justanotherfool
Junior Member
Posts: 195
Registered: 12-07 |
Part 2 pending.
- http://yfrog.com/bcdoom00p
Once more the ceiling here might benefit from some bordering or a different flat, but the more important point is that it seems you can shut yourself in this opening part of the map if you go up the elevator and then fall down before the bars blocking your way back are triggered. Then the elevator won't rise when you walk on it, and if you push one of the nearby switches it'll rise. After that, none of the switches in the room seemed to lower it. Worth at least checking up on.
- http://yfrog.com/69doom01p
I would like to see a border between the elevator's floor and the hallway's floor, and also one on the ceiling perhaps, since there's the same issue there as in every other place you used this texture. I also think I see some misalignments on the walls, and the ceiling looks a bit bare.
- http://yfrog.com/bcdoom02p
http://yfrog.com/j6doom03p
I made a similar point earlier on, but these 'folds' in the wall where that alcove is encased look very odd and I don't think they add anything at all visually. Some misalignments there, too.
- http://yfrog.com/m9doom04p
This oddness becomes even more apparent when you look at the alcoves from this perspective. It looks almost like some sort of visual error. The alcove ceiling here clashes with the walls considerably.
- http://yfrog.com/ngdoom05p
Actually, some borders on the floor might not go amiss here.
- http://yfrog.com/mvdoom06p
http://yfrog.com/izdoom07p
Again there's the timed switches with far too short an interval of effect in my view. The fact that the secret to the soulsphere opens too obscures the other effects of the switch and will probably make the player waste a lot of time trying to somehow get to that soulsphere when the method of reaching it has nothing to do with the switch. Needlessly confusing.
- http://yfrog.com/f1doom08p
This looks fine (the rest of this room is very nice as well, actually) but there are slight misalignments above the alcove, it seems.
- http://yfrog.com/g4doom09p
Looks like more misalignment here. But more importantly, this little view of the outdoors would greatly benefit from some improvement. For starters, the wall at the edge should definitely be higher. As it stands, you can sort of see over it, but there's nothing there! The other thing is that the wall seems a little too regular for that texture. If it's meant to be a cliff face, try adding lots of little cliff platforms to the side of it, and do things to make it look less like a flat wall. Have a look at, say, Speed of Doom Map 01 to get an idea of the kind of thing I'm talking about, but you can probably find a good template in any decent modern level set with rocky outdoor areas.
- http://yfrog.com/mgdoom10p
Must say, I really don't see the point of including another shootable switch here when all it does (as far as I can tell) is open another switch beside you.
- http://yfrog.com/62doom11p
Some bad misalignments here in the outdoor area, and I don't really like this cross texture at all the way it's been used. It just seems to contrast way too sharply with the darker colours around it. I would probably say the wall here (and those in the rest of the area) is too bare.
- http://yfrog.com/mudoom12p
More misalignments. Something about this area bugs me, though it's not easy to pinpoint. Maybe it's just too regular in shape. It looks a little bit too basic with regards to texturing as well. I wouldn't say that the cliffside and the building transition looks too natural, either.
- http://yfrog.com/n8doom13p
At least you've tried to include some half-glimpsed lava pools at the top of the waterfalls as if to suggest that the level does extend farther than we can see, but I still don't think it's been taken far enough. You clearly haven't used enough linedefs, giving the cliff an artificial look. The texture is too repetitive and the lava falls don't do a lot to relieve this. How about some big towers beyond the cliff wall with some weak enemies sniping at you from afar? This would require you to hew out another little area, but you could also make the cliffs look far more natural by splitting them up into different sections, each with its own height, etc. This would make this area look a lot better.
- http://yfrog.com/6bdoom14p
...
You probably see what I mean about not enough linedefs. It looks really jagged.
- http://yfrog.com/2rdoom15p
http://yfrog.com/i3doom16p
I really don't like this stair texture at all, because it doesn't seem very well suited to cover such a huge amount of floor and wall. Using a simpler texture like ASHWALL might actually make it look a bit less repetitive, or you could have your stairs made out of various different materials, marble, wood, as well as natural rock.
There seem to be a fair few misalignments on the side of the stairs.
- http://yfrog.com/5tdoom17p
More misalignments, an oddly rectangular cave mouth, and a weird looking strip of darkness.
- http://yfrog.com/9gdoom18p
Not convinced this is a good choice of texture.
- http://yfrog.com/63doom19p
Although I'm aware this opens out later on (and looks impressive) it is extremely drab when you first pass through.
- http://yfrog.com/6cdoom20p
http://yfrog.com/mqdoom21p
This pillar is gorgeous, but I didn't like the red border around the bottom for some reason. I think the jagged spike shape put me off it. The automap shot makes it look rather messy and asymmetrical. If you made it a narrow border tracing out the shape of the pillar (more like a rectangle) it would look fabulous.
