Morax's Maps

[biass]

i demand sludge version!

[Plasma_Wolf]

Erm, where?

If you intended to add an attachment, it's not there.

Did you upload it in the vault?

Huh? What are you referring to?

This bit: I didn't see a youtube thing or link until I quoted the post just now

For now, here is a very early trial run of the map path-finding:

EDIT: I added the full youtube link the [youtube] tags and then removed parts of it and now I get to see it here on the website.

[Morax]

Oh, that's odd... On my computer the embedded YouTube worked and I could watch the video right in the post...

Thanks, I guess.

[Morax]

Next concept underway for my map "Nexus:"

[Plasma_Wolf]

So we've been playing the Conflict map yesterday and there are some things about the map: the first is the brightness of the sand. It is quite glaring. The rest of the map is ok with this lighting so I think taking darker sand is good enough. Is this the lower stratum or is it stratum1? If it's stratum1 you can erase a little bit of the sand with the manual erasing tool in the editor, otherwise you'll have to go with the darker sand.

I've added a screenshot of Paradise for comparison.

The screenshots have been reduced to 30% because they were over 1MB big.

[Plasma_Wolf]

The second thing is the mountains. Lots of different heights in a map are nice but I think they're too close and too erratic right now.

I've added screenshots of one of my own maps for comparison. One in a section where I clearly went too far and one where I think I did it just right.

The screenshot of Conflict that I added is just of my own position. I think there are other parts where it's a bit worse, like the island on the top right and lower left (The islands seem too high and I think the mountain ridges are too bubbly (Of course it's also bad if it's one single smooth cliff). The two hills I circled interfered heavily with the base building. Your spawn point should have some good room (or at least ok room) to build a base.

[Plasma_Wolf]

Finally the water:

It's great to have water doesn't have a completely flat basis, but I think you're overdoing it because you want to add the height differences. It makes it feel unnatural. If it feels unnatural it's not necessarily bad (Paradise has unnatural height differences under the water but it looks brilliant nonetheless, because it fits well with the islands).

Check where the islands are and then the further away from the island, the lower the ground under the water. Take a big brush and lower that area a lot, then do the rest of the work with the blur too. The big problem with this tool: the area blurred is bigger than the brush indicates so you'll mess with the islands a bit too. I've added a screenshot of Point of Reach as an example. The advantage I had when I made that map is that most of the area is flat to begin with so blurring stuff didn't ruin the ridges. Your ridges on the islands are more intricate so blurring near them can be a problem.

[Plasma_Wolf]

That's all just the details in the design. The map itself with the island and mex placement is really great

Hope my criticism isn't too off-putting.

[TheKoopa]

That's all just the details in the design. The map itself with the island and mex placement is really great

Hope my criticism isn't too off-putting.

Sorry but point of reach doesn't do ocean heightmapping well and looks bad in that regard

Better to look at sentons, it has by far the best ocean heightmapping out of all other maps

[Morax]

Hi plasma,

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated; however, I'm a little disappointed no one is reporting on what matters most: gameplay.

First and foremost the 4v4 team test has a broken hydro for a player in the shared island (top left, southern start), and the mirror start. Something like this should take precedence over aesthetic opinion.... I have found the discussion on map feedback so far to be about visuals mostly : /.

Now, the feedback is good as I am going to throw up v2 asap due to broken hydros. I will adjust the lighting, water, and replace that bright and texture. The mountain ranges could use some care as well, but I have quickly found the game engine really shows its age fast as the resolution of variance has some troublesome results...

As for the "unnatural" terrain, I kept it for a reason: the odd mountain structures along the islands adds for protection... It's a large map with lots of expansion, so guarding it all would prove quite difficult. I made the terrain look unnatural on purpose. Real life and game world don't always agree, while it is possible, I think this is best.