WIP: ET_Stalingrad screenies

(StormShadow) #1

UPDATED AGAIN: New screenies**

A beta is near so i thought id post a few screenies of my current project, ET_Stalingrad. The name is temporary… ill probably think of something more clever before the beta release.

The map is roughly based on the Russian city of Stalingrad which was under siege for a year during the 2nd world war. My map is historically innacurate in the sense that every single building isnt blown to hell (like they were during the actual war) and that the Volga river is only about 2048 units across :smiley:

The mission: Destroy the Axis tanks. The axis have control over a small section of the city, and are guarding it with a pair of panzer tanks. The allies must go in on foot and destroy the tanks with dynamite so that Allied tanks can roll in and secure the city.

Here are a couple screenies, there are 8 total available on , but i didnt wanna bog down this thread with a ton of screenshots:

More screenies here: http://www.planetquake.com/stormshadow/projects.asp

Notes: The allies are unable to secure the forward spawn once it is taken from the Axis, therefor both teams have to play a bit of offense and a bit of defense once the forward spawn is captured. I think this adds a slightly different element to the game, and makes things a bit more hectic for both sides.

There is no wall to blow, or anything blocking the allies from advancing, a stealthy allied engineer can bypass the forward spawn entirely to plant at one of the two objectives. This may change during beta testing, if it proves too easy for allies to bypass the forward spawn.

Also, I have not started my terrain yet (thats why the roads look so flat). Im also planning to add barbed wire and other obstacles, as well as mg nests and other static defense for the axis. We will see where this goes :slight_smile:

Anyway, thought id post some screens :slight_smile: Feedback and comments are welcome…

(duke'ku) #2

It looks really good, but I would suggest opening up more of the buildings… add bombed out holes in the walls and ceilings, it would make it pretty damn fun.

(Dr.Diode) #3

nice nice :drink:

(sock) #4

Looks really nice, has a really cool atmosphere. :smiley:

Looking forward to more screenshots when you are ready.

Sock
:moo:

(TosspoT) #5

Lovely lookin :slight_smile:

(StormShadow) #6

Actually, quite a few of the builds in those screenies are opened up, you can go inside a number of them, and get on most of the rooftops. And there are a bunch more in the allied section of the map that are blasted open:

You can see a portion of a blasted building in the foreground. Thats just one of a few.

I didnt want to overdo the damage, for fear that it would affect r_speeds/fps in a negative way. Also, leaving too much open would make it more difficult for me to control the flow. Its hard to funnel a team through chokepoints if everything is too opened up :slight_smile: But your right, it would make the map more intense knowing that you could get attacked from pretty much any direction. It would make for some awsome sniper action too - in a game thats not too condusive to sniping.

Thanks for the comments :slight_smile:

(sock) #7

One thing to watch out for is the scale and thickness of things. The crosses on the top of the church spires for example seem a bit too thick. Also some low poly details for the windows. Like a quick toblerone of wood as the window sills. As you are never next to the them it would look fine from a distance.

For the broken stuff, just give impressions and leave the player to fill in the details for you. Cutting the odd corner off a building here and there or the odd bit of rubble on the floor. Its all about impression when dealing with low poly situations.

Sock
:moo:

(duke'ku) #8

I agree with what sock said… but I would still suggest adding in some open buildings where players can walk into and use for fighting - think of a house with 2-3 floors and bombed out holes in the walls :slight_smile:

(I’ve been playing too much CoD :()

(MrLego) #9

Looks very nice.

You could add some accumulated snow piles and drifts in places to add more realism as well.

Cant wait to see more of it.

(The Wanderer) #10

What you got looks really good. However i don’t think ze germanz left any parts of stalingrad intact. Certainly there were no parts of it that looked nifty and clean like that church area. Since what you’ve got already is really good and no point in changing it, you might consider changing the name of the map. If you want stalingrad go look at some of those call of duty levels. Man that russian campaign was super sweet.

(StormShadow) #11

Sock - thanks for the feedback. There are a few things that are off-scale with the church - the ladder and crosses just to name a few… those are on my list.
Ill take your other comments into consideration as well. I’ve been having trouble with the damage/detail… maybe this is because im just trying too hard, and end up making everything more complex than it should be.

duke’ku - There are a few broken buildings that you can go into (CoD style) and a lot of non-broken ones that you can go into :slight_smile: Unfortunately, making the majority of buildings damaged and accessible leads to a number of problems, one of which being that the map doesnt run well, another being that the map doesnt have as much focus or direction, and its harder for me to control the gameflow. I admit… that would be cool as hell… and i will probably end up damaging a lot more stuff before my first beta.

