Arena Arc Mountain_a1

Radenska

L2: Junior Member
Jan 31, 2008
53
18
I've been working on this map the past few months and I think it's nearly ready for its first alpha. There are a couple elements I want to switch up, but I'm still tweaking the respective entities before submitting the .bsp online.

Here are some screen shots of a recent compile I did.

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Memento Mori

L2: Junior Member
Mar 25, 2008
61
11
Looks very nice.

The angled water cooler looks wierd, and the blu building with the white detail wood also looks quite bad. The red version is great but the blu one needs something different.
 

TMP

Ancient Pyro Main
aa
Aug 11, 2008
947
560
For an alpha, you sure went crazy on the details :p

Blu wood buildings should match the red ones in consistency. Red goes from a light red hue on grey to a darker grey-red mix. Blu, on the other hand, goes from a light blu hue on grey to white. Because of this switch, the wood looks bad. Instead, switch it to a darker blu-grey wood, and observe the map become easier on the eyes.

It's all about looking the same.

Also, the steam looks like bubbles. I'd tweak the settings a tiny bit on the entities that govern it.
 

Radenska

L2: Junior Member
Jan 31, 2008
53
18
Looks very nice.

The angled water cooler looks wierd, and the blu building with the white detail wood also looks quite bad. The red version is great but the blu one needs something different.

Thanks for the response. Maybe I should clarify some of my choices, though.

The angled water tower is crutched up by the one BLU tower near the train tunnel, and is actually falling (When you get close there is precipitation dripping as you walk under it). I should have some displacement work/landscape to better signify where its falling from, but for the time being I wanted to stress layout.

Secondly, I can understand the BLU buildings looking odd, but with the last few Valve maps the architecture has VERY loosely followed their own design documents. Lumberyard, Ravine, and Badwater Basin all have taken liberties with which team has certain types of roofs as well as structure material. Thus, I figured it would be valid to follow a similar route.

The only difference between the two sides is really props, textures, and lighting hues - it's purely cosmetic. I'm not sure exactly what isn't appealing to you, but specificity would be appreciated. Does it need different texture work/detail, or a style overhaul? More input on this would be great as well. To repeat, I'm a bit more interested in submitting this soon for primarily gameplay results, but I figured some images would help get more attention. Most of the visual renovations I plan on pursuing during Beta/Final - thanks again!
 
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Radenska

L2: Junior Member
Jan 31, 2008
53
18
For an alpha, you sure went crazy on the details :p

Blu wood buildings should match the red ones in consistency. Red goes from a light red hue on grey to a darker grey-red mix. Blu, on the other hand, goes from a light blu hue on grey to white. Because of this switch, the wood looks bad. Instead, switch it to a darker blu-grey wood, and observe the map become easier on the eyes.

It's all about looking the same.

Also, the steam looks like bubbles. I'd tweak the settings a tiny bit on the entities that govern it.


Thank you for clarifying on the texture work issues (and smoke emitters). I will definitely go in and revise it before the first release - that was a really tight observation I missed! I'm considering doing more of a tudor style to fit the alpine setting.

Haha, well it was initially for a semester final project and that required hauling on the details the last couple weeks. I had a few small in-studio play tests with developer textures and never got around to posting all that here - it use to be CTF, actually. There really is quite a bit more left to do, but I did recently started scaling things back for a newer version (these shots are previous to that).
 

Sgt Frag

L14: Epic Member
May 20, 2008
1,443
710
I think it looks pretty nice.

I also thought the smoke looked like bubbles right off. I think mainly making the puffs larger so they blend together more would help, maybe slow them down some too? Hard to say from still shots.

I thought the water tower looked weird in the first few shots, but then I saw the tower it fell on which is cool. So I think that's just perspective, where you see it from.

As for the trim. I think it does look a little odd. Mainly because there is really think horizontal trims and almost not vertical. Look closer at lumberyard. You really should add vertical trims, at the corners especially.
Right now it kindof feels like everything is heavy and nothing holds it up, so it feels like its gonna collapse and squish to me. I think a few vertical trims will fix.
 

Radenska

L2: Junior Member
Jan 31, 2008
53
18
I think it looks pretty nice.

I also thought the smoke looked like bubbles right off. I think mainly making the puffs larger so they blend together more would help, maybe slow them down some too? Hard to say from still shots.

I thought the water tower looked weird in the first few shots, but then I saw the tower it fell on which is cool. So I think that's just perspective, where you see it from.

As for the trim. I think it does look a little odd. Mainly because there is really think horizontal trims and almost not vertical. Look closer at lumberyard. You really should add vertical trims, at the corners especially.
Right now it kindof feels like everything is heavy and nothing holds it up, so it feels like its gonna collapse and squish to me. I think a few vertical trims will fix.

I might have achieved a more accurate emission from the train's smokestack (visible in some shots), so I'll take note from the properties it has and go from there. Some vertical trim is there, but for the minority of the time and its significantly thinner than the horizontal ones. I wasn't sure how that'd read but I agree, it seems they need the bulk after all.

Thank you very much for the constructive feedback. :)