dm_bulk

This map is eyecandy! Only one "contra": next time use clipbrushes for more suitable movement.

Wow. This is stunning.

Looks beautiful - great architecture, great lighting, great layout, and wonderful attention to detail all around.

The only thing I could find which didn't look perfect was that several of the inner doorframe trims have one texture which doesn't line up exactly, but then only on one side of the door. A minor thing - and I had to be picky to even notice it. I couldn't find anything else wrong at all.

5 stars for you, Sir.

I agree with Playbus.

I'm not a fan of the HL textures for this type of map, but you made them look decent.

Thanks for the comments!
About the clipbrushes, yeah, I didn't noticed that the players could get stucked on the details. Unfortunately I lost the .map file and can't fix this anymore

About thee texture alignment, I finished the map a few minutes from the deadline and didn't had so much time to notice this details =/

Regards,
Fergo

Yea those textures are way overused but this definetly is a very detailed good looking map. I am sick of maps that look like labs and stuff but this one definetly stood out. One other thing, I would have to say put some controls on those elevators. Its kind of inconvenient to sit and wate there for them when your trying to run around and kill eachother.

If you actually read the brief on the map, you'll see that the whole point of the competition (that this map was made for) was to only use the original HL textures.

So comments on the textures being overused, are stupid.

Not overused by him but by everyone in general. I don't care about the competition; I was just saying that if he had used different textures the map would be better in my opinion...thow I know he had to use them///but who says he cant change them for dm use.

Yeah, as Playbus said, the rule of the contest was to use only halflife.wad textures (and one single texture create for the contest). I would probably re-texture it, but as I said earlier, I've lost the rmf/map file =/

Thanks!
Fergo

Yay, I remenber making fun on this with you, this map just make a very cool deathmatch map.

So, You've got some problems in there like Null textures in some places where players can reach with the gauss or the "non killable" trigger_hurt

But, hell, it's a really great usage of the hl.wad textures.

Video Review

Bottom Line

Overall - the map's strongest point is definitely the architecture. I get the feeling that Fergo's more used to making singleplayer maps, due to the nulled faces being accessible with the deathmatch Gauss gun, the loud sounds, which in singleplayer you'd only hear for a short time in passing. Dm_bulk is a very good map, but it could be improved.

Review

A sci-fi theme is one of the easiest ones to accomplish in a Half-Life map, since the original content has loads of suitable textures, models and sprites. I'd normally complain about having seen the same old thing used and well-made in another million maps, though since the contest this map was made for was all about utilizing the original stuff (mainly textures) without any extra custom content - It's fully understandable. So, let me finish my report to the Administrator, check my tie and let's all hop aboard the Vanilla Half-Life tram, before I start asking random bypassers whether they know who ate all the donuts."Now arriving.. dm_bulk"Panels, computers, pipes; from catwalks in the void, to computer and machinery rooms - architecture really makes this map bloom. There's loads of smartly chosen details accompanied with great and creative architecture. No hallway or open area looks the same and no part of any room is left undetailed, where pretty much every flat surface has some gadget, grating or pipe going through it. I really think this was made just right, keeping the details blended with the environment and not going overboard. There were also some moving machinery parts, steam jets and lasers to liven things up, though some areas, like the ones outside the spaceship could've been utilized better. Dynamic scenery, like other ships, asteroids or at least some jet exhaust flames would've worked just right. And even with these pros - there wasn't really anything you'd never seen before. I know, it's hard to achieve that with that many maps released using only original content, though you can always put a bit more effort in it.Texturing, while being limited to only default material, is very nice-looking and accompanies architecture well. Sure, something custom would've worked fine, though most areas, like the hallway with the hanging grating floor, leading to the iris door, or the room right before that hallway looked just right with original textures. I'm sure that alone might've made Bulk one of the winners in the competition it entered. However, apart from one or two weirdly aligned textures, there were some bigger flaws, like using the NULL texture on both normally-visible faces, as well as the ones you see when gaussjumping. Nothing too serious, but it deteriorates the overall great looks and is a bit annoying ingame.Along with texturing being completely original HL, only default ambients were used. Sound choices and placement were logical, although not flawless. Variety is usually a great thing, but since there are almost no bigger areas in the map - giving each room a different ambient sound isn't the best idea. There's too much contrast and different sounds are constantly interferring with each other in most areas, making it pretty annoying after a longer time of play. Either tune the existing sounds, adjust their radius and volume, or go for a base ambient track played throughout the map, removing some of the sounds in smaller areas. Some env_sounds would've livened things up a bit more too.Lighting, on the other hand, was overall pretty much great, with lots of contrast, giving each area even more of a distinct feel. Light source placement was creative enough, with lights put almost everywhere imaginable, and looked good with the sci-fi setting. What I think it lacked is some color variety, maybe some different light styles too. Things are pretty much clean in the gameplay department. The layout is overall close-quarters for some nice crowbar/shotgun fights, though it also has a couple of open areas for the heavier stuff. Weapon placement is great, ammo is plentiful, though there's something I found missing, but didn't realise what untill I ran the map for the 2nd time. There's no healthkits or batteries. At all. It's no real flaw and I guess the four health and three suitchargers in the map are supposed to compensate that, though I still find it strange not including any quick health or suit powerups, often saving you in combat.

