level design for contest

[ts-falcon]

interesting concept. I think the stone texture on the walls is a bit noisy and distracting, and the other textures need some chips and grime or something to give them som extra ooomph. is this for a public contest? keep at'er!

[Hourences]

Problem with WIP works is that you never know what the author already knows and whats still on his list to fix and whats not..

Geometry is good albeit the backwall is quite empty.
I agree that the stone texture on the backwall is too noisy and too simple and neutral, it makes the large backwall look even more empty. More decorative textures everywhere like a specific pilar texture on all the pillars could have made up better for the low polycount.
Your lighting is much too simple. I assume that the lighting comes from the sky above the level but nothing indicates so. The lighting doesnt seem to have a source, it also doesnt offer many variations in neither color or brightness/shadow spots and the few lamps you have dont seem to cast lighting on the surrounding geometry.
The crate is also a bit too huge.

It has potential, the smaller details near the playable area are better. The door and its big frame and the walkway to it for example are good.

[broli4000]

excellent. Im really happy with the comments you all have left me. The lighting is really simple, but there is no sky light. This is all in a building. All the lights come from the lights above on the main beam and from the side there. Lighting has never really been my thing.

I agree with the back wall. I want to get something there as it is just too plain and simple and kinda distracting. Well the contest is up in like a few days after a month total, so im pretty happy with that especially since I work late every day so, I only get a bit of time a week to work on it. The poly count isnt really low, but low enough at 8714 polygons. I plan on keeping this going after the contest, but for what everyone else is showing, Im not too worried about where Ill place :)


Yeah the contest is public and all. I do want to add some more grime to the whole thing, as it is still too clean. Its kinda funny, but i just got a complement that it looks exactly like a Halo environment in design and in its final beauty shots.

Thanks again for the crits, Keep em coming. Ill try and continue working on this one!

Matt

[JYoung]

One thing you could do is just darken the entire background area to make the rest pop more and lessen the amount of empty space you have. http://www.artofyoung.com/images/lightexample.jpg

[broli4000]

YES!! Wonderful idea. That seems so much better. Let everyone know there is stuff back there, but you cant clearly see it. I love that! Thanks

[psychojohno]

The lighting is a good idea. I would suggest though that for the light source you could make it like its in a volcano sort of thing, just an idea. At the moment it has a very james bond sort of villain hide out feel which is a good thing :thumbsup:

[broli4000]

Thanks psychojohno. I appreciate the complement. How would I make it like in a volcano. Add some red lighing to it from underneath? I could see where that would be cool and if anything would cement it as a James Bond Villian style level. A hideout in some random volcano.

[psychojohno]

Lava would be very cool! I was also thinking having an open top to it (lava hole) sorry i dont know if there is a technical term lol

[broli4000]

hahah, Yeah I dont know if there is. Maybe mother natures blowhole?!?

Ok, so maybe some red lights coming upwards and a small hole up top as likein a volcano. Maybe I should add some death lazer in the future pointing up at the moon or something James Bond Villian like. Or add a master Chief and a Warthog to seal that deal. Or Both...

Halo...James Halo!

[ts-falcon]

just wondering, where is this contest at? peaked my interest :P

[G0st]

im liking the idea so Far but i find that the majority of the meshes are too squared. Try to stay away from just beveling blocks and such, unless thats the theme of course =)

Good job!

[ts-falcon]

G0st good point. nowdays levels are expected to be complex and not resemble primitve shapes, unless that is the specific design. a lot of beginners use beveled edges and octagonal shapes and such to try to add interest but it cant desguise primitive geometry. i would try to get away from the 90 and 45 degree corners and pillars and such. Halo had that problem with its interior environments, they all tended to look an feel the same with straight angles everywhere.So spice things up, image how things would be supported, what would happed in an area to serve the purpose of the shape of the room.
and i agree, fix the size of that cate, its massive! keep at'er man im sure this will be dope.
Cheers

[broli4000]

Yeah I agree with everyone on the general shape of the level and so on. I was actually trying to go for the very blocky linear feel, but I do see your point. I dont really know how to phrase this, but how would I achieve a non linear look for this level? I mean would cylinders help? Or would taking a box and beveling and subdividing to create something else be good. Or would things like pillars be a solid idea? This is one of the probems that I can see that I have in my artwork is it really just ends up being a whole bunch of primitives at different shapes and sizes. But then it turn how would i keep down the poly count if I need to "specially make" something?

The contest is currently at www.lwg3d.com I am the contest moderator, but I think you need to be a member in order to see the thread. Its a group dedicated to Lightwave only users. Feel free to check it out if you would like, and comment on the thread itself. It will be nice to have some new blood :)

Thanks all for the help,

Matt

[Hourences]

Theres nothing wrong with simple low poly shapes in a level, years ago that was all that was possible and levels still looked great. The point is to make most out of the most simple shapes, its kind of abstract art. Have a cube resemble just about anything with a few simple modifications.
In an environment like these 90 degree corners should only be used very rarely, vertex edit everything so there are no real straigth corners, use multiple rows of things, big bars and pillars and interconnect different architectural elements so they seem to support each other and create a bigger feel of "unity". One and the same building.
Levels from UT/Quake/HL have fewer polys than your level yet look more interesting because they avoid having huge empty walls and because they apply sufficiently detailed texturing to their architecture. You applied a simple flat base texture to most things, thats not going to hide anything.
They also apply better and more interesting lighting with which they hide the low poly feel of everything. Lighting makes or breaks a level.

[broli4000]

Oh ok awesome. Well ?I will be posting some more pics soon and then after the contest is done, I will go ahead and make changes to the whole thing. Creating better textures, doing better lighting and having just a better feel overall. With everyones help of course!

Thanks again hourences!

Matt

[broli4000]

Here is the link to the contest thread. Again you all may need to become members to view this particular thread, but it is free and easy to do.

http://lwg3d.com/forums/showthread.php?p=100140708#post100140708

[broli4000]

Alright everyone. I have soem good news. A company had seen this wonderful peice of work and had wanted to modify it and put it into a demo. Now the terms that I had recieved was that they wanted it to look more like a cavern. Something along the lines of Lord Of The Rings type of thing. It is set to be for a 3rd person hack and slash type of game for a next-gen platform. How would be the best way to do this. And what type of poly count should this be?

I want to do well for this company, but they havent gotten me any details yet, but I wanted to get a start on it as soon as possible.

Thanks for all the help ladies and gents!

Matt

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