Sublevel Tokey - q3dmp9

[fKd]

hello, me again

Design

well, after a while of messing around with different maps i started this effort. I started thinking about Tokey? Towers in q2 and how i loved the vertical action of the tall round rooms, then i was thinking how would i change it for a q3 match with a 2-4 player count. now with that in mind i started with my main central "tower" room.

Gameplay

Instead of lifts i use jump pads as lifts just seem bad for the pace of q3. Then i added a north and south section which teleported back on themselves, so you can get right back into the action after restocking on health/ammo etc. So far i believe i have started my firsts q3 dm map with fun gameplay. There is a lot of z-axis fighting here. almost too much? NEVER! I think i've got the bots moving around well... (i even lost a match.. well came in 2nd out of 4. arrrg)


Summary

there are no screenshots as i find it hard to get any good pics with the layout being very hard to capture.. and all the brush work is in the early levels of construction with the theme being worked on... I've gone for nice clean textures as i hate those ugly busy textures where you lose all the lighting. This is an effort which is coming along nicely. So with that in mind i was hoping some of you pros could take a wee bit of time out of your busy day and have a quick match/run around, i've still a noob to q3 gameplay as back in the day i was a ut mapping person. (i know) i've been playing a lot of ra3, but i'm still a mega noob when it comes to the complexities of q3 dm mapping anyhow thanks for ya time... (hope im getting closer to being a better q3 mapper) see q3dmp4 and q3ctfp3 both over at lvl Link: http://lvlworld.com/#c=m5&i=2017&d=23%2 ... thor&q=fKd

with all that aside, heres the map : http://files.filefront.com/q3dmp9pk3/;1 ... einfo.html
again, thanks for any help, sorry if this is all over the place, its late and i've got work soon

happy fragging

[phantazm11]

Sounds pretty cool. Will try to download this later.

[fKd]

ok heres a few screenshots of where im at


quad and rail room



other side of quad/rail room



main tower room



other side

these are all very early but im starting to get a theme up and running, but before i go to far.. any gameplay issues?

thanks

[v1l3]

Very Nice Layout..plays good. Bots do like to fall into the drop below the YA/Tele from time to time though.

[fKd]

do you think i should bot clip it? im not really sure how to aviod it.. hmmm

[obsidian]

botdonotenter may help.

[phantazm11]

Great map you have so far fkd. It took me a minute or two to get the layout situated in my head with all of the different levels, but once I got it straight, I found the layout to be very fast and quite fun.

I like the style your maps have. It's as if they are all different parts of the same cool world. Good work man.

[fKd]

thanks for all the advice, i've been working on this a lot (bot clipping, item layout, brush work) and i think im near a second test lvl yay, im just gonna do a few things then i'll upload the next version.

[fKd]

heres the mighty update enjoy, and as always feedback if ya got the time
thnaks

http://files.filefront.com/q3dmp9pk3/;1 ... einfo.html

[Hipshot]

I had a bunch of screens of problems in the level, I guess I'll just download the update and see if they still exists... I must be faster with my posts in the future...

[fKd]

heh thanks man, its really handy getting help form you experienced mappers, i really appreciate it

[scythe]

Looks cool, I'll have to give it a run through. Just fyi, the map you're referencing is "Tokay's Towers" Q2DM2, by American "Tokay" Mcgee.

[fKd]

i know, i was thinking of tokey from metalocalypse as well as that q2 map

[axbaby]

when someone releases a map there are supposed to be errors .. where are your errors dammit.

good points
-no errors in construction
-no boring walls
-good item placement
-bots played well .. if i fall into the pit by stupidity why shouldn't the bots
-theme is consistent for the whole map
-good sound cues built into the map
-probably plays well on low end computers
-clean , no glitches , nice clipping
-almost looks and feels like idsoftware released the map

bad points
-texturing was bland
-sadly did not like gameplay .. i guess i like more open maps .. i felt claustophobic

you have the skillz that is for sure

[fKd]

thanks heaps man, i'm working on making the texturing a bit more interesting on the eye. now if only i could make it more open for ya

[Hipshot]

-no errors in construction
-theme is consistent for the whole map
-clean , no glitches , nice clipping
-almost looks and feels like idsoftware released the map

Honestly - I could kill these arguments...