MrLego - yep, thats on my ‘list’ :slight_smile:

The Wanderer - Yeah, your right. The invasion of Stalingrad started in the summer, and by the time winter rolled around, there were virtually no standing buildings. Maybe i will change the setting to some european city… or maybe ill just leave it… I dunno… realism isnt a huge factor for me, but i would like at least some degree of realism. After i crank out a beta, ill see how everyone feels.

Thx for the comments. Ill be workin on this bad boy all week… hopefully I will have a beta out by christmas.

(StormShadow) #12

New screenies:

The first couple are of the bridge area just outside the allies spawn. The broken bridge is jumpable (though its somewhat difficult). As you can see the underwater terrain needs a bit of work, as does the bridge transition onto the land.

The 3rd shot is of the south tank, and its immediate defenses, including a couple barriers, and an mg.

I also retextured my church, and added a more authentic cross on the top. Its not perfect, but its getting there :slight_smile:

There are a few more things to tweak here and there, and the map is probably about 10-12 hours of hard work away from being in beta stages. Of course, im not going to work 10-12 hours straight - so my hopes of getting a beta out before christmas are out the window. Maybe new years? Soon anyway :slight_smile:

Questions, comments, criticisms are welcome.

(Rought) #13

Looks like a lot of work, but everything seems to be a little “thick”…but all in all I’m sure, you built a cool map when finished :drink:

(duke'ku) #14

I’ve fallen in love with your broken walls and rooms within. :smiley:

(Fusen) #15

damn I want a beta just to jump the bridge lol

CHRYSLER LA ENGINE SPECIFICATIONS

(MAD DOG) #16

Hey Finaly i was hopping someone would make a map of Stalingrad for ET!How big is this map in MB and playing wise so far? Is it bigger than the Stalingrad in RTCW? :clap:

(Fluffy_gIMp) #17

I was half way through posting a reply to the first set of pics when my machine crashed :(.
The map is looking great; it’s already come on quite a lot in the second set of shots, I particularly like the architecture in the first pic.

As you’ve done in the last shot it would be nice to see more snow banks up against walls etc…

You might want to re-think the design for the church a little so it’s a bit more authentic, to me it currently doesn’t really look like a Russian church (but I haven’t seen your reference), here’s what I dug up:
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=russian+church&sa=N&tab=wi
You are probably going to hate me for saying this (as I know it will be a lot of work to do) but it would be cool to see more height variation in the streets. This is one thing that worked really well with the initial block-out of Goldrush, where buildings weren’t built on the level across the map. This gives the player a bit of interest as he’s moving up or down a slope (however gradual) rather than a standard flat level. If you look down any street in the ‘realworld’ it is rare that it is ever on a flat plane.

I can’t tell too well from the shots but it looks like the water has a blue tint to it which makes it look unrealistic, water colour is generally dictated by what it’s reflecting (mainly the sky). I’d suggest desaturating the texture colour a bit; maybe try using a similar browny tint to the murky water/ice used in FuelDump?

Finally as a general detail layer, it would be good to add a bit of life to the streets, you can do this fairly easily as there are a number of things missing which would help add to the mood, things like:

street signs
lamp posts/street lights
telegraph poles & wires
propaganda posters
collapsed rubble
doorway lighting
fencing
etc.

I look forward to the beta release!

-Fluffy_gIMp

(StormShadow) #18

Thanks for the comments all.

MAD DOG - I dont think I have played a Stalingrad map for RTCW… but i havent played many rtcw customs.
The file size for this one shouldnt be too big, but i havent packed it yet, so i really dont know. 5-10 megs is a very rough guess

Fluffy_gIMp - Yeah, the church doesnt look russian at all. Id really rather not hack it up and alter it too much (im just so pleased with it now) - which is one of several reasons that im considering changing the location to somewhere in europe rather than Stalingrad.

Ill make sure to add some more snow piles here and there… good ideas about adding lamp posts as well. Putting defensive barriers for axis (barbed wire, mg nests, etc) are also on my list.

You cant tell from the shots, but there actually is some height variation in the map. OK, theres not a great deal of variation, but its there :slight_smile: There is an upper and a lower section of the map which are about 256 units of height differential. However, within these two areas themselves, there isnt a lot of up-and-down. Ill try to work on it, but in this later stage its really difficult to do, as you mentioned.
However, in Gold Rush, most of the buildings are not accessible, so most of the verticality of the gameplay depended on the variation in the terrain, and the streets themselves. In my map, a lot of the buildings are accessible - as are many of the rooftops. Hopefully this will provide a lot of vertical gameplay, even if the streets themselves cannot.
Ill release a beta… and hopefully a lot of playtesting will determine whether or not it needs ‘fixing’ :slight_smile:

Thanks for the feedback!