Single stage payload map, in the desert, at night or twilight. the story: theres a megalomaniac nut job who lives in the 'odd lodge'. He/She has corrupted the nearby monuments 'Black Rock Canyon' and 'The Devils Post-Pile' to his her own twisted purposes. The bastards on red team back him up from their fortress built above an old gas station. But he has also stupidly built a set of train tracks that run from an explosives warehouse right into the front door of his odd lodge, which the heros of blue team are going to try to exploit by running the, well you know. I know I know big open map, bad. Night time, bad. It hasnt been play tested yet but i have spent a LOT of time thinking strategy, its pretty close to being play-testable, so we will see how it works. But basically the idea is that both spawns command a total view of the map, which is meant to evoke a wide open desert expanse cut through with canyons, with the objective in the middle. Most of the action should occur in the (optimizable) canyons. This is a response to my dislike of 'corridor' maps or games, and an attempt to make a map that is completely open yet doesn't devolve into chaotic free-for-all gameplay. I'm doing this by dividing territory vertically rather than horizontally- blus territory is primarily the canyons (where the tracks run) and reds is most of the open space above. Much thought has gone into sniper positions etc. But like I said it hasnt been play tested yet so I could be all wrong. :unsure: to get it to play testable i think i need: 3d skybox, all rooms and doors functioning, optimization.
If you aren't using them now, here are the settings I've posted for the Night Skybox. Sun Angle: 0 108 0 Sun Pitch: -35 Brightness: 66 73 100 175 Ambience: 66 73 100 175 HDR Brightness: -1 -1 -1 1 HDR Ambience: -1 -1 -1 1 I didn't provide the Brightness or Ambience, and I haven't seen it in-game (the brightness/ambience). But, right now, it looks two dark without lighting. Also, you don't need a 3D skybox for an Alpha Gameplay test. Focus on gameplay, not detail! Map looks good so far!
those values are pretty close to mine- i dont remember where i got the official values when i set it up but i ended up tweaking them a little to get the effects/shadows i wanted. there ARE dark areas of the map for sure, which i wanted to contrast with the lighted up building areas and lighted signs. just have to wait for play test to see how it works out. ok, no 3d skybox!
Darkness is bad. The illusion of darkness, on the other hand, is usually ok. In other words, if you want your map to be dark, at least don't make the player areas too dark, make sure there's a lot of light for players at all times. Making your map too dark will just make it harder to see the differences between classes and teams, which is very important.
good point- I'm all for trying to achieve that balance. After these comments about the lighting I booted up the map and looked at it and i think the screenshots are darker than the actual game, except one area is pretty dark. I havent placed any lighting in that area yet tho. There is one question I have on the subject- in my compile text I get a message about sky_night not being compiled w the same flags or some such, and so the default cubemaps aren't loaded. Does anyone know what that's about? Sorry about the vague wording, when i get home from work i can get the exact wording. Will also post more pics of interiors etc.
I'm pretty sure that error you're talking about can be ignored, I think it's just a false alarm. I've gotten it a lot, even though there's nothing wrong.
You can have a map as dark as you want, just be sure that you can read Character Teams and Classes (Color, Silhouettes). That's all that matters.
Agreed. I think in you're case it'd be best to provide "Street Lamps" for the main path, that is constant light on the cart path. This way the point of focus (the cart) will always be clear for all players, and allow creative players to use the surrounding darkness to their advantage.
An effect you could use to help with silhouettes is adding a light fog like how Left 4 Dead does in the No Mercy Subway stage, making the background bright enough to contrast with the darker silhouettes while maintaining a believably dark atmosphere.
Yup, it's an error that came about ever since HDR was released. They never "got rid of it" or "fixed" it. Dunno why though, just not a high priority i guess.
more pix Its been awhile since i posted anything new on this map-been busy trying to get it ready to release for testing. I wanted to post some more pictures and show some of the things i'm planning in order to get feed-back. First thing- I put teleports in the map that I may or may not leave in there. The original idea for teleports was because originally the map was so huge and was and still is wide-open- since then the map has become smaller, and as I work on it I find myself tending more and more to want to make a classic style TF2 map- something that at the beginning I didnt give a crap about. Anyway-the basic idea- red as defenders (and without the clear objective of pushing a cart that starts right at their spawn) get three teleports in their spawn room that can take them to a choice of three different points around the map. one of these is locked initially. Each team in addition get an additional single teleport, located just outside their spawn doors, that is also locked initially. Heres pix of these various places: one of three red tele exits http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=544&stc=1&d=1228597379 teleportexit.jpg blu spawn looking out http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=540&stc=1&d=1228597379 bluspawn.jpg un-locked blu teleport entrance http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=541&stc=1&d=1228597379 bluteleport.jpg interior of red spawn showing three tele entrances http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=542&stc=1&d=1228597379 redspawn.jpg red spawns 4th tele entrance, located in the abandoned gas station that can be seen in the first set of pix. its located just outside of red spawn, with a ramp running from red spawn to the roof of the gas station, where there is a door that is initially locked http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=543&stc=1&d=1228597379 redteleport.jpg the 2 tele entrances outside each spawn are un-locked via a team taking a central point, which is covered in the next set of pix
There is in the middle of the map, strategically central, a shack with a rotating sign outside of it. http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=545&stc=1&d=1228598115 shack.jpg inside this shack can be found an any-team door that is timed to delay 3 seconds. behind this is another 3-second door. http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=546&stc=1&d=1228598208 shack2.jpg behind THAT is a trigger that when stepped on does a number of things: 1 changes to your teams color, 2 changes the rotating sign outside (which pretty much can be seen from anywhere on the map) to your teams color http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=547&stc=1&d=1228598299 shack3.jpg http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=548&stc=1&d=1228598299 shack4.jpg http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=549&stc=1&d=1228598545 shack5.jpg and 3 opens your teams locked teleport entrance and locks the opposing teams. These teleports exit in an area underneath the shack that is much closer to the action then the spawn areas. the 2 doors and trigger are a replacement for a regular cp, which after hours, days of trying i could never get to work correctly on this payload map, so I finally scrapped that. The idea, as i said before, is to open up the possibilities for play and strategy as much as possible, like I opened up the map itself. i understand its all a grand experiment that could completely fail but its a worthy experiment I think. I get so tired of playing maps that are all set up so that the only way for a team to win is for an uber combo to clear out some choke point, and its always the same choke point play after play. Anyway enough soap boxing and on to the next set of pix [edit] in order to not sound so negative I want to say I love playing the game no matter the map, even if I've gotten a little bored w the map I may be playing at the moment
This next set of pix is all about the 'odd lodge' which is the final payload point. The pix are pretty self-explanatory- as the cart approaches the last few yards the big dbl doors swing open and the lights inside come on in the 1st floor where the cp is. the interior of the lodge is accessable via a door on the second floor which is for the most part only to red team, I say for the most part because blu can get there, its just a long haul, of course a shorter haul if blu has captured the shack. And also of course once the big front doors are open... http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=550&stc=1&d=1228599891 lodge.jpg http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=551&stc=1&d=1228599891 lodge2.jpg http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=552&stc=1&d=1228599891 lodge3.jpg http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=553&stc=1&d=1228599891 lodge4.jpg http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=554&stc=1&d=1228599891 lodge5.jpg
