Map Release : StormSiege v3 (pictures : 56k warning)

[KaiserJ]

finished tweaking and fixing this the other day... it's been a work in progress on and off for some time now, and after having made a bit of a breakthrough in my texturing methodology, it seems like the present is a good time to finish up and release.

> overview


iz dat sum mini DsD?

StormSiege v3

- 8x16
- no water (dry land map)
- 16 start positions
- would likely play best in games of 4v4.

my idea was to break open the DsD gameplay, while still keeping some of the same feeling.

instead of 2 ramps feeding the middle area, there are now 6, as well as some steep "goat paths" that can only be climbed by bots. the hilly area above the basin is also more open, there are many paths to assault and raid the ridges rather than just one route.

the basin itself has been enriched with delicious metal in a delineated pattern, to make it more of a tactical advantage to take the basin, while trying to avoid obvious map prompted cases of "porc on this line."

the base areas should be more accessible by raids, which in turn will reduce porc leves.

> details of basin area

> view of basin from rear ridge

> view of rear ridge from high above the basin


just a bit about the process... in a previous thread, someone had shown me a bit about the basics of adding starts and working with an SMD file, so thanks for that, the knowledge was used.

in the case of the SMD, i think my big problem was that i just didn't see the POINT of what i was doing there, seemed like a lot of wasted effort, but with this map i realized that in order for it to look half decent, i was going to have to adjust a lot of the SMD settings... and i think i've done a decent job of it, but more than that i realize the value of fixing my climate to match my map, and will continue to try in the future.

i wont go into too much detail about the texturing (although i'd be happy to answer any questions) but it's basically a SpringMapEdit generated texture using a few tricks and customized tile textures, with an overlay of processed vector images created in Fireworks... i figured out a process that lets me work with and texture massive images without too much processor lag... and i'm working my way up, next map will probably be significantly larger.

city map is next (iz dat sum tab2?)

anyways. any comments / critiques are welcome, i aim to please.

[smoth]

just a comment but i think it is very pretty and sounds good. I don't really care for the dirt roads into the basin but still looks good.

[Gota]

looks nice

[Pxtl]

Love the look of it, except for the roads. Can't wait to try it.

[imbaczek]

yah roads should end on ramps, otherwise looks good, if a little thin. 12x16 would be better IMHO.

[SirArtturi]

I like the style and "climate" It really looks pretty good. smoth's skybox fit in the landscape perfectly as far i can see from screenshots. Roads are good and so are the "platform" areas.

However i agree with smoth about dirt roads and Id like to point out one more thing for improvement. It would really add some depth and clear out the gameplay if you would make some shadows and use shading for your texture. Im not sure if it is possible with springmapedit.

Maybe if you would use some other rendering program and combine it with your photoshop method I think you would get even better results!

[KaiserJ]

thanks so much for the kind words guys, i went outside to shovel and was pleasantly surprised

to address the issue of the roads : yeah, they look bad... you know when dogs poop and then pull themselves along the carpet with their front paws?

initially, i planned to use an even more contrasting texture for them, so that they would be easily visible... (they serve a purpose in some parts of the map, as they show the actual paths that units take to reach certain areas... very rewarding to see units actually following the roads, adds to the degree of immersion and realism IMO) ... anyways, i ended up with something that looked like someone had puked fish and chips all over a cobblestone street.

my fallback plan (like i said, this was a WIP, and i felt like finishing something off) was just to match the roads with the mud... and for sure, we can all agree that they look pretty terrible (although to me they look perhaps not as bad merely because i know what came before)... in hindsight they certainly look out of place on the map.

in future, i'll probably put more thought into matching them better, so that they blend more seamlessly with the landscape and appear more believeable... because from looking around the map, there is logically nowhere that brown mud of that type would even come from in a landscape of yellowish sand and blue-grey rock. my other thought is to use my heightmap as a mask, so that i can vary the color and transparency of the roads according to their elevation.

