The ThinkingWithPortals Map Showcasing Thread
Still very heavily WIP: http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/111 ... C620FDC6E/
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=apNlB38N9no
It has the ability to pick up and launch most physics objects including cubes, spheres, cores, turrets, combine balls, gel bombs, and physboxes. Sadly, it cannot pickup ragdolls. I also made it possible to activate punt panels and punt catapults, or to be specific, electrical receiver panels and electrical repulsion panels.
ChickenMobile wrote:
Your map seems a little dark srs. Pump up the lights!
Yeah, that's what I've started doing now (In that screenshot the only lightsource in the whole thing was the env_projectedtexture in the observation room 
).
laakkone wrote:
@srs, I can see light panel behind the fizzler which doesn't seem to emit light at all. Edit its instance and set light texture scale smaller to make it more bright, if it's dim. And use warm lighting if it's going to be overgrown.
It's hard to see in the picture, but that one is actually emitting light. And it's not overgrown, but 'reconstructing' (where GLaDOS has just woken up). In the campaign it was mostly cool lighting for that theme so that's why I chose it.
||
The projects is about a person who discovers the destroyed facility and has to make a way through the dangerous test chambers. That's just a general idea, and the story might still be changed.||
Things that still need to be done:
• Remove the Portal Gun.
• Make more realistic foliage. (There aren't any screenshots of the current one because it looks terrible)
• Sound.
So, tell me what you think and if there's anything I need to improve.
Ace_StorM wrote:
That's what I'm currently working on:||
The projects is about a person who discovers the destroyed facility and has to make a way through the dangerous test chambers. That's just a general idea, and the story might still be changed.||
Things that still need to be done:
• Remove the Portal Gun.
• Make more realistic foliage. (There aren't any screenshots of the current one because it looks terrible)
• Sound.So, tell me what you think and if there's anything I need to improve.
**Avoid using test chamber textures in BTS areas.**
3rd picture:
-Push out those BTS lights abit. Don't sink them in the wall. Align it properly so that the ends of the light model touches the wall.
-They look abit too cluttered.
-Also I don't remember BTS lights emit yellow lights. O_O
4th picture:
-The light model is emitting too much light.
-The poster looks too big
Try to put more stuff on the tables (cups, boxes, etc)
5th picture:
-Don't use test chamber textures.
-The posters look too big again.
Other than that, it looks great! 
,i forgot to say that these light turn on/of in one point, so if i remember (please correct me if i'm wrong) func_illusionary don't have enable/disabe option, this effect look the same with a func brush?
Btw i loved the HMW sugestion for the blocking light to simulate the frame shadow, i think that will look great in this map
RectorRocks wrote:
-Also I don't remember BTS lights emit yellow lights. O_O
I wanted tested how it looks. I think it looks okay, since the room's not part of the actual facility. More like a small surveillance room in which you have to unlock something.
RectorRocks wrote:
-The light model is emitting too much light.
Oh yeah, I seriously need to change that.
RectorRocks wrote:
-Don't use test chamber textures.
I forgot to tell that the last screenshot is not a bts-area. It's kind of a visitors-room. I seperated the outer ares in four accessable buildings and the room with the test chamber textures is the last of them. The actual main building with all the labs and so on.
RectorRocks wrote:
Other than that, it looks great!
Thanks very much!
I would dim the light a bit here; I'd also add a frame for the window and make it like in the center of the wall.
Once again, I'd dim the light a bit, also I prefer to have the door in the middle of the wall; but that's a personal preference.
I would make the sky a skybox texture and set the skybox texture to the corresponding skybox, that'll make it look better. The taller building has some repeating texture that's very easy to see, break up the wall and make it look a bit more smooth (so like the bottom 128 this texture and above it another texture, preferably a similar one without the dark line.
Why would there be 4 lights on one wall? That would only make sense if there's a huge area and there's only one point where light is coming from. That doesn't seem to be the case here; it looks like a small room. Why would you put four lights on the wall of a small room? Makes no sense logic wise. 
What's the extremely bright light near the wall? And when's the last time you actually put chairs on your tables? Specially when they have wheels? It's easier for cleaning people to roll the chair away rather than to put them back from the table on the floor
Bts with test chamber tests is not a good idea, it looks odd.
Also: the warning turret thing doesn't make sense in a lobby-like structure.
Sejievan wrote:
Thanks guys for all the sugestions, sorry for not comming earlier i was i little busyBtw i loved the HMW sugestion for the blocking light to simulate the frame shadow, i think that will look great in this map
that won't work, because the shadows are calculated statically, so if the brush is enabled in compile it will cast shadows, if it is disabled, it will not cast shadows.
Lpfreaky90 wrote:
that won't work, because the shadows are calculated statically, so if the brush is enabled in compile it will cast shadows, if it is disabled, it will not cast shadows.
Isn't that what you would want? The light's frame should cast shadows even when it's off.
The wall is unaligned to the door.
The wall textures look scaled and well.. weird. Try scaling them back to normal. It will look nicer, and try choosing a different texture for the celling. Having two same texture for the ceiling and floor makes the room look repetitive and boring.
Ace_StorM wrote:
I see you already did it in one of the rooms, but I've generally found using textures with the name "factory" in them work best for BTS areas. Those are the textures that Valve uses in sp_a2_bts maps.
Lpfreaky90 wrote:
I would make the sky a skybox texture and set the skybox texture to the corresponding skybox, that'll make it look better.
Oh, really? I'll try that.
Lpfreaky90 wrote:
The taller building has some repeating texture that's very easy to see, break up the wall and make it look a bit more smooth
I'll try that, too, if I find a fitting texture.
Lpfreaky90 wrote:
Why would there be 4 lights on one wall?
There weren't... the were 6 lights, actually, but two of them aren't visible on the screenshot. Why 'were'? Because I already changed it.
Lpfreaky90 wrote:
What's the extremely bright light near the wall?
Changed. It should be much darker now.
Habzs wrote:
The wall textures look scaled and well.. weird.
If it's really scaled, it was an accident. O_o
Habzs wrote:
It will look nicer, and try choosing a different texture for the celling.
That's something I wanted to change right at the beginning (the room on the last screenshot is the room I started with) but then forgot about.
srs bsnss wrote:
I see you already did it in one of the rooms, but I've generally found using textures with the name "factory" in them work best for BTS areas. Those are the textures that Valve uses in sp_a2_bts maps.
Thank you, that's a quite useful advice.
Here's another screenshot of the map I mentioned earlier, this time I've added more details. The main thing I'm wondering about is if the roof is too destroyed? (This map is meant to be equivalent to the first couple of GLaDOS chambers [sp_a2 maps])
I still think that lighting is a bit too dim. Maybe more light panels would be good for such that chambers size (for example on the floor and close to/along the walls). Or you could add some sort of illumination in that fogged skybox/bts area so it can enter through that roof Maybe by means of spotlights...
josepezdj wrote:
@srs bsnss: I think the destruction in there is great, inculding the roof
Fast compile can be blamed for some of that, but you're right. I was thinking maybe I'd break the second roof part and have an area behind it, which would expose some skybox lighting. Using the BTS fluorescent lighting also crossed my mind.
srs bsnss wrote:
josepezdj wrote:@srs bsnss: I think the destruction in there is great, inculding the roof
Fast compile can be blamed for some of that, but you're right. I was thinking maybe I'd break the second roof part and have an area behind it, which would expose some skybox lighting. Using the BTS fluorescent lighting also crossed my mind.
aww 
Never upload fast compile screenshots 
