www.tcpclan.net

Cool. Thanks for trying it!


@rams: lol I guess I failed that class on Egyptian mythology. Sorry you had to find out the hard way.


Actually, I've been thinking about making the lava pool into healing water instead, and then having a waterfall from the top (if it doesn't kill the fps). It would make more sense functionwise using water, since it dampens the fall, making it faster for players to get from the top to the bottom.

(Sorry about that crazy JumpPad. Glad I'm not working as a programmer for NASA. Who knows where that satellite would have ended up. Maybe it would discover a new universe. )

It could be that the eye was protecting others from evil me I suppose

Hi!

rejecht wrote:(Sorry about that crazy JumpPad. Glad I'm not working as a programmer for NASA. Who knows where that satellite would have ended up. Maybe it would discover a new universe. )

Haha, good one, rejecht!

Coco.

+ Added new junction.
+ Renamed Lava Pool to Eye of Horus and made it into healing water (still not a clever place to be swimming in.
+ Added music. Credits go to OCReMix.org. Artists are bustatunez, The Orichalcon - "Rare Square (Countdown)".
+ Done more texturing and colour work.
+ JumpPads behave normally..

Beta6 Screen Shots (2)
DM-AnataWa-Beta6 (4,3 MiB zipped)

hf

Download: DM-AnataWa-Beta7 (4,4 MiB zipped)

Although it's "Beta", it's running smoothly, and is playable in TAM, DM, TDM, Invasion, with bots fully supported.

+ Lots of smaller visual changes.

+ Added a Redeemer for normal DM/TDM gametypes.


Do you think the map is big? Why? Why not?

I don't think it's a big map, because the areas are open both on x and y axis, and more importantly, on the z axis, and the connecting areas are generally small. There are large and mid-sized areas, which means that teams have some more options where to go and enounter the other team. The bigger rooms are also open in z axis. It's easy to get around quickly, I think, either up or down.

Now, if it's 1-on-1 I can understand it's a bit big, because then players would likely be hiding after boosting, and I think in that sense, it's a large map. Anyway..

hf ^^

View: Screen Shots
Download: DM-AnataWa-Beta8 (~4 MiB zipped)


Several changes.

* I looked into making the level more compact--some stuff worked, some stuff didn't. It should be fairly compact now. Still working on some areas. Effectively removed one section, and moved the lowest floor one floor up.

* Added visual feedback to show when the crystal can/can't be activated.

* Lots of visual changes.

hf

*throws carn a virtual beer* :s

Hey reject, I am sorry for dropping the "test" of your map. It seems that I am getting old and not in the shape that I used to be. I do want to have a "look-see" and I know that it will be a good one. I remember that it was not all that big. I have not forgotten you and will lok at it her ein the next few days. Frank

*** As a matter of fact, I just downloaded it, and will look at it now. Frank

Hey, double post, but this is more a review now, so I guess it should be OK.

From a mappers point of view, you have really earned a nobel prize. The effects and skinns that you have used, are great. Just around the pool area, I was very impressed. The skin on the water, the "+" effects from the emitter, and the adding life is a great work of art. One draw-back that I saw with the water, was that someone can camp in it, and never die. My thought was to make the Damage per second a - 2 or -3. I am not sure of the ratio right now, but that might get the campers out of the pool, if it takes a bit of life away. Very impresive, indeed.

Now to more general stuff.

I saw a few problem areas with the lighting. Major problems were in a few halls with torches. The lighting there is very light, and it drowned out the textures. I think I saw 3 hallways that did that. The other lighting was OK.

You have a great feel for mapping. Textures were aligned, the deco was great, and there are just things in there that make the player feel as if he were in a real world. The design of the map is not that bad. To you, me and any other mapper, the map is a good design, but......

You knew this was coming, right?!?

If I, you or another peep is playing a map, we want to know it, or at least know where the enemy is going to pop up most of the time. I have run through this map several times, and I still get a bit confused on where I am going, and what is coming around the next corner. In your map, I am not sure how to fix it. The textures that you picked, are egyptian type, and not much help, UNLESS.... you use your skills in texture making, and make them different colors? Just a thought, but there should be a bit of a differance in certain sections, like the "ball" room, or in certain corridors. Just a thought to help playres orientate.

