The Official Interlopers "Map Pimpage Thread"

[HoliestCows]

Someone asked for a video of what that cave area I was working on, well here it is.

Its a tad darker than it really is due to youtube.
Be sure to watch it on full screen.

[joe_rogers_11155]

will there be anything to do other than just walk through it? an area like this seems like it would benefit from a multi-stage puzzle that requires visiting these different caves areas again and again (not a hunting-for-parts puzzle, but maybe some kind of bridge that needs to be activated, and there are some items stuck in the gears that require grenades to remove?). one or two antlions every 30 seconds would be nice as well, or make some antlions that actively flee away from the player and never attack him. it will keep the player on his toes.

[Major Banter]

Agreed with Joe. Seems like a pretty area with a lot of potential, that at the moment adds bugger all to the gameplay.

[HoliestCows]

Thanks for the cc, as some context for the map, that area is right after a large intense area and I kind of wanted it to be a contrast in gameplay where its calm and not chaotic.

[Armageddon]

Use models instead of brushes for the railing. If it's meant to be calm add more platforming elements along with things to pickup to refill ammo to extend the section a little. Also why this?

[HoliestCows]

Use models instead of brushes for the railing. If it's meant to be calm add more platforming elements along with things to pickup to refill ammo to extend the section a little. Also why this?

I wanted to replace the guns for a new look, is that an issue? Im not taking credit, all of the models from FPS is credited.

[joe_rogers_11155]

Thanks for the cc, as some context for the map, that area is right after a large intense area and I kind of wanted it to be a contrast in gameplay where its calm and not chaotic.

based on this information, a large puzzle with minimal combat would be ideal. scatter lots of small pick-ups (for example, think of hiding 5-7 health vials throughout the cave instead of 2-3 health kits...because even though they give the same amount of health in total, it makes the player search/explore more). you could make the puzzle take form in a few stages, like

1. remove debris from rotating gears
2. restore power or missing gears
3. activate bridge to cross large gap

something like that. it would give the player a chance to cool down and allow him to explore this cool cave area. once again, i think adding a few (1-3) recurring antlions every 30-60 seconds would make the caves feel alive and threatening, especially given all of the grubs laying about.and dont forget about the acid spitting antlions. maybe have an acid spitting antlion sitting higher up where the player cannot reach, and have the antlion jump forward, spit, and then retreat for a minute or two. semi-scripted things like that really make a locale feel alive and dynamic.

i dont think the brush-based handrails are a problem at all. they look fine and probably better than the models (unless yoy have some custom railing).

final thought: the part where the player hops up onto the railing in order to jump across to that piece of protruding walkway...yeah, THAT'S where you want to put your puzzle element. replace that arbitrary jump with some cerebral gameplay and your players will think this is the coolest part of the map.

[pk_hunter]

Is it obvious that I miss displacements when I'm mapping for HL1?

[Gary]

Can't use models?

[pk_hunter]

Is that directed at me? No, HL1 models don't cast or receive shadows.

[Gary]

I see. Well, it doesn't look bad for a bunch of brushes.

[Gambini]

It looks quite cool but I believe that that scene is going to eat all GoldSRC resources and there´s a level transition in each side. I remember trying to do brush based terrain for HL1 using terraingenerator and it would look great but then my map would hit the brush limits very quickly.

Besides that, isn´t the tram too large? I know characters are terribly underscaled in HL world but Freeman looks like a 4 years old kid there.

[pk_hunter]

terraingenerator is horribly inefficient, that'll be why you were hitting limits so quickly. I manually built this using the tetrahedron terrain technique and BEVEL - a tool texture which disregards the unseen faces and prevents brush splitting far better than null or nodraw. In-game it's actually incredibly optimised, but the VIS compile time is horrendous.
Also the latest third party compile tools by vluzacn help a lot.

The tram, while totally new including textures is based on the dimensions of the original, although it's actually around 4 units in each dimension smaller than the original.

That's not Freeman, that's a sitting down scientist. Who is black. :3

[Kanine01]

Goldsrc Terrain pics

Is it obvious that I miss displacements when I'm mapping for HL1?

I have to make an entire Antlion Caves level in a modified version of the Quake engine for Conscript. How do you think I feel?

[source-maps]

project in unity I'm doing for school, it involves time traveling inside your own brain and stuff.