Bottom Line

If I would've been the judge in the competition this map was made for, Bulk would have gotten my vote. With great utilization of original content, awesome looks, having only a couple of problems, and good gamplay - dm_bulk is definitely worth being on the maplist of any HLDM server.

Review

DM_bulk is indeed a success if we consider the premise under which it was built.Using only the HL wad, the mapper was able to create a deathmatch level which still looks visually original, and that's not exactly easy. Part of it is thanks to where those textures have been placed (brushwork) and how we get to see them (lighting). While keeping a good performance across the whole map, it's always full of eye candy and keeps a good lighting contrast where needed.The texturing, however, does have occassional flaws, most regarding alignment across curved faces (which stand out due to the quality of the overall texturing) and sometimes it's obvious where the null texture has been applied. In terms of architecture, the brushwork is clean and full of detail. The layout, however, isn't as impressive. While it does work (and offers a lot of potential for close-range combat), we still feel that the map is composed of little to medium sized areas connected by hallways. They look great because as we said, every room has been carefully treated with the right amount of detail. But we could miss some bigger reference area or more overlapping of rooms. It would've required less detail in those places to reduce r_speeds (which wouldn't help the map in its "texturing" contest), but we would've ended up with better gameplay. If a map is stripped of it's fine detail and brushwork and left with a very basic layout, it should still be interesting. Ambience is great throughout the whole map, with your typical HL machinery ambience, computer sounds etc. It would be perfect if some env_sounds had been added to change the echo in some of the rooms.Gameplay is fun for close-range combat as we mentioned, and there's even some room to use the RPG if you're careful. Some decisions of clipping potentially strategic places when it would be obvious a player would reach them is a negative point. Talking about the layout again, the multi-height encounters are too few, and we end up fighting each other almost always at the same level. That makes the use of snarks and grenades a bit less effective.

Bottom Line

A nicely crafted map, which looks fresh considering it only uses standard HL textures. The detail and ambience are spot on. The nature of the layout gives us a map with a correct gameflow and overall nice combat, yet the potential for deathmatch battles in all three dimensions hasn't been considered enough to make the map stand out in that sense.

Well-Deserved MotM winner. Great stuff. :>

OMG! Thanks a lot to all of your for voting. I didn't expected to win something like this. I loved the reviews and the video.
Thanks a lot!

Happy holidays!
Fergo

I find some texture and architecture errors. 4.5 stars > 5

Wow, this is really cool, and refreshingly different from most HL maps you come accross these days.

+packed with detail items and background detail the player can never reach, but still very-much appreciate (like the catwalks above the security desk)
+nice varied layout with little nooks to hide and nice pass-throughs with those vents
+Beautiful/varied lighting--almost looks dynamic in places: Bravo!
+Nice and cleanly mapped: I saw no errors
+Nice texturing though still looks very black-mesaISH = )
+Nice doodads like the machines, lasers, and the nice iris door.

-I didn't like the 1 or two lifts, that tend to crush you when you try to activate them.

Superb work and a well-deserving motm winnar!
5 stars

Hmmm... I got an error:
CModelLoader::Map_IsValid: 'dm_bulk' is not a valid BSP file
map load failed: dm_bulk not found or invalid