[WIP] Vela Pax (on hiatus)

[bytor]

sweet muther of jeezus!

I'm about to give up on my mapping attempts.

Looks fantabulous, Mechadon.

'Stock' monsters, too?

[Mechadon]

Thanks a lot for the comments guys! I'm glad you guys like how it's coming out :)

bytor said:

'Stock' monsters, too?

Yup, stock everything! The only thing I've sorta bent the rules on are new textures from existing patches. And I've only done one or two of those. Oh yea, and the sky textures too...those are brand new :P

[Vader]

Seems like this is coming along nicely, good work!
I'm looking forward to a release :)

[Guest]

On a flash drive, I have a folder where I save great looking map screens for when I need inspiration. And dammit Mech, most of the screens in this thread are going to have to wind up in there.

Good stuff. :)

[Mechadon]

I guess it's about that time for some new screenshots. As usual, ignore the lack of lighting, unclipped midtextures, unfinished areas/HOMs, etc. Here we go:





I apologize if they are too big.

http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100707_015541.png
http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100707_015704.png
http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100707_015725.png

Hey Kyka, maybe there's some more shots here you can use for inspiration? I like looking at shots of maps I like for ideas and motivation. I'm always happy to help ya out with that :D

With the way things have gone so far with this map, I think it's pretty safe to say that it's going to be another monster :P. Maybe not quite as big as MAP03 but it'll probably be pretty close. Thank goodness I won't have to worry about the SEGS limit anymore! Though I do believe there is still a sidedef limit...hopefully I won't get close to that one :P. I'm still working on brand new areas and not so much existing layouts. And it feels like I've done quite a bit of work already.

The map should look much much better once I get around to doing the lighting. I'm planning on making most of the reds be full bright to make them look all hot and contrasty against the rest of the textures. The lava will all be full bright as well (done with transfer brightness); sorta like what I did in that one Greenwar 2 map. No one really liked it for deathmatch but, from what I remember, it would have looked pretty neat in a singleplayer setting. I dunno, we'll see :P

[Super Jamie]

Delicious. If there's anyone who can make that Mario-style brick texture work well, it's you.

[Mechadon]

Super Jamie said:

If there's anyone who can make that Mario-style brick texture work well, it's you.

Haha! I was just getting ready to make an edit about that texture. I'm still not entirely sure I'm digging it but I was really pressed hard for some non-brown colors, especially in the brick department. I'm glad you think it looks good though, that makes me feel better about using it :D

*edit*

Not to mention it's another one of those textures where the dividing lines aren't standard 2-4-8-16-32 mp, which really makes me want to scoop out my eyeballs with a spoon. qoipejrankiofusdf :X

[Super Jamie]

Admittedly it's only because the low light washes out the SUPER WOLF3D BRIGHTNESS of it and software-mode lighting dithers nicely.

See how it goes, you can always find/replace later :P

[esselfortium]

Looks gorgeous. http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100707_015541.png is especially epic-looking.

And I like the red bricks here.

[Insane_Gazebo]

That looks fucking glorious :) Hope it isn't too easy :P

[Vader]

Very nice Mechadon! I'm curious to see those areas with lighting done :)

[Mechadon]

Thanks for the comments guys, I do appreciate it :D. I'm hoping it will 'pop' like I want it to once the lighting is done. If it does, it should look pretty cool. Also now that I've gotten some more reassurance about the red bricks, I think I'll probably end up keeping them. And really, I'm not even sure what I could replace them with at this point anyways.

[40oz]

Ya never really see red bricks these days. It's about time someone starts using them.

[franckFRAG]

I looked all screens and I'm impressed! The layout is Interesting, and the way which you uses the textures is original.

I wait with impatience the release of wad :) good work!

[iori]

Looks awesome! I especially love that great block of SP_ROCK surrounded by brown brick and the wood skulls in the center. That just reeks Doom2 to me, in the best way possible. Abstract architecture makes iori happy.

[Dutch Doomer]

The best part is still to come as soon as you start doing the lighting, the atmosphere will improve greatly. Cool to see you using textures that I usually avoid like the plaque.

[Sporku]

Sometimes I find myself wishing I were you... just saying. Let me know if you need beta testers, I'd be more than glad to help out. :)

[Mechadon]

Yea, the lighting should really make it pop in a really cool way. I want the stuff like the lava and the reds to be full bright against a more dismally-lit background to give it that really hot and foreboding look. Hopefully it'll come out the way I'm shooting for.

Thanks again for all the comments guys :). I took a short break from mapping but I'm getting ready to hop back on it. I've gotten a pretty good chunk done since the last time I posted shots, so I may have to throw some more in here pretty soon.

