Journals
So Rockstar have officially announced Max Payne 3. I love the first two, and seeing as they were developed by Remedy, and this new one is by Rockstar Vancouver, my gut tells me they're going to fuck it up.
Their last game (Bully) was far from polished, and I've yet to see any Rockstar team fo a game with GOOD shooting mechanics. Also, what did they do to Max?!.
Bah. >:(
Their last game (Bully) was far from polished, and I've yet to see any Rockstar team fo a game with GOOD shooting mechanics. Also, what did they do to Max?!.
Bah. >:(
Went to see Watchmen tonight. It's an interesting experience, but an absolute clusterfuck of a film. Zach Snyder really is a one-trick pony - every movie he's directed so far is basically nothing more than a combination of "on-and-off" slow motion and buckets of gore. The complex back story the comic provides just isn't enough to disguise it.
[SPOILER]
Ant lied to me, he said there's a blue penis shown on screen... there's four. D:
[/SPOILER]
[SPOILER]
Ant lied to me, he said there's a blue penis shown on screen... there's four. D:
[/SPOILER]
UPDATE
New screens:
After discussing it with my... uhh... dev team last night, the map's going to undergo another visual makeover shortly. The main focus of that will be the vegetation and possibly a new skybox texture (this one is causing problems). The tree's are ports, so they really should go, and they don't look 'tf2' enough for our liking, so hopefully some new trees and plants will come. The skybox on the other hand, while I do like it, is causing some HDR problems and the best solution would be a new custom sky, which I like the sound of. More on all that later.
/update
ctf_volcano has gone through a bit of a visual overhaul today. My goal from the start was for the look of the outside to basically oppose the look of the volcano interior. Before I reworked it, it sort of did do that, but not nearly the way I had planned at the start. So I got sick of the exterior's appearance and started reworking it. Starting with the lighting and the skybox, which was a sort of twilight, I deepened the lighting up, added much more contrast, and changed the time of day to a late evening. Secondly, the textures of the outside were a little.. flat. The grass and the dirt were too dark and like the lighting, lacked contrast. Playing with Lumberyard's nice grass texture, and some new dirt textures fixed that too.
Before:
After:
I am VERY pleased with these results so far. This map has gone through so many changes throughout it's development cycle it makes me really glad when I finally nail the look I'm going for.
Still, development is very slow. I am definately not going to rush this, but I do think that I'm on the final stretch. Check how long it's taken me to make it this far if you want to guess how long that means it has left. You'll be just as clueless as me.
New screens:
/update
ctf_volcano has gone through a bit of a visual overhaul today. My goal from the start was for the look of the outside to basically oppose the look of the volcano interior. Before I reworked it, it sort of did do that, but not nearly the way I had planned at the start. So I got sick of the exterior's appearance and started reworking it. Starting with the lighting and the skybox, which was a sort of twilight, I deepened the lighting up, added much more contrast, and changed the time of day to a late evening. Secondly, the textures of the outside were a little.. flat. The grass and the dirt were too dark and like the lighting, lacked contrast. Playing with Lumberyard's nice grass texture, and some new dirt textures fixed that too.
Before:
Still, development is very slow. I am definately not going to rush this, but I do think that I'm on the final stretch. Check how long it's taken me to make it this far if you want to guess how long that means it has left. You'll be just as clueless as me.
[EDIT]
Updated the albedo/normal and exponent, phew:
Clicky! More clicky!
[/EDIT]
To those who commented on my barrel skin, thanks. I will fix the uhh... poo, and work on that shine. Tweaking phong lighting is a pain, which is what's causing the excessive shine. I copied the settings for the little butane tanks in Episode Two, but they don't really seem to suit the barrels.
Anyway, inbetween Rooms: Source and Volcano, I'm going to reskin all of the HL2 barrels (and other props) for funsies, and I need your help. I want interesting barrels, but I can't think of anything. If you have any suggestions, give us a hand! Pics = bonus points.
Updated the albedo/normal and exponent, phew:
Clicky! More clicky!
[/EDIT]
To those who commented on my barrel skin, thanks. I will fix the uhh... poo, and work on that shine. Tweaking phong lighting is a pain, which is what's causing the excessive shine. I copied the settings for the little butane tanks in Episode Two, but they don't really seem to suit the barrels.
Anyway, inbetween Rooms: Source and Volcano, I'm going to reskin all of the HL2 barrels (and other props) for funsies, and I need your help. I want interesting barrels, but I can't think of anything. If you have any suggestions, give us a hand! Pics = bonus points.
Back to work today after three short weeks for one more looong year.
Me this morning:
Awwwww. :'[
Me this morning:
ctf_volcano update!
I had totally given up on this project recently.. but somehow I got back into it.
