e l e p h u n k

LeFilou · Post by **LeFilou** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 9:36 pm

hi all
it's been a long time since I'd been mapping last ..
but somehow this map creeped into my brain and demanded to be built

it is a rather straight and simple duel map,
not too big and no playthings as shilds or double damage and no ledges to be kicked off.
that's how it looks like atm

you can download it here it's got about 3,1 megs
give it a try and tell me what you think, please
anything from pathing to lightning and else I want to hear it all

Mr. SlackPants · Post by **Mr. SlackPants** » Sun Dec 07, 2003 11:05 pm

Hey man,

It tried the map and i think it surely has potential, but i think you need to adress a few issues. Here goes:

- You have a windsound in teh map, but other than that nothing. I think it would be really good to add an emitter that blows some sand through the map. That would make it a bit more logical and would add a bit of mood to the map.

- In general i think the map is very overlighted. You might wanna tone the brightness down. It might be my own settigns but i believe i have it all at default.

- The terrain on the outsides, plaese make it invisible. I know it's a small map and for optimization it isn't really neccecary, but it will save you a lot of polies nontheless. And people with lesser systems will get a great frmarate too if you do. Besides you can't reach it anyway, so you will never be able to see it.

- Stretch your terrain layers. Probably 4 times as big. Right now it is way to repeating. Also i think it causes a graphical anomaly. Lot's of the terrain that is further away from my position is turning red. It might be the tiling, it might be the lighting. Or a combination of both, not sure since i haven't checked.

- Those light rays you have don't make much sense. I think they look weird instead of making the map better. IMO you should remove them, they distract because they are weird.

- Also the light ray in the middle doesn't make much sense to me. IMO that one might be removed too.

- One other thing that i didn't like is the floating platform. First it is in another style, one that doesn't really suit the egyptian style structures below. And second it floats, which doesn't make much sense to me.

That about the things i had issues with. Good map with potential and certainly a nice break from the other default maps. Just work out some of the issues and it will be a good or great map to play around in.

cheers.

LeFilou · Post by **LeFilou** » Mon Dec 08, 2003 3:46 pm

thanks for your quick suggestions
I've already been changing around a lot again ..
forgott to mention that this was indeed a beta map, it's been only 2 days work

for those light cones .. well they're not ment to make any sense ...
they're just light cones, they're only supposed to look pretty

It's all a little more streched now, a bit more space and I've changed that platform up there somewhat completely
I did make the unseen terrain invisible and I also streched the layers a bit, looks better now thank you

I'll try to work out that sand emitter, but I don't have too much time on mapping so it might never happen

Here's 2 new screenshots

you can download the new version here
or above in the first posting, just overwrite the old version.

jb · Post by jb » Mon Dec 08, 2003 5:50 pm

LeFilou,

first of all thanks for the effort.

Second make sure you read the sticky post on the Duel Mapping Guide so it has all of the proper stuff to support Duel (Mappers option, ect).

Ok these are just IMHO so don't take them as something you have to do:

I love the proxies to death, but they don't fit the theme of this map, IMHO.

Also the light cones, maybe make them all point to the center? I mean after all they could be mirrors/lenses that refract/reflect the light into the center?

Also I still don't like that floating platform. I would go with more of a Serious Sam approach, enclosed area. Remove the platform. Make the area a little bit bigger and use more Egyptian themed meshs/Deco. Could have some sort of altar, water pool, ect in the center?

Now that platform would work good in its own map. A space map with a floating platform just cries out for Duel. Q3DM17, The Longest Yard, was my favorite map of Q3. Something like that on slightly tweaked platform has lots of potential.

Again that's my humble $0.02 worth.

Still a nice map and thanks for the work!!!!

Post by **R.Flagg** » Tue Dec 09, 2003 9:49 pm

Hay! I like this one!

I dig the light rays, I like the floating platform, and I like the terrain visible all out there and stuff.

This one I think plays much better in the non-melee Duel options, and That's OK! Hehe, IMO we need maps that work in those other options as well. And it can still work in melee.

Nice map.

I would suggest a few things, though, and I would like to replay it more as well. So far I've only played it in higheest detail settings, with a lower level bot..

Anyway, I personally don't prefer invisible walls to end the map. Some folks are fine with this, and it wouldn't be the 1st map to have them. But I much prefer some sort of 'visible', or 'natural' boundary. For example, making this a rather large hilltop, with edges to fall off. Being as large a playing area as it is, I don't see that as a problem. There is plenty of room, so if you got knocked off the edge, that'd be your own fault.

I agree I guess that the proxies don't seem to fit the theme. But they don't look horrible either. I think they cold stay, but better ideas also might be out there.

IMO, the ChaosArch floating out in the sky also seemed a bit out of place. Again, it looks Ok, but it might also be neat with just teh clear blue sky out there.

I have never preferred teleports that have no visual clue. In the top platform center, the teleporter, at least on my ancient machine, had nothing visual. Not a big deal.., but still.

As far as the center of the floor, well, I dunno. Not sure what might help to breat it up, or if it's absolutely needed, but it's not a bad idea. Obvsiously crates aren't the answer ...