- http://yfrog.com/0tdoom22p
Didn't like the veined lava on these bars, for some reason.
- http://yfrog.com/n1doom23p
More misalignments.
- http://yfrog.com/4rdoom24p
http://yfrog.com/5tdoom25p
The darkness was an interesting idea, but I tend to think you made it too dark. And can't you at least put some form of cave or building roof in here to justify the lack of light? i know that people like to include things like this in the map to point out that hell as we know it might not obey the conventional laws of science, but when the light works more or less as expected in the rest of the map, this just looks out of place. Also, the walls are too uniform in height, once more. One thing I did like was the teleporter to the next area. Very nice.
- http://yfrog.com/mqdoom26p
http://yfrog.com/jtdoom27p
http://yfrog.com/mvdoom28p
This room could do with some attention. It is far too bland (no ceiling variation, extremely simple shapes cut in the walls, etc) and the texture choices are dubious. The brown pillars look badly out of place. There's the same issue with light trails as in the earlier lava river, and you can still the hole in the ceiling from which you arrived once you've been lowered into the room, which looks goofy.
- http://yfrog.com/76doom29p
This tunnel isn't bad, but I think I'd like to see some more sectors to approximate a slope more.
- http://yfrog.com/7edoom30p
This would look really impressive if you could see a bit more of the wall in this view. If you managed to add a bit of cliff face to the side there to make it look as if this staircase came from the side of a giant cliff this would be far more epic. I think the stairs are too large for that particular side texture as well. You could add some wooden panelling or something to the sides a little below the actual stairs.
- http://yfrog.com/13doom31p
I don't like the way the textures on the stairs clash, and the stairs would probably benefit from some additional detailing, like a red carpet in the middle, or some banisters at the side. I feel the shapes of the stairs are a little crude as well. More linedefs maybe?
- http://yfrog.com/3vdoom32p
Please refer to my earlier point about the unsupported railings. A little more care with regard to the curviness of this platform would also not go amiss, and some of those railings get cut off abruptly.
- http://yfrog.com/n3doom33p
I don't like the floating pentagram. Not really because it's floating, but more because it looks a little too bulky for my liking, and I don't think the texture choice is a good one either.
- http://yfrog.com/nbdoom34p
This ceiling doesn't really look like something one would find in a cave. If you were going for a slope effect, I think you need to add more sectors and make the heights between them less drastic.
- http://yfrog.com/0sdoom35p
Big, big misalignments here.
- http://yfrog.com/3rdoom36p
A few misalignments on the pillars, and the skin walls themselves don't cut off quite correctly.
- http://yfrog.com/3tdoom37p
First gameplay point. How is one meant to survive this? I admit I didn't try it, but with the arsenal you have at your disposal and things teleporting in behind you (and a door that won't reopen anyway) with yet more monsters in the front, it looks pretty cheap.
- http://yfrog.com/41doom38p
This room is absolutely lovely, except for this little compartment in the corner here, where we have misalignments, and a roof that suddenly raises in height in a way that is not pleasing to the eye.
- http://yfrog.com/jpdoom39p
More texture misalignments I think. Not easy to tell with the light level as it is :P
- http://yfrog.com/afdoom40p
Can't say I'm a fan of those moving walls. Seems to destroy the impression of being in a cavern of some sort of organic mass. Don't like the lost soul niche either, since it is oddly shaped.
- http://yfrog.com/n1doom41p
http://yfrog.com/14doom42p
http://yfrog.com/3wdoom43p
This passage could do with some prettying up, and I think the teleporting barons/hellknights are a little bit cheap since they appear right next to you. The alcove holding the torch looks odd due to being made up of a completely different texture to that of the rest of this area.
- http://yfrog.com/evdoom44p
Ceiling flat here gets cut off, and I don't see why this little lift needs to be present anyway. It just gets in the way. It doesn't always seem to activate straight away, either, which can lead to some doubt as to what to do next.
- http://yfrog.com/bcdoom45p
The textures above and below the switch are not quite perfectly aligned, and it looks as if some of the alignments on the side of this little opening may be off too.
- http://yfrog.com/5cdoom46p
This secret seemed far too obscure and again it operates for too short a time period.
Whoa, that took me a long time to do. I should have it wrapped up in a few more posts. As always, stuff relating to texture choices and detailing and whatnot rely heavily on my own aesthetic tastes, so feel free to ignore if yours differ, although I think from your last post you might agree with me on some of my points at least. I also hope none of my criticism comes across as too harsh. It is quite late, and I'm tired, so I may have been a little blunter than I should be. If so, I apologise.
Hope to have the next post up within a few days.
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02-27-10 04:52 
