CP Zinkenite B3a

[Rexy]

I'm going to needs some factual tie-ins to really sell the idea of a crystal cave/crystal mining/mineral mining operation. In cp_zig, Red is mining a crystal substance which they've nicknamed 'zig', which is a crystal/mineral substance otherwise known as Zinkenite: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinkenite, and in these caves, they've discovered that the crystals can be used as a power source, are self-luminous, and have proven useful and valuable for harvesting due to their electrical properties. Blu, as ususal, is coming to take control of the caves, the mining operations, and zig facilities.

 

[Seba]

I don't like how the grain isn't parallel to the beams in that tower.

EDIT: I also want to live here:

 

[littleedge]

Oh God. I want your skills.

 

[Rexy]

I spent a bit of time trying to get a good feel for how this ivy should work, and I don't quite like it yet. I spent too much time trying to get it to do what I wanted, but results are results. Right now it's too heavy, I'll probably regenerate it later.

 

[Ezekel]

interesting tool you found there rexy.
although i'm not sure having the ivy snaking around the ground really is that great, doesn't it usually climb up/down walls?

i'd say try to keep the ivy off of any ground spaces that can be walked on, maybe restrict it to mostly upper parts of walls and in the out-of-gameplay areas, to keep the visual clutter a bit lower in gameplay areas.

 

[tyler]

Conversely, I like it there.

 

[LeSwordfish]

Put something at the other end of that bridge in screenshot two. It looks odd without anything- maybe a ladder up to the top of the cliff.

 

[jpr]

This should be made official based on looks alone

 

[Seba]

I agree - the ivy should be more vertical. Also, that ground/grass blend is fucking hot.

 

[Rexy]

Yeah I think you guys are right about the ivy, there are places where I'd like it to interact with the ground just a tiny bit more, but the ivy generator is so finicky, it's hard to get a result you can really use (given that it's a random generator, but still amazing for what you get). The other difficult thing is keeping the poly count of the thing under control but still achieving a workable product. Each ivy is custom grown to fit a specific area, there might be room for reusing props on things like flat surfaces, 90 degree corners, etc, but for now, this is the way it's done. And it's tedious. But the good news is that for the entirety of all the ivy I'll be making, it uses up only three 128x128 res textures, which is a deal sealer.

 

[littleedge]

I do believe ivy starts growing on the ground and ceiling when it can no longer grow towards the sky. Maybe in some of your cave entrances, a bit on the ground might be okay.

 

[Vincent]

God damn that is beautiful.

 

[Wilson]

I have always wanted to use this old image i made long time ago.

(Yes, i know, it sucks.)

 

[Okrag]

Keep in mind that moss is more likely to grow on the north side, little details like this make for great detailing.

 

[Rexy]

Just a few images to tide you over, this will probably be the last batch of screenshots for a while for a few reasons. My new PC parts come tomorrow, so I'll be spending time setting this up, the second obviously being portal 2 stealing my life for a while, and then the last reason is because I have still not developed a visual style for the caverns--this is going to take a while. And I'm not at the point yet where I know exactly what I want to do. But think more along the lines of giant crystals, and caverns, like these, only zig-ified:

 

[Seba]

:O

 

[Pocket]

Aaaaaaand best of luck to you. :blink:

 

[Void]

zig confirmed for official

 

[RaVaGe]

I do not like the fact that there buildings in the outdoor setting, I think it would be preferable to do a kind of huge forest that surrounds the playing area.

Btw nice models.

 

[Ezekel]

I do not like the fact that there buildings in the outdoor setting, I think it would be preferable to do a kind of huge forest that surrounds the playing area.

Btw nice models.

seconded on this.