which is the best site to browse custom maps for UT 2004? 

The only site I can think of off the top of my head is http://ut2k4.gamebanana.com/ 

http://scampie.net/etc/Jam5HYPE.png

The jam will get cold if left out too long Daz. 

I'm thinking I will start the event this saturday 21st and run the event for 2 weeks, ending the weekend of the 5th (sunday April 5th)

I will make a proper news post and all that shizzle 

I think I will make a rule that the arena has to contain an interesting or unique twist, as I want to avoid receiving 6 arena maps where you fight monsters and that is all that you do :) 

Arena must contain at least one penis. 

 

cheers - found that site a bit "meh", but mapraider.com seemed to be pretty good. 

This is pretty cool ... A Qonquer map jam that kicks off on my birthday. Perfect. :) 

That's a slice of birthday cake. 

;) 

Has this been linked?




http://imgur.com/gallery/w8FWy 

 

Yeah. I don't get the remaking Quake in higher def graphics. As if it needs that... 

fuck you guys, that's pretty nice.

It would fit in a high def Quake. Just needs NIN scratched into the paint somewhere, and some blood splatters from the marines who died inches away from the health pack. "The charm" of the original Quake health pack? It's a fucking cube, there is not a single iota of charm in it.

We should be so glad that health kits would exist in this future Quake... id is just as likely to put fucking health dispensers on the walls, or worse, just fucking regenerating health. 

and the low pollygoons.

Once you start trying to make the quake all realistic and militaristic, you lose the quakiness of the quake. 

But DAT health.... 

take literally any action game with a semi-realistic aesthetic released in the last 10 years, and you'll see all sorts of forgettable ammo boxes and crates and whatever that look just like that. it's just really generic and unremarkable prop stuff. 

I've never quite understood how "higher def" assets always seem to become so colour desaturated - dull even. Quake might be mocked for being so brown, but it's not that brown.

I don't have any complaints about the model though, looks how I'd expect a higher poly version of it could look. 

The original is charming, to me anyway. The way-oversized rivets, exaggerated thickness of the trim, the warm colours, the huge bright red cross symbols. I like the vague materials - not really sure if it's made of cardboard or metal.

With the high-res one I see more details from everyday objects. A band equipment case or a shipping crate. The keypad from a payphone. The corner bits are rubber? It's a cool model, just less quakey. 

It's a fucking cube

Nice geometry knowledge. 

The future is in cans! 

tyrintro.wav, from OUM i suppose. i'd love to hear the full version. where is it from? 

"The Charm Is The Pixel Art"

Right. The charm is in the details that your mind fills in. The high res version is basically telling you everything about the box ... and if that doesn't work for you, then it looks stupid.

If you're going to do a new health pack for Quake and you're going to go high res ... literally, think outside the box. There's a lot of cool designs out there if you're going to throw polys to the wind. 

Older games such as Quake or Doom are extremely stylized due to the days tech limitations. This styling is very much become the identity of these games even if it was not so intended.
They are not like Battlefield, HL and others of the realistic concrete texture and photo-realistic wooden crate variety.

So why oh why go and try and remake these in those ill-fitting styles.

New tech, OK, but the vibe should stay the same.

And its difficult without emulating the pixellated look, other means have to be found to give the space for your mind to fill in the blanks, I'm sure there is something to be pulled off well in that direction one day.

Simpler though is to stick to the same pixelated/low poly style in a new engine.

Ok so if we stick to that whats new then ?
-Its a mission pack for an old game in a new engine emulating graphics of an ancient engine. Hmph, not great. What else though makes newer games more next gen other than "more is better" eyecandy ?

What "little" or not so little things can we bring that would give a definite sense of "this is exactly what is loved but somehow...much more?"

Lighting is one I think can be brought in without ruining the soup there.

What about scale offerent by this computing and rendering power ?

What about 100% continuity between levels, not a millisecond of loading time , not a single thing blocking view into the coming part ?
Skyrim like, one world, one level. You can have this and be made to progress linearly through it. Indoors stays indoors. Teleport to other worlds/dimensions OK, those are also continuous.


Scale again -> 1000 fiends in the distance ripping through a base you have to eventually reach ? You hear the distant sounds of the actually in game occurring battle from a distance...
Once you reach this base, the remains of 900 fiends and 2000 Marines are strewn about the place ?
->That's a kind of Hell level.
Rivulets of blood flowing and pooling around the level, carrion scattering away from the corpses to hide in dark corners as you approach. Kill them or not, you are there.
->The "boss" of the level could be a massive beast raised live before your eyes from all this dead putrid flesh you have walked past. Actually see all these gibs gather up in a central point and come alive. Think Akira.

That would not feel outdated, ever, fucking pixels or not!


Sound design ?
Maybe a vastly richer variety of impact sounds for different surfaces, liquids, bodyparts ?

Think of a these AAA budget sized art teams working on producing 10'000's of simple props and textures instead of 100/1000's of complex props and textures.

A true richness in variety to the world. Play through it 10 times and the world still does not feel like old stuff to you. Always a little new something to notice.

On can give a world a real sense of "being" through richness instead of through reality copying textures and objects.

There are many more ways I am sure newer tech and computing power can be harnessed to create "next gen" games whilst keeping this charm provided by the blanks in the details.