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SharkLordSatan

Good Architecture

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So at the moment I'm currently working on my first level for my first official WAD.
I want to see some cool examples of furniture like tables or computers from you guys, that way I can get inspiration and maybe implement them into the level!

And in case you're wondering: the level is more an introduction than a actual mission, so there's no action, just a little bit of exploring the enviroment. Hence, I want to make it cool and detailed. It'll contain a messhall and a bridge of a spaceship (the Infinity from Halo 4 to be percise).

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Well, tables would just be blocks (no sector on sector) and computers would be a sector with a front using a texture including monitors and metallic sides.

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I think its much better to make rooms in your maps without chairs and tables in them, even if you feel like the room needs them. Sector furniture will always directly interact with the player. It will block the player, the player can walk over it, and that can be tricky (and unnecessarily annoying) for the player during gameplay. You should design your levels as if the people packed everything up in boxes and moved out, and instead let the player fill in that void with their imagination.

When your making a map, you want to use sectors for the structure of the building, so design rooms with stairs and windows and beams and supports and borders rather than little cosmetic props.

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Furniture doesn't really work with sector geometry. It's all just too coarse. All those bathrooms people tried to build with sectors over the decades are more nightmare-inducing than a 3rd world country train station toilet.

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boris said:

than a 3rd world country train station toilet.


More respect to Brazilian toilets next time! :P

BTW, in my vision good architecture is both detail that doesn't block the player or mess the gameplay substantially, that is connected to most of other detail (e.g. a pillar that comes from a slope and goes to the trims of a ceiling lamp), and that makes the ambient different from something empty or bland, and still interesting, while keeping the original Doom2 feel of glory and classic.

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Gustavo6046 said:

More respect to Brazilian toilets next time! :P

How 'bout you'll respect our opinions first?
Speaking of opinions, you suck at mapping and spriting.

About thread: it depends on what map format you'll use. And yea, Going Down is a good example. Also strongly recommending Shadowman's works. Like Mogor's Winter.

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CWolf said:

How 'bout you'll respect our opinions first?
Speaking of opinions, you suck at mapping and spriting.

Repeating; what did he do to you that you insult him? Yes, he's pretty bad at both, but why the insults? He was clearly joking (I don't thing you saw the :P in his post)...

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I suggest you look at the Brutal Doom: Hell on Earth starter pack, it's got some nice architecture. Just don't steal things from the WAD completely or you'll be banned from playing Brutal Doom forever.

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Frisky said:

I suggest you look at the Brutal Doom: Hell on Earth starter pack, it's got some nice architecture. Just don't steal things from the WAD completely or you'll be banned from playing Brutal Doom forever.


Yeah, I've seen them and frankly that's where I get the design ideas for stuff like toilets.

I'd like to include stoves in my map for a messhall kitchen, the problem is I don't have the right textures and I don't know how to get them into GZDoom Builder. :C

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If you want great examples of really good architecture with great design, detail, combined with great computer consoles and furniture without sacrificing gameplay you should check out Dutch Devils Total Control and Riot Control. They are levels mapped to perfection.

You should also check out the demo for Wolfendoom: Blade of Agony. That one has good techie moments here and there.

As mentioned above Going Down has some great moments and you should really try it out.

BTW, using furniture in a room as decoration is perfectly OK. I would limit the amount of enemies in it and arrange them so that you are not bumping into them all the time.

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Frisky said:

I suggest you look at the Brutal Doom: Hell on Earth starter pack, it's got some nice architecture. Just don't steal things from the WAD completely or you'll be banned from playing Brutal Doom forever.

Meh, oh well. he can just use the far superior PB instead.

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I think there's a fine line between making the architecture look nice and it looking like a greebled mess.

It's difficult, but I really think it comes secondary to floor/room layout. Focus on the layout first based on how you want the player to move through the space, and then focus on what exact functions those rooms could serve.

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Good architecture is unique architecture - I.E. designs which look so new and interesting that people want to steal them - rather than trimmings and copy-lasted light fixtures in each room. There are a surprising number of these in Brit10/11, often used in conjunction with hanging corpses/blood puddles. The Gothic series are also an amazing example, although they use a lot of custom textures.

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kuchitsu: This looks so cool that it deserves to be ripped off for my map.

I dont have the opinion that furniture doesnt work. It does work when used properly, and when its not too much. But
1) The layout must be interesting, dont just connect rectangular rooms with doors. The less doors, the better. The more interconnected and non-linear, the better look.
2) Texture theme must be unique. People will hardly be amazed with another generic techbase and that boring plutonia skull doors. Try combination nobody has done - to give your map a distinctive look. If you can, also rip off textures from other games/wads/texture packs. You see a nice texture in wad - quit playing, steal it and use it.
3) Remember this doesnt have to be functional and realistic. It has to be fun and interesting. Be as surreal as possible.

I will drop one ceiling idea from my unreleased map (should be a winter map):
<img>

</img>

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CWolf said:

Speaking of opinions, you suck at mapping and spriting.

Sweet! Found the, "Arbiter of Good Maps™"

You say shit like this so often it really doesn't even mean anything.

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NinjaLiquidator said:

If you can, also rip off textures from other games/wads/texture packs. You see a nice texture in wad - quit playing, steal it and use it.


Well for starters you should borrow textures from other peoples work, not steal them. If you can find them in a texture pack, which has been compiled so that everyone could use them without permission, then by all means go ahead and use them in your project.

But, if you find them in another authors map pack but you have never seen them before and if you would really like to use them in a future project please get permission from the authors first. They might even send you those resources as a separate package just to get you started. They might even include textures that were not utilized in their maps. And don't forget to credit the author for those resources.

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Halfblind: I dont think there is much difference between steal and borrow since everybody there just make maps for people's fun and get no money for it, just fun, satisfaction and all these non-material shit :D definitely if you rip off something, credit the author. It just seemed too obvious for me to mention it.

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kuchitsu said:

Sometimes you can just take one flat and give it a lot of depth via tiny sectors.

http://i.imgur.com/Nz9Gvsy.png


I like this. Probably a lot more than I should...


NinjaLiquidator said:

It just seemed too obvious for me to mention it.


And it made you come across as a thieving piece of shit because you didn't.

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