CTF-TheWells

[StealthDP]

George Francis has posted his very first creation as an SDP exclusive! Be sure to check it out and post creative comments here... you can download it from the maps page.

[HortonsWho]

Played it this morning. A simple but effective design. You need to do something to make it not obvious where the deemer is. The texturing is lighter so it really shows.
A couple of thoughts.

#1 In the blue flag base, as you look into the "temple" you can xloc over the wall. There's no where to go, just a little ledge so it's no biggie, just a fine detail to clean up:

[HortonsWho]

#2. Lighting sources. I like the shadows but what is the source of the lighting? Is it moonlight? Maybe the moon could be positioned over the open central area and made brighter to make this effect. It looks now like the light is coming from the water. That's OK but why is the water glowing? I like the look but maybe a source in the water... Of course, since it is "The Wells" perhaps the water should be glowing?

And speaking of sources, there is brighter light hitting the center walls, where is it coming from?

[HortonsWho]

Finally...

#3 Texturing. You see this in many maps, two textures meeting at a corner that don't match. You need some trim to cover that conflict or some other solution.

One other texture comment. Maybe don't use the same texture for the walls AND the ceiling? I believe the blocks for the walls but the ceiling is too much.

Anyway-- it's a nice effort. keep it up!

[Freakish]

so who is Francis?

Hmm so the map is blocky and simple; almost like HOR except with end areas and water in the middle. I'd like to see some complexity added to the layout...

[IHopeToGod]

Hehe. I was just about to uninstall UT to to do a HDD upgrade when I saw this Map and RollerCoaster. :) . Nice first map!


Unless your planning on creating a texture package to distribute or make available to others I would create the "MyLevel" package which is a specially recognized package that will be automatically included in the *.unr file and put them in there. In fact this is where you should store your screenshot. That may be why it does not show up in UT. Textures like "CRUNCHYD" that you used in your level already come with UT so there is no need to reinclude them in any package unless you modified them.

Don't forget to add information under Level properties such as The name of the map, author name etc...

You should scale up some of your textures (ie: increase there size) so they do not look so tiled and repetitive. If you are not sure which textures to use, look at all the standard texture packages that came with the game so you know where to find textures that look alike. Or you could play it safe and only use textures from the same package but that would be way too limiting

Horton and Creeper already gave you sound advice. Add trim to features such as doorways and windows if its appropriate to do so. Its a simple thing but it helps make your level look a whole lot better. Horton already mentioned light sources. Adding light sources will help determine where to make your lights shine and what light effect and light colors you should use.

To build more complexity into your level you will have to start looking at techniques such as vertex editing and clipping, and since these techniques can be kind of buggy, make sure you master using primitives first.

I never saw the bots take the flag. Might want to check bot pathing. Make sure pathnodes are not too high off a solid surface etc...Make sure all your nodes connect up.

Take a look at the levels that came with UT they are the perfect guide for seeing how a level should look.

That's enough for now I guess :-)

[Rawmeat]

Thanks everyone for taking the time to check out my map. I will do my best to complete this map with help from you fine people.
Thanks for the comments.

Look forward to hearing from you all again!

Geo