Colored lights for the win?

100% saturation red lights on dark green quake textures is just about the worst lighting combination possible, so I would say "win" is very subjective here.

Look at sock's maps for a good case study in how very subtle coloured lighting in quake can work in the right places. 

Nice designs, the walls look great.

Would look good overall without the coloured lights. 

I do like the feeling those red lights give off though in combination with the textures, reminds me of a mix between Sixth House caves and Daedric Shrine locations from Morrowind. 

Using colored lights as main light sources isn't a good idea in most cases. In my view, you'll get better results by using regular lights for the overall lighting and colored lights only with a fairly small radius for a subtle tint around the light texture. 

Agreed with negke there, the way the coloured lights have tinted the doorway in the close-up works really well, but the spotlights seem a bit intense. 

We're quite averse to coloured lights on here, I think it's a reaction to Quake II. 

We're quite averse to coloured lights on here, I think it's a reaction to Quake II.

I'm not so sure any more. A few years ago I would have agreed with you but looking back at the last year or two of releases, external assets in the form of replacement models and coloured lights have become the fairly normal, rather than some abhorrent beast.

It's really interesting to see the shift over time. I remember when even the mention of using a coloured light in a level would have you running from the forums, wiping the flames from your body as you went.

Opinions can swing and this is usually accompanied by a map release that pushed the envelope in some way. An author does something in a fantastic way that keeps the Quake aesthetic intact while making the level/game look better and the community accepts it. Most people hated coloured lights because the examples they have seen are horrid magenta / green / red combos in a medieval map or some such other idiocy but as soon as someone did it right it cottoned on.

I think another side of it is that some people (I suppose I am included in this subset as well) have always seen these various graphical upgrades and additions as somehow taking away from Quake's old school identity and turning into some awful botox infused mess that has no idea how old it is :)

I don't really view it that way any more, as authors have figured out for the most part how to incorporate new things such as coloured light, replacement models, increased map detail limits into the base Quake aesthetic and still keeping its essential Quakeness.

So yey for that.

This got long. Not picking on preach' post at all I just got inspired and nostalgic after reading his message :)

Now go map you scums, don't you know there's a JAM on!? 

http://i.imgur.com/Sdhr6gf.png 

The question you have to ask yourself is:

do you wanna keep it oldskool with the 1996-era white lighting flava, or do you want to be a funky fresh nuskool 1997-era colour cat? 

Not to worry I wont do ugly colors. I guess the "got compile tools working" part should have been stressed a little more. As for the lighting I do plan on using it ALOT but in a tasteful fashion. This is just a test map for random butchery. How intense can lights go and what do all the 5 zillion light settings do in the end with these new compilers. So you all get to enjoy my Frankenstein creations for now till I figure out all the buttons. As for the white lighting of the original quake? I think its time for subtle warm and colder colors for those interior and outside areas.

I do like Quake 2 but indeed they went a bit Primary back in the day. Back then it WAS Colored lights for the WIN!?! Before that nobody had done it much before accept in the realms of prerendered CG. nobody thought about tasteful interior lighting.

But we'll see if you guys like my eventual creations. Wandering from Unreal and Cryengine into the older tech is fun.

I love a good Min Max challenge.

Cheers! 

Doing a map in the style of the new Mapjam4. Doubt I will finish it in time though. But hey nice learning process at least for me.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1849053/Quake_Mapping_02.jpg

Some early style experiments. 

can't really see anything :) 

...the darkness helps hide the slightly-too-strong red lighting, tho. 

I find red lighting difficult to get right.
It needs to be strong enough that it is clearly red and not pink, yet that is usually 'too strong' in that it just looks like batman forever. 

... when well executed, it gives awesome rendering. Just try to make it smooth: no saturation, no strong colored lights, just smooth... and that will work fine... 

For anyone looking to make a huge map that will fit within the standard .bsp size.

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/single_player/maps/hugemap.zip 

@Fifth: Pretty interesting.

@Skiffy: Looks promising, keep it up. 

 

I find red lighting difficult to get right.
It needs to be strong enough that it is clearly red and not pink, yet that is usually 'too strong' in that it just looks like batman forever.

I always had the impression Quake engines do something strange to the blending of red lighting, sometimes it appears equally dark as it's surroundings while it should be brighter... or something. Cantputmahfingeronit. 

With multiplicative lighting (and also real world lighting), component red light is going to eliminate any blue and green luminance information, and likewise with any other combo, so colors and brightnesses can appear to change weirdly. Rune metal for example has a lot of blue and green in it, so hitting that with pure red just gives you a strange dark mess.
Justoffthetopofmaheadtho.

You wouldn't ever use pure component green lighting, or blue, red technically shouldn't be an exception. Is it just because it's a DARK VIOLENT COLOR that it feels less inappropriate than super crystal green? 

need a high saturation or they're just pink, as Mentioned above. The reason they look dark in Quake is because lots of the textures are green.

Green + red = black.

The map looks good, keep the lights. 

I skipped Lunaran's post :p

To elaborate a bit, there is also a clamping issue; colour components can only be so bright (ie 255) which often combines badly with the quake palette / textures. Specifically red as well, since it practically requires 255 0 0.

Once you know this, you can use it for specific effects. The screenshot still looks good, but the proof is in the playing. 

1. git gud 

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1849053/Quake_Mapping_03.jpg

Some more areas developing. The blood tunnels will get more open spaces soon... But I like the door style :) spikes! 

Really nice !