UFO:Alien Invasion
Development => Mapping => Topic started by: Mattn on June 06, 2006, 04:43:54 pm
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this is a topic where you can post suggestions for new maps. we will collect them here:
http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/Mapping:Suggestions
you are also invited to fill the above wiki entry by yourself with your ideas.
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Government offices. Those will come in handy regarding the storyline. It's likely that we'll have governments siding with the aliens, and so it's very probable that we'd want to have missions in their offices, for example to kill a converted politician. Also for U.N. headquarters defense missions, to come up with a random example.
Alien mothership, again for storyline purposes. Possibly, we can use the alien base maps for the mothership.
American desert highway, with cactuses and bull skulls and everything.
The Eiffel Tower.
Hydroponic dam.
Seaside tourist trap.
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Secret antarctic research laboratories getting invaded by aliens.
Alien bases.
The street, subway and sewer of a city.
On board ocean vessels / oil rigs, etc...
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City ruins.
A forrest.
A suggestion btw: maybe Alex could help you with it - some more ambience sounds, besides music - like wolves howling on some forrest/plain/farm maps in the night - some car sounds during the day in the city etc. etc. It really adds to the atmosphere.
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Balanced multiplayer maps, please, preferably symmetrical.
A more specific idea would be two fortresses on either side of a smaller bunker fortification in the middle. The fortresses would be complete with pillboxes and sniper decks/towers, while the no-man's land inbetween would be littered with debris, sandbags and other obstacles and forms of cover. Sniping should be viable, but not the end all, be all tactic.
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As I've stated, I intend to try my hand at a multiplayer map. It will not be what Surrealistik describes, that's too FPSey for my taste (but if anyone else wants to do it, by all means), but it will feature a fortified position in a central position, with battlements that can be destroyed in stages by explosive weapons only (support for this has yet to be implemented, but mattn told me that should not be too hard). As for the rest, I'll make it up as I go along.
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Snow, ice, and a few rocks.
For Antarctica, and Siberia etc.
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My pack of suggestions/inspirations:
Airport (if plane models are not too tricky)
Hijacked/crashed train (some subway graphics can be reused)
Factory (didn't see industrial06 or powerplant01, so can't say if they are similar)
Prison
Oil derrick
Underground parking
Cemetery
Hospital
Cinema
Theme park/Zoo
ComSat station or radiotelescope (or SETI, hehe)
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Some wilderness maps would be nice for crash-sites.
Desert, swamp, forest, mountain, tropical forest, etc.-- one for each of the terrains in "map_earth_terrain.tga"
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Btw, can a mission on some Earth space station (ISS or similar) be implemented? Perhaps as a plot mission on later stage, when a space-capable dropship is researched. It can be either activated by a button (like plot missions in UFO series), or be represented by a moving or immobile (geostationary orbit) point on geoscape.
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As aliens are raiding crowds of civilians how about a theme park? Rollercoasters, souvenier shops etc. Only problem is lots of new graphics and sprites I guess but I would be a fan. 8)
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Pretty much any map theme will do, as long as the map
- has at least few good spots to place snipers (also the kind that can be reached in a reasonable amount of time, might want to consider making larger maps with more aliens, since battles tend to be really short)
- few extra tiles of free space around the aircraft, so that it doesn't block movement
- adequate amount of scattered cover spots (big rocks, barrels, trees, boxes, cars... )
What really bugs me with current maps (system) is that soldiers fire from their waist height, making line of sight and line of fire two different things. Could the line of fire be made to use the same line as the line of sight? It's really annoying when you can see an alien on a rooftop but the line of fire is blocked by the edge of the roof due to soldiers firing from their hip.
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Pretty much any map theme will do, as long as the map
- has at least few good spots to place snipers (also the kind that can be reached in a reasonable amount of time, might want to consider making larger maps with more aliens, since battles tend to be really short)
- few extra tiles of free space around the aircraft, so that it doesn't block movement
- adequate amount of scattered cover spots (big rocks, barrels, trees, boxes, cars... )
What really bugs me with current maps (system) is that soldiers fire from their waist height, making line of sight and line of fire two different things. Could the line of fire be made to use the same line as the line of sight? It's really annoying when you can see an alien on a rooftop but the line of fire is blocked by the edge of the roof due to soldiers firing from their hip.
