NoGhost Competition Entry

[dONKEY]

Here is my entry for the NoGhost Competition.

Level Name: 'A Tight Little Italian'

The level is aimed at 1v1 for VQ3 or CPMA.

FFA is supported, with a different item layout. The rules of the competition asked that a FFA arena supported 8 players. This map is too small with that number of players. FFA is fun, but I guess more for laughs than serious play.

My chosen theme was urban, medieval, mediterranean. I've built urban semi-realistic levels before with 'Ripper's Playground', and wanted to go further in that direction. The map makes use of some of Hipshot's outstanding hi-res textures, and some new from me.

As the name of the level suggests, the level is tight, but I don't think restrictively so. Higher movement control and skill is rewarded through various short cut possibilities.

I hope the sponsors don't mind what I've done to the corporate logos. I just needed to add the logos in a way that fitted the theme of the map.

Some images:

• [lvlshot]http://www.leveldk.co.uk/dk_ng_comp/5.jpg[/lvlshot]
  [lvlshot]http://www.leveldk.co.uk/dk_ng_comp/3.jpg[/lvlshot]

And final download:
HERE

Good luck to all the participants!

[phantazm11]

Man, you weren't kidding when you said it was tight!

Good layout; I think it will play good in a tournament setting. Awesome texture usage and theme. It was way too dark for me, but that is a personal preference.

Good luck in the competition.

[dONKEY]

Thanks. Lighting..or rather the level of light and clipping where areas I expected so criticism. I decided to go for what I intended
I used to hate texturing, but I think on the mesh making stuff I've done recently has helped me a lot in that department.

[v1l3]

Cool Map Man I agree on the lightning also, I put it on r_gamma "1.2" to be able to see right. The dark lighting definitely makes the textures look good, and r_gamma can be altered anyway so in that scheme it doesn't really matter. The competition is for a server that runs on 1.16n and you can't adjust r_gamma so the darkness makes it unplayable which is gonna hurt your winning. There's a gamma bar in 1.16n, but I've never been able to get it to work. Why a 1.16n mod group would throw a mapping competition is beyond me? I dunno.

The bounce pad behind the RA doesn't quite get you up to the GL platform unless you foot it perfect. You kind of headbutt the ceiling and get cut short.

[AEon]

Comments:

• Very beautiful map, great lighting and textures, I absolutely love what you did with the ads on your signs... they actually look as if they were meant to be in the map. The AMD one is a bit vertically stretched though.
• It would really have helped to publish a beta before release, like Sock did.
• You might have wanted to choose to a different map name: 'A Tight Little Italian' does have a dubious ring to it... 'Little Italy' might have been better.
• IMO the lighting is fine... and I don't push gamma or turn up the brightness on my TFT... nice atmosphere. I do play vQ3 v1.32c though.
• It would also have helped to let folks test the layout, to make the map a bit less cramped. It really hurts that you seem to get snagged on corners - just tested this on two, but these really would have needed to be player clipped with 45° angle brushes... this would make the narrow width of the passage less of a problem.
• I still think your planks are a bit flimsy, i.e. for their length too thin.
• If 8 folks are to play the map... all the above will really hurt the otherwise beautiful map...
• LOL... just played against 7 bots on hardcore... wow that was frantic... you may be able to get away with it after all... in level loops a really frantic map will help liven up things - i.e. one fast paced map vs. the many slower paced larger maps - so you may actually have created a "frantic classic".

[dONKEY]

Hey thanks AEon...I really did mean to do a beta, and I would have loved your help with feedback...time in real life was a huge issue though! I need to thank Sock actually for suggesting to put the logos on hanging signs, it does work well.

[sock]

Wow you got a really nice style going on in this map with the textures but the map is completely silent! You have no environmental sounds at all, no wind, no wood creak, no deep bass for the dark areas, which is strange considering the detail you have done elsewhere (barrels, bottles, broken bricks, planks etc) I love the texture variety you have, wood, stone, metal but I don't like the inconsistent texture density, you have heavily stretched textured next to squashed stuff, which makes the visuals jarring.

I like some parts of the gameplay flow, the jumping around between ledges, the in and out of the lower area but the upper area seems restricted, only two routes up. The YA room (guarded by the RL) and the backwards jump pad. I ran around and died a couple of times with the stupid backwards jump pad, I can't understand the logic of putting a death pit directly below an awkwardly sized jump pad (which really looks out of place with the rest of the map) You could of used a jump pad ladder which would have easily fitted the theme much better. Overall a lovely tight map and the title is brilliant, but that is probably my dirty mind in overdrive!

Good luck with the competition.

[fKd]

well done to all who got their work in on time. heh totally missed the deadline... stupid real life crap lol.

on a side note... not sure what i think about pros entering competitions. it just does not seem very fair as they have already got their foot in the door so to speak...

donkey: great little touches... but the overall feel is really just to "tight"
but for the time allocation im very impressed with the amount of content you constructed and your overall vision.

sock: well, you have done it again... dont really need to say anything.

phant: i like ya map.. floor plan gets a little confusing... the flag room is an interesting one. looking forward to seeing some demos with humans to see how it plays. very tight theme and great use of textures... lighting feels a little flat.. but like i said with donkey, the share amount of content you have built is really very impressive.

these are the only maps from the comp i've played so far. gg all!

we should have a q3w comp some time... but make it so that peeps have a lot more time. also, none of this annoying 1.16 crap, and i was really not a fan of the sponsorship textures.. kinda felt sell outish for some reason... plus the quality of the images were way to low and ugly... i guess thats what ya get when non mappers setup a comp.

now to remove all ad's and take my time on this thing im building... kinda happy about that really... 2 maps to go and im done... i think lol

temp01 + q3dmp12....

[AEon]

temp01 + q3dmp12....

You will release an update... *jedi hand wave even more*
(= Force Persuasion in KotOR).

[dONKEY]

TY for positive comments. I agree I think with most everything. The stretched textures I just forgot about and then ran out of time. The death pit was left over from an area I didn't have time to build, which would have doubled the size of the map. TBH I think it still works, but personal choice I guess.
The whole detail and scale thing in Q3 is an interesting one. I am in a phase where I want things to look realistic...and playable space and scale just don't fit with that very well. Perhaps I should look at some single player campaigns, was going to think about wolfenstein...but yeah, no joy there then

[monaster]

I am in a phase where I want things to look realistic

You're really getting somewhere with your photorealistic texture use. Never thought this could actually look as good as in your map, nice work,dONKEY!

[monaster]

If you ever plan to load up a new version of your map on lvl, you might consider that:


The comment is referring to that small scratch close to the left side of the right lamp, at first I thought that could be a hint to a secret. Couldn't find that scratch on the original texture, though.


Not the best shot in ages, so here's the explanation. The wood texture on the underside of that brush the cross hair points at doesn't fit with the stone trim texture right above it.

[skinNCNmaster]

heheh a brick wall built o a wood floor floating in the air

[Hipshot]

It's ofc not floating in the air...
Try the level =)

[skinNCNmaster]

weight design math imbalance logicalicious a heavy pile of bricks laid upon a lifted wood floor... lol um yeah i will hype shot soon enough

[Hipshot]

These things can be found in many levels in many games I would say.

It's more or less impossible to avoid these clashes with realism when making games.

It's ofc a sliding scale, what's sane and what's not...

[dONKEY]

Skin don't be an ass. It's a game level. Striving for a certain realism sure, but it's a game level not an exercise in 3D architectural design.

[skinNCNmaster]

i have an ass... lol dont be mean to me for being me.