UFO:Alien Invasion
Development => Mapping => Topic started by: H-Hour on June 16, 2010, 12:13:57 am
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I've started working some on a new alien base theme. It's all still very early, but I thought I would dump WIP stuff up here every now and then for people to give feedback. I may not always take it, but it's often useful.
First things first, I'm trying to rough out a concept/style for the overall base. The screenshots below are very early work I normally wouldn't show, but I thought I'd go ahead this time. I'm starting to narrow down the texture style and this was my first attempt to start exploring the brush work (the architecture and shapes).
Another thing I'd like to do in this thread is share a little bit about the process I go through when making a map, in case others might learn (or give me advice) about what goes into a map beyond just the technical details.
One of the main things I want to try with the alien base is to explore simpler shapes than I have in +city. I'm often not confident enough to prevent myself from over-complicating something, so I've decided to try to stick to some simpler stylistic motifs with this theme (look at the bunker map for a great example of simple shapes used very effectively).
This is going to be the "power core" -- basically the power supply for the base. I'm thinking I may wall off the area of the power cores from the walkway so that it is more of a self-contained room. But at the moment I was just looking to implement the texture for the power core that I had made to see how it looked and what kind of "room" it needed, and I was also trying to work out a wall pattern (seen with the mirrors opposite the power cores) since the pattern will likely be used a lot throughout the base.
At this stage, I expect a lot of detail to still be added, but I'm really asking myself a few questions (and feel free to answer/comment):
1) How do the textures work together and will it be easy to blend new structures and rooms with them?
2) Are the shapes I'm using visually interesting and will they get too repetitive if used across the whole base?
3) What architectural/tactical possibilities come to mind now that I've gotten this far?
(sorry for the poor screenshot quality, I'll try to improve it next time)
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I think you're going in the right direction with the textures and general color theming. The long thing by the edge has "public transit" written all over it, though.
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Wow, very nice!
About architectural possibilities I like current theme for non-rectangular shapes. Many corners, and so on. Also, using animations will be very nice.
If you share this, I can try to work on it too. :-)
PS: But I hope we can use current alienbase theme, in some way.
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The long thing by the edge has "public transit" written all over it, though.
Would that be the wall with the windows, you mean?
PS: But I hope we can use current alienbase theme, in some way.
Do you have any ideas?
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PS: But I hope we can use current alienbase theme, in some way.
isn't the whole point of this to replace the existing stuff? or do you mean the map layout? and even the map layout is something i would like to see redone (at least for my parts - they suck)
and last but not least. nice work nate. i really like your brushwork (i know that i've said this a few dozen times before ;) )
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> isn't the whole point of this to replace the existing stuff? or do you mean the map layout? and even the map layout is something i would like to see redone (at least for my parts - they suck)
Yes, it is, but I don`t like idea to trash existed theme. Can it be used somewhere else?
But let`s look for some more tiles first.
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i don't think it would fit somewhere else - and imo we should just trash it, because i'm sure nate will produce something that looks a lot better ;)
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By the way, H-Hour, are you still going with the tiles idea as in the mockup you showed me some time ago? Because I really liked those mockups.
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By the way, H-Hour, are you still going with the tiles idea as in the mockup you showed me some time ago? Because I really liked those mockups.
Yes, I'll go ahead and attach that image as well so people can see the bigger picture I'm working towards. The light blocks in the background each represent 1 256x256 tile, so the bases are planned to be pretty big. Another reason I want to keep the architecture a bit simple. (If you're looking closely you'll notice some gaps in the layout, but don't worry about that. All will be worked out.)
And Kildor, I'll add this stuff to trunk when I get a little farther in so that you can poke around with it as well. But this early I still may rip out as much as I add so I don't want to put you in the wrong direction.
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> And Kildor, I'll add this stuff to trunk when I get a little farther in so that you can poke around with it as well. But this early I still may rip out as much as I add so I don't want to put you in the wrong direction.
Sure. It`s your work, and I don`t have much time currently anyway.
If I understand your screenshots correct, I like this idea (do not use blocks and passages, as it done now, but use semi-open spaces (broken to the alone tiles) with little passages)
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Hi guys!
Nice project you have here. X-COM was one of my favorite, and this is so much like it, so I felt a sudden urge to contribute :).
I wan to do something for alien base - assault on alien base was the most thrilling moment in the original game, so I think that it must be done really perfect here. I never worked with map editors, and I don't think I have a time for it right now, but I did worked with wings3d a little, and ready to model some little low-polygonal niceies to fill those bases with.
