[WIP] Precipice

[Siliconmaster]

Each of the tall rectangular circuits alcoves on the mushroom stalk will have a hologram. Which floating platform are you referring to? The hill small central one?

[Reaper Man]

Needs a big hologram display on the 'floating' platform.

Agreed. A big circular one, like you see in T&R, except forerunner

Also, the rounded edged platform thing (that goes inwards) this:

Looks weird with that plain forerunner texture on it. Put something different there.

[Siliconmaster]

Okay then. : ) Holo ring it is.

But some clarification on which platform would be nice.

Edit: This should make it a little easier:


1= Central, smaller platform. Also serves as the Hill.

2= Middle, "floating(?)" platform

3=Outer ring, connected to the control room wall

K, which one do you think needs the holo ring?

[Reaper Man]

Hmm, y'know, what about a big holographic planet like in the control room? or a Halo ring, hovering above the center? (this would look awesome if you could have it glowing and illuminating the central part of the room)

Otherwise, the inner ring? It'd probably look weird to have a huge outer ring -maybe for the outside, several large panels instead of a huge ring?

I wonder if the upper ring would look good with the control room glass texture?

Also, the lighting for the outside is so dull compared to the inside, maybe make it more interesting by having it at dusk and having long shadows (if you're bothered enough to do mental ray lightmaps?)

I'm really loving the look of this map!

[Siliconmaster]

I love your ideas, Reaper. The map actually is at dusk, but the radiosity hates me. :P The whole canyon should be in shadow, but the sun seems to be ignoring the canyon wall.

I've been contemplating mental ray lightmaps, and I think it will definitely help the look. At the moment however, I have no idea how to do them, so I was waiting until I have the map more finalized before looking into it. Assistance would be appreciated, or at least a link to a full tutorial.

[Reaper Man]

Well, if the map is at dusk, it needs a dusk sky, maybe like the one in No Remorse


As for lightmaps: a quick search found this http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=13546

Iirc, there's an app that helps you do it (extracts scenery etc iirc), I forget what it's called though.

[Siliconmaster]

Aether, as I remember.

And for the record, the Timberland sky bitmaps, of which mine is derived, are labeled "timberland_dusk"

But if you think a different sky would work better, so be it.

[Cortexian]

Make this room fairly dark, and use a hologram planet/ring as mentioned to light it. Also, could you make the "middle" platform raised up instead of lowered down, then have the "central" platform level with "outer ring"? You could (possibly) then fill the gaps between the supports from the "middle" to "central" platforms with a dark tinted unbreakable glass. Then people on the "outer ring" can see who/what's on the central platform without being able to shoot them without going up to the "middle" ring (visa versa for people on the "central ring" looking out to the "outer ring").

Used your previous terminology so you know what I mean.

[Siliconmaster]

Make this room fairly dark, and use a hologram planet/ring as mentioned to light it. Also, could you make the "middle" platform raised up instead of lowered down, then have the "central" platform level with "outer ring"?

The room is already fairly dark, though I could tweak that easily. As for the platform arrangement, I've actually tried rearranging them, and this setup seems to work the best. This way players can get up that ramp (in the lower right of that pic) from the floor, and the rings are situated so a player can jump from one down to the next until they reach the center. Seeing as I'm planning for this to be the KotH hub, I'd prefer that to a single raised "control" platform, even if that looks cooler. Placing the middle platform higher than the other two would make an odd sort of hump to get over, and I can't envision that making movement any easier.

[hry]

Very nice map, too big but it look very well.