- Player can stand on places where's not supposed to stand, player can see out of the world, faces should be removed that can never be seen.
- The map is not consistent, the "industrial"-textured door and the horizontal "tech" jumppad ramp really sticks out. Other things is inconsistent within the theme itself.
- Looks of the lightmap could be improved severely, some clipping is very poor or does not exist at all.
- Looks and feels like a custom level.








@ fKd - I was going to write about each image, but I feel that they are to many, better if you ask me.

More specific about some things.
#The pic with the stairs, you have playerclipped the stairs right... so, instead of being stairs, they are ramps? Feels very bad cause the player jumps in the end.
# The two lamp pictures, first, on the bigger lamp, the "cable" connection, you have this on some of the larger lamps and some of the smaller... if not all, why any?
The lamp with the red beam, it looks way to bright, way to big, also the little gap between the lamp and the beam (looks good if smaller and more subtle), the white lights does not have it. This "problem" is actually existent in iD made maps...
# On some places, there's a very strange clipping bug, when I'm standing on those places, the player keeps vibrating and jumping up and down? See second and third pic.
# The industrial door and the horizontal tech jumppad, they both really sticks out in the theme, can't you do something else here? The door is a photosourced real door, doesn't really go well with any other texture in the level...
# I think you should make all small lamps passable, so that one can't get stuck on them.
# The green fog in the large pit under the Quad, looks very bland, I hate those fog "walls" in total darkness that can be seen on many levels. The other green fog you have, under the small grating, looks much better... can't you work something like that out, but w/o the grating?
# One very notable thing is, the overall lightmap errors. It would be nice to see the compile settings and if you are using any custom lightmap scale. The sky shader doesn't really help here, you might wanna create a custom one that works better with Q3map2s new features. Seems you are using a default id shader? Like the one from dm7?


I'm just gonna let you go over this and see what you feel you would like to fix. And then I'll try a newer version later... I have more stuff, but I'll let you fix these first.

Edit: Not to be mean or anything, this is just a bit more thorough look of the level...

[fKd]

cheers man, in my new version im working on now i have fixed the clipping. the stairs are clipped, i'll switch it to bot clip instead. gonna need a new sky texture... having a hard time finding 1 that looks good... all the rest will be fixed. thanks heaps for all the help. i promise my next version wont suck so bad. heh

[Hipshot]

It doesn't suck. You can find these errors in many levels, even my own =)

It wasn't the texture specifically that I meant, more how it's casting it's light. Make sure you have a "up-to-date" sky shader, not an old one.

Edit: Whatever, take the following and modify it...

Code: Select all

textures/hipshot_m8_sky/sky
{
	qer_editorimage textures/hipshot_dm6_sky/env/dm6_up.tga
	q3map_lightimage textures/hipshot_m10_sky/color.jpg	
	q3map_lightmapFilterRadius 0 8		
	q3map_sunExt 1 .6 .2 125 -150 60 3 32			
	q3map_skyLight 30 6
	q3map_noFog
	//q3map_globalTexture
	surfaceparm sky
	surfaceparm noimpact
	surfaceparm nolightmap
	skyparms - 500 -
	nopicmip	
	{
		map textures/hipshot_m8/clouds.tga
		tcMod scroll 0.008 -0.005		
		tcmod scale 4 4
		//blendFunc blend
		rgbGen identityLighting
	}
}

[fKd]

cheers, im still learning the shader system, thank god for the shader manual. cheers, btw, anyone know where can i get the shader lab textures?

[Hipshot]

http://www.zfight.com/misc/files/q3/shaderlab.rar

[fKd]

sweet. cheers man.

[fKd]

been really busy over the weekend and beta 3 is almost ready, i've taken all this advice and put it into effect, cheers heaps hipshot for the very detailed run down, great stuff screenshots and beta 3 etc to follow this evening, 7 pm gmt +12

[fKd]

beta 3 yo hope this is a little more polished...
ok beta 3 coming at cha
http://files.filefront.com/q3dmp9pk3/;1 ... einfo.html

[fKd]

almost forgot screenshots







yay