artturi : i'll have to catch you in the mapping channel and have a chat with you at some point; i've had a few ideas in terms of post-processing shadows onto my maps... you're aware of my thus-far misadventures with bryce already... the other thought i had was to re-process in a similar way, using my heightmap and texturemap and plonking it into 3dsmax with a lightsource etc (merely because i have more experience with max, not sure what my results would be like though.)

but yes... i'll be bugging you sometime soon about the whole bryce thing, as well as this WICed that i've heard good things about. nice to have a strong, supportive mapping community!

and yes! the smothbox was killer... i was looking through the skybox sticky and that one really stood out to me as something that would match well. kudos to smoth for that; i credited him on jobjol but in retrospect his name should have gone into the smd.

[smoth]

well, honestly, I liked the designs in the ground so much that I almost don't want the roads at all. The designs create a lot of interest and that muddy stuff kinda blends them in rather than allow them to stand out and be awesome.

as far as shadows go, you can grab just shadows out of worldmachine/l3dt if you really want to and then overlay with a darken or burn.

[Beherith]

Great work!
First off, there seems to be an insane amount of metal on this map, even tho its just 1.8 per mex, which might be viable for 8v8, but the map itself is quite small for that. Unless the start boxes are restricted a bit, its worth starting as close as possible to the front.

The small roads look off, but the ones leading to your custom geo spots look good.
Shading is definatly needed, cause its harder to tell the hills dimensions without them. Also, this might be cause by your sun being near 90 degrees, so shadows dont give clues either. Also, map is quite gray altogether, if you want to add some warmth, you might wanna yellow the lighting a bit.

Love the vector gfx bits.

[Quanto042]

Looks very smexy. I can't wait to try it myself. Great job theres!

[KaiserJ]

but metal is so delicious! my com loves to om nom nom it.

haha you're probably right; i just wanted to ensure that there were mass quantities in the basin as opposed to the highlands, but i think in retrospect that i may have gone a bit overboard... but i mean, DsD was designed for 5v5 max (or so they say) but people regularly play 8v8 on autohosts... i wanted to make absolutely sure that even in a massive game, there would not be any of those "2 mex and then walk 20 miles uphill for the next one" spawns.

seems to me that everyone agrees preshadowing would be win, so that will definately be included in my next texture.

again, thanks to all for the kind words, especially about those funky texture patterns!

now i'm off to bully someone into hosting!

[MidKnight]

We just played a game on this.

It's excellent! especially in CA, where it accommodates lots of unique tactics (for example, google frog used a cloaker creep strategy, which let his get a gigantic army into the enemy base lol, and I made like 10 aircons, flew them right up to the edge of the enemy defences, and built my veh factory there)

Some problems, though:
the texture is a little too busy, making it hard to tell the difference between it and the gui . maybe for later maps of this type make it a little simpler, and less brownish?

also, maybe a radially symmetrical mex spot texture? and more contrasting paths (if you find a way to do that without causing epic road fail )

[Frostregen]

wow, impressive :)

[MidKnight]

frostregen! you're back!

[Umrug]

Hi!
Another good map! :)
1 - yes the roads, keep them but perhaps change the hue a bit
2 - startpositions - take a look at the way they are done in the other maps - position 2 is all the way across from 1, then 3 is on the 1's side but also far from 1 (if possible), then 4 is again far from 1 etc. This is done so that if people play with AI or fixed start pos enemies in 1v1 or 2v2 game will start on different sides. Currently your map is unplayable with AI, hope you fix it.
3 - no there is not too much metal, at least not for NOTA
4 - metal spot texture is a bit strange, not clear what did you mean with it... But at least its visible so it'll do.
5 - bigger maps are the way to victory, we seriously need some quality bigger maps

Yay!

[hunterw]

Kaiser takes the mapping plunge!!

Aesthetically, its a bit awkward looking due to the roads. The non-road texture work looks good. The concrete circles on the east end of the map could be beveled out a little bit with heightmap just to break up the flatness and accentuate your texture work (although the slope should still allow vehicles to pass).
Folsom dam is the gold standard for blending natural terrain and man-made stuff. I always like seeing maps that do this, as they always look unique.

