How about 'interior design'? Something to put those nova assets to good use. Challenge people to design a room or set of rooms that you might see on an everyday basis - a classroom, a set of office cubicles, a gym, a library, etc.
Image #1: The opening cinematic involves the heroes and some units getting into the vultures, and then they drive down until they reach the car crash scene. I'm in the process of detailing the upper cliffs to make them look more active all around.
Image #2: I'll take a look at which hangars actually open and close, because that does sound like a good idea. Or were you saying that the hangars in this image have open/close animations?
Image #8: Yes, I'll be revealing them via triggers.
You make a good suggestion to add pipes and compressed buildings. I'll also be adding some antennae and fans. I'll post screenshots over the weekend when I've got more to show.
Thanks for your advice, and to everyone else who commented!
There are so many units for all races that more or less blend together in that their combat roles overlap. Goliaths and Diamondbacks are the only units whose combat role isn't overshadowed by other melee units - Wraiths are less useful than Vikings for anti air and less useful than Banshees for cloaked ground harassment. HERCs, Firebats, Predators, and Vultures are all overshadowed by Hellions and Hellbats. Spectres are actually stronger than Ghosts in terms of brute force but much weaker in terms of utility, but their roles are so similar that I wouldn't include both of them simultaneously (you'll note that blizzard themselves avoided having both of them controllable at the same time and made them exclusive). The same can be said about Ravens (offensive) vs Science Vessels (defensive/utility). Hercules are really just straight up better than Medivacs since you have Medics in the campaign already.
Thankfully the overlap between zerg units is less noticeable because the strains were exclusive and built to be more about playstyle (do I want beefier units that never die, or fast units that do a lot of damage, or units with utility, or some combination thereof?).
Protoss are more akin to terran just because there are so many units, but again, they are exclusive. You must choose between three units of a similar combat role, rather than attempting to find a way to balance the combinations of all three.
In the end, less is more. Start with just the bare-bones combat roles, and then add more as are necessary, with a focus on avoiding making units gimmicky and only useful for one or two maps. Obviously some units (marines, zealots) are useful in almost all cases, and some other units (banshees, phoenixes) are more specialised, but that shouldn't stop you from retooling existing units or designing brand new ones that are useful in many circumstances.
Still haven't tested performance. Will definitely need to make revealers for the scenery on the high ground, which might impact performance. My computer isn't great to benchmark this kind of thing since it can easily run the game on the highest settings, but I think a few people can test performance with less powerful rigs.
Flying units won't be enabled for the player or for the enemy, besides maybe some kind of transport that might show up in one or two spots. The urban environment is actually only the first 10 or so minutes of gameplay, if that, so larger battles and the like won't really be a concern. The player will get acquainted with their heroes and the behaviours of their enemies during small skirmishes while in the ruines city, but most of the gameplay will take place in a wasteland that I have yet to work on. Think Wings of Liberty map 2 with more attention to detail.
It uses imgur, which isn't blocked by any countries as far as I'm aware, but depending on your network you may have issues that way. Can you click on the imgur album link at the bottom of the post?
I had a thread similar to this one months ago, when I was working on a protoss project with another individual. Now I'm working alone, and on a very different project. I'd like to share some terrain with you with the goal of getting feedback on designing a very different environment than I have designed before: an urban environment.
This is actually the hardest kind of terrain for me - the kind of terrain that requires you to be more minimalist in design. Urban areas that aren't destroyed or overgrown can only have a very small amount of visual depth, especially given the small size of the area I'm working with. This is designed to just be a small side street with a few businesses and storefronts populating the area. It's not meant to represent any particular location, but rather a sort of stereotype for what a scene or environment of this type would look like in SC2.
Now, things get a little easier for me. The further you stray from the starting point, the more destruction you encounter, starting with a simple car accident and a couple of suspicious-looking fellows roving the street in packs. There are still very few doodads, and I'm trying to figure out a way to increase visual depth without also increasing clutter. Putting decor on the upper levels could work, like on top of those garages, so maybe I'll go back and add some stuff there. Otherwise, this area is about as complete as it can get - the player will spend very little time here.
A small camp of some sorts was set up by a local law enforcement agency, and has since been ravaged by the ghouls that the player encounters in the previous screenshot. This is where the map begins to open up and becomes a little more spacious.
A larger scene of destruction and ruination. It seems those creatures were having themselves a snack, and didn't think to clean up after themselves.
The first thing that comes to mind here is that the big hole in the building on the left could be populated with rubble and other doodads, but after that, I'm still at a loss as to how to improve the look and feel of this area. I want to make it feel like it was a real urban environment that was ransacked. Maybe some more storefronts and the like could help me achieve that.
