MarbleFountain

Half-Life HL
MarbleFountain by Nefarious
Posted 15 years ago2009-01-14 06:32:24 UTC • Unfinished • Half-Life
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Name
MarbleFountain
By
Nefarious Nefarious
Type
Map
Engine
Goldsource
Game
Half-Life
Category
Unfinished
Included
BSP, RMF/VMF
Created
15 years ago2009-01-14 06:32:24 UTC
Updated
15 years ago2009-01-14 06:32:24 UTC
Views
4500
Downloads
936
Comments
2
Download (4.19mb)

Half-Life 1: Map a Room Cooperative Project
Forum Link:
https://twhl.info/thread/view/15995

Map: marblefountain.bsp
Creator: Nefarious aka NefariousParable aka People Dust (8 years of aliases.)
Included Files: maps, models, rmf, sound, sprites and wad files

I haven't mapped anything for a while now but recently came across the co-op project in the forums, which was too tempting to pass up (also filled the purgatory between college semesters). I decided to start with a concept that I always found interesting: those water fountains in malls and amusement parks that seem to shoot perfectly laminar stream of water in short bursts through the air, giving the effect of the water leaping from place to place. I used a series of looping multimanagers and func_wall_toggle to create the effect. From there I built around the fountain using various marble and granite themes, to which I hope look decent, and a garden theme.

Several custom wad files are included, including some from slackiller (I modified his animated water texture due to a small error). I have also pulled textures provided by BerneyBoy's photorealistic texture pack (Most are quite nice and already tile well, like the wood flooring, however most are 512x512 and should be edited accordingly.)
http://berneyboy.planetquake.gamespy.com/textures.htm

I couldn't find any great tree models and was feeling way too lazy to actually make any myself, so I stripped one from Counter-Strike that fit well. I also used hl_tree.mdl and hl_bush.mdl from hlife_hotdog's room map (Not sure if it is his but I guess I should have gotten permission to use them anyway. If you want them removed I will act accordingly.)

I have also sampled several sound files from various TFC maps.

The room isn't great, I'm out of practice, and the r_speeds could be better. I did what I could to func_wall solid planar brushes connected to complex geometry. But with the water and how large the room is what else can you expect.

I know this description is long but I like to give credit where credit is due. I just hope somebody likes it, that's all.

PS:
If the download link does not work it may be due to google's direct linking. (I'm new to using google sites so I haven't tried it yet, but hey Should this be the case just go here and download "valve.rar":
http://sites.google.com/site/nefariousparable/downloads

2 Comments

Commented 15 years ago2009-01-17 08:51:49 UTC Comment #17238
Wow! = )

This is a really cool map fulled with inspiration, careful work and some neat innovation. There is some great detail work in the stone pillars and temples, the windows, and other areas. The fountain is amazingly cool too btw! = 0 (not that it can't use some tweaking tho!)

That said, this map has tons of room for improvement in terms of performance, texturing, Basic style, and some tweaking of that neat fountain. (i have not commented on any of the other rooms maps, but i feel with a little bit more work on your part you could turn this from a good map to a great map! = )

Performance:
Your textures are scaled down to .50 on an enormous portion of the map. While this makes the texture look better it DRASTICALLY increases compile time and r_speeds (wpoly). Scale your textures up (especially the ones spanning the whole room) to 1.00 at least(on huge, wide-open rooms like this, it is normal to scale up to 2.0 or more sometimes to make manageable fps). If you don't like the way they look then change the texture to something more appropiate. this leads directiy to my next criticism...

Texturing:
Many if not most of the texture choices are just plain horrible. That "granite" texture throughout the whole map is completely wrong, and should be replaces with something different. Some of the marble and other textues look fine, but changing this would DRAMATICALLY improve the look/feel of this room.

Basic Style:
You have great detail in the map as previously mentioned, however the MAIN STRUCTURE of the room and the main hallways are very cubistic and are basically just boxes with no trims or indentations at all. This looks completely unnatural and boring.

Fountain and Waterfall:
The fountain is an awesome idea, and with a little more work it could be amazing. For one thing i would add more sprites at the base and throughout all the "streams" of the fountain. Next, i would play with "render mode" and the opacity properties to make the "streams" more noticable--they are nearly transparent now and don't look like water.

As for the waterfall, i think it would look a lot better if you totally removed the area underneath it--an intriguing idea jsut the same--and just make rock or even steps underneath it. Also, add some sprites at where the bottom of the waterfall meets the pool to simulate mist.

Well that's all i got. Like i said i don't want to tell you or anyone how to make their map, but i really think you could drastically improve this with a little more work! Welcome to TWHL and thanks for joining the rooms project!
Commented 15 years ago2009-01-21 12:54:58 UTC Comment #17243
Geometry: Has nice construction value to it. The windows are of a clean style, and the modern glass wall around the pool makes for a nice touch I've rarely seen in maps. I like that part. It fit well with the map. However, the 'ramp' like glass and floor could be tweaks. I would rather see the glass removed from the natural part, and stairs added to the path along the sides. The room itself is generally blocked out. Thats ok, but it needs more angles, pillared walls or collumns, or other archetectural interest.

Textures: They are fitting. Color choice is ok given they all stay within a cool tone. Can't say I recognize them from anything which is good. (Custom?)There is a decent mix between the defaults and the custom ones. Nothing really clashed against the existing quality. I didn't see a problem with scaling since marble and materials like that can easily get away with a little tiling. The down scaling made things crispy and clearer than the normal settings.

Lighting: Could use some color to accent the fountain and the water. Pools often have little lights around the endge, or perhaps lights around the room itself. The lighting coming through the windows was ok, but it seemed like the only source.

This map would greatly benifit from lighting sprites ;)

Ambience: Its good for what it is. Nothing special or complex, sound in Goldsource is iffy anyhow.

Entities: Friggin awesome how the fountains worked! I can't imagine how they were made.

Overall: Impressive, well made, and nice to look at. Given its for the Rooms competition, gameplay is out of the question. For what it is, its really nice, and knowing how far you can go with the entity work, I wish to see some of the same effort applied into the design of it. Its not hard to find a nice looking room or building and copy some of the features. Its all about time and effort in the end. I would love to see more maps like this in the future!

Sorry for the brick of text, I just like this map. I do get a slight feeling of hastiness from it though. Seems like all of that effort went into those fountains :D

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