TWHL Pockets Created 7 years ago2017-07-25 13:03:08 UTC by monster_urby

@Urby

Set the "Render FX" to "Constant Glow" to stop the sprites from resizing.

Still no where near completion but I finally have some very early screens.

Good to see people making progress. I am also nowhere near done, and most of my map is just blocky dev textures at the moment. Might have something to show tonight.

@Windawz: Constant Glow worked like a charm. Thanks.

Didn't even notice you weren't in the list SSB. You have been added

@SSB

Well, first of all make a fake shadow of your rotor with thin brushes textured with BLACK. Then make it a separate non-solid func_rotating with "Render Mode" set to "Texture" and "FX Amount" set to a number you want.

You can download Stalkfire from the Map Vault, there's a fan/rotor on the map that casts a fake shadow. As far as I know it has a .rmf file included, so you can open it and see how it's done.

@SSB

Raise the fake shadow a bit and texture the side faces with NULL. This should look fine.

I won't deny it, I haven't done anything of note yet. I... probably will?

I need to throw myself into the role, and soon.

How is everyone getting on? I've not been able to invest much time in this yet, so the deadline is very likely to get extended to include my week off in September.

I've seen a few screenshots, but only from a couple of the people who signed up? Any progress reports from anyone else?

I've made very little progress since the screenshots I've uploaded (and those were with a level so incomplete I had surrounded it in a big lazy skybox just to test a few things). That being said, I tend to get mapping inspiration in spurts so I could suddenly bang out a bunch of stuff in a few hours. I am definitely behind on where I've wanted to be at this point though.

I have just finished editing two sound files for use in the level though. I've also already finished creating the custom textures I needed for the map (most of the textures are stock HL textures).

I cobbled 2 other maps together... deja vu....

Is this mod gonna be ld or hd? It was really jarring seeing phillip playing the tower in HD, then see ld models and it looked weird. Knowing this would also help me decide what custom models to use

Tried Jackhammer after all the positive comments here and gave it up after 2-3 days, the texture skewing/lock tool was nice though. Went back to Wallworm, so most of my map is going to be models.
Otherwise, not much going on my side since my 6 y/o IPS monitor decided to stop booting up. Been looking through it in the hope i'd find the culprit, capacitors and everything seem all ok.
Bought 2 iiyama amva panels from Amazon before i do anything else; been waiting 2 weeks on them now. Supposedly they arrive this thursday, but that's what they said last week as well...

Opening the exit airlock is the easy part...

Is this mod gonna be ld or hd

I'm going LD, but it's essentially up to the mapper for custom models and then ultimately the player for everything else.

Doesn't really affect on me since I can't model. Ha!

Had to make some volume adjustments on my sounds (volume # in ambient generic barely seems to have an effect on a sound, so only helps if the sound in question is already close to where you want it). Hopefully they are better now (background sound much quieter and less overpowering and one little voice bit is now a bit easier to hear).

I've started getting some more brush work and texturing done but it's still rather slow going.

That being said, the final "confines" of the playable area are almost done. There's just a bunch more things to do within those confines!

I need to clarify something:The upper level goes beyond the limit, but it's not accessible in any way, even though it looks like it is. Is it alright?

The map itself can be as big as you like. If the player can't get up there, you get a pass.

Got some more stuff done today. Plus I hashed out some more ideas on how I want to set certain things up within the map that I was stuck on before.

I definitely took advantage of the allowance to walk on the topmost brush of the "cube".Once I finish the rest of the major geometry I need to rapidly learn some Half-Life entities that I could never use in Counter-Strike.

Yep havnt yet started (cos all my free time is spent doing a musical and other stuff recently) but will make some time on it over next few days and see what I can come up with...

I'm pushing the initial deadline back. Good news for any of you who have not yet started or even if you're just struggling... such as me. I'm cheating, ok?

Updated the initial post.

Only now I realised there's no way for the player to get to the final floor. Dammit.

random ladder of course

or random rope

Teleport, duh.

Made some good progress.

OMG look at these maps... Looking so pro!

I might try my hand at this. Don't get your hopes up though.

Some screens from after my most recent compile. I think this'll be the last of the screens I show for now, then people can see it when the whole mod gets tested.

@SSB It's not completed though.

