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.: UPDATED :. Hell's Teeth
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.: UPDATED :. Hell's Teeth
Last edited by Weaver on 07 Mar 2006, 01:05, edited 2 times in total.
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Forboding Angel
- Evolution RTS Developer
- Posts: 14673
- Joined: 17 Nov 2005, 02:43
I kinda dig the idea, however it looks pretty bland. A simple retexture would do wonders for it.
A little variation in height in the corners wouldn't hurt either. You need something to set the spikey thingies apart from the flatland. As it is now, it's a little hard to see how the start and end.
Features would help, but trust me, I know you can't just pull em out of your ass like ppl seem to think.
THerefore, a simeple retexture would be just fine. If you still use l3dt, you can look over my tutorial and I kinda outline how to make a custom climate (actually the climate I posted is my evergreen climate. I use that same template for pretty much all my climates). In this way you could achieve an totally unique look.
Really nifty idea tho. Definately a plus on originallity.
A little variation in height in the corners wouldn't hurt either. You need something to set the spikey thingies apart from the flatland. As it is now, it's a little hard to see how the start and end.
Features would help, but trust me, I know you can't just pull em out of your ass like ppl seem to think.
THerefore, a simeple retexture would be just fine. If you still use l3dt, you can look over my tutorial and I kinda outline how to make a custom climate (actually the climate I posted is my evergreen climate. I use that same template for pretty much all my climates). In this way you could achieve an totally unique look.
Really nifty idea tho. Definately a plus on originallity.
New version on FU
http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=2563
http://www.fileuniverse.com/?p=showitem&ID=2563
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SwiftSpear
- Classic Community Lead
- Posts: 7287
- Joined: 12 Aug 2005, 09:29
Hey, just wanted to say two things:
1. This map is total proof that when the ground cannot be deformed, then pathfinding doesn't eat CPU very badly. Playing NanoBlob's current build with hundreds of fancy-schmancy S3Os traveling the tortuous route through the "teeth", lots o' auto-death going on, etc... whereas maps like Castles can hit the 20+% CPU usage with just 50 units sitting still shooting the GROUND... I was at 25% with me and an AI both duking it out... no strain, and it still plays well.
2. For Blobs, this is a great map. Heck, I may just quit using EuroGreen (yes, EuroGreen, don't laugh) as one of the primary test maps for the mod, and use this instead. Like EuroGreen (yes, EuroGreen, which, if you look at it as a game-designer, is actually interesting), this map effectively breaks the campaign area into small zones, makes certain units/approaches much more relevant than others, and breaks LOS... without creating too few chokepoints, allowing for an invulnerable defense. Pretty neato, and when NanoBlobs is out, I suspect people will have a ball playing cat-and-mouse in this map.
But, unlike EuroGreen, it looks good doing it (sorry, Genblood, I like some of your newer creations, but while I love EuroGreen's basic concept, the execution, artwise, really isn't so hot).
My only real beef is that the heightmap does some very strange things at the ends of the corners- units occasionally try to climb straight up, which is kind've funny to watch, and that ... if this is supposed to be a petrified forest... I'd like to see some more organic, less regular shapes to the "roots", and really, I'd prefer that they weren't so ridiculously vertical- iow, like most real roots, they should gradually climb from the ground level up to the trunk. Feel free to ignore me, because I know this would basically just about require the map to get rebuilt... but I think if it was built that way, it'd be more interesting, and more true to the premise, and also not have heightmaps causing my bigger units to clip through things.
I should really sit down and do a map at some point, so that I can figure out how much of a pain it'd be to rework this- making heightmaps is easy (I have a method that I use for bumpmaps that's very straightforward, if you know how to use shader nodes) but texturing something that large would probably drive me insane, with my love of detail directly clashing with my desire to actually get things done
1. This map is total proof that when the ground cannot be deformed, then pathfinding doesn't eat CPU very badly. Playing NanoBlob's current build with hundreds of fancy-schmancy S3Os traveling the tortuous route through the "teeth", lots o' auto-death going on, etc... whereas maps like Castles can hit the 20+% CPU usage with just 50 units sitting still shooting the GROUND... I was at 25% with me and an AI both duking it out... no strain, and it still plays well.
2. For Blobs, this is a great map. Heck, I may just quit using EuroGreen (yes, EuroGreen, don't laugh) as one of the primary test maps for the mod, and use this instead. Like EuroGreen (yes, EuroGreen, which, if you look at it as a game-designer, is actually interesting), this map effectively breaks the campaign area into small zones, makes certain units/approaches much more relevant than others, and breaks LOS... without creating too few chokepoints, allowing for an invulnerable defense. Pretty neato, and when NanoBlobs is out, I suspect people will have a ball playing cat-and-mouse in this map.
But, unlike EuroGreen, it looks good doing it (sorry, Genblood, I like some of your newer creations, but while I love EuroGreen's basic concept, the execution, artwise, really isn't so hot).
My only real beef is that the heightmap does some very strange things at the ends of the corners- units occasionally try to climb straight up, which is kind've funny to watch, and that ... if this is supposed to be a petrified forest... I'd like to see some more organic, less regular shapes to the "roots", and really, I'd prefer that they weren't so ridiculously vertical- iow, like most real roots, they should gradually climb from the ground level up to the trunk. Feel free to ignore me, because I know this would basically just about require the map to get rebuilt... but I think if it was built that way, it'd be more interesting, and more true to the premise, and also not have heightmaps causing my bigger units to clip through things.
I should really sit down and do a map at some point, so that I can figure out how much of a pain it'd be to rework this- making heightmaps is easy (I have a method that I use for bumpmaps that's very straightforward, if you know how to use shader nodes) but texturing something that large would probably drive me insane, with my love of detail directly clashing with my desire to actually get things done
I'm counting that as high praise, maybe I should feel guilty for not releasing it for 4 months!
I came up with petrified forest idea, 2 mins before I uploaded it If I had planned it that way all along I would have made the butress roots more organic looking. If anyone finds a serious issue with the map I will redo it that way.
I came up with petrified forest idea, 2 mins before I uploaded it
If I had planned it that way all along I would have made the butress roots more organic looking. If anyone finds a serious issue with the map I will redo it that way.
Ah, sorry, bad credit on my part. At any rate, I think EuroGreen's a fine map... from a game-design standpoint, and I've been using it as one of the core test maps for NanoBlobs, along with Ashap Plateau and The Cold Place. All three maps play nicely with Blobs, do not deform (or deform very little) are not huge, and are actually fairly good for competition play, and each one really emphasize different tactical approaches- I figure that when it plays well on those three, then it's probably about right. I think that Hell's Teeth is a contender, though. I'm not sure how people playing AA/XTA will react to it- I haven't tried it with those mods, and I hope that you can build on the centers of the "teeth" to establish area control, or the map could have serious problems with defensive crossfire making land attacks impractical. NanoBlobs doesn't have those problems, in part because static defense isn't... ah... quite the same as in most mods... and because of other factors.