Worked on this since the contest was announced. Didn't have much to show yet, but I think I'd better go ahead and reserve the thread since others are also doing a ruined theme.
Step One: Theme
Normally I plan theme and layout at the same time, but in this case the layout was done. Since I have WIPs for both a winter payload and a night Egypt river theme, I didn't want to use those themes for this map. I did however really feel the layout lended itself to a set of ruins (gaping cavernous openings, skybox visible in areas inside, etc), so I tried for an entirely new ruined theme. After a semi-random search for images of ruins, I opted for an Angkhor Wat/Cambodian style to be distinctive from existing Egypt styled maps.
http://kupukupu73.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/angkor-wat-ruins.jpg
http://www1.i2r.a-star.edu.sg/~bxchen/myPIC/Cities/Angkor-Wat.jpg
A quick non-comprehensive review of Cambodia revealed it became a nation in 1953, independent of French rule. This means it A) fits the timeframe and B) spy is French, so tenous link up there.
Since others are already doing cavern ruin themes, I'm going to try to focus more on the jungle-ish outdoors.
Step Two: Asset Organization and Creation
After sorting through the available props (including a host of custom ones), I set aside a couple dozen that were especially fitting for the theme. Obviously I'd still need to create several. I picked several custom props as well, but I'll wait on getting approval until I'm sure I'll actually use them.
Permission from Spike granted to use his jungle trees. Much appreciated! [Edit] Though after much reference material, I realized those trees aren't the right style. Still appreciated.
Step Three - Map Building
The meat and bones of the contest! Finally! Though I've been picking away at little areas since the start of the contest, as of the start of September, I'm diving headfirst into wholesale map building.
Little disappointed to find that the default brushwork is... pretty shoddy (overlapping brushes, brushes that stick into seperate areas, etc), so this slowed me down quite a lot. However I've still managed to get some progress on some real khmer-esque style ruins.
Here are the final shots. And by "final," I mean "unfinished," not "done." Post mortem after screens:
POST MORTEM
While I could rush out a finished map before the deadline, I'd be extremely unhappy with it. Not only would I be unhappy, but I'd be outright ashamed. This is not mapper vanity or obessiveness (though certainly both apply partially), but an issue of being realistic.
* Quality- As stated. This is the number one reason I'm dropping out. The area still requiring detail is Point B and the exterior of Point C. On the plus side, areas I've finished can be ported to another map since I'm not sending this in.
* Time Available - My paying projects are suffering by putting time into this map, and quality-issues aside, that alone is enough to kill my entry.
* Lighting - The lighting on this map is quite frankly awful. A month ago, I spent most of a week comparing lighting screenshots and doing test compiles. I "temporarily" put in the goldrush settings just so I could have some screenshots, and I never took it out.
* Prop work - If I had a dedicated modeler, this would not be a problem. Unfortunately, being mapper, modeler, and texture artist with the time constraints means I can do all of them mediocre or I can do one of them very well. Many missing props (window ornamentation, roof details, additional root clusters, etc) as well as significant texture issues on the finished ones. Again, this is not content I want to release without some additional work.
* Layout - I've never been happy with the artpass layout, and the khmer theme -- no matter how desperately I tried to shoehorn it in -- doesn't fit the layout. While khmer temples have vertical elements, they're predominately wide structures with multiple openings. It's been a struggle to get what I have to work with the layout.
SUMMARY
Though the quality of the map just isn't there, as a test of a new theme (or more accurately a variant of Egypt), it was a success. Learned much on how to properly create it in a later map.
FUTURE PLANS
For future contests, I plan to collaborate with someone else. Either as the mapper or modeler, but not both. Lesson learned. I was too ambitious to try and create and do everything myself for this.
OR... I'll go with a much more standard theme so I don't have to spend any time creating new content, but where's the freaking fun in that!?
I'll be releasing the full texture pack (30+!). After I take a break, I'll revisit my props, correct the problems, clean them up, add the missing ones, and then release those as another pack.
Meanwhile, I'm still very enamoured with the Cambodian ruins theme. I'll be creating a mirrored 5 Control Point map using this theme (or possibly KOTH). Since a ton of detailing has already been done, this will go a lot faster once I start working on it. First however... blocking in a layout I actually like.
There's a fair chance that I'll finish the artpass version and release it for giggles. But it's no longer a high priority (or a priority at all). And it certainly won't be in time for the contest.
