Welcome to our first Monthly Progress Report! This month progress was kind of slow. I only got around to working on one map; although it came pretty far along, I would have liked to get at least one more in there.
Next month may see the return of the dreaded Mall Map, it's still giving me problems with Propper but it is a goal of mine to get that map back to a compilable status.
Anywho, the map I have to show you briefly is the second of three maps for the Combine Bunker.
And with that, on to the screen shots.
This area will be the location of a rather difficult puzzle. Each floor requires certain terminals to be activated or deactivated and in a certain sequence in order for you to continue downward. This is the Combine's last line of defense for this area.
This one I threw in for the interesting geometry on the right side wall. This area will change a lot towards the completion of the map.
And the last screen shot for this update we see twin Dark Matter Reactors.
This is all I have for this month, hopefully I will be able to hammer-out the rest of this map and get the Mall Map back to a runnable status for next months update.
So far going with monthly updates instead of weekly is a bit freeing, I don't have to worry as much about dead lines and just focus on letting the ideas stew then do the mapping when those ideas are ready to be taken off the burner.
Thanks for following CI, as always!
Geowil
Whorray!Nice update,i'm really loving this mod,keep up with the good work!
Good to hear progress is going well if not as quickly as you'd like. Update areas really look top quality ! Time well spent.
Good job man. Your updates are coming along swimmingly. However, like I've said before you have to change up some textured variety as well as geometric layering (as in there is more than just a floor, ceiling, and walls). The levels you have are great, but they could be so much better, and all that means is going into your map and adding some "pop". Not to mention there really is no focal point, which every room should have. Think about how your house is built, its not just a square room and if it is the architect was bad...no offense. If your struggling on understanding what I mean then go into ep1 and look around, draw up some ideas, and come back to your map with the "combine architecture". Sorry to write such a large paragraph, but I would really hate to see this mod be just any ordinary mod, I really like your work and I think you have the potential to make a great mod. As always, good work and good luck.
I understand what you are saying but he's just trying to get the map layed-out. Give him some time.
I agree. Patience man.
Sorry, I was under the impression that anyone could give feedback. We should always critique so the developer can improve. He may of thought this was good as it was, but it still has a lot of work. If you think he should do something to improve it then share, and dont "kiss ***". If you like the mod that's great, and I'm not saying that I dont. But dont be so surprised if people point out flaws, and dont be afraid to point out some yourself.
P.S I am not being inpatient, simply trying to help out.
Yeah, this is just the base work, I have a lot of work to do in the area in the last screen shot and with the map in general; I was just getting the ideas out of my head; let em stew for too long and they can go sour =\
If I were to give it a percentage of completion, I would say it is at around 30% right now.
Thanks for the feedback earlier tho. I don't mind paragraph responses or comments, hell I'd be fine with pages; I'd still read em.
Lookin' good!
WOOOP MONTHLY PROGRESS!
Looking good!, i like the work you did, nice job:)
Horrible mapping, guys you should work a loooot more and then post it here... I don't even get why this mod constanly gets on the front page...
The mapping is actually very good for a WIP and someone learning to map, and if you weren't such a **** you would notice that. The reason it constantly gets on the front page is because he gives monthly/weekly updates to show his progress. This is a place to encourage starters, such as myself, and give them constructive criticism.
Dude, I can see that he's a beginner, but when you start, you should get some experience first, I mean the mapping hasn't improved at all over the time...
And this is a database, not a developer forum, so this is to present actual results...
Btw, WIPs should also have some quality at least...
I defiantly get what your saying, but you should really try to help him out more than just saying the maps look bad. Give some feedback that can actually help him instead of down the quality of work for no apparent reason. That's kind of like dont speak unless you have something good to say. If you dont like it then just dont comment on it, but if you think it can be improved, share.
That's why I commented, that guy needts to work on his mapping in general, it tends to be really blocky, pretty bad texture choice, broing lighting with no sources etc... I think he should do some tutorials first, and put the mod on hold while doing that, instead of pushing this...
I was going to write a lengthy bit, but I exceed the character count by a lot @.@.
So, the short version.
I am not a pro mapper, I don't get paid to do this. Some people look at mapping for mods like is a life and death situation, that maps have to look like Valve made them. I don't aspire to emulate Valve's work, I aspire to tell my story through my mod.
That said, making this mod is nothing more then a hobby to me, albeit one that I am very vested in, but a hobby nonetheless.
I do not have that certain spark when it comes to mapping like say the mapper for Raindrop has. All of my work comes from experience and critique; which is why I was/am relying on it so heavily.
I think I have said this countless times before but the screen shots you are seeing, they are of maps in progress. You see source-less lights because I am not at that stage in my mapping process yet. Lights come last for me. I won't explain my process, that's what killed my char count before, but I will say that I takes me months, maybe even years to finish a map entirely, 100%.
I don't like to rush things and I have the patience to follow this mapping process.
To those of you "holding back" because you don't want to discourage me. You don't have to. If people saying my maps were crap was going to stop me, I would have stopped the second I listened to PodCast17 or Read the review for the demo on PhilipsPlanet.
I am not one to fold under peer pressure or negativity, so lay it on. I might just end up with better maps because of it, although I might end up losing some sleep from it lol.
I like the look
keep up