Map making Progress Thread

[Pokerface]

There is a tfc map where the secret room required pressing 5 invisible buttons in sequence and then walking through the illusionary wall that was previously blocked by a door.

I would advise something a tiny bit more straight forward though. Buttons being things that resemble buttons or panals.

I'd advise making a map worth playing first, and worrying about the icing once the cake is ready.

[Ferris Bueller]

make a secret room that looks like the landing pad on hera. then put a car on it. then have the game change your name to "cameron" when you enter the secret room. then find a way for the game to allow the player to kick the car over the edge as their only action. you have just created "Ferris Bueller's Secret Room".

elvis has left the building.
thank you, thank you very much.

[xtcmen]

There is a tfc map where the secret room required pressing 5 invisible buttons in sequence and then walking through the illusionary wall that was previously blocked by a door.

I would advise something a tiny bit more straight forward though. Buttons being things that resemble buttons or panals.

We have "easter eggs" in the map too am I right Irish? ;P

[Irish Pirate]

I'd advise making a map worth playing first, and worrying about the icing once the cake is ready.

Well I'm not too concerned with balance in the ready room. I figure the RR is almost entirely asthetic.

For myself when working on a map I like to switch between functionality and asthetics in my focus for the day.

One day I decided that I functionally I needed something to block line of sight in the hive room and also things on the ceiling so I spend the couple hours I dedicated that day to adding a collection of pipes in that spot and then running them out across the room and ceiling.

On another day I worked on some asthetics. I adjusted one of the pipes to appear to be pumping water in to one of the vats. Then instead of having the pipes just go in to the floor I put in some unbreakable glass and cut out some floor so you can see the pipes extending down. It doesn't add anything to the funcitonality of the map but makes things look nicer.

[Irish Pirate]

We have "easter eggs" in the map too am I right Irish? ;P

If by easter eggs you mean glitches then maybe...
...
but hopefully not.

[Slayer of Hippies]

I'd advise making a map worth playing first, and worrying about the icing once the cake is ready.

He was making a ready room, so I commented on readyrooms in general with the post about easter eggs. If he'd been making a hive I'd have likely commented on hive construction (and then been blasted with rebuke by Kero).

[Yer Mom]

The look:

Dark, damp scary. I want scary. Everyone and their sister will preach over and over again about atmosphere not being plausible in a NS environment, but the ONLY reason it's not is because of the speed of the game. If we could find a way to slow the game down, if only by a notch, then we can add all the environment we want, and keep the same balance by placement of objects and length of hallways, etc. The hallways can be dark and gloomy, but if they're dark and gloomy, LONG hallways, then it works out.

Marines are too damn... sissy today. "Oh, these rooms are too dark. I hate this map, it's too dark, I can't see." Blah blah, BULLS... well you get the point. You're a MARINE, MAN UP.

As far as asthetics go, the map has to be visually pleasing, otherwise people won't like it. Squares are all fun and easy, but no one will like a bunch of cubes to run around in. It makes people feel trapped, almost. Curves, sleekly designed walls, floors and everything else. We want glowing computer screens in some parts of the map, and blue plasma in others. (well maybe not the plasma, but you get the point)

You guys are looking over the fact that this is tgns_factory not ns_factory. We play differently, so we want difference in our maps. Tactical points need to have a heightened importance, hallways need to be harder to move through with tight corners, doorways need to be added instead of just big gaping holes in the wall. (although I don't want too many doorways, but you get the point)

The vent system is going to revolutionized. I'm thinking two levels of venting, and maybe a SMALL sewer system. (all that unpurified water has to go somewhere) There will be a main venting system, or an air flow system on the top side, while there will be a rock like, burrowed out if you will, system on the bottom side.

Think TGNS when you think about this map, NOT NS in general.

-Mom

[Irish Pirate]

The vent system is going to revolutionized. I'm thinking two levels of venting, and maybe a SMALL sewer system. (all that unpurified water has to go somewhere) There will be a main venting system, or an air flow system on the top side, while there will be a rock like, burrowed out if you will, system on the bottom side.

