Which environments have NOT been done before?

[Kaz]

In this thread, we shall name types of environments that have not seen the light of day in a custom quake 3 level, or at its broadest, the quake 3 engine itself (for example, WW2 has been done quite a bit, but only a handful of maps have done it in Q3:A). You could also post what you consider to be good examples of a particular environment type, if it's already been done. Also, if you have a ton of concept art and pictures of a particular theme you could post that as well. For example, I'll do the one I just did:

"Underwater Building/Facility"
http://www.lvlworld.com/t.php/Lost+at+Sea
http://www.lvlworld.com/t.php/Beneath+the+Waves

One environment I'd like to see done is a swamp (don't steal my idea if it's not been done!!!!! jk :P) with some mossy trees and grey fog, etc. The closest thing I can think of is wviperw's Decidia, but that's not quite what I mean.

http://student.cs.appstate.edu/freemanc ... swampy.jpg - this would be awesome.

[axbaby]

Maze
Cave .. 100%
Indiana Jones and traps
Myan Temple
Motherboard .. whoa i like the possibilities
DEVO ... my fave band themed map please
Other bands like Kiss etc
PORN
Monty Python
LOST .. whoa i like

[Eraser]

The problem with q3 as a game is that real world (or I should say realistic) locations usually just don't work gameplay wise

[Anthem]

Farm/field/rural
Dust Bowl (sandy, plain, minimal plant life)
Woods (not rainforest) a bit like Decidia, but perhaps more in conjunction with your swamp theme
Caves/Underground - I think Hipshot was working on something with a mine shaft at one point. A mine shaft would be interesting.
Mountains - Less like kineterra.
Post-apocalyptic wasteland - Ruination of what once was.
Docks
Dam
Hangar
Perhaps an island with volcanic activity - Would also be interesting to do an island at night; the variations of islands I have seen take place during the day.
Heaven and Hell
Abstract/Noumenal world - Lunaran was working on a map that was based upon abstraction

fKd, those are some surprisingly metallic looking textures for an engine with no speculars. nice.

A little color makes a big difference:

oh yeah that's the map I'm making

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=51&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&start=5145

I'm sure if you explore your mind a bit you can think of something really outside of the box. Sorry for the lack of grammar above; I was just jotting down ideas.

[dONKEY]

Caves have been done by Kat (twice for Q3),
Mayan has been done by Sock (I have done Cambodian).

[Kaz]

Yeah I was going to mention that as well. Going the "abstract" route certainly goes give you many more possibilities that would actually work with Q3's gameplay. A "farm" setting would be pretty funny for a CTF map (with hay bales and cows in the distance - you could do the exploding barrel trick found in qfraggel's map, only with cows :P)

[Dark Metal]

Moon map?

[Hipshot]

Everything's been done. The trick is to do it better...

[dONKEY]

Agree with Hipshot...but exploding cows...that I really like

[MKJ]

Everything's been done. The trick is to do it better...

aint that the truth.

[Kaz]

Yeah, that is true in many senses Certainly if you took videogames as a whole it'd be near impossible to find something that hasn't been done. Even then you could say that movies like Aliens have "done" a type of environment, and you wouldn't claim that a video game that attempted a similar style is "unique" in general. When I did Lost at Sea, people were able to quickly point me toward a defined color palette that typified that type of environment (and of course Bioshock had just done it).

Either way, I still think brainstorming some that might be more unique or challenging than others is useful for reference.

One thing I was thinking about is, how would you classify something like Pete Parisi's Deadmeat? That is sort of in line with something you might find in Doom (or IIRC Quake 4 had a slaughterhouse type of section), but you don't see alot of texturing like that anymore.

[seremtan]

^ love this. i like how it isn't trying to look like anywhere real, but focusses 100% on gameplay possibilities. i wish i'd done more of this back when i mapped instead of the exact opposite like a muppet

i think the only improvement the visuals could use is a different texture to distinguish between horizontal and vertical, perhaps even decals to hint at the presence of items the player can't see (like on those ledges when seen from below)

as for 'stuff that hasn't been tried': form following function has been tried, but not enough imho.

[cityy]

Check this out:
http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/categ ... ations.php

100 environment ideas - some more and some less doable in quake 3.

[Anthem]

Perhaps an island with volcanic activity - Would also be interesting to do an island at night; the variations of islands I have seen take place during the day.

Scratch that: http://sst13.de/pics/island2.jpg

[VolumetricSteve]

I was thinking of one while looking at the coffee machine at work the other day, ...a coffee themed map! I pictured doom2's creepy moving flesh walls, but instead of flesh, maybe you'd find whole beans of various roasts instead. Rivers of blood set in stone, Rivers of coffee set in stone. Those pulsating goopy flesh tubes in doom 3....piping hot coffee....moving through pulsating tubes. The cold brushed steel in all of the doom games...all used to build elaborate abstract coffee machines which would constitute the "arena" you'd be playing in. The hot rapid burst of the espresso maker could act as a "jump pad" type thing, flinging you around the map with coffee goodness. The machine gun could be modded to fire coffee beans (really just changing the ammo icon sprite on the bullet ammo box) I feel like this hasn't been done before.

[Anthem]

Sooooo many drugs.

[^Ghost]

the thing with coffee, it might be confused with poop, but thats just me.

[fKd]

imaginative sci fi...

[Noruen]

the thing with coffee, it might be confused with poop, but thats just me.

fKd - what you mean "imaginative sci-fi"?

[VolumetricSteve]

Sooooo many drugs.

=D


@ Noruen and ^Ghost

I really hope your poop doesn't usually come out as black liquid or...beans, however, point taken,

there's nothing more coffee (and higher res textures) can't fix unless your problem is that french roast is coming out of your insides.

but right there, there's another theme for a quake 3 map I think has been untouched so far, poop.

*sits back and waits for poop map jokes about Dessicated corpse*

[Noruen]

Yep, fighting on monumental poop, that's challenge

[^Ghost]

sorry was a bit drunk.

[Noruen]

sorry was a bit drunk.

Mmm... drunked fantasy. That's what have never been tested before Try more beers

[VolumetricSteve]

I like where this thread is going.

[DaEngineer]

*playing party pooper and not pickung up the poo ball*

Has there already been a map that was completely organic without any man-made things? Like Edanna in Myst 3? Okay, there are man-made objects in it, but mainly this level consists of water, plants and roots.