DM-Miestas (WIP, Update#5 : New downloadable )

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XaNKoNII
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DM-Miestas (WIP, Update#5 : New downloadable )

Post by XaNKoNII »

____________________UPDATE#5____________________ 14/3/2018

Work is now progressing slow and I must admit I´m kind of bored :noidea
but I must commit to finish the project :mrgreen:


As for now all the playable area is finished and the major decorations are done
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This was the last building I need to define/ decorate
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This building as a playable area at it´s bottom
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Circular building also finished
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Next I used created a placeholder Skybox only to test the accuracy of my "global light" system
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It has errors that a dedicated observer can spot but overhall checks out in major areas, so it´s fine by me. I will only perfect this system with time :D
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The map still needs texture work, in some details and in terms of damage, the gameplay decorations will be the next part of development and will be something like gear and equipment throughout this arena almost as Liadri improvising a game taking place at this location

I have updated the Dowloadable File, I will only make #2 more updates one for the actual gameplay as I have referred and the last for all the decoration touches and skybox/environment decoration


____________________Older updates____________________

I've been paying attention to fudgonaut's post, and I must say that I like the idea of a sort of a developer´s journal. I'm thinking on actually making one but more like a VLog with me talking and showing things around, sharing ideas, concepts and the process behind work. Despite that I don't think it hurts following a good recepie so be sure to check this thread : viewtopic.php?f=5&t=12680

For this particular work I started with a simple art concept, the idea was to create the idea outside the editor and then make it come real.

First I just sit and tought what shapes would I see in this room


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After the drawing I looked at what I drew, and back into my imagination I closed my eyes, trying to see even more details of this imaginary space that I was starting to create. I noticed since I started paying attention to architecture that details just pop out in my head. I think the more we understand the basics of things, like how buildings work and what elements in a room/space results in a "realistic" imitation in a game, the easier the ideas come to you. The more ideas you have the faster the work will be because ideas are bound to fail, so if you increase the flow of ideas you increase the chances of a successful one.


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Later I decided what the materials of this room would be, and how light would make someone in it feel and I produced this.
I imagined how it would feel on my hands to touch the walls, and how it would feel to walk around, and even stand in the sun beam.


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But this is where I became frustrated, because the vision in my head felt too much different of what I had in Ued. Now I know being and old engine that It will never be exactly like anything I can imagine, but I still felt something inside me telling me that I could do better... So I dropped it for a few weeks until I came across this video where the author goes into telling that mapping its all about just light and shapes, that the textures of the surfaces change the perception we have of luminosity. Now I already try my best to make lights refract on surfaces and think I do this to a certain success level, but I was missing this important part the author refereed.
So what I did was exported the texture I was using for the wall and randomly messed with it in Photoshop. I achieved my most liked result in just changing the "Expore" of the Texture, that made it look brighter like if the camera did the so named effect, and the result amazed me. I doesn´t look awe but for me it was what I felt there was missing so I really satisfied me :D (inb4 that's what she said)

j8_e0IPVRIQ

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Since I was so applied to bringing a vision to life, what was just a proof of concept became a project for a Death Match map so that you could enjoy it while playing. Also here I tried to give it a realistic approach in the sense that I noticed real life achitecture is nothing like a symmetrical studied work, often it feels chaotic and improvised so in this room I put door not directly infront of the stairs but rather on the side. Which honestly is a situation I would expect in a real life location.

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Since I decided to go in the direction of a DM map, I made another room next to the original. But I can't just make something random so I put my imagination back in work again and thought about the Function of this imaginary place as well as it's location, I decided it was part of a logistics company near a dock bay. So logically the next room felt it should be an actual warehouse and even to give sense of location and function a little corridor to more parts of the complex.

