Hello everyone - sorry for the late update, had some stuff coming in between. I've got something most of you would find interesting;
Weekly Terraining Exercise #18
Do you guys remember the second WTE? Back then, the general theme was 'places where one feels like a king'. Most folks went all out on this and created settings such as a laboratory (where the scientist was 'king') and a huge farmland (where a large bird felt 'king'). This time around, I want to do a play on that WTE and take it more literal, and that's why this week's theme will be "To be King you do need a castle". What this means is that instead of taking the cutesy metaphorical approach of the proverb, we take the literal angle. I want to see castles, soaring high temple towers, huge and delicate Zerg lairs - any place fit for a true king to live in. Let's see what you guys got!
This is basically the first time I opened the editor :D
I say basically because I've been trying to do this week's WDE too.
Here it goes - a protoss castle.
I think we should combine this weeks WTE and WDE, design a beautiful castle and then call an air strike to blow it to pieces :D
On a more serious note, I like what you have done with the place ;) So many different approaches for the same basic idea and one looks nicer than the other.
all of them epic! first one most though, since the cliffs isn't spoiled there :D
imo always a good thing to do a fixed height just on the edge of the cliffs so it doesn't look funny, but besides that pretty win, reminds me of warcraft III for some reason :D
I do agree with you about the cliffs. I did rush through them and wasn't happy with the end results. Thanks for pointing it out and really pushing me to want to fix it up, I strive for perfection! I had some extra time and worked on them. So check the original post for some terrain cliff changes!
And yes I was going for a more medieval type of castle and not a pew pew Starcraft castle, so it does fit Warcraft 3 more, although the idea of making an updated futuristic version is appealing.
@joecab: Go
I've been working on Strategy Turn based RPGs for years, and for the past few months I've been creating a Turn Based RPG Mod for SC2. The setting of my map is Steampunk/Medieval so all 50 class units (i.e. Soldier, Warrior, etc) are models imported from WoW as well as a few medieval buildings, to make the map have a medieval feel. The problem is map size limits, but even a few models can make the illusion work. I've actually been trying to create medieval castle town environments in the editor, but I keep starting over due to various things. The code itself is almost done, but the terrain is mostly blank. I did however just make a small "town" with a castle, church, and tents. It's more of a hub for missions (castle), healing your units (church), and representing a population (tents).
Anyway, reading this topic piqued my interest since I just infact finished my 5000th version of my castle so I'll share some pictures. Everyone's submissions so far are really great, but Bronxsy, Cbrag and joecab have really impressed me. Seeing these pictures make me feel like im in the castle, they're so great. Mine is not only bland, but it's probably "cheating" since it's using WoW imported models mixed with SC2 ones, but Castles are Castles.
Joecab's work just got me thinking about the environment of my mod and how even the particular terrain you showed in this thread would be an awesome "level" for my mod. Since it's a grid based game, like Final Fantasy tactics, Disgaea, or Fire Emblem, I use my map area to create 20x20 "scenes" which become maps in which to combat and hopefully tell a story with a campaign mode. If you, joecab, or anyone else I mentioned (or even didnt mention), is interested in sharing ideas/working together on terraining medieval/steampunk scenes definitely let me know. I'm not asking to team up or get anyone involved in a commitment or anything serious, more of a workshop of ideas and map making for people who enjoy these sorts of things.
I have a thread in the project section called "Makai Kingdom: Turn Based Strategy Mod" so if you're interested post there or here or PM me, whatever works.
(Sorry to sort of hijack the thread with my crap; these weekly excercise threads always have great things, but I was really just that amazed by what I saw and im passionate about my game)
My take on this exercise is the "Minimalistic Visual Representation" that is often used in games to define a place or an idea in order to enrich the game and make it more thematic and immersive. What I mean is, my Castle isnt there to be used as a castle. It's empty inside, it's small, and it's simple in an iconic way, In the game, it represents a place to get quests, advance storylines, etc. The Mausoleum/Hospital is the same way for healing. If I had a level where you visited the actual castle, you can bet it would be a separate area, and one room would probably be larger than the entire castle model. As a kid I used to love how world maps were used in old SNES and NES games to allow you to see an entire world in a less resource-consuming minimalist way, this is smart terraining. And again, I have gone off on a tangent...heh...well anyway, thanks for reading if you made it all the way through.
Anyway, onto my Castle: The Country it's in is called Asteria, a synonym for Blue (the army wears blue, etc) and i you've played WoW, you'll recognize my town's landmarks. All of the models were slightly modified or combined to create the structures though, so they're not just straight up models from the game. There's a bridge, moat, and two fountains. The mausoleum has benches and plants near it, with columns and a spiritual ring aura on the floor. Also, please note: The lighting is set like that since I need it to test while I work on the combat animations, aka it has to be VERY bright and whitish with no defining shadows and the like. That will be addressed much later in the process.
Hello everyone - sorry for the late update, had some stuff coming in between. I've got something most of you would find interesting;
Weekly Terraining Exercise #18
Do you guys remember the second WTE? Back then, the general theme was 'places where one feels like a king'. Most folks went all out on this and created settings such as a laboratory (where the scientist was 'king') and a huge farmland (where a large bird felt 'king'). This time around, I want to do a play on that WTE and take it more literal, and that's why this week's theme will be "To be King you do need a castle". What this means is that instead of taking the cutesy metaphorical approach of the proverb, we take the literal angle. I want to see castles, soaring high temple towers, huge and delicate Zerg lairs - any place fit for a true king to live in. Let's see what you guys got!
