Barring any unforeseen delays, Gridlock should be ready for its first alpha test by Sunday.

I am currently sealing the last of the holes in the map (that's what he said) as well as upgrading old textures/making new ones based off of references from the ODST footage I've seen. Final UVWs are being made, followed by smoothing groups.

The streets have been UVW unwrapped; however, the texture is too low-res for any kind of lines on the roadway to look nice. I will attempt to get them in SOMEHOW (possibly as a custom scenery, or as a plane overlay, similar to the graffiti). It looks absolutely fine on its own, but the lights themselves are simply too small of a detail to make it look nice. One of Domain's massive issues was my LOLHUGE 4096x4096 texture for the pavement which lagged everything. It only made it in because I wanted to place that yellow circle by the Hog spawn, and it was the simplest way to do so. Now I've learned my lesson, and the highest-resolution texture is a 1024x1024 one (the street's UVW unwrap).

For those who complained about Domain's lack of different textures:
Domain = 49 separate textures (not counting graffiti).
Gridlock = 110 separate textures (not counting graffiti), and I'm working on a few more now.

More detail has been placed into the map, as well.
Current triangle count: 17,137. Portals have not been placed yet, but will be implemented soon.

After the map has gotten ingame, I'll begin fussing about making custom scenery, notably phones and stoplights.

Here's my current timeline:

  • 9/17: Finish sealing holes/making tiny details. Place lots of lights so people don't think it is "too dark". Finish texture work. Use playerclip to make sure Inferno doesn't try escaping the map again.
  • 9/18: Fix any errors preventing it from getting ingame. Place graffiti.
  • 9/19: Run radiosity while I'm on my date. Make some scenery/populate once radiosity finishes.
  • 9/20: Private alpha. Find gamebreaking bugs, begin to fix them.
  • 9/21: Make Gridlock Public Beta Modacity thread. Determine best date for Public Beta.
  • 9/22: Bitch to self about missing release deadline, yet at the same time feel accomplished for at least getting the damn thing ingame. Play ODST.