You say sewer system. Do you want something like feedwater in Bast? Since I'm doing water purification I figure any sewer is coming my way. I currently have one vat with an above water tunnel coming out of it. If you want something closer to a sewer I can have something running more underground and more wet. I'm thinking catacombs ending in ladder leading up to the hive and pipes to bring up the water.

Just say the word and I will find the space to fit your needs.

[Donat]

Actual sewers some times arn't filled fully, depends on how often its run and where. So you could have an undergroundish pipe system but that doesn't mean it has to be a pipe full of water.

[Irish Pirate]

Actual sewers some times arn't filled fully, depends on how often its run and where. So you could have an undergroundish pipe system but that doesn't mean it has to be a pipe full of water.

Things like drainage pipes would be a good example of this because nothing needs to pump the water.

The downside is making a hollow pipe for people to walk through is much harder than making something a little more square like catacombs. Especially when it comes time to compile and check for leaks.

[Donat]

You could hollow a cylinder and it makes it easy, and you can vary how many sides, but when you hollow it, it should be perfectly round on the inisde. You could also do some cutting to a hollow box and make one. But i don't think it should be a problem if you align them right, even if you have to use just a tiny patch on it. As for water in it, thats just a box inside the box, do some cliping to it and it will stay, cor water coming out of it a converyer works ofcourse.

[Kerostasis]

You guys are looking over the fact that this is tgns_factory not ns_factory. We play differently, so we want difference in our maps. Tactical points need to have a heightened importance, hallways need to be harder to move through with tight corners, doorways need to be added instead of just big gaping holes in the wall. (although I don't want too many doorways, but you get the point)

-Mom

If you're going to get into doorways and other tight spaces, make sure to stop and think about how Onos will play in this map. You don't want to make a map with too many Onos-stuck points. Think a moment about how Onos plays on maps like Origin, where half of the maps pathways are simply "not there" to a creature of that size.

[Irish Pirate]

You could hollow a cylinder and it makes it easy, and you can vary how many sides, but when you hollow it, it should be perfectly round on the inisde. You could also do some cutting to a hollow box and make one. But i don't think it should be a problem if you align them right, even if you have to use just a tiny patch on it. As for water in it, thats just a box inside the box, do some cliping to it and it will stay, cor water coming out of it a converyer works ofcourse.

The hollow tool is another one of those bad ideas that sounds like it might be good. The problem with tools like that is not that they don't work so much as it's easy to use it on an object that will make it not work well. A cylinder with many sides could easily be one of those things.

I'm not saying it's impossible to make a sewer like that, I'm saying it would involve more time and effort. Either way I will probably only make the part where the sewer connects to my hive so it's up to you guys if you want to do it like that.

If the sewer has conventional access (ladders, stairs, ect) I would expect an area designed for walking though, either as an elevated walkway or in the case of catacombs having the water in a channel in the middle.

[Yer Mom]

Catacombs sound fun, but so does the walkway over water. Irish, I will leave it up to you, if that's what you want. You've shown me, and everyone else, that you know what you're doing, so I trust that it will look good. If you don't want the task, then I will take it. I've had no problems so far with hollowing cylinders, but I haven't done many. Maybe three, with no problems.

I'm posting new screen shots of the first res node outside of marine start.

I'm iffy on it though, someone above spoke about the Oni, and this will be a section they're probably going to want to stay away from. It's not very unfriendly to Oni, but it's marine biased as hell.

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting
Coming Out of the Glass Hallway Posted Before

Second Floor of the Stairwell

Third Floor of the Stairwell

Asthetics

Node Itself


PLEASE NOTE: This is not completely detailed yet. I will make an invisible glass so that you can't jump off of the ramp itself to compensate for the marine bias that this stairwell gives against lifeforms. Plus, if I don't, lerks will have a damn hay-day.

PS - This entire shaft is a hollowed cylinder. I didn't post many screens showing it, but trust me, it is.

-Mom

[Yer Mom]

ROLL CALL

I need a list of everyone working on contributions for this map. Make it detailed, but not too long. I want to know who you are, what you're doing (or what you want to do), and where you think it should go.

ASAP

-Mom