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Detail of the roof structure, there is still no light in this part, but I am thinking about taking a part of the roof and making it look like damage from previous matches,if I follow this Idea I will have to be consistent and put more damage around as some decals, this will be telling the player about this map is a visual story cue. And so I will have to make a few machinery for the weapons and inventory to make it look like a location modified to be a tournament match arena. (but for now it is still just an idea which I don´t know if I'll follow)


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The outside area, which forces me to make and exterior to the warehouse I´ve created and will show the environment around the arena


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Here is another pic of the outside location. This little room with the door open will be either a power transformation box house (is that how its called in English?) or will have a fire emergency pump for the warehouse (these are usually the types of little rooms you find in warehouse industrial complexes)


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This is where I stand as of now, I'll keep this post updated once in a while thanks for the read :tu:

____________________UPDATE#1____________________ 5/2/2018

Changed the map name from DM-Urban to DM-Miestas (thank you UnrealGGecko :tu: )
The map will more open spaced, just still trying to figure how

Ok so i've been listening to some feedback as well as working on some elements for the map (surrounding area of the arena).

First I came up with this parking lot building :


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After that, for some reason I ended up looking at Mirror's edge concept art and this particular picture here wich drew me into it, the main elements that jump into my eyes are the Light/shadow, the simple colors and the reflective windows on the buildings. (And yes as both a mapper and an amateur Traceur I'm a really big fan of Mirror's Edge)

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So what I tried to do next was making a building with reflective windows, and although I wouldn't recommend using it on all buildings (after some distance you can notice the BSP stop rendering some parts of the maps through the reflections) I must say it kinda works pretty well :D

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____________________UPDATE#2____________________ 12/2/2018

Ok, so I took into consideration somefeedback regarding the gameplay. I got back into the "design" phase again to explore more the surrounding of the warehouse
And these 2 doodles are the result, they are nothing fancy but allowed me to explore just what I wanted

The blueprint:
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And the perspective view from the front:
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I tried to make the place a blend between living area and a company/industrial one as like the unused space was sold to build apartments.

Here is the concept on the Unreal Engine, I changed some sizes but the design is all still there:

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Looking at it I kinda feel proud, gives almost a Domination map vibe but for this case I'm sticking to the plan for a DM one. This is the intended playable area and I might add some parts of the buildings around maybe as rooms accessible due to previous battle damage that were allowed for the current match:

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And here is a ingame screenshot (this was mainly to test my rapid attempt at simulated global lightning, it has flaws but I think I can make it work :D )

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On the next update i'll atach a new file for download for anyone wanting it
:tu:



____________________UPDATE#3____________________ 28/2/2018
So in between updates I hit design stage again and came up with the artistic overview as well as playable areas:

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And I finally liked the direction so back to production I went....


First thing I did was tried a few different things until I came to this method: a 22,5º Vertical angle to a 90º Horizontal angle (to make the shadows more unidimentional) Spotlight type with a 32un Lightcone.
and the way i fixed this angle over distance was using the Bruscliping to mark the 22,5º Line towards the edge of the brush it casts a shadow
(2 horizontal 16Un cubes to 1 16Un Vertical Cube in grid)

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And here are the unreal equivalent Un (these are approximate values, but i believe they have a 95-98% accuracy, In the future I might explore more the mathematics of the rotations)

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Fixed the Solar rays in the original room (they are straight lines now) and tweaked the refraction in the box effect (now it radiates yellow color arround)

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Another thing I improvised was that I completely removed the roof of the warehouse (and for those wanting to play in those metal beams im sorry but I decided against it exploring instead other Z axys options)

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Warehouse inside overview


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____________________UPDATE#4____________________ 3/3/2018

Started Working on the residential building
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FInished the Global Illumination lighting
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Inside the residential area I divided the floor into rooms. I used the old textures I used when I worked on my Home in UnrealEd, to give it a more realistic look into it.
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I did two floor partial collapses and a collapsed pillar, to create decoration on the area as well as some Z axys movement
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later I will had some broken traces of walls to finish it
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Next few updates will be like this one, about these gameplay parts once they are finished I´ll update the downloadable file :)
Attachments
DM-MiestasAlpha.unr
New File, next will be Beta and next the Final version
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Last edited by XaNKoNII on Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:49 am, edited 18 times in total.
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Re: DM-Urban (WIP, may change name)

Post by EvilGrins »

Rename would be the safe bet. I've got a DM-Urban_Terror, DM-UrbanArena][, & DM-UrbanHotZone.

