UTMC - MidTech Derelict - Gasleak Mine
After my failure to do a paint over of a screenshot on mystic castles I wanted to try again. Using a technique I've never actually touched on, i've attempted stamp brushes before but could never get them to work.
I feel like I may have overreached myself or at least jumped the shark on Mystic Space Castles, so I spent all day on trying to teach myself how to use custom brushes properly and to get more into the UT DNA
Started with the Curse screenshot
Brush madness to get interesting details. I decided to take a sort of Alien look and have this place be really gritty-scifi.
Toyed with the idea of having a big giant ventilation fan directly above. The vent idea I kept but the fan being so close was dropped and it became a huge shaft instead.
Using overlay brushing to try to push and pull shapes
Gradients and brushes to define the main forms. I'm a UT99 junkie so I'm a sucker for those classic game-y pits.
Bits of color and more shading definition.
Doing something with the blob in the center.
Brief color exploration, but decided to stick with the classic ones Curse used.
More junk added
I feel like I may have overreached myself or at least jumped the shark on Mystic Space Castles, so I spent all day on trying to teach myself how to use custom brushes properly and to get more into the UT DNA
Started with the Curse screenshot
Brush madness to get interesting details. I decided to take a sort of Alien look and have this place be really gritty-scifi.
Toyed with the idea of having a big giant ventilation fan directly above. The vent idea I kept but the fan being so close was dropped and it became a huge shaft instead.
Using overlay brushing to try to push and pull shapes
Gradients and brushes to define the main forms. I'm a UT99 junkie so I'm a sucker for those classic game-y pits.
Bits of color and more shading definition.
Doing something with the blob in the center.
Brief color exploration, but decided to stick with the classic ones Curse used.
More junk added
Replies
From the start of it I had what I generally wanted, some lousy mid tech facility to process whatever was at the bottom of the pit. I imagined there would be a sort of toxic gas exposure leaking out somewhere at the bottom. The facility was either shut down or the workers would just have to endure it. Which is why the major giant shaft is a ventilation system. As the area fills up with the toxic gas from below, it becomes hazy and eventually life threatening, so the giant exhaust shaft above sucks it all out until the air is "Clean" again. Back to work you slackers!
I mulled over the gas as a game mechanic, at first I settled on it being a trap (because UT) except that it endangers whole-floors with a slow drain of health the worse the air gets. Instead I think it would be more interesting if it was just an ever-present thing the players must deal with. With warning signs stationed on the walls to let them know the current danger level it's up to them if they wish to go down into the deep.
There's lots of options that could be done for a trap, such as sealing off a section that has too much gas, or using the vents themselves around to divert the gas into one main area. But I think again it would be cooler and more unique to have the idea that maybe the whole level is a trap?
Maybe the players MUST activate vents switches as they play so they can keep the air livable or it'll just fill up the area and eventually the emergency air exhaust would kick in with flashing warning lights. *Bonus traps could be such a forceful exhaust fan that it would suck the player into it
About the last sentence, that's what I envisioned from the start with this giant shaft. I see a huge and powerful fan/turbine at the top that spins at crazy speeds so it can clear the gas OUT *at least for a little bit until it builds again*
Aside from having the fan system either be off, or hyperdrive. It could be played with the idea that there's fans that are always-on and give the players a low-gravity or flying like feeling while they are in the updraft, just make sure you get out before you hit the fan and go splat
And now enough talking, I made a small effects layer to demonstrate this idea visually through the magic of turning on and off layers :poly124: I kept the death fog green colored for the oldschool UT fans
Follow along the suffocating adventure!
other comments:
Perhaps you could try a nuclear chimney look for that hole over that pit. The hopelessly out of range opening could give the player a glimpse at the overcast of a polluted sky. And I'd say with as much of an updraft as this map looks to have, you could visualize this motion with scrap banners or other fabric rippling upward toward the ceiling (specifically over that pit). Gas Chamber sounds like a cool name too haha :thumbup::thumbup:
Right now my focus is on trying to get over the huge hurdle of my oriental space madness. But thanks for the suggestion and inspiration! I also really dig your extra thoughts on the gas trap mechanic and I'll totally be referring to this as the Gas Chamber for its UT name, the other stuff can be backstory