by MaK on Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:59 am
First of all, without sounding like a douche, all of these entries that I have seen so far are bad, unoriginal, and cliché. It appears that all of you have not grasped the concept of this map battle, The Ministry of Love, nor understand what it is. All of the entries I have seen thus far have depicted a bland, boring, and expected version of Room 101, which is just part of the Ministry of Love. I suggest that all of you completely rethink the subject of your entry, or all of them will blur into the same thing at the final vote, causing nothing to stand out. I also want to say you had one month to work on this, but most of you look like you took 2 days, and for some 10 minutes.
Rotinaj, I can’t really tell what’s going on here. It seems like a lookout room watching a bunch of cells. Way too much blood, it’s not even scary. It’s dark so I can’t comment too much on it, but I do appreciate that you didn’t use lighting with a tint of red. This scene looks okay, but it’s isn’t enough, and there isn’t really a point.
Deathbagel, I suggest you rethinking your textures. The brick texture, padded ceiling, and tiled floor do not mesh together. The lighting appears plain white, give it some color. The chair is so overused, try something different, I’ll be much better. Why is there a blood pool, wouldn’t the water wash it out? And wouldn’t the ichthyosaur chomp this skeleton into little pieces? The brushwork is rather plain, work on creating a nice detailed entrance first, since it’s the closes thing to the camera. I can tell the pipes are just a filler, instead try building some nice architecture on the walls, it’ll look better.
Sejr, your idea is… odd. It’s obviously set in the Half-Life universe, where the battle was to build the Ministry of Love, set in the universe of 1984. You’re map looks like a rainbow, it has way too many colors and textures in it that it just does not all fit together. The repetitive box wall texture is used too much. The whole theme just seems off. There’s too much space, the pipes don’t make any sense, and there’s no entrance. The lighting is boring, I’d suggest using something blue, to go with that anti-gravity laser.
ThePain, yours is the most original idea. An actual nice pretty little room outside this Room 101 everyone had been fixated on. It is hard to make clean rooms detailed, the best you can do is add more brushwork. That window seems quite long, I'd suggest dividing it up. The lights seem attached to the roof funny. The lighting is boring, use light_spots and func_dustmotes and pick an interesting color to flow well with that red carpet. What would really save this map is having a bright light in the other room shining into the one you’re in now, giving it a nice shadow with low lightmaps. You could play around with color correction and find anything that’ll fit the mood. Other than that, I don't really get the point of the entry, but I like where it's going.
Jangalomph, this one needs the most work out of all of them. Your entry is literally 6 brushes filled in with props and decals. Dead bodies, okay, we didn't see that one coming. If this is a gas chamber, why is one of them covered with a blanket, while the rest are all scrambled about, and one sitting on an invisible chair with her head in the wall? How did these people even get a hold of spray paint and write nice little messages and post pictures on the wall while they die? Second picture, that sprite doesn't fit the lamp and is way too bright. And the map is way too dark for how many bright white cage lights there are on the wall. Neither the lighting nor the steam resembles a gas chamber, I'd suggest something green. Add some func_dustclouds to show leftover gas. There is no exit to this room, I seriously recommend on adding more brushwork to this.
Pizzadox, oh the chair, we all saw it coming. This chair is not something we would vote for. We've seen it done so many times that this is not something that would cause us fear. I do admit that yours is interesting because of the roof. The roof is usually the most boring part of people's entries, flat. You've brought attention to this, added some displacements and pipes, looks quite cool. There isn't much brushwork to your map, it relies on props and decals to fill in the emptiness. The oil drums make no sense. The lighting, like most of the other entries is yellow, so if you want to stand out try something else. I do like how there is only one light source in the map, and how the exit fades to black. In your second picture, the born decal above that chair is so cliché making it seem like the Half-Life universe, not the Ministry of Love. The brick decal is supposed to be used on plaster, not concrete, that makes no sense. We've seen that blood decals a thousand times, but at least it is the only blood decal in your map, giving it some sort of meaning.
BubbleQ, the lighting in your picture is dreadful. Bright yellow light thrown on green textures and blue windows is contrasting and straining to the eyes. Neither does it make much sense as the only light that seems to be working is the one in the center. Pick a different color, something blue-green, and make is less saturated. It will give it a cold and surgery room feel, possibly include color correction for added atmosphere. The blood decals are random while the actual table is clean. The standing up skeletons makes no sense unless they're models for doctors. The benches are out of place. There is too much room around the table, which is the opposite thing to do if you're trying to make something scary.
Hydrophobe, your stands out the most as it is not just one single room. I honestly can't think of much to say about this one. It's not incredibly interesting or original, but the amount of detail is acceptable. The brushwork is the most interesting out of all the entries, and does not really too much on filling in with props. Your lighting is okay, not great. The sprites are plain white and too bright for as dimly lit the area is. Instead of settling with satisfactory lighting, experiment with different colors and color correction to build actual atmosphere. There are 3 subjects I can see in your pictures. The view of the first picture, the surgical table is barely visible which makes it seem pointless, because it is hiding the subject.
Pfoot as simple as your entry is, it honestly only needs one picture with a good angle, more only confuses the viewer. I can understand that you're trying to portray the fear of heights, but it is downright confusing. The hard dark shadows look horrible, not to mention unrealistic. The little bit of lighting that I can see is bland and appears plain white, rethink that and try to give it some color. The compositions of your images are generally off center and have an excess of negative space. Give this picture an interesting angle, most of them are straight on. I can see very little brushwork, and unaligned and contrasting textures. Your subject, the chair, is unoriginal and is in most of the other entries.
Imoddedu, this is just what I feared. This is basically a 9 brush room crammed in with so many random props and blood decals that it looks horrible, and not a slight bit scary. I can spot a plain white light, instead use a light_spot with func_dustmotes, and give it an interesting color. There is no point to this entry, other than a “wtf” and not in a good way. I do not believe that this took a month to make.
Ok guys, that was a lot. If somebody doesn’t enter with something original, I won’t be voting. Please remember to follow these pointers:
-Give the time to actually show you care about your entry and turn off the hud. sv_cheats 1. cl_drawhud 0. impulse 200. L4D is trickier.
-Almost every entry uses yellow lighting, try something different
-Play with color correction and try to grasp and atmosphere
-Create interesting shadows by placing objects in front of light sources combines with low lightmaps
-Props cannot hide minimal brushwork
-Don’t overdo the blood decals, less is more