Been totally relieved to have killed this project off, quite frankly.
Kep
Step One: Theme
Normally I plan theme and layout at the same time, but in this case the layout was done. Since I have WIPs for both a winter payload and a night Egypt river theme, I didn't want to use those themes for this map. I did however really feel the layout lended itself to a set of ruins (gaping cavernous openings, skybox visible in areas inside, etc), so I tried for an entirely new ruined theme. After a semi-random search for images of ruins, I opted for an Angkhor Wat/Cambodian style to be distinctive from existing Egypt styled maps.
http://kupukupu73.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/angkor-wat-ruins.jpg
http://www1.i2r.a-star.edu.sg/~bxchen/myPIC/Cities/Angkor-Wat.jpg
A quick non-comprehensive review of Cambodia revealed it became a nation in 1953, independent of French rule. This means it A) fits the timeframe and B) spy is French, so tenous link up there.
Since others are already doing cavern ruin themes, I'm going to try to focus more on the jungle-ish outdoors.
Step Two: Asset Organization and Creation
After sorting through the available props (including a host of custom ones), I set aside a couple dozen that were especially fitting for the theme. Obviously I'd still need to create several. I picked several custom props as well, but I'll wait on getting approval until I'm sure I'll actually use them.
Permission from Spike granted to use his jungle trees. Much appreciated! [Edit] Though after much reference material, I realized those trees aren't the right style. Still appreciated.
Step Three - Map Building
The meat and bones of the contest! Finally! Though I've been picking away at little areas since the start of the contest, as of the start of September, I'm diving headfirst into wholesale map building.
Little disappointed to find that the default brushwork is... pretty shoddy (overlapping brushes, brushes that stick into seperate areas, etc), so this slowed me down quite a lot. However I've still managed to get some progress on some real khmer-esque style ruins.
Here are the final shots. And by "final," I mean "unfinished," not "done." Post mortem after screens:
POST MORTEM
While I could rush out a finished map before the deadline, I'd be extremely unhappy with it. Not only would I be unhappy, but I'd be outright ashamed. This is not mapper vanity or obessiveness (though certainly both apply partially), but an issue of being realistic.
* Quality- As stated. This is the number one reason I'm dropping out. The area still requiring detail is Point B and the exterior of Point C. On the plus side, areas I've finished can be ported to another map since I'm not sending this in.
* Time Available - My paying projects are suffering by putting time into this map, and quality-issues aside, that alone is enough to kill my entry.
* Lighting - The lighting on this map is quite frankly awful. A month ago, I spent most of a week comparing lighting screenshots and doing test compiles. I "temporarily" put in the goldrush settings just so I could have some screenshots, and I never took it out.
* Prop work - If I had a dedicated modeler, this would not be a problem. Unfortunately, being mapper, modeler, and texture artist with the time constraints means I can do all of them mediocre or I can do one of them very well. Many missing props (window ornamentation, roof details, additional root clusters, etc) as well as significant texture issues on the finished ones. Again, this is not content I want to release without some additional work.
* Layout - I've never been happy with the artpass layout, and the khmer theme -- no matter how desperately I tried to shoehorn it in -- doesn't fit the layout. While khmer temples have vertical elements, they're predominately wide structures with multiple openings. It's been a struggle to get what I have to work with the layout.
SUMMARY
Though the quality of the map just isn't there, as a test of a new theme (or more accurately a variant of Egypt), it was a success. Learned much on how to properly create it in a later map.
FUTURE PLANS
For future contests, I plan to collaborate with someone else. Either as the mapper or modeler, but not both. Lesson learned. I was too ambitious to try and create and do everything myself for this.
OR... I'll go with a much more standard theme so I don't have to spend any time creating new content, but where's the freaking fun in that!?
I'll be releasing the full texture pack (30+!). After I take a break, I'll revisit my props, correct the problems, clean them up, add the missing ones, and then release those as another pack.
Meanwhile, I'm still very enamoured with the Cambodian ruins theme. I'll be creating a mirrored 5 Control Point map using this theme (or possibly KOTH). Since a ton of detailing has already been done, this will go a lot faster once I start working on it. First however... blocking in a layout I actually like.
There's a fair chance that I'll finish the artpass version and release it for giggles. But it's no longer a high priority (or a priority at all). And it certainly won't be in time for the contest.
Been totally relieved to have killed this project off, quite frankly.
Kep
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