Mapping Style

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billlava

L1: Registered
May 17, 2009
3
0
Hey everyone, I'm working on a map right now and so far I am using almost exclusively dev textures and very few props while I get the blocking sorted out. I'm coming to a point, however, where I want to start applying some actual textures and props. I am somewhat indecisive as to what direction I want to take the whole thing. Part of me kind of wants to make some custom textures and go for a unique look (I'm thinking heavy on materials like adobe, red tile, brick, and darker creme colored plasters) while another part of me says I should just stick with the official palette of TF2 and give it a logging / mining style with mostly wood buildings.

What do you guys think? How important is it to stick to the official design schemes of the game? Are custom textures worth the effort if they don't fit in with the officially released styles?
 
An Icy Mouse

An Icy Mouse

aa
May 23, 2009
205
34
Political Gamer said:
Stick with the devs in Alpha. BTW have you gotten the RED/BLU textures? If not they are great! Link: http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=55
Click to expand...

They're in everyone's SDK by default now, as of the spyper update.

Stick with developer textures and low detail (only essential props) whilst you're sorting out gameplay changes and layout stuff. If you spend ages detailing an area to find that it doesn't play well when you test it its a huge bother to delete it and work it out again. if however you're doing major changes when everything is in dev textures and low detail, its very much easier and quicker to rework your layout, ready to be detailed properly once you're happy it plays well.
 
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billlava

L1: Registered
May 17, 2009
3
0
Ok, I'll guess I'll just keep on using the dev textures for now. Do you guys playtest a lot of maps still using dev textures? That would bug the heck out of me, but if it's commonly done, I might just do that to save some time since I'm going to have to rework everything anyway.
 
S

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
dev tex bugs the heck out of me but whatever floats your boat.

I like to use regular textures. they don't have the size marks, but they can give you a little better idea of what it'll look like. And it's not any harder/easier. There are plenty of 'colors' to choose from.

It's tru that adding details can be a bugger to fix, but some objects like stairs are invaluable during the process. If you don't use them you might end up with floors that have to be moved to match them later. Easy enough to move/delete/add stairs and doorframes. Also crates, woodstacks, things that you want to be used as actually terrain to navigate or block bullets can be used to help rough out the layout.
But I wouldn't add the little details like bottles, electrical boxes.

Nothing wrong with custom tex, but they should match the tf2 style, no photo sourced stuff. But if you aren't good with textures it's alot easier to use stock.
 
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