AgentSpork said:

Let me know if you need beta testers, I'd be more than glad to help out. :)

Awesome! I really appreciate your help. I'll be sure to send it your way when the time comes :D

[darkreaver]

Wow, looks really nice. "Modern old-school" :D

This really inspired me to start on my new project (which I have been drawing down and written tons of ideas to the past months!) Wrote down at least three new ideas just by looking at these screens :) (probably shouldnt have said that...prepare for total rip-off hehe...nah :))

[Guest]

So anyways, I am looking at all these new screenies.

I don't think I have seen pics that manage to look so completely different while still using only stock textures.

Correct me if I am wrong, but there are a few textures from Doom, rather than Doom2, yeah? (I have been working on my project for so long, which has Doom1 and 2 textures all together, that I forget which comes from which).

Amazing stuff Mech. Looking forward to this.

Also, I would happily offer my services as a playtester, but my comp is currently dead, so I may not be in a position to do so just at the moment. But if I can, I will help out in that regard once things get sorted.

[40oz]

Yeah I located some REDWALL1, SKINBORD, SKINTEK, and LITERED, which are Doom 1 textures. Also there is quite evidently some lavafall textures in the 4th shot. Bloodfalls would make a pretty good alternative and can pass off as lavafalls.

I'm kinda interested in what the gameplay is gonna be like. The huge open areas and extreme height variation is kinda threatening for me. Are you gonna have revenants and imps sniping me from every angle?

[Mechadon]

40oz is right, there are Doom 1 textures in here as well :]. Merging them into my TEXTURES lump was a huge pain in the ass but I really wanted to make use of those textures. For example, REDWALL1 is one of those "must have" textures for me when it comes to Doom-style hell maps. And the rest are also useful as well.

I made an exception with a few of the additional textures. I'd say pretty much all of the maps are gonna have some sort of liquid in them, so I broke down and decided to add-in the various liquid fall textures. The ones that aren't directly a part of Doom are recolors of the original textures, so I let it slide. The added peace of mind I get from having those textures match their liquid flats seemed to be worth it; aesthetically speaking, it would drive me absolutely nuts if they didn't match :P.

So gameplay...well for the project as a whole, it's hard to say. I might have a better perspective to describe it once I get working on the next map. For the map I'm working on though, I'm definitely looking for it to be on the edge of overwhelming. I don't think it will be horde-style exactly, but I do want it to be pretty difficult. Given the architecture, yes, there will most likely be some Rev/Imp sniping going on :P. And there was a little bit of that going on in the original map too. As you progress into more inside areas, the gameplay will likely shift to some more close combat encounters; maybe not as much as it was in the original, but it will be similar. And then it's possible that that could change. A lot of my idea processes for gameplay happen when I'm going through and placing things. So my goals may end up getting tweaked or changed completely when I reach that point. My main goal, though, is to keep it from completely sucking. I really hope my playtesters will help me out on that one.

Perhaps a better way to get an idea on the gameplay would be to let the playtesters of MAP03 to say a few words about it. So far Super Jaime, esselforitum, and Jimmy91 have played the map (that I can remember). While the two maps won't be the same style exactly, I guess it would help shed a little more light on that aspect.

@Kyka: Sorry to hear your computer is busted :(. I'll keep you in the loop though. Whenever you get a working machine, I'd be very happy to have your help!

[Mechadon]

I figured I'd bumpdate this and throw some shots up.



http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100922_005410.png
http://mekworx.phenomer.net/mekastuff/pics/screenshots/vela%20pax/Screenshot_Doom_20100922_005426.png

I feel like I'm working on this map just to post screenshots :P. It seems like it's taking forever to put dents into this thing. Ironically, these are rooms that I finished [more or less] before my month break from the project. Everything I've done since a few days ago is partially done but there's areas around them that I haven't even touched yet.

The inside areas seem to be coming together pretty well. Right now I'm working on more outside areas, and there's so much open space to fill in that it's proving to be a little bit more work than I'd thought. Not to mention it's getting pretty fuckin' huge.

I'll probably have some more varied areas to screenshot later on. Comments and critiques are appreciated :)

Also I can't seem to edit the OP. Not sure what's up with that. Just to clarify, this project is no longer on hold.

[esselfortium]

Looks damned nice, particularly the first two. Lighting is flat, but if I recall you're not doing lighting yet for whatever reason, so there you go. Looking forward to this. :)

[Mechadon]

Thanks essel :). I did the lighting as a separate step after the structures/layout in MAP03 so I figured I'd just go with the same approach here. Not really sure why, I guess I just focus easier on the architecture and layout that way.

[Joshy]

Damn. Don't think I've commented yet but these screenies make me giggle like a school girl. You've managed to give these stock textures really solid and nice physical shapes.. if that made sense. Hee hee hee. :P

[Carnevil]

Looks really damn nice! Great job, Mek!

[Shanoa]

Looking good Mech, personally loving the first shot.

[jute]

The first shot really reminds me of the Fodrian library dungeons from this Quake episode: http://quakewiki.net/archives/underworld/hofcontractrevoked.html . Everything looks great.

[DeathevokatioN]

I really hope this plays as good as it looks!