Whatever it is, sock, I like it. That room is great. Nice lighting, good solid construction - well done! 

lighting is ace in both shots btw. 

The map looks great, keep it up! 

I have to give it to you, that last shot (especially the "after") looks brilliant. Perhaps the only thing I'd change is adding yet a bit more color - to the 4 high pillars. 

I like them both. 

The higher contrast (2nd) version . 

I didn't notice a single change in between the two shots.... weird... 

What's wrong with you? :P Look at the colors used right above the 4 high pillars. First shot is grey, 2nd shot is reddish. 

I love the second shot too. Stands out pretty nicely. 

There's nothing wrong with me, I didn't notice this color "change", that's all.... 

don't hand me that colourblind test with that coloured points asking which number I see...
no difference. 

... there's a small color differnce that can be noticed... when you know where to look for ;) 

in light level generally isnt there? 

..on screen I guess.. or am I completely blind ? :P 

Quake1 players saw a different spectrum - 64000 shades of brown ;) 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Shades_of_brown 

Ogre Shirt Brown
Ogre Teeth Brown
Fiend Hoof Brown
e4m1 Brick Brown
e4m1 Mortar Brown . . .

I could go on, not forever, but at least up to 64000 

This theme could be a good Speedmap theme.... 

Making a small .wad that I called coffee.wad that was just pure colors of brown. That was it. I took each shade of brown and made it an entire texture. I was going to make a geocomp map out of it, but then I ended up not doing that. 

'only one colour' ? 

... only Brown color 

 

that is progress, the two textures you changed do seem to pop more and have more color, which makes the map feel more alive. However, I would follow through with the rest of the scene, to the extent you are comfortable. For example, the columns, the column trim, the brick walls, and the window trim are still basically all the same color. You could try making the brick texture more pale and bleached out, and/or making the window trim darker. You could also try making the column trim darker and the columns paler too.

Also, you should try turning on anisotropic filtering, that floor is blurry as hell from this angle :) 

Slowly I have been going through all the map textures and replacing them with photo source stuff instead. I knew I needed to find a replacement for the old ID pentagram light and after a lot of pavement wandering I came across this gorgeous wood panel I found on a street door.

Initially I took the central diamond shape and extended it downward slightly into a shallow pyramid of light, but at a distance (floor to ceiling angle) it just looked flat. So here is version 3, the texture outline is stil present with the shape heavily extended outwards to create a better profile and the actual light source is now sitting in a gem socket. (Damn you torchlight!)

http://www.simonoc.com/images/design/maps_q3/moteof1dz3l_1024.jpg

@Metl, oops I totally forgot about anisotroic filtering for screenshots. It makes a big difference for texture compression at low angles so new screenshots should be a lot better. :)

Been busy fine tuning all the portal shader effects in my map and replacing the low res crap stuff I created years ago. Had a nice cloudy day recently which was ideal for some moody portal clouds. Also spent a while playing torchlight and taking note of their portal shader construction. This is an old screenshot angle but has all the new sfx candy present on the portal front, plus some minor cosmetic changes to the underside.

http://www.simonoc.com/images/design/maps_q3/moteof1dz2l_1024.jpg

@Scampie, I can't believe it, you just said Quake 1 (brown palette) looked like shit!?! :P 

gem lights are cool.

in the first screenshot, top right image, you have concentric octagonal rings of wood strips on the ceiling. Might look better if you had eight thin strips of raised wood radiating out along the 8 kinks in the rings.