motel6 | Quadropolis

Tranzcoder | 2012-02-25 23:12

motel6

[

points ]

(5 votes)

Blurb Fun and games at your local Motel 6, where we keep the ammo hot for you.

Screenshot motel6

Get original file (145KB)

Detailed description

This is my first Sauerbraten map. Based on a cheap motel chain after staying at one last year.

Map file motel6.ZIP (1.27 MB)

Rating

points

(5 votes)

Comments

unixfreak | 2012-02-26 01:12

Had a quick match with some bots, and i must say it feels very similar to the map venice in terms of moving around the map.

Consistent textures and decent lighting. Looks great :P

Windecker | 2012-02-26 01:59

I played a bot match. It's fun, and like Unix said the movement feels similar to venice.
The visual style is clean. The geometry is simple enough to run quick and looks nice, and people won't have to worry about being bogged down by tons of tiny details. The lighting gets the job done.
Despite the visual repetition on the buildings it doesn't take long to learn the areas and how to get around. I really like the fences and dodging for cover.

Fun to play. I like it.

Suicizer | 2012-02-26 22:31

I would recommend you to check out the newcomers paragraph for maps right here.

Based on those questions, this comment will be done.

Content
01. The screenshot seems to say enough of the map to show how it looks ingame also.
02. The packaging is correct also (good job ^^).

Theme
03. The map shows of being a motel, but it's still missing a lot of details. Really think what is typical to a motel and add those kind of details.

Texturing
04. The textures are fitting their geometry (yet there are still a lot of texture mistakes), but aren't really fitting the theme. For example, the "floor1" texture isn't fitting for being outside a motel. It would fit more in a bathroom or an inside pool.
This also counts for the "floor2" texture.
05. There haven't been used any different texturing techniques as just basic texturing. So what about blending some texture with a high specscale (or envscale) on the floor, to make it look wet on certain places?

Geometry
06. The geometry is very basic, but is fitting the theme. Some more complex geometry would be nice actually because it's all just straight and flat, which is pretty boring.
The fact everything has just been copy-pasted also isn't creating a high value on that.
07. Because it's that basic, the geometry can't be made any more efficient as it is now, but I still would advice you to make it less flat and straight.

Lighting
08. The lighting isn't providing a nice atmosphere at all, as it's all just boring plain white light. There are also (almost) no shadows anywhere, which contributes the boredom of the map.
As your a newcomer, I can't advice you to make it a night-themed map and using the "london" skybox (as that probably would be too hard), but really think aboutusing something else than a light-entity with the parameters "... 150 150 150" and skylight "200 200 190".
09. Keep in mind the SVN version of Sauerbraten also has the sunlight feature (which is pretty nice in such cases as this). This could also be performed by putting a light with parameters light "0 200 170 150".
10. I understand putting the lightprecision to 128 is a very nice thought when testing the lighting (to reduce the calculating time), but set it to like 64 (or 48) for such map. I wouldn't recommend 32 now, because it's a very large map which would count an enormous amount of lightmaps.

Detailing
11. The detailing is something I dislike from the map, all details have been overused. Every area looks very similar to the next area which you access. That's why I would advice you to think about what you would find when running around in a motel. Some ideas of my own are like dispensers, a bucket with a floorcloth (and some wet area), signs like for being under construction or for wet floors. Also having certain parts which look like still being under construction adds some recognising in that specific area, which will make the map look better and easier to navigate through. Another idea is to keep several doors a bit open, so players can only look trough a slit into the room.
12. As the details are also very basic, they can't be more efficienct as they are now. I still would advice you to put an envmap-entity near windows, as that would make them look way better. Be sure to use /recalc afterwards.

Clipping/Noclipping
13. The map seems to be clipped pretty good, but I still would recommend to clip the roofs of the inside building also, as players can access it pretty easy by a simple rocketjump.

Flow
14. The map is having a horrible flow. Keep in mind players always need to be able to jump and strafe freely (so without touching/bumping against anything). This means the ceilings and doorways of buildings, balconies, halls are way too low and should be made higher. The layout also consist only out of very long and tight straight paths, which really kills the fun of moving around (why would you keep heading forward if you can see a very similar area at the end of the hallway?). Try to make it look less monotone.
15. The layout is constructed so you keep running, but it just isn't shaped right for flowing. I like the arrows which makes it a little bit easier to navigate though (it still isn't enough).
16. As I already stated, the map is very flat. This also is 1 of the thins which makes the flow being pretty boring, as there is no difference in being on point A or being on point B.
17. There are plenty of ways to access or leave a room, but they are all just the same. What about some difference between that also?

