[Duel/FFA] Erbium

This is the first release of my submission for Duel map competition. Map has its second name (Circularis) but ERBIUM was simplier. Most models and textures are mine. The waterfall sound was edited but original was done by Unfa.
Gameplay should be mostly vertical, lots of trickjumps and angles for shooting. One area (mega) with long range weapons advantage, mostly splash weapons.

Small version compressed by Mario:

ERBIUM-R2.PK3 (11.5 MB)

To launch the map: Place erbium-r1.pk3 file in your Xonotic/data folder, launch the game, choose 'multiplayer'/'create' select the map and press 'start multiplayer'

Screenshots:







https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9049...um-r16.jpg

Imagine the place where industrial factory is overcame by nature: Ivy, trees, moss and fern, waterfalls... Now see, there was a mad scientist who lived in this abandoned factory for a few weeks, drawing on walls strange machines and turbines, fixing elevator and some of the lights. I don't know what happened afterwards. I guess NOW is the "afterwards" and it's up to you what are you going to see and find in this environment. Ah, and try not destroying the engine in the mortar room, you don't want to suffocate when the fans stop. Same about teleporters, the old man took his time to fix those. Have fun!


I am opened to any feedback.

EDIT:

Reported bugs:

• Warpzone texture isn't transparent (!) (FIXED)
  
• Brush issues at the waterfall (FIXED)
  
• MH location caulk brushes at the back (when you fall off the ledge) (FIXED)
  
• Small brush overlap at MH
  
• No clipping over MG and waterfall (FIXED)
  
• Z fighting near 50 hp (FIXED)
  
• Map's name was used allready (darn) (FIXED)
  
• Sky turning on and off in some areas (FIXED)
  
• Pilars and columns that feel out of place and block movement (FIXED)
  
• Places you can hide in and wait till the end of match (MOSTLY FIXED)
  
• Some areas too cramped (MOSTLY FIXED)
  
• Some heights unbalanced (SOME FIXED)
  
• Teleporters lighting color and strength (FIXED)
  
• Little room in the MH room on top is to be removed (FIXED)
  
• Clipping and flow (FIXED??)
  
• Bugs found by Proraider (MOSTLY FIXED)
  

:O

That is one awesome looking map! Going to add it to the [HUB] duel servers for everyone to enjoy.


EDIT:
Was able to shave a few megabytes off the download: http://smb.djstrikes3.com/edge_small.pk3

Took a quick stroll around the routes between items, overall seems like you got a good connectivity between the areas, but few of the places made me feel a little claustrophobic. I also came across this one room without any items on it, which I'm assuming is a connector between the mortar room and the another mortar room right next to it. I'm not sure how I feel about it other than a little winded up, it seems like beginners might have some trouble navigating there. Oh and there's also something up with the warpzone surface, which might be something in my end.


Will make a better review after a few playtests.

Is this texture (the one with number 0) intentional, or a place holder?


  0101.png (Size: 86.92 KB / Downloads: 491)

(There are two of them)

If it is, please don't take my word as criticism, since I'm pretty bad with this kind of thing. I just thought other textures don't have symbols on them so I kind of assumed this is unintentional.

LOL on that Smilecythe easter egg!

Haha! I just knew that first thing Smilecythe will try is to find clipping problem on the map! I never actually managed to jump there myself. I am glad you liked it! Pretty 'winded up', huh?

About the warpzone. Thats strange and not intentional whatsoever! You might noticed I set these things in the mapinfo. I was basically trying to get same settings as on Glowplant. It works on my end though. Anyone has idea what might be wrong? Is this [00] texture supposed to be aligned? What are your settings?



The ivy model kind of goes inside the warzpne brush... Mabye thats the case?

Mapinfo settings:
clientsettemp_for_type all r_water 1
clientsettemp_for_type all r_water_resolutionmultiplier 1

Very nice looking map!

I ran around the map a bit, the layout looks interesting and there are some very nice details & ambient sounds.

As Smilecythe wrote, there are some claustrophobic areas (like the 50 health spot), I don't know if it's a good thing or not yet, need to play-test it

A few minor things that I noticed:

- I guess this wall texture isn't supposed to be seen from here (on top water fall): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4199...647-00.jpg
- You can see a large portion of the map when you fall from MH location: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4199...935-00.jpg
- Small brush overlapping here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4199...115-00.jpg

Anyway, that's the kind of quality-map I was hoping too see with the mapping contest! Good job!

