Half Life 2 Ep2 Train Station Level Feedback

[Modifier]

Hi

This is a Level for Half Life 2 Episode 2 which I have been working on for about a week now and is wip. Its inspired by a train station which I stop at a few days a week. Overall the station is pretty oldish, just bricks and concrete for the most part with some modern ish looking supports to hold it in place. So I decided to make this level for Half Life 2 Episode 2, although its more just like an envirement really as I dont plan to release it or add enemy ai, maybe towards the end but for now this Level Is Purely For Educational purposes. I am looking for some feedback on the Level so far and to see what people think of it, that would be great if people could give me some feedback, also there is a area I am stuck on for ideas of detailing the place, any ideas are appreciated. Here are some pictures

















This is the area I dont know what to do with detail wise, so any ideas would be great since it looks pretty bland to me but I dont want to turn it into a clutter fest, I want things to be placed in the station as they should be.









Thanks

Modifier

[Jangalomph]

I think the brush work and textureing is pretty fantastic. I think you need to adjust the tone of the lighting, and your static lights. Add more decals, like boxes.. add some pipes. Add some junk, cardboard trash, etc.. look for "composite" in the editor, and use some of those junk props. make sure to turn shadows off... else it'll look ugly with those props.

[pk_hunter]

Map itself is coming along nicely. Reminds me of a small station near where I live too.

The lighting is really bad, though, both in terms of it not suiting the skybox and just in general being a really sickly colour.

[Ark11]

Excellent, the only problem is that there are no train tracks.

[cpl. punishment]

Even if it's not like it in real life, you can probably get a bit more detailed with the skylight in the seventh picture. A nice lattice will cast some interesting shadows on the walls and ground there. Also, don't forget to up the lightmaps on the textures in the same picture.

[Modifier]

Even if it's not like it in real life, you can probably get a bit more detailed with the skylight in the seventh picture. A nice lattice will cast some interesting shadows on the walls and ground there. Also, don't forget to up the lightmaps on the textures in the same picture.

Thanks for the feedback, its really helpful

I think the brush work and textureing is pretty fantastic. I think you need to adjust the tone of the lighting, and your static lights. Add more decals, like boxes.. add some pipes. Add some junk, cardboard trash, etc.. look for "composite" in the editor, and use some of those junk props. make sure to turn shadows off... else it'll look ugly with those props.

Thanks Im glad you like the brushwork and texturing, I did struggle a bit on choosing the suitable textures but I think I found a nice contrast of colours for the textures. I completely agree on the lighting, and the static lights, they need alot of reworking, Im not sure what intensity to put them on as I dont want it to be a bright light since itsd sunny outside anyway, but just toned down a bit, any idea what intensity to set that sort of light out? Im not fantastic at lighting lol

And there are loads of decals and stuff on the walls, do you mean like decal boxes? because I think they would be a great idea and I dont have them. Im trying to stay away from pipes as I use them often and although they look good I dont want to rely on them to make the level look good. And I will add some more trash and composite props, do you have any ideas where I can place props and what types in that picture I dont know what to with? As it looks like that in real life sort of, but it still doesnt look detailed, but I get worried about it getting cluttered, or without enough props to tidy, sorry if Im not making much sense.

Map itself is coming along nicely. Reminds me of a small station near where I live too.

The lighting is really bad, though, both in terms of it not suiting the skybox and just in general being a really sickly colour.

The lighting is bad, what sort of colour settings would you reccomend and why. I suck at lighting and I want to get good at lighting since it is vital in a level, so if anyone could help that would be great.

Excellent, the only problem is that there are no train tracks.

Thanks, Im going to add train tracks later on just incase I need to change some stuff or resize that are, I dont want to add any props there just yet.

Even if it's not like it in real life, you can probably get a bit more detailed with the skylight in the seventh picture. A nice lattice will cast some interesting shadows on the walls and ground there. Also, don't forget to up the lightmaps on the textures in the same picture.

I think your right about the lattice and making a interesting shadow, and thanks I completely forgot about lightmaps. I will change the lightmaps to make the shadows sharper.

Thanks for the feeedback guys, any help or feed back is appreciated.

[Gambini]

What´s the real trainstation name it is based on? Looks somewhat familiar to me

[cpl. punishment]

The lighting is bad, what sort of colour settings would you reccomend and why. I suck at lighting and I want to get good at lighting since it is vital in a level, so if anyone could help that would be great.

I would use an RGB value of around 255 255 164 at a somewhat low angle, since the sky looks like it's getting towards sunset. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but is your skybox sideways? Make sure you have _hdr after the name of the skybox.

[Jangalomph]

use an intensity of like 1000 for the sunlight, i use intensity of 50 for static lights, and for an ambient "sunlight" that makes up for like bouncing light, i just use "light" and make it the same color of the sun with an intensity of 6. As for the static props. Just put them on the boarding platform, where the floor is bare. Add some molding on the top of the station.. or trim, or boarder, what ever you call it?

And i meant like, trash pile decals etc. Random stains, etc.

[Nightwolf70]

Have search for 'junk' as static models, add rubbish around rubbish bins. Add random cans/bottles on the platforms. There are also models that are like strips of trash, add them along the edges of the tracks, not too many, just enough to bring life. Put some graffiti overlays along the track platform side, also things like signs/ hazard warning strips etc.