That exterior shot is the most WIP of them all. It's currently missing a skybox, the grass is too bright, and going through some props, but that's mostly all fixed now.
I've had to make a few changes to the layout in order to finish it (it probably would've stayed dead if I had to build as much as originally planned), so outdoors is going to be a little more compressed than I would've liked. But, it should work okay considering the size of the volcano interior.
More updates later.
I had totally given up on this project recently.. but somehow I got back into it.
I've had to make a few changes to the layout in order to finish it (it probably would've stayed dead if I had to build as much as originally planned), so outdoors is going to be a little more compressed than I would've liked. But, it should work okay considering the size of the volcano interior.
More updates later.
Last day of work for the year! Holidays coming up, all the huge pain-in-the-ass orders are out of the way, plenty of Beam waiting for me in the fridge, and all I can think to say is:
YAHOO!
UPDATED
More mapping tests! I wanted to see what I could do with stationary weapons in Hammer and I came up with this.
Still has some work to do (I'm working on a proper scope at the moment), but it's coming along nicely.
Update! The scope is done! Here it is in action. This is almost finished now, a few little tweaks left and that's about it!
More mapping tests! I wanted to see what I could do with stationary weapons in Hammer and I came up with this.
Still has some work to do (I'm working on a proper scope at the moment), but it's coming along nicely.
Update! The scope is done! Here it is in action. This is almost finished now, a few little tweaks left and that's about it!
Well, after.. quite a long (I forgot just how long) break from mapping, I've finally returned to it all fresh and ready to kick some ass.
And to celebrate, here's an old video I uploaded of ctf_volcano's interior!
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=FAmwfpesnfw&fmt=6
And to celebrate, here's an old video I uploaded of ctf_volcano's interior!
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=FAmwfpesnfw&fmt=6
20 years old today. Strange feeling knowing you're exactly two decades old, and only one decade away from being 30. D:
Hehe, a sign I made appeared on Top Gear Australia for a whole half a second. MY WORK IS FAMOUS!
Well, us Aussies finally get to see Wall-E and it is absolutely brilliant. Pixar actually bested my favourite 3D animated film of all time, The Incredibles.
I love this scene! Bravo, Pixar.
Another one of my never-ending Source experiments. Water caustics!
Video!
All done through the material system and useable with non-solid displacements, should be very versatile and cheap to render!
I have a bit of a plan where I can use this in one of the maps I'm developing alongside ctf_volcano. More news on that later. ;>
All done through the material system and useable with non-solid displacements, should be very versatile and cheap to render!
I have a bit of a plan where I can use this in one of the maps I'm developing alongside ctf_volcano. More news on that later. ;>
Uwe Boll you genius.
So I'm ever-so-slowly returning to work on my Volcano map, I hope you remember it.
Here's a shot or two to show you how it's changed:
This is the old interior, which I am not quite glad I improved. The rock texture was far too noisy and lacked any sort of contrast as it went upwards.
This is what it looks like now!
Compare the two and I hope you'll see quite a difference. The rock material is a lost cleaner and smoother, and fades nicely towards the top keeping players focus to the bottom area, where most of the combat should take place. It also makes the general geometry easier to pick out. I've also included some fog which should nicely draw peoples attention to incoming players silouhettes towards the rear of the room, where it opens up to outside, here:
This hasn't changed much since you last saw it, and this is still and old shot. I'm hoping to deepen the lighting up a little bit here, and looking to replace the sky with something a bit more night-like. I've started work on the flag base, which is behind the camera. I'm trying not to go for the TF2 orthagonal industrial vs. angular natural approach, and more for a man vs. nature look, with strong, imposing structures (for both bases) set about the more flowing jungle environment.
Estimated completion time: ...ask again later, though I think the map is roughly 60-65% complete at the moment.
Here's a shot or two to show you how it's changed:
This is the old interior, which I am not quite glad I improved. The rock texture was far too noisy and lacked any sort of contrast as it went upwards.
This is what it looks like now!
Compare the two and I hope you'll see quite a difference. The rock material is a lost cleaner and smoother, and fades nicely towards the top keeping players focus to the bottom area, where most of the combat should take place. It also makes the general geometry easier to pick out. I've also included some fog which should nicely draw peoples attention to incoming players silouhettes towards the rear of the room, where it opens up to outside, here:
This hasn't changed much since you last saw it, and this is still and old shot. I'm hoping to deepen the lighting up a little bit here, and looking to replace the sky with something a bit more night-like. I've started work on the flag base, which is behind the camera. I'm trying not to go for the TF2 orthagonal industrial vs. angular natural approach, and more for a man vs. nature look, with strong, imposing structures (for both bases) set about the more flowing jungle environment.
Estimated completion time: ...ask again later, though I think the map is roughly 60-65% complete at the moment.