@MistaX88

Why the whole map is red?

better question is, why isn't the whole map purple?

Oh, SSB is 12. That explains it.

One of the few times I wish I could 'thumbs up' a post on TWHL...

Wish not to threadshit, but it's incredibly out of touch and offensive to make that sort of association, SSB. It's not 2004 anymore.

@SSB

"@2muchvideogames Hihi why not the whole map pink? ( like you're gay )"
Associating a colour with someone's sexuality which was stereotypically used as an anti-masculine insult / derogatory comment isn't really that OK. Does adding "Like you're gay" add anything constructive- let alone anything in general - to that sentence?

You just don't know about deafness and colours, Instant Mix. Deafness allows a person to perceive and identify what's known scientifically as 'The Gay Colour Spectrum' (or the GCS)¹.

Educate yourself, Oli.

¹Citation Needed

Somewhat related, on the topic of color psychology and color theory in general (for those that haven't researched it before - i'm sure many of you here know this stuff inside out), you can learn so much from short videos all over the web nowadays, like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj1FK8n7WgY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wnGUxVaifs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXgFcNUWqX0
They're film related, but applies to pretty much everything having to do with level design.
I remember looking up stuff like this when i simply had enough of obnoxiously distorted color palettes in recent sci-fi movies, where everything had a beyond ridiculous blueish tint.

kids call each other gay all the time, I know i did it in high school alot. Dont have to get offended by that, they're kids, not flame-war seeking conservatives

Maybe we should stop discussing this in a mapping thread?

Urby once asked how the stuff is going, it's all right, I made a cube, and even managed to compile it!... I hope the deadline won't be as deadly as it sounds.
Edit: Just saw that it's not September 1st anymore, plenty of time then I suppose.

SSB's comments may come across as a bit headlong but I think largely his intentions in his comments are a bit miss-understood and people interpret them incorrectly from what he means, considering his skill of English.
Lets just try to listen and learn from each other.

@Windawz

Basically, the premise of the map is that the TWHL portaling has inadvertently set off a chain reaction causing this particular universe to decay and collapse into nothing. All the red textured stuff is "decaying" parts of the universe and you are on the edge next to the void. The red material gives off red light.

The blue bits are basically decaying material that's about to collapse into nothing. They no longer give off light and are partially transparent. Most of the blue pieces you see are func_breakable to simulate them "collapsing" into nothing.

I guess my map isn't gonna make it to the final mod.

Huh? Why not?

How is everyone's map coming along? I'm really close to finishing mine at this point. The only thing I have left to do now other than alter one of my textures a bit is to add in all the monster entities and get them to do what I want them to do; which is new to me since I've only ever mapped for CS prior to this.

If everything goes well, by the weekend I'll have added a second brush.

How is everyone's map coming along?

I seem to have used around 40% of the alloted space so far. But I'm stuck.
I had just finished a pretty good idea but no idea what I should do after that. You mind if I borrow your 'red-light' or 'blue breakable' concepts in my map? Though I'd prolly have to play your map to have an idea what the concept is.

I don't know if I should replace it with a spiral staircase... I wasted so much time making this texture.

You mind if I borrow your 'red-light' or 'blue breakable' concepts in my map? Though I'd prolly have to play your map to have an idea what the concept is.

Basically the world is supposed to look like it's "falling apart" with pieces of the world that have started to decay turning into that red glowing texture. The red glowing texture is still very solid and safe to walk on. The blue textured things are supposed to be much closer to falling apart and are partially transparent. They don't give off light. They are all func_breakable but are set for different things. Some things can just be destroyed by the player (in my map, this includes two doors that have "decayed" into the blue stuff so you have to smash through them with a crowbar) but other things are either triggered by player actions/button presses or triggered on a timed basis just for a nice effect of the world "falling apart" in real time.

On a personal level I wouldn't care if you used that idea on your map as well. On the other hand I'm torn about it though because I think the cool thing about this kind of project is the uniqueness each mapper brings to the table.

@Windawz

Is that supposed to be a little elevator? I think what affects that decision should be whether or not it fits in with the theme/aesthetic of the level. My impression from all your screenshots so far are "stone ruins" so maybe if that is an elevator it would fit in more (and look cooler) with a stone "counter-weight" that moves in the opposite direction of the elevator next to the elevator.