WIP dm_pitchblack

[RefaelBA]

What's up?
Well after the guys over IRC wanted to see some pictures, I couldn't resist their magnificent power (and IRC bots).

Remember, this is Work in Progress. I've barely set it up yet, so be patient.
The map is set on a rooftop of a skyscrapper. I'm planning on surrounding the entire map with higher, very impressive big buildings that'll probably block most of the sky and make the map more solemn with shades of grey.

Every time I compile the map and start it in HL2DM, other people join the server all of the sudden. It's hilarious watching these guys try to figure out why this part is missing or why they end up in midair and stuff
I had a deathmatch in this very limited beta yesterday with some european guy called "Spitfire" (I think) and he actually made some rellevant comments.
I think this method is brilliant. We should maybe do it in the community, but I'll post my thoughts on THAT some other time.

And now, without any further delays!

The little structure to the right is the roof access.


I love detail Though the roof props gave me some hard time until I understood some important stuff.


Thanks for the help with the lights dux XD


This place is lower than the pictures above. It's another floor, which will be made into a beautiful balcony (I think).
You can see how much influence I had from UT. Look at the big lights.


I really like this dark-urban-industrial thing. I'm glad it's comming out the way I want it.


Well there's still stuff I'm not showing here like the props and stuff I've put in by now.
Plus, the map looks A LOT better in game. Odd, these pictures are really different. I'm considering releasing a proper beta soon, if you like.

[Jest@]

Screenies often come out darker than in-game, depends on your gfx settings.

looks really nice, i would caution you not to make it too much of a same-old-hl2-props-fest. More height variation (a few more roof levels, maybe?) and ome more corners/"corridoor" areas would be nice.

does look good though, lighting is tip-top

[RefaelBA]

Hehe thanks!! Also I'm planning an entire level beneath the roof. The balcony will continue into the building, and perhaps I'll make even another small part of another level.

And a few better-res pics:







i didn't buildcubemaps for these pics, so please ignore some stupid lightning on props.

As for making it a prop-fest, the antenas and tubes are static. There's just a lot of detail, but very few props. I plan on making a lot more, since when you walk with the G-gun, you need something to pick up everywhere, not just in certain places. I also think it looks pretty good.
Soon I'll post a picture of the complex from above (I was amazed to see it actually looked like a rooftop )
More levels on the roof is a brilliant idea. I'll take that into consideration. The area above is kind of meant to be arena-like, with lots of place to move, and no worrying about stairs etc. I want it to be really fast, keep-on-moving crazy action scene

[Jest@]

You could have long ramps up/down to areas...long ramps that go round corners can make for good gameplay spots

What i mean by a prop-fest is that seeing all the same models from HL2 repeated too often, static or not, gets kinda dull. Maybe think about making some of your own, like a big satellite dish.

also, those satellite dishes look a tad odd stuck on the floor like that. mave them nearer the edge of the roof, like real ones would be, and rotate them round a bit so they're not all parralel to the rest of the geometry. Try sticking them up on a special little platform, add some wiring or something.

[RefaelBA]

Good advice on the dishes placement.
The models can't be rotated in all ways, since it has that little platform on the bottom. Maybe I'll make a brush platform for them to get more control over the rotation. Anyway, I can't make the dish itself move, it's the whole thing, and that's pretty restrictive.
I know shit about modeling so that pretty much sums it up
Also parts of the fence-to-be are sometimes tossed aside or they're broken. Actually they are static props that function as ramps, I plan the map to be very fluid...

Also, personally I never saw these antenas and tubes in HL2. I may have seen them as detail from afar, but this looks a lot different to me... I think that it looks pretty original in that area.
if you could hang around the map, maybe you'd see that it isn't very dull. As I said before, I still didn't capture the entire map with screens, didn't have the time