July 2010
7 posts
Spark Layout
Thought I’d take a quick snap of the top down of the level so you can see some of the pathing. Obviously the left side is much harder to decipher because of the geo, and eventually the whole map will look that way, but at 50% done, it’s cool to take a look and see what I still need to do. Also, yeah the rough corridors are long and straight and they’ll never end up that...
Waste Disposal / Alien Start / 50%
Big day for me today. Finished v1 of the Waste Disposal tech point, which is where the aliens spawn. This is a really interesting room because its very large yet broken up so the combat is generally intense even though it has a sweeping background and a really defining backdrop with the waste transports ready to drop them down into the lava flows.
This tech point is very unique and has many...
Quick revisions / +3
ADDED 3 MORE REVISION PICS 7/19/2010
I wanted to take some time to snag a few screens of some revisions I did over the last 2 weeks. Mainly the marine start, but I also went back and added some detail to areas I felt were lacking to keep the overall detail level at a constant. I’ve been working on some big stuff with the alien start these last few days, and I hope to have it to show by...
Connections
Finished all of the connective hallways between the alien start and the Dig Site Extraction today, so I’ve got a few more screens for you guys to see. The next big project is finishing the AS. (Waste Disposal) Since it’s a tech point it’s going to take some time for me to design and build. Hallways and passageways are quite easy, but when you have so much more space to work...
The arm
Progress absolutely few this time. This next area is called “The Arm”, and it’s the connecting passageway between Dig Site Entrance (previous entry) and the alien start, Waste Disposal. (which is next, yeahhh) The area is a U joint suspended over a huge chasm that provides some pretty cool skulk/lerk options. It’s a junction for 2 major secondary routes, one leading into...
Dig Site Entrance
FINALLY! I am incredibly proud of this area, and it’s taken me a good chunk of time and a lot of moments of inspiration to get moving and figure out how to tackle such a complex room. I REALLY hope you guys like it, there’s a lot going on so I want to take a bit of time to explain more about this area and then…get to the barrage of 30 PICTURES. Yeah, 30. I know, some of them...
Still Alive / Remakes
Hey guys, been awhile, real life’s been in the way the last few months but some inspiration and time happened to creep up on me. I’m 95% done with an entirely new area called Dig Site Extraction. A new tech point that’s a neutral point equal distance from the MS and AS. All I have to do to get it shot worthy is to finish the lighting, so I expect to have a load of brand new...
April 2010
8 posts
NS_IRIDIUM
You know I’ve been tooling around with a name for awhile and I think my gut has always been right on this one. Pretty much from the very start with the naming of the marine start Iridium Extraction. Eventually I will whip up a backstory and a theme relating to the purpose of the name as well as the maps purpose and location. Looking forward to playing ns_iridium with everyone this fall on...
Secondary Route Room off of the Dig Site
Pretty close to pulling all entrances into the Dig Site together right now. Once I’ve accomplished that I’m heading full force into finishing it up. It’s definitely going to be a challenge. It’s been awhile since I’ve attempted a tech node room, and this one is full of scale. All and all though, I’m really happy with how the map is coming along. Check it.
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T-Junction
Here’s a quick screen of a T-Junction hallway comprised of multiple secondary routes traveling between Dig Site and Generator Core.
Orange
Found a bit of time to knock out some more of the map. This is the connecting hallway that leads into the Dig Site tech point which is next up on the list of getting finished. I went for a foreboding dark vibe in this room. It’s got a moderately tall ceiling for lerking and spotted lights for ambushes.
Finally starting to feel like a map
Big milestone. Now that I have connecting rooms, the map really is starting to feel like it’s coming together. This area is a natural res node off of the marine star which branches into multiple paths to 2 different tech points. The center Generator Core and the farthest tech point from both teams, the Dig Site. I’m going to be doing the connecting passage to dig site next, which...
Engine Test, hell yeah!
Alright so first and foremost the engine test told me one thing. My MS is friggin’ MASSIVE. It really needed to be toned down. After looking at the two example levels shipped with the engine test, i set out with an idea on how to downsize and generally improve my current map.