Total agreement on this. I also feel that sometimes aliens can shoot me while I cannot shoot back. That should be impossible!?
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it would be nice if you could also create some basic blueprints for the maps you have in mind
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Actually, create those blueprints with gtkradiant. Add some textures too. Oh, and some spawn points while you're at it.
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Okay, ship has been mentioned in many times - so I show one draft. Its in moment in simple cargo configuraton, but this should be changed to ro-ro, container or whatever afterwards. I have few experience with radiant so making angeled bow has been some trouble. In moment it will go up straight like in ocean liners of beginning of 20th century.
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don't forget to activate the water flags for the water surface - otherwise there won't be the warping shader surfaces
we have some prefabs for containers in our prefabs_* maps
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Will missions in sea or ocean be also available? People usually place their bases to provide maximum land coverage, should we also take sea into account?
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well - when someone (which is obviously the case now) will do some ship maps - yes.
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For the time being I think we should limit the ship missions to harbours in coastline cities. I don't see how we can make open-sea missions work with the campaign framework.
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I agree with that i.e. in Paris should be an Eiffeltower, in England the big ben, in Berlien the Brandenburger Tor... that would be kinda fun and unique.
However, Personally I think a slight village-look would be best, i.e. aliens attacking in more rural/outsiderish areas with a little bit sand and forest and such stuff. Raggard looks
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1) Military base (BESIDES BUNKER PLEASE)
2) Colleges or Universities
3) Museums
4) I really like the above mentioned Sewers and Subways
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I've been wanting to see a junkyard map for a couple of weeks. I don't know why, but I think it would be fun. Lots and lots of places you and the aliens could hide.
Couple of floors of a sky-scraper would be fun, too. Perhaps the top few floors, with the drop ship parked on a helipad on the roof. Would be interesting if there were a working elevator. I'm not sure if that's possible, though.
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well the ship could be used for a terror attack, no reason why not.
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As an addition to the aforementioned monuments of the world, what about a C.N. Tower map, as the aliens would surely want to knock down the all of our monuments to crush our morale universally
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marvellous ideas. why not make it happen?
http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/Mapping
Mapping is probably one of the easier skills to learn.
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Hmmm... how about underwater missions?
lake beds, coral reefs, ocean shallows... even deep sea could be interesting.
May require some new equipment, and new alien breeds... but hey, we're brainstorming here!
:D
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No underwater missions. It's just not going to happen.
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Only feasible concept for underwater I can figure would be enclosed underwater facilities, with no access to the outside (and the outside would only be there, really, to say "Hey! Look! I'm an underwater level! Look at me!"). Again, though, unless someone can come up with a damn good explanation for why such an isolated underwater facility would even be considered a priority target by the aliens, it is nothing more than an artistic exercise, and mildly resource-inefficient at that.
Perhaps for multiplayer, maybe.
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Well, if someone made a multiplayer map like that we'd certainly include it.
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Only feasible concept for underwater I can figure would be enclosed underwater facilities, with no access to the outside (and the outside would only be there, really, to say "Hey! Look! I'm an underwater level! Look at me!"). Again, though, unless someone can come up with a damn good explanation for why such an isolated underwater facility would even be considered a priority target by the aliens, it is nothing more than an artistic exercise, and mildly resource-inefficient at that.
Perhaps for multiplayer, maybe.
It would allow for recovering shot-down/crashed UFOs that land in the water... I mean we can go into space, but we can't go deeper than shoulder high water?
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I mean we can go into space, but we can't go deeper than shoulder high water?
Yep.
Besides, It would require the building of an entirely new toolset to build those maps.
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It would be cool if the wiki had a screenshot of every map, so that people know not to duplicate an existing theme. Any takers?
