Tomb

JoshuaC · Aug 27, 2009

I really appreciate the input and for testing it out. Now that I've got b2 out which fixed most of the immediate problems in b1 I'm gonna take a few days and see about addressing the things you've pointed out. I'm fairly optimistic I can get tomb ticking right.

JoshuaC · Sep 7, 2009

Here's what Beta 3 is gonna look like.

Rebuilt from the ground up and should be nearly ready to play. I've yet to build with final lighting so the lightmaps look bad.

Once I do a final compile I'll update the thread pics.

The Political Gamer · Sep 7, 2009

Looks so much better! :O

skacky · Sep 7, 2009

I jizzed when I saw that first pic!
You perfectly nailed the egypt theme.

Randdalf · Sep 8, 2009

I reckon it could do with a few more prop fills, some places look quite plain at the moment. Then again... that's the egypt theme - plain.

Phobos · Sep 8, 2009

Absolutely fantastic. It's obvious that you redid the whole map, but judging from the sceens alone it was worth the effort.

Uriak · Sep 8, 2009

I can't see the screens (I guess) from beta 3. Anyway I feel like FLOOR_MASTER, after some one test session (24 p, normal respawn), as the layout is quite an invitation to massive spam. Not that the point on itself did change owner so easily, but players scattered all other the place because simply the layout invited to do so. Our fear was that no team oriented gameplay was possible at all. Partial cover is really important.

As for the visuals, (but I think the future beta is about this too) I felt the lighting was unexpextedly more plain than that I expected on the central area, thus giving it a less dramatic feel. Vanilla egypt textures are fine but you should try adding some noticeable elements that would break from the yellow-brownish feel. At least make the two different sides more noticeable.

Wegason · Sep 8, 2009

I echo what others have said, beta 3 looks spectacular, I cannot wait to try it out on a gameday!

JoshuaC · Sep 8, 2009

I'm just a little sad Valve hasn't yet got around to fixing the particle issues. Hopefully by the time it's ready there will be a fix out but if not I might have to axe the particles to be able to test it.

Uriak · Sep 8, 2009

Okay, now I can see the images (guess the hosting site was banned at work). It definitively looks like a great improvement, and I'll be sure to playtest it. I still keep my advice to give a bit visual coding to the two halves of the map, though.

JoshuaC · Sep 8, 2009

Uriak said:
Okay, now I can see the images (guess the hosting site was banned at work). It definitively looks like a great improvement, and I'll be sure to playtest it. I still keep my advice to give a bit visual coding to the two halves of the map, though.

I agree with you, but the Egypt theme doesn't lend itself to team colors very much. I've got various team colored patches near the health and ammo packs on either side and the team sign on either exit of the spawn area to help a bit with this issue.

I'm still thinking of ways I can improve on it though.

Uriak · Sep 8, 2009

Custom textures ^^. If you don't want to cope with this, You'll have to do with prop and detail themes, but it will be kinda difficult if you don't want too mess up the main theme too much.

JoshuaC · Sep 8, 2009

Uriak said:
Custom textures ^^. If you don't want to cope with this, You'll have to do with prop and detail themes, but it will be kinda difficult if you don't want too mess up the main theme too much.

I've not ruled out custom textures with team colors, but I'm not sure where I could use them and how exactly I'd use them.

grazr · Sep 8, 2009

Throw in some coloured props? I'm not sure if there's an alternate skin for the blue hard hat, but little items like that with team colours strewn about seems like a subtle way of confirming ones orientation within your map.

Lockhart · Sep 8, 2009

Is a big fan of this map, without playing it. :blushing:

MrTwitch · Sep 8, 2009

JoshuaC said:
I've not ruled out custom textures with team colors, but I'm not sure where I could use them and how exactly I'd use them.

What about hieroglyphics with subtle team colours in either end of the map? Even changing the lighting to gray in one area and a an orange/red can work wonders for team identification. The only problem with lighting is it can make distinguishing players difficult.

JoshuaC · Sep 8, 2009

MrTwitch said:
What about hieroglyphics with subtle team colours in either end of the map? Even changing the lighting to gray in one area and a an orange/red can work wonders for team identification. The only problem with lighting is it can make distinguishing players difficult.

This is what I'm going with. I made a set of team colored hieroglyphic boarder textures.

I'll post screens up soon.

JoshuaC · Sep 9, 2009

Alright this should help alleviate some of the annoyance the pit presents.

It looks like blocks but it acts just like a thin ramp.

This should help with distinguishing between sides a bit.

I also changed the spawn doors up a bit to reduce any demoman camping. Also I optimized the hell out of the map by using the new doors.

JoshuaC · Sep 9, 2009

Did a compile with final lighting.

I feel it's completely releasable right now, but I'm gonna wait till the particle bug is fixed before I do so. Till then I'm gonna just add details around.

Phobos · Sep 10, 2009

The team colored lines you added are hard to see on the screenshots, hopefully they're easier to see ingame. Nonetheless, they are a nice change from the dominating beige color.

You could add team colored obelisks as visual markers on the stone pedestals to further emphasize the two sides.

Valve needs to fix the particle bug soon. I want to play b3!

Tomb

L420: High Member

L420: High Member

L1: Registered

L3: Member

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member

L3: Member

L420: High Member

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member

L420: High Member

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member

L420: High Member

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle

L2: Junior Member

L1: Registered

L420: High Member

L420: High Member

L420: High Member

L3: Member

If this is your first time logging in after the migration (Feb 8, 2022), you must reset your password to log in. Follow this guide if you're having trouble