I’ve made some pretty drastic changes in terms of architecture and lighting. The node area wall has been...
U-Hall/2nd Route Finished
Alright, this directly ties into my last post as this is a combination main route/secondary route in somewhat of a U shaped joining. Here is the completed hallway with pictoral run through in hopes that you understand the flow. Comments appreciated! Next up is the Node room off this junction. Who knows when I’ll get that done, but I am excited to check the map out in the Engine Test...
Progress, wtf?
Yeah it’s been a billion years. Real life, and patiently waiting for the Engine test to mess with all this in the reals. I present to you, a hallway! This is a secondary route that offshoots and connects to a primary route that is weldable through and through. In some of the screens you can see the connectivity to the marine start. Refer to other pictures for perspective. Hope you...
February 2010
10 posts
Rough complete map sketch
After sketching out the Waste Disposal area on a smaller scale, I decided I needed to get a total map vision. This is completely rough at this point and will no doubt go through tons of alterations. It doesn’t include vents, but does include plans for secondary routes that are weldable and the like. I hope this gives a better idea of the overall look. Eventually this will be refined,...
Waste disposal layout
I sketched and colored this guy up with 3rd grader precision. I wanted to share this so people have an understanding of how I envision my work and how I build off of my own sketching and layout mapping. This is the current idea for the room, the legend on the bottom should explain everything, but because the left corner is a little cut off, the colors go from lowest to highest in terms of...
Where to start?
Moving onto the next area, Waste Disposal, I was having a difficult time figuring out where to start building from. Ultimately I settled on the node point itself and plan on working my way out from there. Creating unique locations using the tools at hand I’m finding to be truly a game of geometry. I love the props, but there’s not an incredible amount of diversity. Especially in...
The next step
Having completed the marine start (Iridium Extraction), I’ve been deciding on where to start creating the next area of the map. I figure there’s a few different ways I could go about building the level:
1. Build each main tech room one by one on seperate maps, and then C/P them in. 2. Build out from the marine start and construct additional rooms and hallways leading to the next...
Creating the environment
Before I even started creating the map I did quite a bit of brainstorming in both terms of layout as well as style. I work far better when I have a plan of action and I wanted to give everyone an insight onto the makeup of the map that’s started to form already with one area being completed sans polishing that will occur over time.
Using the mapping guidelines, the general look is the...
Iridium Extraction v1.0
FINALLY! It’s taken me a little over 2 weeks to get this bad boy complete to v1.0 and I’m incredibly happy with it. Once again, this is the marine start. As you can see from previous screenshots, the largest change is the full on lighting scheme. I opted to go with a single color illumination with red and lava accents. I really need feedback on this, as it’s a drastic change...
Marine start minor edit
After looking at the overall map and look, I felt like I needed to do some small reducing to the pipeworks in this area and came up with the following solution. I’m relatively happy with it. For comparison purposes, there no longer is a giant pipe that occupies this area. It also opens up the landing a tad larger for more manueverability. (Also, lol, yes, the texture is stretched on the...
Lava test
Part of the marine start includes the use of particle lava. However, the editor currently does not support it. So radiant lighting and any other option that may or may not be present doesn’t exist. But…for feel, I needed to construct it as if it did. This is primarily a lighting test to emulate the light lava would give off. There have also been changes in design to the map. ...
The very first
The following are the first shots I released to the public via the NS2 forums. This is the start of my map, the marine start. (Iridium Extraction) Fresh and rough.
Construction of the marine area and this map in general pretty much stemmed from nothing. I actually started by creating the door frame and worked my way left to create the res node area. Then trailed farther into creating the...
What's the deal?
This blog is entirely dedicated to one purpose. Natural Selection 2, an indie-developed PC game (www.naturalselection2.com / www.unknownworlds.com/ns2) spawned from an original Half-Life modification; and my journey creating a map to be included in the commercial release. The ideas are set. The layout is in my head, and now it’s all about making it a reality. The next posts are a time...