...but maybe something. Perhaps it's sunken just a bit, instead of raised somehow. I dunno..,

But I like this map. Will play it again, making sure I have latest version, and comment more. It's even got great shots in the preview map menu there, and a nice readme...

Nice work LeFilou!

LeFilou · Post by **LeFilou** » Wed Dec 10, 2003 8:39 pm

hiya again
been a little busy .. but found some time to play around

not much I can say, I tried to set up some sand flying around (I lent some texture and a (modified) emitter from fire hall

) but I don't quite like it right now

also I added more details removed some stuff and tweaked here and there

I neither like such invisible walls so I came up with something different .. just try it

the teleporter is long gone, just like that ChaosArch (I guess you ment that vid screen thingy in the sky zone)
also I finally found some .. 'sense' to be for those light cones

I really liked your idea with the altar in the middle (wonder why this idea didn't happen to hit my brain in time

) and so I gave you a really messy one

some shot

and the download of course

.. just one thing I'd like to add, now that I read the pants post again ..
this is a total phantasy map .. things don't actually need to have whatever sense in them
look this was supposed to be a really friggin high mountain thingy on some egypt stylish planet somewhere out in the nowhere of space ..
who knows what kinda things are possible out there

right now it is more like a piece of ground beeing elevated up really high by some immortal force to make up an arena for them warriors to fight and spill their blood on the sacred ground

there's incredibly strong forces around this arena to keep it all together .. so you better stay away from the edges and all that magical stuff there ..

edit:
oh yeah mm I also have that skyZone-grapple problem

I tried around a while with physics volumes and stuff but the grapple is not beeing destroyed

and I can't fix it the way JenoLT did

maybe I'm doing something wrong, but volumes is the only way it could work for me, cause I can't put zonePortals all around the map ..
anyways, the way the map is set atm nobody will grapple the sky twice so it's not too problematic

Mr. SlackPants · Post by **Mr. SlackPants** » Wed Dec 10, 2003 9:26 pm

Ohh, i was just giving my opinion. Don't worry.

But i like the platform a lot better now, it suits the style better and it's attached in a cool way, so i like it now.

And with the light ray thingy, i saw the lightray, but no source. Like a fixture or in this case maybe a crystal that reflects the light. I haven't tried the latest version yet, so i don't know if something is visible now, but i have to see. The thing is, i jsut hate lights with no source.

Anyway i have to try again, but so far it's a real fun dualing map, so nice job.

jeditobe1 · Post by **jeditobe1** » Wed Dec 10, 2003 9:45 pm

Still havent been able to get around to it but thought of something you could add from the screenshot:

On the altar in the middle.. we have a static thats used in some of our maps of a hooded robe figure. Maybe have them watching over the altar

FurrySound · Post by **FurrySound** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 12:46 am

Good idea Jedi... although maybe one with an Egyptian styled attire.

Defilus · Post by **Defilus** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 3:06 am

oooh how do i get those nifty light beams in MY maps

Post by **Shadowstar** » Thu Dec 11, 2003 8:52 pm

Aren't they staticmeshes? I think the arboreal package has some... Not sure tho. I know I've seen them around in the statics packages tho.

LeFilou · Post by **LeFilou** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 11:26 am

yep they're statics of course
take a look in the Egypt_techmeshes_Epic pack there's also some other versions of rays

I found that statue with the robe, it's in AncientDecree in the myLevel package
.. but it doesn't quite fit I'm afraid

and the 'source' for those light rays is the sun, pants

atm I'm out of ideas for the map .. anybody anything to add?
I'd be happy!

Post by **Shadowstar** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 8:54 pm

Lightrays from the sky are usually produced by clouds and dust. So the best way to implement such things is to have the ray extend all the way beyond the top of the skybox, as high as you can make it. Statics and terrain are visible through fakebackdrops, so it does work. Of course, then the skybox has to look like it could actually have lightrays coming through it.

IMO, it's too tricky to do for a map. I would opt to remove them. Though distant lightrays that are a part of the skybox can work. I use Terragen, Paint Shop Pro 7 and Panorama Factory to create photorealistic sky cylinders for my maps.

LeFilou · Post by **LeFilou** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 9:17 pm

LeFilou wrote: this is a total phantasy map .. things don't actually need to have whatever sense in them
look this was supposed to be a really friggin high mountain thingy on some egypt stylish planet somewhere out in the nowhere of space ..
who knows what kinda things are possible out there
right now it is more like a piece of ground beeing elevated up really high by some immortal force to make up an arena for them warriors to fight and spill their blood on the sacred ground
there's incredibly strong forces around this arena to keep it all together ..

Wich means as much as:
The magical Circle of Power that is standing beneath the impressive Statue of Anubis is, in the center on the top of the ring, breaking the light into it's atoms causing the magical power, that is part of the air on this planet, to enroll it's force and light up them magical flames for those mystical statues to burn and burn allways and ever for the arena to continue to exist until eternity.

LeFilou · Post by **LeFilou** » Fri Dec 12, 2003 9:50 pm

well .. uhm hehe actually they look really cool

which do you think looks better?

Monks A

Monks B