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We're supposed to have (small) screenshots for maps for use ingame, during map selection for skirmish and multiplayer. They don't exist for all maps yet, though, but maybe it can help?
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It would allow for recovering shot-down/crashed UFOs that land in the water... I mean we can go into space, but we can't go deeper than shoulder high water?
A bit of a bump...
Maybe those UFO's landed on a small, non-descript sandbar with shallow water around it. Yes, it might be a small map, with the UFO and landing ship almost next to each other, but it would only need shoulder high water ...
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We're supposed to have (small) screenshots for maps for use ingame, during map selection for skirmish and multiplayer. They don't exist for all maps yet, though, but maybe it can help?
Is it OK if we upload them to the wiki? Loading the game to check them isn't always convenient.
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It would allow for recovering shot-down/crashed UFOs that land in the water... I mean we can go into space, but we can't go deeper than shoulder high water?
See also: this (http://ufoai.ninex.info/forum/index.php?topic=3443.0). Not sure if there are any technical barriers.
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Is it OK if we upload them to the wiki? Loading the game to check them isn't always convenient.
Yes, I see no reason why not.
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Hi, the link to the WIKI at the start of this thread seems to be hijacked
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Why not combine crash/city maps and have a sky scraper half collapsed with a UFO sticking out the side of it.
I realise that idea is quite ambitious but it could be a fun challenge. I'd take it on myself but I'm inexperienced with mapping for UFO:AI for the moment.
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There are tutorials to help you get up to speed. Once you get the hang of the mapper interface it isn't that hard.
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I'm quite familiar with Radiant so it shouldn't take too long for me to learn and throw something together.
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Airplane. Hey Aliens gotta learn how we fly to hmmm?
ISS. A space station would be cool and make detachable pods to trap aliens and kill them while they plumet to the ground or your troops. :(
Moon Base. It said that the united americas or whatever had a moon base right? what if they kept it open for military reasons?
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UN specifically evacuated both the moon base and space stations after the initial strike.
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I'm quite familiar with Radiant so it shouldn't take too long for me to learn and throw something together.
that would be cool - new maps are always welcome
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Few map ideas :
- off sore plate-forms
- cave / gulf
- military base / shooting area
- jail / prison
- castle (maze garden)
- church / cathedral / temple
- oil refinery
- nuclear plant
- school / nursery
I have to test map editor for one or two of them...
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I have to test map editor for one or two of them...
The map editor can be briefly bewildering, but once you learn the controls mapping is pretty straightforward. Happy to help with any questions/confusion if you decide to dive in. This forum can be a bit lonely... :)
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When I got the UFO-stuff finished (never I suppose ;)), I would be pleased to work together with you to help with your map.
If you want me to, I can take care of programming the material system & can help with the animations also (have gained quite some experience now ;))...
Greetinx.
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When I got the UFO-stuff finished (never I suppose ;)), I would be pleased to work together with you to help with your map.
If you want me to, I can take care of programming the material system & can help with the animations also (have gained quite some experience now ;))...
Greetinx.
Happy to look at any suggestions you've got for changes to mat/textures. You can find the WIP in the /data_source/ in SVN (http://ufoai.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ufoai/ufoai/data_source/maps/unfinished/nate/).
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UN specifically evacuated both the moon base and space stations after the initial strike.
I know that but what if the aliens captured it and are using it as the main base around earth? gotta thing
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I thought that we should repaint some of the models to havemore 'dirtier', post-apocalyptic look. For example, deserted looking buildings, broken windos, flipped cars, ....
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If you go to Mumbai or the other attacked cities, sure, but remember that most of Earth is still doing as fine as they can with a very high possibility of an alien invasion and infiltration attacking there at any moment (which is surprisingly well).
Edit: Looking back at the slightly older suggestions:
Airplane. Hey Aliens gotta learn how we fly to hmmm?
A busy (or even a not-so-busy) airport would/could be a prime target to sabotage and undermine human efforts to keep order and the PHALANX going.
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Yay make the map on a An-225 loom it up. that plane is HUGE
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My school. If anyone needs a plan of the school, i will post it, when i will draw it..