Cerberus Complex

[Th0r]

New map in the works, got bored with my dm wad for now so i have been working on this one today. Its a dark tech map set in something-or-other, use your imagination.
I plan on making this map kinda big, since it is only going to be one map. I have done some work tonight and would like to show you my progress.







This map will be zdoom compat

[Ultraviolet]

Third shot could perhaps use some "crossbeams" or something. All very good shots, though. Keep those themes and variations up and you'll have a nice looking piece.

Out of curiosity, what is YOUR opinion of this work?

[shotgunmasacre2]

Looks good, like the light differences, use of slopes and theme and texture use. Like Ultraviolet said the thrid shot could use some crossbeams. Other then that it looks pretty good, keep it up.

[scwiba]

Not looking bad so far, but your STARGR alignment makes me cringe.

[Th0r]

Ultraviolet said:

Out of curiosity, what is YOUR opinion of this work?

I think that its a step forward in my abilities.
And thanks for the suggestion.

[Craigs]

I'll be brutal with this comment on your wad and show you NO mercy.


That first screenshot really and I mean REALLY blew me away. I found that really impressive. The second screenshot was probably the worse. Mainly because I could faintly tell there was a decent amount of detail put into, but the room was so dark you couldn't see any of the effort put into it. The 3rd and final shot seemed more like a mildly detailed hallway.

[Th0r]

Craigs said:

I'll be brutal with this comment on your wad and show you NO mercy.


That first screenshot really and I mean REALLY blew me away. I found that really impressive. The second screenshot was probably the worse. Mainly because I could faintly tell there was a decent amount of detail put into, but the room was so dark you couldn't see any of the effort put into it. The 3rd and final shot seemed more like a mildly detailed hallway.

Awesome, the second shot has been brightened, and im adding "cross beams" on the third, and including more detail to it.

[Sporku]

Couple things I'd work on:

• Too much contrast between light and dark (shown in screenshot 1 and 2). Variation in light levels is good, but not when the differences are that extreme.
  
• The floor lights in the corner of the map look a little odd, mainly because the light is also cast on the ceiling, which makes no sense. I'd recommend using Transfer_CeilingLight so that the ceiling of those sectors have an even light level.
  
• Your texturing skills could still use some improvement, but at least you're getting better.
  

[esselfortium]

A very nice improvement from your older works. You are learning. Some of the texturing is a bit eh, but it's okay.

I'd have to agree about the lighting contrast. For most areas, I'd recommend 112 or 128 for particularly dark areas, 144 or 160 for normal areas, and 192 for most lights. Play around with those and see what looks good to you. :P

Mike

[shotgunmasacre2]

Maybe you can have a phased light in that third shot, that may give a better effect to the central area.

[LexiMax]

First of all

gamma 1.0

This allows you make sure your maps aren't too light or too dark.

Second of all, and this is simply my observation from looking at your maps, but your architecture seems very 'busy', I can almost TELL where your sectors are.

People say that your texturing needs work. I disagree. By using simpler base structures in the first place, you automatically make your texturing job easier and less busy. This is personally why I find it difficult to detail a blank map, because it ends up looking like a bunch of really-detailed corridors with no real sense of place.

You can start by not having a unique floor and ceiling height and texture for every single sector. That's what I mean by your architecture being 'busy'. I'll see if I can come up with an example soon....

[Th0r]

Thanks for the tips everyone, Alex, I'm not sure if the texture comment was a tip, or a complement, can you please elaborate? And thanks alot for the gamma thing.

[myk]

The two light column thingies in the first screen shot are ugly. The other decorations you added didn't help much either.

AlexMax said:
This allows you make sure your maps aren't too light or too dark.

Maybe, but monitors vary greatly in brightness. I used to use one where I'd set gamma to 3 (or like 1.6 in ZDoom engines), and on this one gamma 0 (1.0 in ZDoom engines) looks brighter than that did.

A good benchmark for generic brightness is the IWAD levels, especially the better maps.

AlexMax is right about the excessive symmetry displayed between the floor and ceiling. Generally it's safer to have more height variation above than below, as it won't cause movement thwarting clutter.

[LexiMax]

Th0r said:

Thanks for the tips everyone, Alex, I'm not sure if the texture comment was a tip, or a complement, can you please elaborate? And thanks alot for the gamma thing.

It's not about textures. Make your base architecture less complicated, and the texturing will become easier by the virtue that your architecture is simpler.

I've seen this over many peoples maps, far 'better' mappers have done the exact same thing as you, and it just bugs the hell out of me personally. I'll make a little tutorial here in the doomworld forums perhaps in a few days, when I'm less swamped.

[Th0r]

Ok, that sounds cool.


Btw new screenshot.

[Homer]

Keep the flat20 texture on the grid if you can. Doesn't look very nice atm. The room is more open than the other ones though, so that's a good thing.

[kristus]

replace the floor1_1 with flat14 and just keep a 64x64 square of that floor1_1 in the middle of the room. Tiled logos have never been a good thing.

[Th0r]

Well, this map isn't going to be quite as big as i had planned, some other projects have come to my attention(not really) So far it takes around 5:00 Mins to complete and a few more rooms are going to be added. I expect this wad to be done by saturday.

[Mivalekan]

Needs more sectors.

[sausage]

looking good.
maybe this will be good for speedrunning.

- sausage -

[Th0r]

Well its done, just waiting on permissions to use a certain sky, should be uploaded to newstuff asap.

[Th0r]

Sorry for bump, but i'm bored and i'm not working on anything else, so i'm going to extend this map, its rather small right now and i think it could be much much better.