11 Day Level Design Challenge: L4D2 Brooklyn Bridge

[Lone Starr]

I've been following this thread since it was made, and every update just keeps getting better, and better. Can't wait to see what the next 4 days will bring.

PS: Also nice to see the other side of the bridge.

[Supervillain]

wow dude, 5th pic is really nice. The skyline is reminiscent of the real one but more importantly: the reflection of the skyscrapers on the water is superb.

In the same screenshot it sort of looks like the bridge base is "floating" on the top of the water because you can't really see through the water at all. Is there anything you can do about that? Or does it only appear that way in stills but not in game? meh.... i guess it kinda looks like that IRL anyway


looking good I can't wait to play this with my NY buddies!

[jgoodroad]

ok, the buildings in pic 2 and 3 look a bit blocky, but the building in pic 6 is great. that is odd for me.

(note the blockyness is caused by the textures... I think)

[jgoodroad]

ok, the buildings in pic 2 and 3 look a bit blocky, but the building in pic 6 is great. that is odd for me.

(note the blockyness is caused by the textures... I think)

shit, in the amount of time it took to type my post you had allready updated

[AlexG]

Thanks guys.

I'm having some problems with the reflections on the water. Right now they only reflect the 3dskybox and not the level geometry.

Env_cubemaps are built.
Game has been restarted and reloaded.
mat_reloadmaterials tried.
the texture I am using for the water is L4D c5m4_flow but I've tried others and I have similar issues.
no leaks

If you have any ideas, let me know.

DAY 8: Lighting - Jan. 27, 2010

Interior Lighting: Still needs some tweaking to get it right. But its there.











Some more exterior shots:

[oMeSSiaHo]

This is all kinds of crazy awesome. Its just too bad the survivors are wearing t-shirts.

[jgoodroad]

LOD_control?

[AlexG]

Thanks jgoodroad. I have that in the map. Didn't make a difference but, after testing and testing some more, this is what I found out.

If I want the level geometry to reflect I need to use a different water texture, but then my skybox doesn't reflect. Skydoes but not the skybox geometry. If I use the same texture I have, the skyline of the 3dsky looks nice but the level geometry doesn't reflect.

So I had to make a choice. I chose the 3dskybox skyline.

I did a test and incorporated the bridge into the 3dskybox and it reflects.The rest is barely noticable. I'll include that in my beta/final.


on to Day 9.

DAY 9: Gameplay - Jan. 28, 2010

I started off creating scavenge gamemode. I ran into some problems and I spend too much time on problem solving. After few hours I had to move on. I decided to create survival and focus on scavenge later.

I placed all the entities, weapons, items etc that are needed for survival. Gamemode works.














I'm almost done!

[Supervillain]

Looks great! Hard to comment on your "gameplay" work when I can only see screen captures :/ But.... ummm.... you did a really good job placing guns!

I'm only kidding. It looks like you have done a good job of filling out the props and such. The 3rd screenshot looks really nice

I hope you do figure out those scav problems (what are they? issues with having the scav mode run properly? or gameplay issues regarding can placement and other things?) because survival is only so much fun, and scavenge is a really cool game mode! My friends and I are looking forward to playing this in a few days!

[Meotwister]

Hey Alex, are these short period mapping competitions going to be pretty regular?

I'd like to participate in the next one.

[AlexG]

Hey Meotwister. My plan is to have next on in March/April. We'd love to have you participate in the next one.

DAY 10: Optimization and Details - Jan. 29, 2010

Created portals, Nodraw textures, occluders, prop visibility etc








Added structural support under the bridge


Some more env detail shots












So now I have 1 more day to go and if any of you guys are interested in private beta testing this for me PM me. I will take all the notes and fix any errors and finalize the map and release it within a week. Thats the plan atleast.

So anyone who wants to test it, PM me. I will send you download link. Probably on monday. I'm looking for honest direct feedback on how I can make the map better and just need other designers and players eyes on this.

Day 11 I will finalize the map and give scavenge one more shot as well as create the poster, navigation and etc.

[jgoodroad]

you need a water tower or something in that sky line in the last pic

[TicTac]

I was gonna say, from a mappers perspective your skyline is a bit bland (I understand you don't have an indefinite amount of time). Try adding variety to the rooftops, make them something other than uniform boxes.

[Supervillain]

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... ?t=1048271

about half-way down that post is a tutorial on Scavenge mode. The txt document does a pretty good job explaining it, and there is a .bsp as well with a scav mode set up. I've never set one up myself but a buddy of mine has used the tutorial and .bsp to create his scavenge map, so maybe it can fix your issues.

-You should add little snow displacements on top of some of the cars. It looks kinda odd that they are half buried but there is not any snow on the roof/hood/windshield/trunk. A small pile on a few of the cars would be a nice touch.

[AlexG]

Thanks guys.
I already started compiling a list of things to fix and add.

Here it is. Final Day.

DAY 11: Navigation, Scavenge, Poster, VPK - Jan. 30, 2010

I got Scavenge to work. Navigation is complete. Poster and all the mission files and images have been created.

PM me if you want the link and beta test the map for me. I would appreciate it.

I will release a final version after I fix all the notes from the beta test.











Some beauty shots: