creepy HL2 level
polycounter lvl 18
messing around in Hammer
1,2,3,4,5
*still trying to find out how to make grass appear on the surface of textures and when i do the field in front of the building will have grass.
*i've already deleted the env_fog _whatsit since i couldn't get it to work how i wanted.not to mention it was killing my FPS.
*can't seem to get the light_env dark enough either. i'm using the sky_day01_09 sky texture and am trying to simulate a cloudy full moon-ish lighting scheme
*only the center part of the building has had any real work done to it. the wings are just quick mock-ups.
*the cliffs are to the left of the building and include a small bit of water on to the left but it was neon <font color="blue">blue</font> so i didn't include it in the shot.
*right now you can't enter the building but soon....
*also Valve didn't include but one BlendGrassGrass texture with Hammer (healthy green <-> yellow grass like in front of the building) and that makes me mad
reference link
1,2,3,4,5
*still trying to find out how to make grass appear on the surface of textures and when i do the field in front of the building will have grass.
*i've already deleted the env_fog _whatsit since i couldn't get it to work how i wanted.not to mention it was killing my FPS.
*can't seem to get the light_env dark enough either. i'm using the sky_day01_09 sky texture and am trying to simulate a cloudy full moon-ish lighting scheme
*only the center part of the building has had any real work done to it. the wings are just quick mock-ups.
*the cliffs are to the left of the building and include a small bit of water on to the left but it was neon <font color="blue">blue</font> so i didn't include it in the shot.
*right now you can't enter the building but soon....
*also Valve didn't include but one BlendGrassGrass texture with Hammer (healthy green <-> yellow grass like in front of the building) and that makes me mad
reference link
Replies
Maybe the fence doent really fit with the house.
About the textures, usually to make a map looking good you have to use custome textures.
A tip to make it creapy is to have the sight distande vary much shorter, so the player don't really know what's going on around him/her.
And having shadows move around is allso a good 'creep' element, so chosing an engine with dynamic shadows would be a good move.
- remove chain link fence
- put in either a iron/stonework fence that is collapsing
- put in a graveyard - possibly with an open grave that has a headstone
- have a body hanging from a tree or spiked one one of the iron spikes of the fence or something
- lower the light level a bit its just a bit too bright to make me feel creeped ; a dusk scene might be nice so you can put in some lights or odd glows coming from a window or something
i would make more suggestions about the house istself but its far enough off i cant intelligently speak to that yet
you have an interesting start here i think it could be a neat idea so keep working on it.
melkior
Scott
I agree with Scott actually. I dont see the fence as being a big problem. To me the concept of abdandoned mental hospital is infinitely more creepy than the classic haunted mansion. Wheelchairs lying around, that kind of thing perhaps.
Google abandoned or derelict buildings and theres a ton of material out there.
It could (and propably will) look much more creapy.
Making the house creapy would still note make the out doors creapy, or atleast not 'scary'. right now it's just a big house. Making it more like a "mental hospital" would make it more creappy but not scary in ways making you think you would be in danger, adding fog would make it alot better.
If you were to see a zombie at the door to that house would give you like 4 minutes before it would reach you, but if all you saw was a shape in the mist it would be much wors, not being abel to identify the person and stuff, as with shadows.
fog doesn't work too well.
creepy would not be putting corpses in trees. that's bashing people over the head and screaming "BE SCARED!" creepy would be a few blood drops on the blanket in a child's crib. it's suggestion and implication that bad things have happened or about to happen. it's the build up not the scare.
You could try playing with sound effects as well. For example adding in some sounds of twigs snapping as if someone is following you. Might be an extra way to freak out the player.
Coming along well. I also like that fog effect.
It's what Daz said, it gives it a negative feel, which works wonderfull here. I'm not saying it looks fantastic at this point, but there's definately a good base.
The fog works good, exept that the sky don't seem to get any grayer, try a more gray sky but just alugglt brighter or a little darker than the fog, so you can see the shap of the house in the distance.
All it needs now is rain, and burning barrels.
and you might be able to play with the fading by making brushes and tie them to entity env_fog and adjusting their position from the ground
oh and add some crows and the rusty playground equipment.
and a random blue ghostly(rendermode under object properties) car driving through the woods
and im sure you could make your own blendblendgrass texture
Also on levels like these sound is a major factor i think. try out the sounds from the ravenholm map maybe?
lastly im curios about your fps. does the map run only at 10-20 fps? you got low end spec. machine? just asking because how good a map is its never better than its playability.
It does looks pretty good but like a Asylum in the early afternoon
Rain and thunder maybe but if you go the long way to/from the house its maybe bad for the sound effects you can use (closer or far away /coming near).