This is a wider shot, overlooking a wide open area - what was previously the town square. The ghouls have ransacked the area, killing everyone except for that curious marine who's trapped in the device on the right-hand side of the shot. The sandbags show that there was a struggle here, but it clearly didn't last long.
I'm very happy with this area and the remaining areas, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be improved. I think a storefront or two and some additional (albeit small) details could improve the sense of immersion that this scene already has.
A better shot of the town hall, which has surely seen better days.
One thing I really enjoy is leaving corpses and debris and other small things inside the buildings themselves. If people notice it, I think it adds another layer of visual depth. It's tiresome work, though.
Some poor sap crashed their car right into the fountain! Also pictured: lots of carnage.
The town's freight-processing area is in sad shape after the attack. Rubble and debris are everywhere. Some corpses for flavour, too.
Here lies the gate that leads out of the town and into the wastelands (not pictured). I had a lot of fun angling all the doodads to make them look convincingly-toppled over.
This and the last screenshot are probably the most impressive pieces I've been able to cobble together, though I still think they fit well within the urban area. Maybe adding some more rooftop doodads to the walls would add more depth?
That's all I have for now, though I'll be sure to update you guys on any major changes I make. I'll likely post the wasteland when it's got some work done on it, as well. Please let me know what you think I did well, what you think I could improve upon, and any other comments you might have!
I like them a lot, actually. I just hope we'll have the capabilities to manipulate them more than we can with the asteroids and whatnot that we've seen before.
Yeah, if you don't have access to the dependencies, you can't see the maps in the editor. That was why I was puzzled to begin with - the Nova DLC was the first paid content that customers couldn't study in the editor.
Yeah the assets are already available to mess around with in the editor, I believe, unless those are just there from the first 2 mission packs (some of the screenshots from earlier in this thread have assets that I've been using in a map for the past few days). I'm more concerned about the maps, since I want to see what their terrainers did for level design and what doodads they combined to make their environment convincing.
0
@alleyviper85: Go
Well, they don't plan on making any more for SC2, as luck would have it! Besides co-op, I guess.
0
Spikes are just a graphical gimmick. The model is fine as-is, in my opinion.
0
@LucidIguana: Go
How about 'interior design'? Something to put those nova assets to good use. Challenge people to design a room or set of rooms that you might see on an everyday basis - a classroom, a set of office cubicles, a gym, a library, etc.
0
@wargirlwargirl: Go
I'm just biding my time until there's a WTE that's more up my alley, so I'm sure you'll see me submit something soon!
0
@Trieva: Go
I can understand your position.
Are multiple maps/entire campaigns suitable submissions for a monthly testing initiative?
0
@DrSuperEvil: Go
Image #1: The opening cinematic involves the heroes and some units getting into the vultures, and then they drive down until they reach the car crash scene. I'm in the process of detailing the upper cliffs to make them look more active all around.
Image #2: I'll take a look at which hangars actually open and close, because that does sound like a good idea. Or were you saying that the hangars in this image have open/close animations?
Image #8: Yes, I'll be revealing them via triggers.
You make a good suggestion to add pipes and compressed buildings. I'll also be adding some antennae and fans. I'll post screenshots over the weekend when I've got more to show.
Thanks for your advice, and to everyone else who commented!
0
There are so many units for all races that more or less blend together in that their combat roles overlap. Goliaths and Diamondbacks are the only units whose combat role isn't overshadowed by other melee units - Wraiths are less useful than Vikings for anti air and less useful than Banshees for cloaked ground harassment. HERCs, Firebats, Predators, and Vultures are all overshadowed by Hellions and Hellbats. Spectres are actually stronger than Ghosts in terms of brute force but much weaker in terms of utility, but their roles are so similar that I wouldn't include both of them simultaneously (you'll note that blizzard themselves avoided having both of them controllable at the same time and made them exclusive). The same can be said about Ravens (offensive) vs Science Vessels (defensive/utility). Hercules are really just straight up better than Medivacs since you have Medics in the campaign already.
Thankfully the overlap between zerg units is less noticeable because the strains were exclusive and built to be more about playstyle (do I want beefier units that never die, or fast units that do a lot of damage, or units with utility, or some combination thereof?).
Protoss are more akin to terran just because there are so many units, but again, they are exclusive. You must choose between three units of a similar combat role, rather than attempting to find a way to balance the combinations of all three.
In the end, less is more. Start with just the bare-bones combat roles, and then add more as are necessary, with a focus on avoiding making units gimmicky and only useful for one or two maps. Obviously some units (marines, zealots) are useful in almost all cases, and some other units (banshees, phoenixes) are more specialised, but that shouldn't stop you from retooling existing units or designing brand new ones that are useful in many circumstances.