The Global Information/Idea thread for Terraining Exercises can be found here:
http://forums.sc2mapster.com/development/terrain/14658-terraining-exercises-global-information-idea-thread/
The Protoss have build themselfs a castle somewhere on Aiur.
theres ur castle =) as you can see it is a night shot and the lighting is raised up quite a bit my first (successful) contribution to this link =)
@joecab: Go
thats all done with terrain height? no cliff work yea, I like the stair effect, nice touch!
@nevjmac: Go
yeah i used no cliffs in this and thanks and i just realized one of those cliff vines i did a lil fast.......
This is basically the first time I opened the editor :D I say basically because I've been trying to do this week's WDE too. Here it goes - a protoss castle.
This is my try on this. This one is for a Ture BANDIT King. Natural castle, with walls of stone and 2 in/out ways. Hope you like it.
My submission. Only used cliffs and lights, and a couple fires. Also, awesome pioece of work joecab :]
heres another one from a map i made n published 2day called High War Mountans its a 1v1 map and thx Cbrag
I think my King is spoiled...he has his own throne room!
EDITED: 03/12/2010 10:30 PM (-7 MT), changes to terrain/cliffs.
I think we should combine this weeks WTE and WDE, design a beautiful castle and then call an air strike to blow it to pieces :D
On a more serious note, I like what you have done with the place ;) So many different approaches for the same basic idea and one looks nicer than the other.
@Bronxsy: Go
all of them epic! first one most though, since the cliffs isn't spoiled there :D
imo always a good thing to do a fixed height just on the edge of the cliffs so it doesn't look funny, but besides that pretty win, reminds me of warcraft III for some reason :D
@Victiln: Go
Thanks!
I do agree with you about the cliffs. I did rush through them and wasn't happy with the end results. Thanks for pointing it out and really pushing me to want to fix it up, I strive for perfection! I had some extra time and worked on them. So check the original post for some terrain cliff changes!
And yes I was going for a more medieval type of castle and not a pew pew Starcraft castle, so it does fit Warcraft 3 more, although the idea of making an updated futuristic version is appealing.
@joecab: Go I've been working on Strategy Turn based RPGs for years, and for the past few months I've been creating a Turn Based RPG Mod for SC2. The setting of my map is Steampunk/Medieval so all 50 class units (i.e. Soldier, Warrior, etc) are models imported from WoW as well as a few medieval buildings, to make the map have a medieval feel. The problem is map size limits, but even a few models can make the illusion work. I've actually been trying to create medieval castle town environments in the editor, but I keep starting over due to various things. The code itself is almost done, but the terrain is mostly blank. I did however just make a small "town" with a castle, church, and tents. It's more of a hub for missions (castle), healing your units (church), and representing a population (tents). Anyway, reading this topic piqued my interest since I just infact finished my 5000th version of my castle so I'll share some pictures. Everyone's submissions so far are really great, but Bronxsy, Cbrag and joecab have really impressed me. Seeing these pictures make me feel like im in the castle, they're so great. Mine is not only bland, but it's probably "cheating" since it's using WoW imported models mixed with SC2 ones, but Castles are Castles.
Joecab's work just got me thinking about the environment of my mod and how even the particular terrain you showed in this thread would be an awesome "level" for my mod. Since it's a grid based game, like Final Fantasy tactics, Disgaea, or Fire Emblem, I use my map area to create 20x20 "scenes" which become maps in which to combat and hopefully tell a story with a campaign mode. If you, joecab, or anyone else I mentioned (or even didnt mention), is interested in sharing ideas/working together on terraining medieval/steampunk scenes definitely let me know. I'm not asking to team up or get anyone involved in a commitment or anything serious, more of a workshop of ideas and map making for people who enjoy these sorts of things.
I have a thread in the project section called "Makai Kingdom: Turn Based Strategy Mod" so if you're interested post there or here or PM me, whatever works.
(Sorry to sort of hijack the thread with my crap; these weekly excercise threads always have great things, but I was really just that amazed by what I saw and im passionate about my game)
My take on this exercise is the "Minimalistic Visual Representation" that is often used in games to define a place or an idea in order to enrich the game and make it more thematic and immersive. What I mean is, my Castle isnt there to be used as a castle. It's empty inside, it's small, and it's simple in an iconic way, In the game, it represents a place to get quests, advance storylines, etc. The Mausoleum/Hospital is the same way for healing. If I had a level where you visited the actual castle, you can bet it would be a separate area, and one room would probably be larger than the entire castle model. As a kid I used to love how world maps were used in old SNES and NES games to allow you to see an entire world in a less resource-consuming minimalist way, this is smart terraining. And again, I have gone off on a tangent...heh...well anyway, thanks for reading if you made it all the way through.
Anyway, onto my Castle: The Country it's in is called Asteria, a synonym for Blue (the army wears blue, etc) and i you've played WoW, you'll recognize my town's landmarks. All of the models were slightly modified or combined to create the structures though, so they're not just straight up models from the game. There's a bridge, moat, and two fountains. The mausoleum has benches and plants near it, with columns and a spiritual ring aura on the floor. Also, please note: The lighting is set like that since I need it to test while I work on the combat animations, aka it has to be VERY bright and whitish with no defining shadows and the like. That will be addressed much later in the process.
@joecab: Go
I love the feeling i get while looking at your map. When school finishes, i would like to play tons of these looking 1vs1 maps.
NECRO!
Here's a quick little castle I made for no reason but figured would fit here!