Thank you, I updated first post with the reported bugs and I will release next version when there is more of them and when I know how to fix the warpzone issue. The 50 hp little room was supposed to be that small, Its a secret, it is also one of the places the scientist was sleeping in before he left...

I think the name of the map might be confusing with this old map: http://lvlworld.com/review/id:68
(I've seen several different versions of that in various xonotic servers)

I think the name of the map might be confusing with this old map: http://lvlworld.com/review/id:68
(I've seen several different versions of that in various xonotic servers)

Which itself is a remake of this old q2dm1 "edge" quake2 map

Yeah the one I linked was just the first search result, there are a billion remakes and variants.

My two first games on it:

Smilecythe_Spike_edge.dem
Smilecythe_SPLAT_edge.dem

- http://i.imgur.com/Ae3COHt.jpg z-fight
- http://i.imgur.com/RAZ85ic.jpg jumping up at armor shows parts of the map
- http://i.imgur.com/BqJjKQF.jpg I think you should not be able to hide on top of the room (left side) or top of the waterfall =)

2 other things >:D

- Clipping issue near Crylink: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4199...318-00.jpg
- Depending on where you are, the sky sometimes turns black through this window (waterfall room): https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4199...711-00.jpg

Very nice work, can't comment on gameplay since i don't game much these days. But visuals and technical execution is top notch. Ze bar has been raised.

What is a z fight?

What is a z fight?

Two textures overlapping. You will see a little bit of both of the textures in a flickering like manner.

Love it. An awesome map with lots of visual details and a very nice feel to it.
I really like the transitions between inside and outside, and the merge of tech and nature.

Some minor nitpicks from me as well:

• Z-fight: screenshot
  
• Small gap that shows the sky: screenshot
  
• At the MH, it is possible to climb on the rocks and see behind the map: screenshot
  
• I think the teleporters would benefit from a shader or additional light, otherwise they are easily overlooked: screenshot
  
• At the MH, I miss the sunlight, like you have it at the Crylink. I know that might be difficult with the current sky,
  but if the area around the MH would have more contrasting light, it would greatly improve the sense of being outside.
  

Your map is stunningly beautiful, but the more I play it the more obvious it becomes that your layout was designed with the looks in mind more than the other way around. First of all, the biggest issue I think this map has is your sense for scale. Running around it felt like I was playing a map where you're supposed to walk for the most time (Counterstrike) and which has no regard for laser/rocket jump heights or general speed of the game at all. The map also suffers a bit from numerous unnecessary decorations that obstructs view and movement in an already cramped areas, it's mainly columns/pillars. In the gallery below I've highlighted on red outlines stuff that I feel is unnecessary. There's other images pointing out different stuff too which I elaborated on the images themselves:

http://imgur.com/a/9O7lL

There's also numerous brush edges and stuff that you can jump over to on clearly unintentional areas which are way too convenient for hiding and stalling for time. Some of these areas also reveal the faceless sides of some brushes which kind of breaks the magic of the visuals. I also found it quite difficult to follow/find opponents based on sound, which I think might have something to do with me being unfamiliar with the map still, but it could also be the awkwardness of the layout. Most of the chases seem to end up on me taking another turn and hoping to cut the opponent off from another area, but the way the layout is constructed kind of makes that futile most of the time.

Btw, I spotted a graphical flip flop on the image you posted few posts back:

See? You forgot to continue that grey threshold bar connecting the floor and wall to the other side of the warpzone, it blends in behind the ivy quite nicely which makes it easy to miss. Dunno if intentional, but it looks like it's not.

All in all, you should always clip your maps with the assumption that everyone is capable of reaching irrational heights and cram through the tiniest of cracks. I could basically win every game by killing the opponent once and then jumping over to that easter egg area and stick around there for the entirety of the match. There's no way anyone can get in with me splash boosting the tight entry points added to the difficulty of fitting through one in first place. I'm not sure if that area is impervious to plash damage from underneath, but I suspect that jumping on that sign makes it possible to avoid splash reach through the fan.

Every unintentional camp spot found in the map makes it a potential map breaker in competitive dueling, especially in a map as wide as this. You don't want to advocate camping and the more serious the game is, the more tempting it becomes to exploit things like that. You've made well scaled and compact duel maps before (Imprisoned and Silentsiege) which makes me wonder if your pursuit for art and lore has clouded that particular quality in your mapping style. To make it easier for you in the long run, you should release layout betas of the map for feedback and advice before you start decorating the map. Layout is the top priority, art is secondary.. unless the map isn't meant to get past casual play.

