Been experimenting with floor debris the last couple of days and it seems that 5 sided small rocks seem to produce the best results for variety. I initially created a set of 6 different shapes, then a couple of small groups (different shapes, sizes, orientations) and finally sprinkled the groups around the blend edges not the cave walls. Saving the cave wall edge for larger rocks works better. I also used a lower phong value (60) and it really does bring out the cave wall edges better.

http://www.simonoc.com/images/design/maps_q3/moteof1eq1.jpg

@necros, I have D3 installed if you want some help testing stuff, but I won't be able to help till after Jan 12th. Got a city trip planned for next week. 

to date. 

yeah, all your textures look fantastic. :) 

Safe3 is now ready for some beta testing if you are interested. It's a small sized Quake 1 DM level suitable for 2 - 4 players. You can send feedback to fikabord -at- gmail dot com. Feel free to comment on anything :)

Download bsp here
safe3beta.zip

Screenshots this way
safe3beta1.jpg
safe3beta2.jpg
safe3beta3.jpg
safe3beta4.jpg

Enjoy! 

Layout seems ok, if not a little too tight. Dunno about item placement as I haven't played it, just noclipped through.
The map could use more detail. It uses almost exclusively one single wall texture. Try to break it up by adding some more wall panels like that machine bit in one spot (needs to be properly clipped through). The ceilings could use some variation too, for example by indenting the lights like you did in some cases and adding some trim around them. The floor edges would also look better with trim.
There's a 16-unit edge near the SSG that blocks movement unncessarily.
Don't forget to add one or two intermission entities. 

Similar to neg's really, didn't playtest but ran around:

Build quality is good, style is coherent and consistent, main atrium and LG/water room are both nice features, ceiling pipes are good details, main rooms are spacious enough, Quad is well placed.

Things to improve:

1. Connecting corridors are a bit too corridory, can imagine some rapey kills going on in there, plus visually boring. Try to open them out a bit more.

2. A bit more water would be nice. Try adding a bit in the main atrium plus some puddles beneath pipes to give visual interest plus sound clues.

3. Texturing is too samey! Adding some different but harmonious textures in would look better AND give players useful visual clues as to which bit of corridor they are in.

4. Need to add some trim onto the edges of things, at the moment the floor tiles just disappear into nothing, it doesn't look right.

5. Try to think more in "what looks like a realistic impression of a fantasy place" rather than thinking just about "textures".

Basically a good start that could be a great map with some visual etc tweaking. Work with the theme and try to enhance it. 

Very nicetouch!:) 

Just did a walk through so these are all about visuals:

- on 45-degree walls, set the horizontal stretch to about 0.7 to get the texture to appear normal (right now those blue lights don't look square on certain walls because of this)

- put a second light source inside each of the sunken 64x64 ceiling lights, to brighten them even more without brightening the rest of the ceiling

- downward or upward-pointing spotlights on walls can help add pop to your lighting and add variety (if only used in some places)

- good use of trim at the water's edge, try doing more of that elsewhere.

- also mostly agree with others' suggestions. 

yay, would love to see some interesting d3 mod. 

Thanks to everyone who took time and gave feedback. It helps a lot. I agree with pretty much everything you have mentioned. However, I'm not sure about the trim stuff. I've added trim to ceiling lights but it's going to be a pain to added to those curved areas. I might take a look at that later :)

Stuff that I have done:
- Opened up areas to improve visuals and gameplay.
- Added more pipes and other details to make areas look more interesting and diverted.
- Added decals to the textures.
- Added trim to ceiling lights.
- Exchanged place on MH and GL.

Todo:
- Add more details to improve visual quality.
- Continue to add trim to ceiling lights.
- Add some more decals to textures.
- Add "sky" being teleporters.
- Tweaking lighting.

Will try to have the next beta ready by Saturday. I also finally had a chance to play it and I think it plays really well. But I might not be the right person to ask ;)

Thanks again!! 

What are you up to these days? Still doing the same thing as after your short sbz session? Weren't you doing some hobby shmup btw?

/Bj�rn 

weLl, hello to you to sir :) Nice to meet you again mate. What are you doing these days? Not sure when we spoke the last time, but I'm still at the same place I've been the last 7 years :) Are you doing any levels?

Shump?
Feels really old.... 

ops missed a "/" before "Feels..."
I should really use the preview function.. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot_%27em_up

I haven't really done any levels in a long time. About to start my last art school term. 

yeah, well I did a GBA demo with a friend.

Sounds cool, do you have a portfolio? Would be interesting to see your stuff :) 

Just finished Beta 2 of Safe 3. Need some more playtesting before moving on and feedback on visuals would be awesome ;) Don't really know where to go from here.

Some screenshots here
safe3beta2b.jpg
safe3beta2a.jpg
safe3beta2c.jpg

And the BSP can be found here
safe3beta2.zip 

Please align textures :( And some variety would be nice too. 

Please align textures :( And some variety would be nice too. 

http://necros.quaddicted.com/temp/ne_action1_outside1.jpg

this started from the rapid map development thread. finished with layout and gameplay, now doing many many detail passes. 

 

 

okej, decided to rework safe3 from scratch. Reasons being gameplay isn't as good as it could be and I'm not sure were to go from here visually. I'll keep the same texture theme and the main cylinder atrium, but I'll be adding some other textures and reworking the architecture a bit to give some more possibilites. Should be fairly quick to get something up and running soon.

I would also like to ask if someone is interested in reviewing more work in progress builds. Posting a beta on the forum requires you to have something which is close to being complete (I assume) and I'd like to bounce a few ideas early. Would be great to be able to send the maps straight to your inbox. Thoughts? Anyone interested?

cheers 

You can just post screenshots and you'll generally get a few comments.

Of the three posted above the first one could do with the textures being aligned as an anon commented - so the steps match up with the texture trim on the wall.

Just a visual anomaly though - the rest of it looks great. Maybe some of the classic Q2 metal textures thrown in would look good.

Can't really manage any testing at the moment for proper gameplay feedback, just not enough time. 

http://www.simonoc.com/images/design/maps_q3/moteof1ev1.jpg 

Sock, how many sides does the cable have?

nice bookshelves, too :)