Is texture variation a good idea?

[SuperSimsam]

I'm making a map right now, and Its tech-base themed, and since there's a lot of textures for tech-base levels, I've been making every room uniquely colored. However, those themes are repeated in other rooms (in which I mean a room is themed red and silver, and then that theme is seen in another room of the map, but not right next to it.)

Is this a good idea? I want to know so I can continue texturing the map with some advice. I already know its good to not make you maps rooms look too alike, but I don't want to do it for every room.

[Fonze]

I suppose as long as the areas feel connected in terms of general setting (as opposed to the colors of them) then it'll be relatable. I think you're worrying about it becoming a hodgepodge of clutter, but color variation alone between separate areas should only add to the interest of it.

Now on the other hand, if it was a long, non-interconnected corridor of a map changing between outdoors, techbase, Hell, around and around again then the hodgepodge thing might become a problem, but as long as it's generally relatable (in the sense that an abstract Doom map can be) then I don't think you'll have much to worry about on that front.

Perhaps some screenshots would allow people to help you better, though. All of what I've said are just one man's observations in the most general sense, but I think you may need something a bit more specific than that.

[scifista42]

I agree with Fonze's last paragraph: Whether the map turns out feeling good or bad might depend on your particular execution of the concept, not the concept itself - so it's not really possible to judge without seeing what you've actually made.

Generally, texture variation is good, but IMO, sheer randomness and chaos aren't (mostly).

[NinjaLiquidator]

Také a look at Doom1 Episode2. Its all about chaos and it works.

[purist]

As with most general advise the answer is yes but not too much. What you have described does not sound unreasonable but as others have said, it would need to be seen.

Personally, I don't like a lot of visual clutter so maps with low amount of texture variation maybe get more leeway from me than others. Especially if the texture use is good and the architecture and lighting is done well.

[yakfak]

you should essentially decorate your levels the way that suits you! The one thing I'd suggest when working with large numbers of textures, is to provide a border for textures which don't sit well next to each other, either with support texturing, a slight adjustment in the angle of the wall, with shadow... or with whatever other way you innovate that fits your sense of aesthetics

[SuperSimsam]

Wow! Thanks for all the advice, guys. I'll post some screenshots of the map soon.

[SuperSimsam]

http://imgur.com/a/oOLWN

Here's some screenshots. You'll see some startan stuff, but I just haven't textured that area yet.

[Fonze]

I didn't see anything outrageously offensive, most everything looked like fairly common, nice-looking themes to me, but those little red diamonds on the floor in the 4th shot looked a bit strange and in the 5th shot there's a texture commonly used on door ceilings, FLAT(some number) on the walls. I think it looks nice there, but many people don't seem to like that. It's likely just not good practice.

Also, with that last sentence I should say that if you're new to mapping it is likely best for you to try to map as close to vanilla as you can before taking on the more advanced source ports such as zDoom.

Hope this helps man and hopefully others better at detailing than myself will give you their thoughts as well.

[purist]

Yeah I agree. Not a great deal in those screens to suggest you've overdone it with texture mixing. To add to Fonze's comment I would also say I spotted a few instances were textures looked too flat or end too sharply for the materials they depict. So the textures themselves are not the problem but they just need to appear chunkier or more seperate to the textures directly adjacent.