That number of variant titles suggests there probably already is a DM-Urban.

Looks great, by the way.

Will there be gameplay on the beams near the ceilings?
http://unreal-games.livejournal.com/
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Re: DM-Urban (WIP, may change name)

Post by XaNKoNII »

EvilGrins wrote:Rename would be the safe bet. I've got a DM-Urban_Terror, DM-UrbanArena][, & DM-UrbanHotZone.

That number of variant titles suggests there probably already is a DM-Urban.
I was expecting this, but since I haven´t come up with a name I decided to use the first guess to open the Thread. :|
EvilGrins wrote: Looks great, by the way.

Will there be gameplay on the beams near the ceilings?
Thanks :D

I'm not going to lie it has plenty of space and it calls for action. I thought about putting one or 2 portals that would lead up there but the problem is that it conflicts with my idea to make a hole in the roof, since I wouldn't have any organic way to stop players going out and I'm not a fan of invisible collisions. I'll try one or two ideas and I'll post about them :idea2:
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Re: DM-Urban (WIP, may change name)

Post by Hellkeeper »

This looks nice and your beams are cool, but so far it looks boring to play. There's only one ground level and rooms are large and empty.
You must construct additional pylons.
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Re: DM-Urban (WIP, may change name)

Post by OjitroC »

EvilGrins wrote: That number of variant titles suggests there probably already is a DM-Urban.
Yes, there already is a DM-Urban - by DavidM from way back in 2000.
XaNKoNII wrote: ... the problem is that it conflicts with my idea to make a hole in the roof, since I wouldn't have any organic way to stop players going out ...

Perhaps you don't need to stop players going out? You could take action out on to the roof as well, plus having one or two accesses to the roof from ground level? Action on the beams would introduce some z axis play currently lacking though you could also have highlevel walkways in the warehouse.

The beams are great and I love the way you have captured the effect of intense sunlight coming through the windows.
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Re: DM-Urban (WIP, may change name)

Post by XaNKoNII »

OjitroC wrote:
EvilGrins wrote: That number of variant titles suggests there probably already is a DM-Urban.
Yes, there already is a DM-Urban - by DavidM from way back in 2000.
As I've said it's not a matter of "if" its "when" and "what name" hahaha, I just haven't thought of something so DM-Urban will still be the name holder for the mean time :lol2:
OjitroC wrote:
XaNKoNII wrote: ... the problem is that it conflicts with my idea to make a hole in the roof, since I wouldn't have any organic way to stop players going out ...

Perhaps you don't need to stop players going out? You could take action out on to the roof as well, plus having one or two accesses to the roof from ground level? Action on the beams would introduce some z axis play currently lacking though you could also have highlevel walkways in the warehouse.



Well I don't think the level will be just a ground fight, but allowing players going into the roof will force me to create all the environment and come up with a way to limit they movements and will break the realism in a way, because I do parkour and I imagine myself up there what would stop me from going elsewhere instead of the arena? A force field? That's too cliche for me :/ I´m sure I´ll come up with something that will allow the player to go to the metal beams :tu:
OjitroC wrote: The beams are great and I love the way you have captured the effect of intense sunlight coming through the windows.
Thanks I really like these "little" details, I see them as emotional decorations. They are parts of the environment that make us feel something about them and I do believe this a really important part of the real world that most games/levels ignore completely or they think that in overdetailing they will achieve such effect.
Notice how by just looking at it you already used the term "itense" which already shows some sort of emotional response. :wink:
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Re: DM-Urban (WIP, may change name)

Post by UnrealGGecko »

If you need some lithuanian names, I can get you some :P

• Miestas translates to city (miesto or miestiškas would be urban)
• Sandėlis = warehouse
• Nerealus = Unreal :P

Looks very nice so far, looking forward to this one.
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Re: DM-Urban (WIP, may change name)

Post by Pileyrei »

As a professional "cube mapper" I always admire people like you who can make these kind of maps.
Good details and I like the beams at the top.

