.1
Description:Watch your step or fall into the Abyss
Comments:
This is my very first map so it's not gonna be perfect. Would appreciate some general feedback and advice.

Changes in Beta2b:

New sniper area.
Redid and tweaked a few areas.
Fixed skybox.
Added post processing for an entire new feel for map.
Added moving cover.

Known issues:
Music doesn't loop perfectly.
Bots have suicidal tendencies at a few places and are to dumb to get the invisibility.

New Screenshots




Old Screenshots:





Credits:Me, EPIC and Robert Peloni (music: Yuu's theme)

Download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?3jznotgmztk

[Bl!tz~]

héhé...a space map

D/L now ...

[Zerglings]

I download this now & check it out.

[Bl!tz~]

well....visually i think u can improove this map a lot

- i found the color & the lighting are very uniform ; it need some contrast in light/shadows and in colors choice, all is so brown(and more brown with the large brown ring)

-thoses two stone staircases leads nowhere and while using them i wasnt abble to jump anywhere else than to my death

- the "wood" mesh is suroverused

-how do u plane to use thoses woodcurves to collect the health vials? i tryed with a dodge but it looks wrong as u cant do curves while dodging so u miss some vials each time

- the skydome looks weird and have a lot of minienlighted areas...dunno what s wrong but when u look at the bottom of the skysphere there s some kinds of colored reflects or lights...

-the gameplay is interressant

-thoses floating woods looks weird as nothing link them together; so all the map need some cohesion and with the whole thing in suspension...propulsed by reactors....cant imagine the result in real conditions

-i suggest you to build a solid bsp layout instead of thoses woods and to texture it with something less repetitive

-the music is fun and gives a "+" to the maps athmosphere

- in background i was abble to see 2 dragons and ...a tree ? floating in the space but totally black...it wasnt really eyecandy and gives nothing more to the map

i hope this can help; it s a good start; thx for your work

[Lord_PorkSword]

Just from looking at the screenies...
you should chuck some some columns around the place to give players something to hide behind. To keep with the visual style looking in the ASC_Support and ASC_Deco packages for columns.
The black meshes may not be accepting any lighting. Check their properties and make sure they are set to 'accept lights'.

[rathalos150]

For being your first map attempt I'll cut you some slack but a few areas need to be addressed.

-As Blitz said, The wood is too repetitive. The entire map looks the same. I suggest you try to add some contrast to make some areas stand out from others.

-The map is too symmetrical. People don't enjoy playing deathmatch very much when both sides look exactly the same. Although symmetry is fine with ctf or Warfare.

- I don't recommend building a map from static meshes. You should try to build your map from bsp materials.

- I don't want to restate everything Blitz said, so I would recommend lookin at his post.

[HideInLight]

well....visually i think u can improove this map a lot

- i found the color & the lighting are very uniform ; it need some contrast in light/shadows and in colors choice, all is so brown(and more brown with the large brown ring)
Well I kinda went for the black orange brown theme, but the brown factor as I noticed highly depends on the monitor settings. One thing I noticed about color is it's impossible to please everyone exspecially since people's monitor setting differs a lot for each person and everyone has a different taste.
For instance that brown ring looks vibrant orange to me.

Then again I forgot I have digital vibrance enabled. I'll try and figure out a way to make the map more diverse.

-thoses two stone staircases leads nowhere and while using them i wasnt abble to jump anywhere else than to my death
I normally use a wall jump on the back of them as a way to get back t the wooden platform but yeah. Need to enchance that area and make it more functional gameplay wise.

- the "wood" mesh is suroverused
No matter what mesh I use from form UT3 it's gonna appear overused for old players, but I should try using the other assetsto to make the wood seem less repetitve somehow.

-how do u plane to use thoses woodcurves to collect the health vials? i tryed with a dodge but it looks wrong as u cant do curves while dodging so u miss some vials each time

You use a double jump and let the wall guide you. You can aim in front of you with the wall against your back in mid air this way. Dodge won't work too well since that will remove your air control.

- the skydome looks weird and have a lot of minienlighted areas...dunno what s wrong but when u look at the bottom of the skysphere there s some kinds of colored reflects or lights...

"there s some kinds of colored reflects or lights"
...Got screenie?

As for the misalligned part, there's no point in fixing this before final. Everytime I build map the skydome becomes black with some lines and I have to reapply and reallign the material. Think this is a bug with the editor.

-the gameplay is interressant
thx, I'm kinda curious about how people finding the woodcurves and elevator jump to the invisibility difficulty wise.
Also if people figured out that they could get on top of the roof by doing a a double jump when on the jumppads with a tiny bit of air control.

-thoses floating woods looks weird as nothing link them together; so all the map need some cohesion and with the whole thing in suspension...propulsed by reactors....cant imagine the result in real conditions

I tried making the map surreal as possible to elimate the need for things to make sense.

-i suggest you to build a solid bsp layout instead of thoses woods and to texture it with something less repetitive

But I liked the wooden platforms in space, kinda liked the idea of being able to see the stars through the gaps in the plank.Just couldn't help myself.

-the music is fun and gives a "+" to the maps athmosphere
It's quite a fun track. Listened to some random music while playing the map until I found myself replaying that song the whole time.