0
@LucidIguana: Go
Still haven't tested performance. Will definitely need to make revealers for the scenery on the high ground, which might impact performance. My computer isn't great to benchmark this kind of thing since it can easily run the game on the highest settings, but I think a few people can test performance with less powerful rigs.
Flying units won't be enabled for the player or for the enemy, besides maybe some kind of transport that might show up in one or two spots. The urban environment is actually only the first 10 or so minutes of gameplay, if that, so larger battles and the like won't really be a concern. The player will get acquainted with their heroes and the behaviours of their enemies during small skirmishes while in the ruines city, but most of the gameplay will take place in a wasteland that I have yet to work on. Think Wings of Liberty map 2 with more attention to detail.
0
@DrSuperEvil: Go
Yes, it's playable. I've painted pathing along the sidewalk and in other places to make sure the player has a route.
@DOOMEDEARTH: Go
It uses imgur, which isn't blocked by any countries as far as I'm aware, but depending on your network you may have issues that way. Can you click on the imgur album link at the bottom of the post?
0
I had a thread similar to this one months ago, when I was working on a protoss project with another individual. Now I'm working alone, and on a very different project. I'd like to share some terrain with you with the goal of getting feedback on designing a very different environment than I have designed before: an urban environment.
This is actually the hardest kind of terrain for me - the kind of terrain that requires you to be more minimalist in design. Urban areas that aren't destroyed or overgrown can only have a very small amount of visual depth, especially given the small size of the area I'm working with. This is designed to just be a small side street with a few businesses and storefronts populating the area. It's not meant to represent any particular location, but rather a sort of stereotype for what a scene or environment of this type would look like in SC2.
Now, things get a little easier for me. The further you stray from the starting point, the more destruction you encounter, starting with a simple car accident and a couple of suspicious-looking fellows roving the street in packs. There are still very few doodads, and I'm trying to figure out a way to increase visual depth without also increasing clutter. Putting decor on the upper levels could work, like on top of those garages, so maybe I'll go back and add some stuff there. Otherwise, this area is about as complete as it can get - the player will spend very little time here.
A small camp of some sorts was set up by a local law enforcement agency, and has since been ravaged by the ghouls that the player encounters in the previous screenshot. This is where the map begins to open up and becomes a little more spacious.
A larger scene of destruction and ruination. It seems those creatures were having themselves a snack, and didn't think to clean up after themselves. The first thing that comes to mind here is that the big hole in the building on the left could be populated with rubble and other doodads, but after that, I'm still at a loss as to how to improve the look and feel of this area. I want to make it feel like it was a real urban environment that was ransacked. Maybe some more storefronts and the like could help me achieve that.
This is a wider shot, overlooking a wide open area - what was previously the town square. The ghouls have ransacked the area, killing everyone except for that curious marine who's trapped in the device on the right-hand side of the shot. The sandbags show that there was a struggle here, but it clearly didn't last long. I'm very happy with this area and the remaining areas, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be improved. I think a storefront or two and some additional (albeit small) details could improve the sense of immersion that this scene already has.
A better shot of the town hall, which has surely seen better days. One thing I really enjoy is leaving corpses and debris and other small things inside the buildings themselves. If people notice it, I think it adds another layer of visual depth. It's tiresome work, though.
Some poor sap crashed their car right into the fountain! Also pictured: lots of carnage.
The town's freight-processing area is in sad shape after the attack. Rubble and debris are everywhere. Some corpses for flavour, too.
Here lies the gate that leads out of the town and into the wastelands (not pictured). I had a lot of fun angling all the doodads to make them look convincingly-toppled over. This and the last screenshot are probably the most impressive pieces I've been able to cobble together, though I still think they fit well within the urban area. Maybe adding some more rooftop doodads to the walls would add more depth?
That's all I have for now, though I'll be sure to update you guys on any major changes I make. I'll likely post the wasteland when it's got some work done on it, as well. Please let me know what you think I did well, what you think I could improve upon, and any other comments you might have!
The full imgur album can be found here.
Thanks everyone!
0
I like them a lot, actually. I just hope we'll have the capabilities to manipulate them more than we can with the asteroids and whatnot that we've seen before.
0
Yeah, if you don't have access to the dependencies, you can't see the maps in the editor. That was why I was puzzled to begin with - the Nova DLC was the first paid content that customers couldn't study in the editor.
0
Yeah the assets are already available to mess around with in the editor, I believe, unless those are just there from the first 2 mission packs (some of the screenshots from earlier in this thread have assets that I've been using in a map for the past few days). I'm more concerned about the maps, since I want to see what their terrainers did for level design and what doodads they combined to make their environment convincing.
0
Is it just the units, or is your game speed changing when played over battle.net?
0
Models are incredibly expensive, just look at turbosquid.