Space Bound

Description
While this map is generally standard fare, I would like to draw attention and praise to the main hall. I can't praise any one particular element, as each element in itself is basic, but the combination of brushwork, shaders, effects and ambient audio is more elaborate than we'd usually see from a newer mapper. This demonstrates a degree of initiative, aptitude and non-lateral thinking which shows promise. Technique is easier to learn, creativity not so much.

Unfortunately, we gotta move from praising that nice centerpiece of creaive expression, to pointing out (and troubleshooting) a small myriad of errors. The most obvious problem you'll notice when loading the map is that the wood texture used for the teepees and paths is missing. Unfortunately, that one wasn't a baseja texture. Now we've all forgotten a texture or two in the past, so let's not dwell on that fact.

Okay klorrel, let's give you some troubleshooting tips.

[b]A:[/b] To prevent fall damage on a surface (such as the floor in your pit escpae route), encase the brush inside another brush made out of the 'cushion' texture, located in the 'system' folder of Radiant's texture browser.

[b]B:[/b] Caulk is a pink shader also found under 'system', which renders any surface it's applied to as invisible. It's good practice to caulk all surfaces that the player won't see; in fact, using this to prevent weird overlap on transparent surfaces is a must (example: the windows in this very map).

[b]C:[/b] I found some small z-fighting in the map. Z-fighting is where two textures occupy the same space, and they flicker while 'fighting' to determine which is displayed. Avoiding this is simple, just make sure never to have two brush faces overlap each other.

[b]D:[/b] Surface Inspector. This is a useful tool accessed within Radiant by selecting a single surface, and pressing the S key. The inspector can be used to precisely align and manipulate textures on a surface. There are a few spots in the map where this would have helped greatly, it's a good skill to learn.

[b]E:[/b] Compiling. I notice that this map has been released only after a -meta compile, which is a mistake. -meta is a basic test compile that does not process any lighting data, which makes maps just bright and, I daresay, actually rather ugly. Your maps will be much improved if you take the time to add lighting and do proper compiles. These two tutorials may well be of interest to you - [url="http://www.richdiesal.map-craft.com/tutorials/gc101lsn6.html"]Basic Lighting[/url] and [url="http://www.richdiesal.map-craft.com/tutorials/gc102lsn2.html"]Compiling[/url].

[b]F:[/b] Skyboxes. I can tell with a glance that you created your sky simply by adding sky textures to surfaces, which has created this static "painted" sky. For a real sky, as you'd see in Raven's maps, instead select each surface which is intended as a sky panel and apply the skybox shader (that blue square with the word "SKY" written in it).

As a personal gripe I'd like to note the inclusion of pre-spawned NPCs in the map as a critique. NPCs are horribly, horribly broken in JA MP, and pre-spawning them is not always the wisest of ideas as only so many NPCs can be spawned before a server crashes. Not only that but they get in the way of actually using the map.

Well, if there was anything else to point out, it's slipped from memory. Here we have another sample of work which demonstrates the progression of a fairly new mapper - if anyone else has any feedback, I'm sure it would be much appreciated by klorrel.

-Mikouen

[b]Bot Support[/b]: Nope
[b]Custom Audio:[/b] Unfortunately, yes.
[b]Custom Textures:[/b] Used but not packed.
[b]Supported Gametypes:[/b] FFA