Darkmod: Inspiration thread

[Bikerdude]

The stairs in that second shot look weird, apart from that very very pretty.

[Bikerdude]

Hows this for cool -

 

[SeriousToni]

Why are the gibs fading out

 

Cool thing though

[grayman]

Why are the gibs fading out

 

Less drag on the cpu to keep track of them. The ones in the vid fade out realy quick, though. In TDM, a good example is broken arrows that fade away after 10s.

[Arcturus]

Link to a high res concept art gallery for Witcher 3

 

[Bikerdude]

that last shot looks very doable in TDM.

[Sotha]

that last shot looks very doable in TDM.

 

And the middle one looks similar stuff I did in Mandrasola harbor area. Very doable as long as the player is limited to some area. In retrospect, modular construction and LOD modeling for building facades would allow even more detail and freedom.

 

[RPGista]

Very nice pictures, love the atmospheric effect on all of them, something we simply havent seen in TDM as of yet.

[Bikerdude]

Just for kicks I did a quick mockup of the scene below.

 

 

[Baddcog]

posted image not loading

[Bikerdude]

posted image not loading

Fixed (Skydrive is useless it seems for hosting images on anywhere other than itself.

[Moonbo]

! Dang, wish I could build that fast. Looks really good.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Moonbo

[Baddcog]

Pretty good recreation. While really tall stuff looks cool I just find the proportions of the scene to be slightly ridiculous. Would like to see it in a much more realistic scale.

[skacky]

Whoah Biker, that looks really neat.

[Bikerdude]

! Dang, wish I could build that fast. Looks really good.

Its all very basic geom for the most part thats why.

Would like to see it in a much more realistic scale.

Yeah, agreed. The problem is the painting itself isnt scalled correctly either. Its like the background was an afterthought.

Whoah Biker, that looks really neat.

well you can thank the original painting :-)

[Sotha]

Pretty good recreation. While really tall stuff looks cool I just find the proportions of the scene to be slightly ridiculous. Would like to see it in a much more realistic scale.

 

I find Biker's painting inspired work great. The Z-dimension is too often forgotten in TDM maps. If you think about TDM maps overall, they actually are quite flat. They don't need to be.

 

While the proportions are indeed unrealistic, I find them great regardless. TDM is a game: gameplay trumps realism. TDM mapping can also be considered as a visual art: an interesting scene trumps a less-interesting realistic scene. Very often artists intentionally skew the proportions towards the unrealistic regime in order to make the scene look more interesting. This painting and Biker's excellent version is a great example of this habit. I think TDM mappers should do more: be a little bit more bolder and take a few more steps from the realistic regime. Exaggerate a bit.

 

There is a lot to be learnt from these shots.

 

There are other reasons why such tall buildings are great.

1) Compartmentalization: they are high walls. Players cannot get too high. I admit the vista-ranges get a bit high, but maybe LOD model building facades will help?

2) Gameplay. The mapper could have a ground-level access route and then an alternate balcony route in the same area. Rope arrows will work fantastically in such environment. If large walls compartmentalize the gameplay area edges, some less tall buildings could allow some roof-top routes, Dishonored style.

 

Very, very inspiring work! It would be cool to see a larger area inspired by this kind of architecture.

[Bikerdude]

Very, very inspiring work! It would be cool to see a larger area inspired by this kind of architecture.

Well on that Note I think i may ask Skacky if he wants to co-author a map like "between these dark walls! in TDM :-)

[demagogue]

The game Dishonored was defined by that kind of architecture.

I think some game studios have picked up on the same points you just made, Sotha.

 

You double or triple the gameplay space without sprawl; it lets you have more z-movement without long lines of sight; naturally compartmentalizes leafs in a believable & interesting way; gives a bigger sense of scale to the world and has the player looking up and around a lot...

[Shadowhide]

how much time it took too recreate that scene ?

[Obsttorte]

Maybe it's just me but I think Biker exaggerated the z-dimension a bit more then it was in the painting. Anyways, I agree with Sotha. Good gameplay (rope arrows, alternative rooftop routes) is much more important then realism. This counts especially if it also allows easy optimization. If you are on the ground and cannot access the rooftops you can keep the latter on low detail and vice versa.

Very, very inspiring work! It would be cool to see a larger area inspired by this kind of architecture.

This would indeed be very cool.

 

EDIT: @Biker, can you upload the map file somewhere if you don't want to work on it furthermore. I guess it would be nice to take a look on it.

[Bikerdude]

how much time it took too recreate that scene ?

EDIT: @Biker, can you upload the map file somewhere if you don't want to work on it furthermore.

 

about 3hrs

yes, -skydrive

[Obsttorte]

Thanks alot, mista.

[Baddcog]

I find Biker's painting inspired work great. The Z-dimension is too often forgotten in TDM maps. If you think about TDM maps overall, they actually are quite flat. They don't need to be.

 

While the proportions are indeed unrealistic, I find them great regardless. TDM is a game: gameplay trumps realism. TDM mapping can also be considered as a visual art: an interesting scene trumps a less-interesting realistic scene. Very often artists intentionally skew the proportions towards the unrealistic regime in order to make the scene look more interesting. This painting and Biker's excellent version is a great example of this habit. I think TDM mappers should do more: be a little bit more bolder and take a few more steps from the realistic regime. Exaggerate a bit.

 

There is a lot to be learnt from these shots.

 

There are other reasons why such tall buildings are great.

1) Compartmentalization: they are high walls. Players cannot get too high. I admit the vista-ranges get a bit high, but maybe LOD model building facades will help?

2) Gameplay. The mapper could have a ground-level access route and then an alternate balcony route in the same area. Rope arrows will work fantastically in such environment. If large walls compartmentalize the gameplay area edges, some less tall buildings could allow some roof-top routes, Dishonored style.

 

Very, very inspiring work! It would be cool to see a larger area inspired by this kind of architecture.

 

Yeah thanks for the design lesson.

 

Yeah yeah, games aren't reality, blah blah.

 

This scene as it is would fit perfectly into TF2, a game of comical proportions.

 

TDM is based on realistic design. Nothing wrong with a little over exaggeration, But hyper proportions like that just can't be taken seriously.

[Melan]

Just for kicks I did a quick mockup of the scene below.

WANT.

 

Pretty good recreation. While really tall stuff looks cool I just find the proportions of the scene to be slightly ridiculous. Would like to see it in a much more realistic scale.

It's not that far from what you can actually see IRL in Hansaetic cities.

[skacky]

TDM is based on realistic design. Nothing wrong with a little over exaggeration, But hyper proportions like that just can't be taken seriously.

 

I completely disagree, sorry. In medieval cities you can definitely find high walls like these and sometimes crazy elevation, maybe not as tall, mind you, but pretty similar anyway and I know what I'm talking about. Besides, it doesn't look out of place at all in TDM and Sotha's points are very true. Daytime lighting may make it look 'flat' or something, but I'm sure that with proper night-time lighting it could be more believable for you.

 

I for one would love to roam around in a city such as this in TDM.