Adding More Detail to a map
Detailed maps
Creating more detailed maps takes more time, but it can really change the appeal of a map. It's a known fact that most MOD's take screenshots of their most detailed areas. Players like to see detailed areas or places that look cool or fun to play in. However this doesn't imply that you should make a highly detailed room while the rest of the map is very low-detailed for the soul purpose of taking great looking screenshots. Players would prefer to see many areas that have detail. This tutorial will explain simple things that you can do as a mapper to make rooms hallways an various other types of brushwork look much more interesting as well as making areas look more realistic.
Rooms
The player walks into a room where there is a hole in the ceiling. The questions the player might be asking is "Where did that hole come from?" and "Why is there no rubble here?" It's pretty obvious that there should be some rubble on the floor to make it look more realistic.
Imagine a room that is textured with a combine wall material with a sofa and a table inside. Lets add some more detail to this room. Since the room has a combine/wall material applied to it you could turn it into a nice detailed combine room. Lets go for something like the citadel. The Citadel is is one of the hardest places to detail due to the large size of the rooms as well as choosing the right color palette. Most lighting within in the citadel is either dark or light blue, teal, white & sometimes (but rarely) red and orange. Red and orange are really more for the citadel in its destroyed state in Episode 1.
Choosing the right details
Now you have added some detail, but something doesn't look right. That big couch i mentioned looks out of place with the gloomy and alien surroundings of the Citadel. So lets get rid of it.
Another big part of detailing is the setting. What kind of setting does your level have? Is it a barren wasteland, littered with the remains of civilization? Is it a lush forest with trees and foliage? These are all things every mapper has to take into account when detailing the map.
Examples of settings and detail
Sewers
- Setting: Dark/dimly lit, Wet, Cramped, Concrete & Uninteresting.
- Details: Grates, Pipes (ceiling, floor, beneath grates, etc.), Water, Drainage pipes & Garbage.
Citadel
- Setting: Dark, Gloomy, Alien, Metallic & Hostile.
- Details: Static gunships, Pods, Combine lighting (bright teal), Tele-screens, Bottomless chasms, Glass floors (unbreakable of course), Combine balls & Other futuristic objects.
Combine-controlled cities
- Setting: Urban, Run down, Combine, Cobblestone streets & Restrictive.
- Details: Run down looking buildings, Combine gates, Combine walls, Trash, Burnt-out cars & A citadel in the Skybox.
Forest areas
- Setting: Large &/Or Small trees (Depending on the look you want), Light Effects pouring through various leaves and other foliage, Bushes, Shrubbery & Displacements. Large areas or sometimes Mountains (in the skybox) to add the effect of the Forest being large in size.
- Details: Birds, Greenery & Trees.