You have opened the map up a bit since I have seen it last, BUT....

Nasty word!!!

There is still no "main" room. It kind of centers around the pool, and I would say that, that is where most of the fighting will take place. Maybe you could open it up a bit more. I have not studied it long enough to decide/make a sugestion, of what you should do. I just noticed that there is a main room missing.

One more thing, a BUT.. if you will.

There is no direction to the "flow" of the map. Lets take Sinfonia for example. (What else )

If you spawn on the top, there are 2 directions to chose from. If you spawn on the other side, yup, you got it, 2 directions. In your map, the player has no Idea which way to run. If you get the colors in the textures, and maybe some arrows, or what ever, to give the peeps a clue on which way that the enemy might be, it might help them a bit.

I hope that I helped you on this, and you are a great mapper, I have seen that in this one map. Keep up the good work, but always remember, it is not the quality of the map that players want to see, but the feling they have as they are playing it. Frank

lol Thanks for the high praise. I just "sacrifised" a good deal of hours exploring ideas, that's all. Luckily, I was interrupted minimally the times I worked on it.

Healing water: I realized that the worst place to camp in, is in that pond of water. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. So I just settled on 5 HP/s, like the HealthPod map did, because I found it wasn't worth the trouble if it was any less. But maybe people will be all over that place like those apes in the opening of 2001: A Space Oddyssey fighting over the water hole. hehe

Lighting: I was going to deal with those lighting issues. I can barely see the flame emitter effect because the light is too bright against the wall in some places. It's just very boring work to correct. hehe The plan is to add some dark spots on the walls to show that the bricks were schorched by the flames, but there's like 80 torches or something like that, so, yeah.. Until I find an acceptable way to add those dark spots on the wall, I'll postpone it.

The flow: All I know is that I wanted the player to have alternate routes where possible, a kind of free-form map, and I liked the idea of minibattles going on in separate pockets of the map. So, true, there's not much focus on flow.

The "main" room: The Iron Man area / the hall with all the floors is the Main Room to me, but other than that, I've seen that the bots are very fond of the multi-floor lift area in the Main Hall. My thoughts are that since the map is open in the larger areas (Main Hall), there's little time to stand still and to be safe at the same time, and those places where you can stand still are perhaps only useful for camping, and not much else.

Orientation in the map: Well, I thought it was enough to make the areas unique enough to set then apart, and like all new maps, it takes some rounds to learn them--at least, that was my thinking. Textures on the walls can probably be looked at. The ColorModifier material might do the trick for something like that. I'll try to think of something there.

The flow part two: I just ended up with a relatively "free-form" map, and I thought it was a nice idea--you have to explore and hunt, and suddenly meet someone around the corner, or chase someone while falling down between floors, etc. You get choices/escape routes, you can't stay too long in one place because players may come from many places, and thus you shouldn't be able to camp where the action is. I know there aren't any great/standard places where all might meet in battle like in EgyptianJump and the center area of contention in Sinfonia, so the room for battles are in several large places instead. So, yes, I agree, there is no good flow. You could find flow if you followed the powerups in a DM/TDM match, though, but I guess that's it.

I'll still be working on compressing the map some more.

Thanks a lot for your review and time, Frank. I'll consider the points you made the next time I have a go at it, to see if I can come up with something. Right now I'm game over because of the damn heat. X_x;;

Final version.

I've submitted it to UT Unlimited for review.

Screen shots at photobucket.
Map at filefront.

Thanks for all the feedback here at the forums, and those who commented during play, and of course Carnage for uploading version after version to the server.

hf

Hi!

Very nice, rejecht, I like that map very much. Now that it's final, I'll add it to FH#4 as well (if Christic and Centurio agree).

Coco.

Thanks, Coco!

Cool! Like Frank, I'm mostly just having fun playing around with this unreal stuff.