Where can I find some info about requirements for such a models, and may be even some concept-art?
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Hi morse, no concept art exists. If you want to make models check out this page in the wiki (http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/Modelling).
I'm not sure what models would be useful at this point, but if you have any ideas I'll take a look. At this point I think the two big powercore objects in the screenshots above are about as close as I have gotten to an artistic concept. I've ripped out the floor arrangement and start tinkering with another idea, but not sure if I'm terribly happy about that either. I'll post some screenshots when I get to that, but haven't had much time lately.
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At this point I think the two big powercore objects in the screenshots above are about as close as I have gotten to an artistic concept.
And what about alien wormhole device (http://ufoai.ninex.info/forum/index.php?topic=2685.0), whatever "wormhole device" is?
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As I see in news, 2.4 is closer and closer, and nothing new here.
Well, I am still ready to try myself in alien base construction. I've made models for some nice alien flowers :)
I do not fully understood how to texturize objects, but I can try if these objects are needed.
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Awesome base!
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@morse
Very nice! Can you provide source files for this models?
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Here.
I don't know anything about licenses, so do whatever you want with it, just don't submit it for "worst model of the year" award.
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You can choose any open source license you want. For example "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0" http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ or "GPL2 or later" http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html ...
Both allow every body to use your work (but the new work allow every body to use it too "sharealike"), and we must quote you (for this work and derivative works "attribution")
You only need to say in your post "blahblahblah i release this work to blahblablah license".
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Hey Morse, those models look interesting and could be useful for the feeding area in the base. Could you give them textures? Maybe some bright colors for the flowers?
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I can certainly try. As I said i never did it before, so it'll take some time.
And where should get the textures? Because if I go to flower park in search of nice sources to shot 'em, it won't take long - it'll take forever...
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You can find some technical details about 2d artwork (http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/Artwork) in our wiki. But if you've never done any, it's probably best to look for some tutorials that will show you how to make and apply textures to models for whatever program you use to make the model.
There are lots of free textures out there that can help as reference material, but keep in mind that you need to make sure whatever you use can be released under GPL or CCA. That means that a lot of good texture websites won't work...
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Well I've been pretty unhappy with what I've come up with for this for a while, but this afternoon I finally got something that I'm starting to like. Sorry about the darkness. I'm still trying to figure out the lighting, but I think the textures are just too dark, so I'll need to lighten them up.
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I realy like it. The style and the colors reminds me of the classic X-Com TFTD Alien Bases. :)
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yes - the brushwork is looking good - but the colors on your shorts are looking a little bit strange. have to turned down or deactivated some render features? (due to the ati bug?)
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i'm not talking about the colors of your lighting - i'm talking about the visual appearance of the screenshot. the question was more or less whether the game looks like this when you play it, too? (because that would be more a code issue and not related to your map in any way)
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Yes, the game looks like this, though I've re-saved in photoshop to compress the size. Remember I've turned shaders and maybe even the material system off (these textures don't yet have any material settings) for the ATI thing.
But I really think it's just because the textures are too dark, and the lighting system seems counter-intuitive to me so I'm stilll experimenting. If I turn up ambient lighting too much, all the lighting is flat, even if I have added lights (ie - they are not additive, but are overtaken by the ambient lighting).
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I took my last concept and started building it out slowly with a bit more detail. None of the walls here will last long. They're just there for testing.
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wow - looks sweet
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Nice! Tell me if you need some sounds. :)
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I'll probably want some sounds, but I think the attenuation feature of the misc_sounds is still not working right. Haven't investigated in a while, though.
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The walls are starting to come together, so I'm getting a clearer sense of how the base will look. I'm hoping I can work out the light/shadow a bit better to keep it dark without going too dark.
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very nice job - clean brushwork, nice textures - i like it.
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Well I finally came full circle back to the blue-green floor, this time using the same texture used in the UFOs, and I like it. The contrast gives the walls a bit more of a punch I think.
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looks real good 8)
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very nice job Nate. i like the athmosphere that it already has at this state
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yeah, somewhat scary - very cool!
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Have not tested this map in-game yet, but the screenshots look very good.
I hope we can test this soon.
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Getting to final details now. Building out the machines and other clutter a bit and starting to make some of the higher res textures that will be used in the end. Here are a couple shots showing the progress as well as one to show you the specularity/normalmapping on one of the hi-res textures.
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Love it ... but wait... Aliens have X-Box walls? j/k :D
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Dont you know kinect is an alien technology!