Gameplay
18. There have been placed a very low amount of pickups for such size of map. I would recommend to place like twice as much as you did now. Also, a yellowarmour (or maybe even 2) wouldn't be a bad idea to add. Also really think about what should be logical to find on your way through the map. Having 3 shells near each other isn't creating a decent gameplay.
Keep in mind it's not all about the health. To be less vulnerable, armours have been invented a while ago and really shouldn't be left out in matches.
There are 71 playerstarts while the map is being very symmetrical. What about making at least 72 playerstarts of that?
19. The doorways which are consisting out of a noclipped door, isn't doing well for the gameplay. Why? Because people can use them very well as a shield while camping. They could stand just right so they can look outside, while quickly walking backwards if they have been spotted or just fired a shot. They also can look through the walls when standing right in those doors.
The position of the flags are pretty bad actually, as players can overview their flag very easy, which makes it almost impassible to get it for the opposite team. This also counts for the bases. Keep in mind flag should be easy to overview, but shouldn't be easy to defend. That makes it way more fun to steal your opponent's flag, while still having the difficulty to bring it to your own base.

Overall
The map isn't bad in first sight, but if you have a bit of a "trained" eye, you certainly can see the flow and gameplay are pretty improper and the map is very monotome. It's not bad for a first attempt though. I'll rate it 5/10 for now.

Justin | 2012-02-26 23:24

I'd have to agree with suicizer on a couple of points.

The walkways feel very narrow. If possible widen the walkways and stairways by one more cube (at whatever scale it was you measured them by)

Also, remove the no-clipped doors. I know it is tempting to put them in and seems very appropriate while editing, but it is very awkward in actual game-play to deal with.

Finally, and this is just my own preference and some people may hate me for it but I think you should allow players to get in a large number of the rooms :D Like in the map venice.

Otherwise, I think this map is great! Don't get discouraged by criticism, take it and improve your map with it and your rating can only go up :)

Keep making maps! I like your style :) For now I give this map a 7/10

AtlasSteal | 2012-02-26 17:21

This map looks nice. Sauer needs more realistic maps it would seem. And as your first map, I like it. Basic but yet attractive :P

MasterTechCC | 2012-02-26 18:01

Not bad for a first map, you have simple but nice geometry, an easy to memorize layout, and lighting that complements the map. Really nice for ctf and capture :D

skiingpenguins | 2012-02-26 20:54

I think you should make more maps :)

Tranzcoder | 2012-02-28 04:42

Thank you for the feedback. Especially Suicizer's detailed analysis.

I tried to keep my first map simple, both with geometry and lighting in order to keep the fps high. Flow wasn't much of a consideration (should have been) as all Motel 6 properties look pretty much the same. I was going for realism.

From the docs; "1 or 2 lightmap textures is very good, over 10 lightmap textures is excessive." I was unable to achieve that with a LP setting lower than 128. What kind of tricks can be used to keep lightmaps texs at min but yet achieve quality lighting effects?

It is tempting to use no-clip doors as they look better. I tried to keep the hallways and doorways in scale with the buildings. I didn't want it to look like kids running around an oversized playground. Is there some rules of thumb for min hallway/doorway dimensions? (I am building a city)

Still working out how to use the .cfg to setup textures and stuff, then I will add some custom assets to future maps.

Thanks again

Windecker | 2012-02-28 13:42

I was always told to go with about 12 lightmaps.
1 or 2 lightmaps will result in very blurry shadows. 12 won't be that sharp either, but will be better.

Suicizer | 2012-02-28 18:42

Thank you for the feedback. Especially Suicizer's detailed analysis.
No problem at all, but I forgot to tell something at detailing; never try to create a perfect world when wanting realism, as the real world isn't perfect at all. This means there should be several "broken" or "unfinished" (as in being under construction, maintenance or what so ever) parts in the map.

"From the docs; "1 or 2 lightmap textures is very good, over 10 lightmap textures is excessive." I was unable to achieve that with a LP setting lower than 128. What kind of tricks can be used to keep lightmaps texs at min but yet achieve quality lighting effects?"
That really depends on what kind of map you've created and what size it is. You can get an equal amount of lightmap textures when having a small and closed map as if you have a large but open map.
Unlike Windecker, I would recommend for maps like this to keep it at 6 or 9 lightmap textures, as that is often enough. You actually shouldn't bother about it yet, fix those other points which I notified you first =P!

I didn't want it to look like kids running around an oversized playground.
Very understandable, but don't forget people can actually cheat on that way (it's actually just a wallhack when players being able to see through walls).

"Is there some rules of thumb for min hallway/doorway dimensions?"
There isn't a straight and clear rule for that, as (almost) every situation can be different (like in caves for example). It's not bad to keep this as a minimum for doorways:
3 default cubes wide (I would recommend 4 though), 4 1/2 default cubes high (I would recommend 5 though).
In that case, you won't bump to anything when jumping (if done properly), but you also have enough space to strafe around. There are always exceptions on this, but those are often performed by mappers with a lot more experience.
Those values can be considered as a minimum for each separate dimension. If you would like to have a higher ceiling as the minimum on doorways, no-one would stop you.