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WIP: City of the Ancients


wedge2211

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Now that I have submitted Mars to some jkii map hosting sites...I have nothing to do...

 

At my site I have posted the first screenshot of my next endeavour, a CTF / FFA / CTY map taking place in a fiarly large, abandoned city. There will be four temples at the corners of the map and one in the center, two of the temples in the opposite corners will contain the red and blue flags. The rest of the level, however, is not designed symmetrically! Players will be roaming wild in the streets!

 

I have planned the whole thing out on paper, and I think the assymetrical aspect will work for CTF. Even if it doesn't, it should make for a great FFA map, there are plenty of places to hide, and plenty of open areas to duel in. I count approximately 50 distinct buildings on my design sketch, of various sizes, players will be able to enter 12 of them.

 

These shots are VERY prelimenary. I am trying to get the main architecture down first before I move on to making some adobe-looking textures instead of this Bespin basic crap. I'm also working on the ocean and making it look like it blends into the skybox. However, the buildings are fairly easy to make, so this should move quickly into the surface detailing phase.

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I have updated my WIP site with a new round of screenshots form the latest test compile of the City. The link is in my sig.

 

For you picky people out there, all I have to say is "bsp FastVIS (1/2)."

 

I've stuck custom textures on almsot everything, I haven't lined them all up correctly, I'll be getting to that when I'm done with finials and my little research paper on Native American tactics in warfare. The lighting is screwy, for some reason q3map2 won't reconize my skybox shader as a light source and sof2map has decided that all my curves can be lit through. Oh, well. I have one other minor issue: I put a flame effect in, but it's too big. (Specifically, look at the pic marked "a torch in a dockside building"--it looks like it's on the 'roids.) Is there a smaller fire effect, or a way to shrink the existing one?

 

Anyways, I'm almost done plotting out all the buildings. I will then build the interiors of the few that you can enter, and then run throughout the level adding details, carts, torches, boats, you name it.

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http://wso.williams.edu/~jshoer/outcast.htm

 

The only physical building I have yet to build is the Blue Temple, which will have a water motif and be partly underground. All remaining architecture is the interiors of the Council Hall and two other houses, then I will go through the level and make it super-detailed.

 

I have a nifty custom texture thing going on, I'm playing around with spotlights and colored glass and stuff. This is going to be great, I can't wait to play it myself!

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Lookin' good, Wedge. RP for Jedi Outcast is pretty simply, but I'll let someone like Pnut (who is a lot more knowledgeable about such things) explain it. ;)

 

I do like the initial layout of the city. There aren't enough city maps (that are actually city sized)... in fact, I think you're the only one. Looking forward to the detailing of the map. Maybe some type of wires or something between buildings could be nice - sort of like electrical wiring but not as ugly. :D

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Hmm, I don't think I'll be doing any RPing myself, but it's fine with me if you want to use this map for it!

 

Aru-wen, sorry, no electrical wires, it's a pre-industrial city (City of the Ancients and all :D). But some ropes between the buildings, hmm, that could make things interesting...

 

Well, all that's left architecturally is digging into the interior of one more building, and then I will go nuts and put doors and windowframes and stuff in. My site will be updated shortly, with pics of the newest building and the interior of the council hall, as soon as I finish this next test compile... (work, computer, work!!)

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wow i must say that you really have an eye for detail. it looks absolutely amazing.

 

maybe we have a mappingposition available for you over at the attack of the clones tc, we could really use the help from a mapper like you. check out the forums, www.aotctc.com, and either mail me or add me to you ICQlist 97046389

 

i hope that you're interested ;)

 

 

-Buck out :duel:

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I have finished all the architecture! I'm starting in on all the necessary detailing, and since I'm addicted to taking screenshots and posting all of them online, you can all check out the newest batch on my personal site. Doesn't it look lived in now?

 

Still playing with the lighting, and I haven't put in many weapons or powerups yet. It'll be out by mid-january at least.

 

Enjoy!

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Unexpectedly, I finished mapping CotA.

 

Architecture- done... Details- done... Lighting- done... Weapons- done... Spawn points- done... CTF items- done...

 

I'm going to tweak the thing a little, bot-route it, compile it, and I expect to have turned in the final product to jkii.net by the middle of next week.

 

Be warned, the thing appears to weigh in at 21 megs. Custom textures and music, yeah...it wouldn't be any fun otherwise :)

 

Due to the vast open area, I've gotten some FPS counts below 20, but it's only in a few discrete spots, and most of the level averages about 50. Indoors, it can get up to 80. Sorry about the craziness there, but I felt it was worth it to be able to jump over buildings and run freely in the streets (makes explosive weapons a LOT of fun, too, you'd be surprised how far you can make yourself fly when you set off 3 trip mines and 3 detpacks simultaneously with a rocket).

 

Good thing, too, I'm starting to get that end-of-level-itis when I'm just itching to get this thing out so I can start on my next idea (but more on that later).

 

I expect lots of rave reviews midweek! :D

 

~Wedge

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I have finished the final version of CotA! YAY ME!

 

It has been submitted to jkii.net and pcgamemods.com, I will post again when I see it online.

 

I was wrong about file size, it cashes in at 12 MB, not 21. :) I didn't realize just how much PakScape compresses .bsp files.

 

In my opinion, the map looks good, and the bot routing seems to work, I don't notice any severe issue that the bot can't fix in a few jumps, etc. Frame rates are also steady with 8 bots, never really getting below 20 on my system, mostly not getting below 30. I was rather impressed, I thought a large number of bots would kill the thing, but I even walked to the spot where I hit 16 FPS in testing, and lo and behold, it was more like 25-30. Wow.

 

While watching a battle on this map, I've noticed things happen that I've never seen before because there hasn't really ever been a large open map done on this scale before. Long-range weapons are incredible: rockets and the disruptor and DEMP2 (especially DEMP2 alt-fire). This map would be sniper heaven if it weren't for the fact that there are a million ways to sneak up on campers! Still, I think I zapped 5 bots in under 2 minutes from the same spot (they were all involved in complicated saber duels really far away from me or had decided that a screaming charge from 50 yards away was the way to go against a sniper on a platform 30 feet high). Still, at any time if I looked up at the sky, I was likely to see blaster bolts or flaming energy balls crossing the city from above, truly impressive, especially when they "accidentally" hit something. Another thing that I've never seen before is a saber duel from about the equivalent of 500 yards away: you can just make out two stick-figures holding glowing rods, swinging them wildly, and every time the sabers connect, a brilliant "flash!" in a bubble visible from far away. It was truly impressive. (Until I decided to be a complete @$$ and blow them both apart with a homing rocket, eh, they're just bots! :D)

 

I'll post again when I see the file online, if you want to look yourself, check jkii.net and pcgamemods.com for a file entitled either "City of the Ancients" or CotA!! Once you have it, I would really appreciate comments!

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Okay. I hate waiting for submitted files to be posted. And I'm having way too much fun with this map myself, it's great. (Anyone ever read Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlien? Think force jump + rocket launcher, it's totally awesome.) So, limited time offer until it goes on the official sites, cause I don't want college IT to kill me for overloading their download servers:

 

First 10 people to email/IM/post here with their email address will get a link to the download. Special sneak preview and all. ;)

 

(PS, Aru, one of those has your name on it:))

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I'm not sure if it was just the version you linked me to or not, Wedge, but the one I downloaded has no levelshot. :/

 

The map looks great, otherwise. :) I love the music, especially. My only real complaint with it is that my FPS drops below 30 (even when i'm by myself) when I look all the way across the city. What did you test it on? I ran it on a 1.53 GHz, 512 MB computer with a 64 MB video card.

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