Really like the layout and textures. Lighting looks good too.

Look forward to seeing the final result :gj:
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Re: DM-Urban (WIP, may change name)

Post by papercoffee »

I hope this will not become one of those maps which looks fabulous but isn't playable.
Real place have not much gaming value ...because they have a different purpose. :wink:
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Re: DM-Urban (WIP, may change name)

Post by Terraniux »

Wow, this looks great. Keep on going! 8) 8) 8)
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Re: DM-Miestas (WIP, Updated)

Post by XaNKoNII »

Updated the post
Hellkeeper wrote:This looks nice and your beams are cool, but so far it looks boring to play. There's only one ground level and rooms are large and empty.
Well I'm first working on the basic geometry but you can already see in some screen shots some placeholder boxes, the decorations will of course change the flow of the gameplay :mrgreen:
UnrealGGecko wrote:If you need some lithuanian names, I can get you some :P

• Miestas translates to city (miesto or miestiškas would be urban)
• Sandėlis = warehouse
• Nerealus = Unreal :P

Looks very nice so far, looking forward to this one.
Thank you :D Actually I've decided to use one of your suggestions : Miestas :highfive:
papercoffee wrote:I hope this will not become one of those maps which looks fabulous but isn't playable.
Real place have not much gaming value ...because they have a different purpose. :wink:


Well thank you, and no I care about the gaming value it´s just that i'm trying to use the realist approach. Imagine that this is just like those map descriptions we see where Liadri bought the area and modified it to feature a Death Match, so naturally I have to create the Environment then change it :idea2:
Pileyrei wrote:As a professional "cube mapper" I always admire people like you who can make these kind of maps.
Good details and I like the beams at the top.

Really like the layout and textures. Lighting looks good too.

Look forward to seeing the final result :gj:
I am profoundly pleased to hear someone admiring me for not being a cube mapper, I want to disagree with you and argue that my "cubes" are just reduced in resolution but I have to admit that I've evolved a little pass the "cube syndrome". Don´t think we are much different, i start everything in my maps with cubes and rectangles I just add details and add them until you can´t notice the original shape anymore :roll: My advice would be to pay attention to this difference: the base geometry of the room or the cube that all mappers start with,and then the decorations of the architecture that gives the perception it is no longer a cube ( pay especial attention to real life architecture many times architects make you feel the room has a shape with bars and colors but if you look beyond that you'll find its just a rectangle or a cube after all)

I'll attach my first draft for the CMC competition and you can see all the geometry is basic as hell with just minor cuts or angles but in particular the portal room the cut on the ceiling makes the room look bigger

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Re: DM-Miestas (WIP, Updated)

Post by EvilGrins »

Is that gonna be a stargate in the middle?
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Re: DM-Miestas (WIP, Updated)

Post by XaNKoNII »

EvilGrins wrote:Is that gonna be a stargate in the middle?
Yeah it kinda was, my first idea for the map entry for the Chaos maping contest was kinda like stargate I guess... an old portal found, opened in a secret base and whatever was in the Void came through, but I didn´t followed it because I didnt like the portal room that much :|
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Re: DM-Miestas (WIP, Updated)

Post by XaNKoNII »

Post updated, new info and new screenshots :tu:
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Re: DM-Miestas (WIP, Update#3)

Post by XaNKoNII »

Post Updated, new screenshots and a Downloadable File available :tu:
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