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very nice job nate.
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YAWWWWWNNNNNN........ Im back from hibernation and i gotta say i came at the right time. That base looks awesome dude.
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Alright, I've finally got all the low-res textures remade and worked out the colors/lighting. There is still a couple brush errors for those that look closely, but for the most part this is what I plan the alien base to look like.
If anyone has any comments/feedback/suggestions now is the best time to make them. I'll start building the other rooms using this style and the more that is built the less willing I will be to make a change.
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More
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And again its time for my favourite english word: AWESOME!!!! :o
But maybe we should reskin someday the UFOs to keep the interior in the same style as the Bases?
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You are really genius designer. Really. I feel myself as artisan with my works.
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Thanks guys. @Kildor, when I first began this (6 months ago!) you mentioned wanting to play around with it. Now that the design is set, you're welcome to work with it if you want. I've got pretty well formed ideas in my head for the hub and the hangar, but if you wanted to pick another room from this scheme (http://ufoai.ninex.info/forum/index.php?topic=4979.msg39903#msg39903) and work on it, go for it.
@Crystan, in an ideal world we'd match up the UFOs/bases a bit more closely, but I think there are other priorities. The floors are a close match and are the visual link I was going for. (Also, I keep meaning to change that wall texture to remove the xbox visuals, but haven't gotten to it).
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Sure, I want to try with this theme. But unfortunately, I don`t have much time now. But I`ll try to found some. :-)
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You are really genius designer.
I agree 100% !
You have become an Uforadiant mastermind ;)
Your texture-work is also awesome !
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Great work! Wow, this is amazing!
I am not through the game now, so just being stupid: does the game story line change in a way that some nations actively allow aliens to build bases and PHALANX has to invade them? Or is it meant to be in space?
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alien build an hidden base. no human help them, i hope
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Why not? I would certainly help any alien coming along ... the chance to learn so many secrets (uh, is that a black library author whispering in my ear?)
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Alien base hub tile, with the powercore and hallway plugged in and proper connections between the tiles.
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wow - awesome - you are really a genius.
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Thumbs up. I'd put more thumbs up, but I only have three.
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Looks amazing!
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Alien base entrance, and only 4 months! :) Minimum left before usable: hangar and wormhole.
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great work - i've published them at desura, too - thanks a lot
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i published them already two days ago on indiedb/desura as well as some other screenshots. I removed your double posts.
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Some actual screenies:
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all maps compiled with -quant 2 ;)
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Holy! Iam gonna upload them right now on IndieDB. Btw. Alien X-Box Boxes FTW :D
@H-Hour
Can you give me a list of amb sounds you need for this map?
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Crystan, I haven't given it much thought at this point. Will probably just want some general humming noises to go near the big green machines as well as something for the white machines.
But I don't know if the ambient noise is working yet. There were problems with it ages ago when I tried to put background noise on +city.
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You mean the broken sound range thing that mattn wanted to fix months ago? :D
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I made some sounds for the alienbase. I also created a special sound for the wormhole device - i think it sounds really threatening and i hope you gonna use atleast this sound :)
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We are now planning on splitting the alien base into two separate maps, with the player moving immediately from one map to the next through a "lift" in the map. We'll do this to reduce the size of a single map and therefore how much the engine has to render at once.
So here's an update to the layout map I produced a long time ago, showing how I plan on doing this now. The map size might still need to come down more depending on performance.
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Alien base is now integrated into 2.4. It is just one level with lots of hall connecting tiles at the moment. Once I build out more tiles for lab, antimatter, incubation chamber, telemetry, lift to second level, and nutrition plant.
Anyway, here are some pics of the new tiles and the full base (only one assembly now, but more variation once I have more tiles done).
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Dont forget do add the new alien amb sounds. ;D Dont use the outdated files in the misc folder, mattn added them there for unknown reasons. There are new and better sounds in the regular ambience folder.
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Were the misc_sound problems ever fixed?
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I think yes but iam not sure. I renember MCR mentioned something about it in another thread but its saver if you ask MCR or mattn.
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Were the misc_sound problems ever fixed?
Yes.
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Crystan, I've got some of your sounds integrated into the map now. Volumes/attenuations still need some tweaking probably, but it's a start.
I'm holding back a few of the sounds (like the bubbles) for later tiles.
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New tile added: antimatter storage.
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wow - nice map - good job. i really like the containers ;)
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I should mention the pipes are only possible thanks to Sandro's work to fix compilation bugs.