Gameplay...well I have to play it to comment here. Looks like it could work well. Lots of metal, yeah, but its all in highly contested areas that are very raidable, so mex there won't stay alive for an entire game. For any 4v4 map only 8 units narrow, porc is almost inevitable, but hopefully with less cliff faces and more kbot trails this will be minimized. Then again, cliff faces can actually reduce porc by offering airlift / all terrain paths to the enemy base, especially when coupled with low resources in those areas, but with 8x16 there's not really room for that.

Great work. Hurry with that tab2, I am getting bored!

[KaiserJ]

i tested it last night, had a blast.

in small games at least (played a 1v1, and a few 2v2) my reduced porc idea seemed to work well... the ridges on the west of the map blocking LOS coupled with the fact that there are so many paths to take really enhanced the raiding aspect of the gameplay... makes a big difference when you can roll in behind the basins porc wall on one of the many ramps, especially if you have radar jammers in place. i have yet to play a 4v4 though.

however... there was a mistake, theres a mex without a metal spot at the north end of the map...

so if i'm going to re-compile... i might as well re-texture... so wave byebye to those ugly roads! something else will be there. and who knows, if i feel up to it, perhaps even some preshadowing

hunter : i've tried the bevelling with the concrete plates before in another map, and it looks great... however, someone made the mistake of making a vech factory directly in front of the bevelled area, and that screwed him over to no end.... it's something i'll defenitely work into my next map, but with due consideration. you pro mappers raise the bar high with your work, lots to learn and consider, playing catchup here

umrug : heheh i havent forgotten your request for a square chickens map, nor have i forgotten your encouragement and kind words! not sure if you saw my responses to your comments in PM on the lobby the other day, but i'll re-state : i'm working my way up to massive chicken maps, right now the biggest consideration is processor power when compiling (hey, i mean, i could just go ahead and use a basic texture for a big map... but wheres the fun in creating it if i do that ) so yes. in the near future, expect a 12x12 "defend the corner" chicken map; similar stylistically to chicken roast.... and in the distant hazy future? a 20x20 "defend the middle" a la chicken square.

anyways... back on the topic of this map... im not sure exactly what i wanted my mexes to look like... but i think i have a bit of a better idea now, something with radial symmetry was mentioned by midknight and i like the idea, so in the new version the mexes will likely look more akin to sewer grates, or those nice industrial spots on the top of folsom (but round ones!)

the start spots; i hadn't really considered that, i just sort of patted myself on the back for finally making a map with proper ones... i had the notion that if you set the ID of your AI bot, it would start on the corresponding numeric start position... but if that's false then it defenitely needs a change too.

on the topic of bigger maps... i remember watching this kung fu movie where this monk dude had a daughter that he forced to wear lead shoes and practice kung fu every day. the idea was that she would learn to move and act normally with the shoes on and become used to them... so that when the time came to defend herself, she removed her shoes and was able to leap 30 feet in the air and kick everyones ass because she was so strong. the computer i'm using right now is essentially a pair of lead shoes... when i get a new one, i'll be flying through the air, making maps, kicking ass and taking names. that is to say, i feel that i'm limited creatively by the hardware currently at my disposal, but that will soon change.

the tab remake... "fabula" (working title lol) will be 16x12, and feature similar delineation of the gameplay meaning more paths between upper and lower levels, more LOS interference, a more penislike bertha hill (but with veins that kbots can climb) and two folsom-esque dams, one for either side, running along the back of the pools of water to allow the previously "trans up here at the start or forget about it" hills to be more accessible.

[adin_panther]

Woa, really nice :)

[Hoi]

You know, if you mirror it to be a 16x16, and then make it smaller, like 12x12 it's a very cool 8 (+) player ffa map.

[adin_panther]

I agree. I think i'd try the ultimate porcing in the center then, it's so tempting ...