[WIP] Amnesia - In a Heartbeat (Looking for Testers)

[daortir]

Hey ^^ Glad you thought some points of my feedback were useful !

I want to point something out about detailing, though : the detailing is not always something that is done to make maps more realistic. Sometimes it would be more realistic to leave areas empty (most of the abandoned places in mods should be completely emptied of furniture and items), but mappers don't do it. For a very simple reason : an empty map is boring. Small details related to the story are what makes maps feel alive.

It's your choice, but take a look at the mods with good mapping there. I'm tired of suggesting Eternium so i'll recommend The Four Horsemen, which has the same level of detailing as Eternium -or nearly- but a lighting of lower quality, also I think I can recommend Through the Portal, maybe some environments of mental memorial. Those mods have overwhelming detailing. Yes in Through the Portal some areas are messy and it's not realistic. In Eternium there might be some crates in the very first room that might not have a good reason to be here. In The Four Horsemen, there is a room with glasses and whine that might be unrealistic considering the story of the place, and so on : p.

BUT. Empty maps are not fun to walk through in a general way.

Played Bioshocks ? Lots of detailing and weird crates that shouldn't be abandoned in that position if you think about it ; ). And yet, they put crates, planks, random stuff everywhere because this is how places look like in real life ! In a clean hallway there is an abandoned broomstick. A chair that someone was moving and abandoned because he thought about something else. A table with some flowers to make the place look nice, doctors like pretty hallways too : D.

And if you REALLY don't want to detail, then there are looots of tricks to make levels look less boring. Decals and lighting are the best imho :3. Decals in the corners (basically in places that are hard to clean) make the places look less dull, and more dynamic. Think your map like a drawing or a photo, it needs to be dynamic to look appealing I think : /...

Don't like decals because the place is perfectly cleaned up every 5 minute ? Lighting and particles are your solution xD !

Secondary light sources will make the scene look more dynamic : ) ! Might be a window, an opened door with some light coming from it and making a bright spot on the floor... A player walking through a perfectly clean hallway with no detailing and 8 doors that look exactly alike without ANYTHING to grab his attention will most likely get confused and bored : /.

I am sorry for insisting so much on this >.<, but while the screenshots look like you are ready to spend a lot of time on this mod it would be really sad if mapping was repetitive and empty areas. I think you are creative and motivated, you are ready to listen to other people's opinion but I honestly believe you are doing a mistake if you don't make your areas more dynamic with detailing/lighting.

Hope I did not sound like a douche there, but if an area doesn't have to be filled with detailing to look good, it has to be dynamic. The perfect example is this map in Through the Portal :



It is nearly empty. The detailing level is very very close to being 0. And YET, it looks very very very very fucking good. Because the lighting is awesome and new, it makes the place look dynamic and the whole screenshot goes from what would have been a boring hallway to a mind-blowing new map ! That's my point. Find something to make your maps dynamic and appealing. Can be detailing, can be lighting, can be a good use of fog areas, can be all of this combined... But yeah, you gotta find something that will make people go like "shit that hallway looks mysterious/suspicious/cool/scary/whatever, I gotta investigate" !