Devler - Into the depths of a cavernous mining facility. This has been quite the labor of love for me, and I've still got quite a bit to go. Below are some progress images, and yes, I'll be looking for some testers soon if anyone is interested. Nothing is final or attractive yet. My goals were to start "functionally ugly". That means nailing layout and then refining. I'm in the second phase of development where I'm cleaning up and optimizing the play spaces. The third phase will be propping out the map, adding tons of lighting (as the entire map will be enclosed in rock) and sweetening the assets/look. Feedback/Comments appreciated! Phase 1 - Functionally Ugly Phase 2 - Optimizing and polishing room layout - here's an example section: Testing enclosed space with lighting. This isn't the final treatment, just an atmosphere and mood test: Similar to the above phase 1 image, getting close to completing the second phase. I've added an additional section as well. Just showing process for taking a rough layout into a bit more of an attractive place Center of the map: Much more coming to this thread, I'm quite further than the images. I'm wrestling max object count and lightmap at 125%. I'm trying to stay focused so I can get this finished, but good lord can this be overwhelming. Any advice, tips, etc would be appreciated - this is my first forge map. Thanks, -Jon
Looks good so far! Don't worry about the Lightmap until you finishing placing all the pieces you want and start working on lights. If your Lightmap budget gets huge you can also go to an object's properties and turn off light bake to reduce the Lightmap budget.
Looks interesting! Don't forget about spawns, flags, etc (it sucks to finish a map and then realize you still have to place all those D: )
This is the second reason why it's good to not immediately delete the initial spawn platform on a blank canvas. Saves a chunk of your budget for later use in spawn placements. Also yeah, I would probably not worry about lightmap until the last thing. You can turn off light bake, change object colour/texture slightly to change how everything looks together. You can normally get it down to around 100% without it being a massive problem..
Some more updates here. I'm testing the enclosed space and lighting and atmosphere - it's super WIP and mostly wrong but I want to get a sense for what it might be like I removed my duplicated half so that I could just focus in on finishing before getting too overwhelmed. When the map was whole, I was making fixes here and there and seeing too many areas to improve. Also, trying to enclose yourself in rock and fill gaps and holes was driving me wild, especially because I couldn't slew around outside. Cutting in half has really helped: Made some improvements to the elevated catwalk. Added glass and supports so an enemy below could chuck a grenade up. Playing with colors too. Thinking about using a blue/green for track lighting and using a soft purple fog. Accent color might be soft yellow/orange. Who knows: That's all for now. Hope to get it pushed to the end soon! -Jon
Hello everyone. I was able to dive back in for a little bit last night. As I've said earlier, I cut the symmetrical map in half which has allowed me to focus on final details without getting overwhelmed. The most challenging part has been enclosing the map in rock (it's some kind of underground mining facility) because I constantly find little holes going to the outside or I end up making big moves only to find intersecting geometry on the other side. It is getting closer however, and I'm starting to play with material response and colors as well as getting excited about lighting (which I shouldn't be doing just yet). Wanted to share a couple more shots: This image is from the center of the map. While lighting is FAR from complete, I wanted to see what it would look like if I have strong silhouettes over lit spaces. The area on the left you can clamber to, but not the one on the right - the one on the right is inspired by the running floor slide stuff you can do in Fathom. This image is from the top of the catwalk looking down. I'm having a tough time with colors in general - I wish there was a color wheel instead of pre-selected colors... The amount of lights I think I'm going to use really scares me when it comes to object count. I've dumped a lot of time into this map so far and my fingers are crossed that I don't run into any huge snags here as I get close to the end. Anyways, till next time! -Jon
Man this looks amazing so far, i really hope the current lighting bugs don't hurt you too much in customs. Really impressive overall from what you have shown for theme and mood, also looks like a very creative layout. Can't wait to see this in a playable state. I'd love to try this out when you want to test it. GT: xXxMENTALxXx
More updates: This project is going to kill me As you know, I've split the map in half to help focus in. My object count is way over 512 (half) and because I'm spending a lot of time lighting from black, lights are making the object count soar. There's going to be at least 100 lights by the time I duplicate the other half back over. One light isn't enough, I need to create bounce information as well as additional fill. I've tried to streamline assets and spaces as much as possible but I'm really struggling. Might need to get an experienced Forger to come in and give me a second opinion on my pieces. Either way, I'm starting to get close. This view is from the middle, looking into one of the bases. I really want that section rather dark and have bright silhouettes over the openings. You can clamber up the wall. This is from inside one of the bases. This is the "blue base". There will be a red base equivalent with it's own lighting scheme and red mining suit: No telling how this thing plays, hahaha! I'm not a terribly experienced designer, I was more interested in Forge from an art perspective (as I art in my day job). This was supposed to be my January project and now I'm into February and still not finished. Hopefully I'll get a group together soon to start testing this fella out. Thanks for the comments and feedback so far, -Jon
Oh my god. My brain. My eyes. Just took a look. Talk about beautiful - it honestly feels like a campaign level. Can't comment much on how it plays without the other half, but when you get it done, I'd love to run it through a few lobbies. Something you might want to look at if you're short on pieces is moving it from a 4v4 to a 2v2. The current size is just about right for 2v2, though you'd probably want to rework some of the design if you go that route. You said it was a January project right? Maybe you could aim for the 2v2 Throwdown competition for this, since the submission date is March 1st? Whatever you do, keep doing it! The map looks great =)
Gorgeous map dude, especially with the lighting added in. I'll have to give it a download later and poke around in it. Keep up the good work!
Minor update: Getting close to finalizing the half map, then it's time to duplicate over, change some red/blue side colors, and then polish final. Wanted to show you guys the flooded cavern section: This is honestly where the idea for the map started. I had the notion to build in the water of one of the forge worlds, totally am blanking on the name now, and then build the subterranean environment around it. I think a few people have done this now, and because it's taking me forever to finish this, I'm late to the party. Only real issue here is the water reflects the exterior environment so I've used red and blue lights to sort of match the reflected colors to help make it less jarring. Another challenge was fitting the natural elements (rocks and terrain pieces) into this section without them poking out through other areas - it was a real pain in the ass. Send me positive "finish this map" vibes. I'd like to get this out to everyone soon regardless of my perfectionism - I've put too many hours into this to not release it. Thanks! -Jon
It's also totally okay to release this as a beta - polish it until it's ready to go, put it out there, and then make changes based on that feedback. I promise you, something this jaw dropping will be noticed. ^_^ Also, please post here when it's playable, even if it's not done visually... I really want to test this out in gameplay! Good luck man, you're getting close... =)