Everything else is just sound and with 3d sound you can add very intense moments (EvilDead2 - has the best sound moments imo)
If its singleplayer you need a few more places for hide/seek (guardhouse etc.) and for action (burning jailbus etc.).
ILike the scene - please post if your going for a singleplayer mission - never enough creepy games
I don't want to see lightning and thunder IMHO,its over used and conicidently there is always a thunderstorm when soemthing creepy happens,watch any teen horror movie..its just dull and I feel that with abit of invention theres other ways of creating a creepy atmosphere.
I agree with what others have said,make some more debris in the courtyard,burnt out car maybe...maybe some grafetti around the place,also if you havent alraedy might I suggest a hole cut through the fence.
taking melkiors idea of a body further,maybe make it less blatant and have a dead animal instead,soemthing caught in a bear trap,soemthing that gives away the impression that someone has been there relativily recently,but its by no means clear HOW recently.
Damn nice start so far though man.
Keep it up
john
the env_fog_controller settings are:
Primary Color 128,128,128 a middle <font color="#666666">Grey color</font>
Secondary Color 0,0,0 that's <font color="black">Black</font>
Fog Start 5
Fog End 2500
the light_env settings are
Brightness 255, 255, 234, 20 a <font color="#FFFFCC">pale yellow</font> (default is 255 255 255 200)
Ambient 0,0,64,0 a <font color="#000033">dark blue</font> (default is 255 255 255 20)
fog in HL2 isn't volumetric. it doesn't 'sit' in the world.
i thought about adding rain but right now the rain effect in HL2 doesn't have a texture so i would need to make one...
as for the FPS it should run fine. i think the reason for the 10-12 fps is the fact that i put all my video settings on high. (really though there is not any noticable difference between high quality models and medium.) i think i changed the shader/particle/whatever settings to high which kills my computer,de_dust2 lags quite a bit when i see the dust unless i set it to medium.
without fog:
*edit WOO! 100posts!
Hmm, there are two fog settings - try switch the settings or make the grey settings a little more blue. Also i would test to lower the brightniss color values, i guess they should go with the (grey) fog settings.
I think after adding a low mist shader (two layers of moving/wobbling dust) and a "cloud meets fullmoon" skybox it would look much more deep and closed.
Sorry to jump into this late, but I disagree with all who said this level isn't creepy. I am especially in favor of keeping the chain-link fence, razor wire and all. My first impressions of the level shots were a damp, cold, overcast sky above this stately house that has evidently been made into some kind of military installation. Given the 'old house' setting, one might assume there were dangerous experiments going on inside.
/jzero
But I would like to make one observation. There is way too much open space at the moment. Where are the enemies going to come from? When a zombie comes lumbering out of the forrest, and you have one hundred feet before he reaches you, that isn't very creepy. There is no sense of urgency. I would more the forrest in a little closer to the house. Not right up to the walls, you do want some distance around the house. But closer than it is right now. I would also make the forrest thicker. Especially around the major paths. You could use some mid-height trees to put in between the taller trees. Make it harder to see through. Some lanterns along the path would also help to add to the mood. They would allow you to make the rest of the level darker, with little spots of light leading the player where you want to take him. Darkness is your friend, use it effectively and you will scare the hell out of the player.
Again, very solid start. You are definitely on the right track. Just keep tweaking it and thinking of ways you can increase your creep factor. Atmoshpere is everything.
It also looks incredibly unrealistic in that the plot of land it's on is just a perfect rectangle. This is very unbelievable. Smoothing out the edges of the land plot should help at some depth to this scene as well.
Another thing about a hill, I think it would be cool as hell if you put the house on top of a big hill. There could be a long crooked pathway with nice rotting, falling apart wooden handrails running from the bottom of the hill to the front of the house.
Also another thing I notice is that the house looks far too perfect to really be creapy. There should be some signs of age and wear imo.. like some broken windows, broken branches and junk on the roof, the roof sinking in towards the center, some edges and corners of the house damaged and crumbling, things like this.
Also, I agree that the fence needs to go. Fences, woods, and creapy never belong together. There's a reason why you never see perfect fences surrounding houses in horror/scary movies.. and that's because you hardly see fences anywhere besides jails, government establishments, and cities. Instead you should an old long-falling apart wooden fence around the area, or maybe like a 5 foot vine covered stone wall surrounding the area.
Its also quite intresting how alot of you guys are sticking to the genric horror movie theme where as others of you are trying to make soemthing more of it than that....tis an intresting set of different peoples ideas and just goes to show no matter what ya do ya can't please evryone
anyway id say keep the fence but only if you intend to bash it up some as I said before,add holes,imperfections,even add some of it knocked down or bent round.
Asherr:-can you please give us more info on what you intend to do with the house so it gives us more idea about what it is you have lined up for it? (e.g what kind stuff are you putting inside it?)
Keep it up.
john