- in background i was abble to see 2 dragons and ...a tree ? floating in the space but totally black...it wasnt really eyecandy and gives nothing more to the map
My attempt at Art I guess. It's suppose to be some warriors fighting a dragon and made them black on purpose. Also I find it quite strange that no one mentioned the pong in the backround. Can you please look at the screenies below and tell me if your game looks the same and that things aint missing.

i hope this can help; it s a good start; thx for your work [/QUOTE]

Much appreciated. First map, inexperienced and still a lot to learn.
I just wanted to make my own map that I could enjoy and succeeded in that.
Now for the hard part, making the map enjoyable for others.

DragonBackround:
http://www.photostand.co.za/images/x...6ex3railhs.jpg

Pongbackround:
http://www.photostand.co.za/images/4...wyfb9msv25.jpg

[HideInLight]

Just from looking at the screenies...
you should chuck some some columns around the place to give players something to hide behind. To keep with the visual style looking in the ASC_Support and ASC_Deco packages for columns.
The black meshes may not be accepting any lighting. Check their properties and make sure they are set to 'accept lights'.

Those staircases is gving me a headace. I wanted to keep is so that people could crawl beneath them at first. but then I noticed when you go under them the "clip" which didn't look right. I tried making a bsp to cover them but then I ended up with this huge invisible wall...
Then I tried using a sheet and a blocking volume which doesn't want to "keep the lighting" after I build the map.

[Bl!tz~]

"there s some kinds of colored reflects or lights"
...Got screenie?

you have areas with stars and some others without...dunno whats wrong i have use this skystar several times and i never had such "weird" visuals...or i m just too old and my eyes are kidding me...

did u change the scaling or apply the skystar material on a sphere that u have bulild with a brush? or is it the stock skysphere mesh?

[molosev]

Hulo,

I tried your map, found it interesting.
I like your wood curves, catched directly how to double jump to ride them.
You should develop this concept in a more advanced map !

I saw the pong on the background, well there's no reason in putting it here IMO, but as you said "I tried making the map surreal as possible to elimate the need for things to make sense". That's a little easy I think but that's your concept, and your first map. Respect
By the way I checked your map in the editor to see how you did the pong.. still don't know

No matter what mesh I use from form UT3 it's gonna appear overused for old players

Maybe Bl!tz~ thinks that you use this wood mesh too much in your map.

I'd recommand to add a wood structure beneath it.

Happy mapping !

[HideInLight]

you have areas with stars and some others without...dunno whats wrong i have use this skystar several times and i never had such "weird" visuals...or i m just too old and my eyes are kidding me...

did u change the scaling or apply the skystar material on a sphere that u have bulild with a brush? or is it the stock skysphere mesh?

I created a additive map.
Made a cube that was 256 000 units big and added it.
Then made a sphere 128 000 units big and substracted it (that just happens to fit perfectly)

Then applied "starry night" material.
4000 Scale
box

Did mess around with it once trying to make things look less repetitve but all that work got lost when I rebuild the map. Think it might have something to do wth the scale.

[Bl!tz~]

ok i understand now; habitually to have a clean skysphere with an "homogen population" of stars :

-open S_UN_Sky package and add the S_UN_Sky_SM_StarSphere01 ("A") to yer map




-addapt the scaling of the mesh to your map and you have a decent starsphere

-to make it more eyecandy u can apply the deimos skysphere material which is way far more eyecandy

-open LT_Deimos package and click on M-UN_Sky_Stars01 in the generic browser "3"

-open your S_UN_Sky_SM_StarSphere properties and click on "1" and on "2" (make sure ur M-UN_Sky_Stars01 is still "enlighed"("3") in the generic browser window before clicking on "2")



- no need to scale anything else than the skysphere mesh at the start at the "process"; the deimos material fit like a glove to the skysphere without anychange!...after "2" your sky should be "textured with the deimos stars" (dont forget to delete your sphere & cube brush...)

i hope this can help

[HideInLight]

A small progress update.



Redid a few areas. Enlarged the two platforms with the linkgun and rocket a little.
Added post processing to make the map less dull.
Added a new sniper area.
Added moving platforms that can be used for cover or extra jumps to make gameplay a bit more interesting.
Found a good setting for the skybox so I can fix it quickly everytime I build map. (decided to keep the starry night material since it has this cool unique blueish look to it which stands out with the post processing)


Problems:
Bots hate me. No matter what I try they always find a way to kill themselves by doing some retarded impossible jumps.
Health Vials get placed at wrong places when I build map (anyway to make bots ignore them and to not build paths for them?)

@Blitz. Is it possible to change the size of the material on that starsphere. Dropped the idea of using it when I could't get the size of the stars right.

[Bl!tz~]

i think it s possible mate; i did that on a mesh on another map; u have to create a new material : copy the "content" of the "starry night material" and paste it in a "new material" window and set the scaling on each axe as u want on the new material.....
....if u rescale the ut stock material ur ed will crash

....i did that one year ago and i hope to remember well and not to tell stupid things

gl

[HideInLight]

Bump, check first post for beta2b

Might consider removing the poor old dragon for final, but for now I'm just having fun with it.