I think the teleporters would benefit from a shader or additional light, otherwise they are easily overlooked: screenshot

+1

That's the feedback I was talking about Sev, Smilecythe. Give me a few days.

Edit: Ah, and great thanks to Cortez who also pointed that out.

I actually managed to mobilize myself and do all the changes immediately as I was receiving feedback. Plenty of things has been changed, let me get this on a list for you:

• Changed architecture of mortar room (ceiling in one spot, above mortar now allows for laser jumps)
  
• I opened nex room (waterfall room), chaged the catwalk width, remove bottom segment of main pilar, removed some beams, changed ceiling and allowing easier laser jumps
  
• In the bottom corridor where 50 armor can be found I removed pesky box and opened grate to the vent above so there is more easy acces there (still have to crouch though)
  
• 50 hp now you don't have to crouch to get there
  
• Mega armor room had the least amount of changes as there are some intended trickjumps using ramp where changing height differences would spoil them. I removed pesky pilar (new ramp jump available) and added some visuals!
  
• Made tons of clipping all over the map
  
• Highlighted teleporters with blue lights
  
• Changed position of some armor shards so they are more compact and enemy can know where are you on the map by their sound cues! Be more careful picking them up!
  
• The biggest changes to the MH room which is now much more opened but also it became more dangerous to take the mega. There is at least 2 good angles for camping the mega so be aware of this!
  
• Minor changes like texture alignment and z fighting and lighting in several places.
  
• Removed most of the camping spot places
  
• MAP'S NAME NOW IS ERBIUM. It's a rare metal and now some of its crystals might be found on the map.
  
• I checked map using picmip and it performs very well. I also made sure that vegetation and waterfall remains unblurred. This however IS NOT negotiable as first: it looks epic, second: it looks epic and third: already had experience with bluring semi transparent or masked textures and that's usually a bad idea.
  

Item placement has slightly changed but mostly remained unchanged.





Map should be much easier to navigate... ah and I removed access to the Smilecythes easter egg. Have fuN!


I chalange Mario to decrease size of PK3. I never managed to convert lightmaps properly so they don't look like shit in game. I think he has some magical ways nobody has ever told me about... ah and the first post has been updated too.
Ah. And I chalange players to run for 3 minutes without stoping (you can change directions sharply or slow down on the ramps)

• Changed architecture of mortar room (ceiling in one spot, above mortar now allows for laser jumps)
  

Eventually put one of the many lamps there too to have a trickjump: http://i.imgur.com/ppIARE5.jpg

The drawing could be put on the left side of that brush, so it's still visible.

I chalange Mario to decrease size of PK3. I never managed to convert lightmaps properly so they don't look like shit in game. I think he has some magical ways nobody has ever told me about... ah and the first post has been updated too.

This is far from what Mario's magic could do, but I was able to easily shave off another 4MB with the following command:

Code:

7z a -mx=9 ../erbium_small.pk3 *

[EDIT: Never mind. The engine doesn't support 7z format.]

By the way, about the 0-symbol texture:

Mapinfo settings:
clientsettemp_for_type all r_water 1
clientsettemp_for_type all r_water_resolutionmultiplier 1

You were right. I had "r_water 0". Changing it to 1 fixed the problem. "r_water_resolutionmultiplier .25" works better for me though.

Thank you!

7z a -mx=9 ../erbium_small.pk3 *

I think the best possible zip one is this, which shaves off a couple 100KB:

Code:

7za a -tzip -mfb=258 -mpass=15

But the real savings can be achieved by converting the textures to jpg (separate images for RGB and alpha), or to dds.
And most importantly, remove garbage files like textures/Thumbs.db, which adds about 2MB

ADDENDUM: I'm not sure if png files are recommended in the first place, but you can further compress them losslessly with
this tool, which shaves off a couple 100KB more (if you happen to be on Linux, don't know about Windows):

Code:

optipng -o 5 -strip all PNGFILE

More stuff

- Able to fall through that wall: http://i.imgur.com/AWBLRHu.jpg
- Can see a tiny bit through ground? (not sure) http://i.imgur.com/L8qpGjO.jpg
- z-fight + you clipped the top of the pillar in Nex room, but not the pathway next to it where I stand on (why?) http://i.imgur.com/5UWJaQx.jpg
- Able to stand inside that thing (Nex room) http://i.imgur.com/4557I1r.jpg