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Author Topic: Town Districts  (Read 109137 times)
Oscar
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« on: November 23, 2007, 02:36:27 pm »

Originally our towns were simple, single-map locations where everything unnecessary was omitted. While that was good and functional, the maps lacked atmosphere and didn't really look like real towns, but camps.



As you can see the old Teron looked way too small, so we decided to split this town and all others into 3-4 "districts" to flesh them out a bit, add some atmosphere and distinctive style. These shots are work in progress, so your suggestions are welcome.

Gate District

I present you the gate district of Teron.












Barracks District:

Here are some shots of the Market Area, in the Barracks District of Teron.







Here is an overview shot of the Barracks district.


« Last Edit: February 03, 2008, 01:53:25 pm by Oscar » Logged

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Matt
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« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2007, 02:57:03 pm »

Wow guys, those look great! I like how many houses there are, for just one district. I'm impressed. I assume they are all enterable and have unique decorations inside?

Also, the graphics look gorgeous. From an old video I was thinking this game would look too much like Runescape, but I've proven wrong from those screenshots. I've actually just come fresh out of a multiplayer game in Company of Heroes, and even on full settings the graphics look quite similar.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2007, 03:13:41 pm by Matt » Logged
Vince
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« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2007, 03:03:51 pm »

Not all houses are explorable. 2/3 of them are just a filler, to create an "urban" atmosphere. As for the interior, hey, Oscar, can you post a few shots if you have time?
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Nick
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« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2007, 03:07:24 pm »

Hey, Matt, glad to see you're already here, too. I totally love our members list Smile

Well, these are 3dsmax renders. Shadows on the engine won't be as nice... for example, self-shadowing doesn't work there. However, no other special effects were used by Oscar to render this, so the final result will look pretty similar to what you see here.

Interiors will have 3dsmax quality of look, since they use lightmaps, mostly.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2007, 03:24:06 pm by Nick » Logged

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Oscar
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« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2007, 03:26:06 pm »

Wonderful. Smile the textures definitely add a decadent feel to the buildings, cobble stones, roofs, and tiles.
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FrancoTAU
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« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2007, 03:46:04 pm »

Wow, that really looks great.  The town used to look more like a really nice basic JRPG town. The little touches really add up to make it look real.  The only small nitpick I could make is that there are full grown trees here and there with almost no patches of grass or little dinky bushes or trees.

It's amazing what you guys were able to do with Torque.
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Gareth
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« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2007, 04:15:12 pm »

Very, very nice, a HUGE improvement, welll done guys Smile

I'm fine with filler houses. I prefer that to very small looking settlements where everything is enterable.
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Oscar
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« Reply #7 on: November 23, 2007, 05:17:07 pm »

Not all houses are explorable. 2/3 of them are just a filler, to create an "urban" atmosphere. As for the interior, hey, Oscar, can you post a few shots if you have time?

Sure.

A run-down house (for that spy quest), a standard house, and the first and second floors of the tavern.

[attachment deleted to save space]
« Last Edit: November 23, 2007, 05:19:44 pm by Vince » Logged

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puppyonastik
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« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2007, 06:27:43 pm »

Fantastic work Oscar! It's almost perfect imo. All I think it needs is some sparse light green grasses in among the housing to balance out all the browns and grays.

I love how dirty and lived in it looks.  Grin

Edit: The insides don't need any improvements I think. They look very realistic.
« Last Edit: November 23, 2007, 06:32:21 pm by puppyonastik » Logged

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FrancoTAU
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« Reply #9 on: November 23, 2007, 11:44:04 pm »

Interiors look great.  It's very gloomy, but still feels like its being lived in.
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callehe
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« Reply #10 on: November 24, 2007, 03:34:30 am »

It looks great! The second floor on the tavern is superbly done. All the interiors look great in fact.



Only nitpick for me had more to do with logic than the art itself: the trees look a little too green and happy outside the gate. Since the gate is made out of wood, the guards would likely chop down the closest trees first to make the spikey logs.


Generic suggestion:
If you would like to add more to the atmosphere of the cities, you could add some sanitation facilities: where did the people go to the toilet for instance - the ruins of a former bathhouse maybe?

What I would like to see more of in terms of cityscape is a mix of pre-apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic style with sharp distinctions.
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renkin
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« Reply #11 on: November 24, 2007, 07:44:08 am »

Nice new forum!

As for the town, this is a vast improvement. It doesn't look empty and artificially scattered anymore, and the colors are much better. However, I have two remarks:

First, the gap at the left edge (as seen in the picture) of the district makes no sense to me. It makes the block of houses seem unnecessarily cramped together into one little rectangle. If you got rid of the gap, either by adding another row of houses or cropping the map, the area would look much more like one part of a continuous urban district.

Second, I sense a slight inconsistency in the atmosphere. While the wall is severely run down at places, all the houses seem to be in perfectly fine condition. It takes away from the post-apocalyptic feeling a bit, in my opinion. Also, it doesn't make much sense that the townsfolk took time to rebuild/repair all the razed/damaged houses, but repaired the walls in a very temporary manner. Make a couple of the houses have collapsed roofs, is my suggestion. Smile

ADDED:

Upon closer inspection, I see that the area actually has two foundations of razed houses, and possibly some fixed roofs as well. I guess my comment was a bit quick, but I still feel the contrast between completely repaired and totally destroyed is a bit high. So my new suggestion is add a couple of partially collapsed houses that nobody cared to fix/clean up yet.

Also, I see now the gap is actually along the whole edge of the area. Maybe you want that feeling of a contained housing area, but it still looks slightly weird to me.

None of these are serious flaws by any means. I'm merely focusing on what I think could be improved.
« Last Edit: November 24, 2007, 08:03:01 am by renkin » Logged
Vince
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« Reply #12 on: November 24, 2007, 09:17:25 am »

Good points. The trees will be gone (anything that close to the town would have been used a long time ago). The gap to the left won't be accessible in game - that's just the map's border and it won't be shown. As for the houses, I agree. They do look too well-maintained, but we've already sent a demolition crew there, so give us a few days and we'll fix it. Or un-fix it.
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Oscar
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« Reply #13 on: November 24, 2007, 09:41:51 am »

Great post, renkin, very helpful. Smile

When you refer to the "gap at the left edge", you mean the one that runs from the street to the wall? The one that is created between the row of houses?

The district ends with the row of houses that are in the same line as the tower. The new row of houses are just some filler houses that you can see at the edge of the screen, so that it doesn't appear empty. The same goes for the houses that go alongside the road to the north.

So, if it's that gap, I think it's not a big problem since, most probably, it won't be noticed ingame. But I can try to move some houses around to make it less noticiable and less artificial.

About the inconsistency on the atmosphere, I've taken note of your criticism and working on adding more noticeable variety, as Vince already said. Smile
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renkin
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« Reply #14 on: November 24, 2007, 10:32:08 am »

Vince and Oscar: That sounds great. Demolition for the world. Smile As for the gap, I'm still unsure which one you mean, but I meant the one running along the edge of the map, basically. It makes perfect sense however that it's just some filler that won't be shown in-game. Somehow I didn't think of that before posting. So anyway, now I'm entirely happy about it. Grin
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