46 replies to this topic

[MoonUnitBeta]

Great thread Alister. Really enjoying these.

[Kh0rn]

Closed beta Graphics is what we need back

[Alistair Winter]

Some more screenshots from the latest map, which is quite pretty. It doesn't really have a lot of "hidden gems", specifically. The whole map is pretty straight forward, for better and for worse.



Putting the Atlas on these trucks in testing grounds is kinda funny, but it really makes me wish those trucks actually had a horizontal mech strapped to their dolly, as if it was being transported from one area to another for repairs. But you know I have a great love for mixing different scales. Unfortunately, while this map has a lot of roads and infrastructure, there's precious few vehicles.

It's a pity. These vehicles do so much to make the dead landscape come alive, it really gives the base a sense of purpose and realism. Like stuff actually goes on there, and it's not just a backdrop for a game.



More lovely vehicles, a nice road and a nice transition from the small scaled vehicles to the vast industrial complex. I like the use of blue lights on the base to match the blue sunlight. It really works well with the red and blue theme for this map, which is fairly consistent (except for simply copy-pasting the yellow tinted windows from HPG Manifold)



This gives me the MW2 feels. Very nostalgic to see big buildings designed with simple geometric shapes. From a distance, they look extremely low poly, but as you study them up close, they actually have a surprising amount of detail. The roads, the landing pads... this map would be a 10/10 score from me, if it just had more vehicles, shuttles and/or mechs to make it look more alive.



Arguably one of the coolest details on this map, and it's something I brought up in another thread. With those small external hallways with windows and visible doors, you establish the scale of the map and the mechs. You show some man-made structures clearly designed for pedestrians, giving you an idea of how big the mechs are compared to humans.

Did anyone else get some Half-Life vibes from those inaccessible hallways? I was half expecting G-man to stare at me from behind those windows, carrying a suitcase, fixing his tie, and then disappearing behind a corner just as I came close.

"Wake up, Mr. Freeman. Wake up and smell the ashes."





I'm going to end on this bitter sweet note, because just like with Grim Portico, I feel like PGI wrote a description of a map that sounds better than the actual map turned out to be. The new map was described as vast, open areas, and it made me long for the vast, open maps of Mechwarrior 2. Endless wastelands with plateaus, craters and dunes, devoid of life. An empty landscape, where huge, lumbering mechs defy hostile elements.

I would really like to fight over that open landscape in the horizon. A 12 v 12 battle across an enormous, empty landscape. that would be amazing.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

the new map looks good ...However, the bases for the building with the installation texture and remain ugly and inappropriate, and recall the building bases in ancient strategy C&C games, they seem discordant, why not building simple cement pedestals with streets and squares in between, see Mining Map or Crimson?
Who runs or drives up to the entrance on first installations with hoses, complicated equipment and maintenance shafts

Edited by CSJ Ranger, 06 May 2015 - 08:28 AM.

[FatYak]

Vassago Rain, on 01 March 2015 - 10:58 AM, said:

Imagine if the early maps had all been like crimson and viridian.

Sure, they're not perfect, but they're fun, and neither one looks outright bad. It would have been a great starting point, instead of the (boatless) forest colony.

Speaking of old stuff, here are some vintage MWO screenshots from closed beta and early open beta.

Closed beta looks so much better than it does now... thats pretty sad really

[Kh0rn]

Indeed closed beta maps were better but MWLL maps and beauty smack this game clear out the water. http://imgur.com/a/eZ0TD

[MW Waldorf Statler]

MWLL Maps the best

Edited by CSJ Ranger, 06 May 2015 - 10:07 AM.

[Kh0rn]

MWLL for me has detail unmatched it just looks great and feels alive, with things like destructible environments and day and night cycle.

[Alistair Winter]

Kh0rn, on 06 May 2015 - 06:57 AM, said:

Indeed closed beta maps were better but MWLL maps and beauty smack this game clear out the water. http://imgur.com/a/eZ0TD

I agree, but every time I watch a video of MWLL, I just can't get over the bad mech walking animations. I know it's very good when you consider their limited resources. I'm blown away by what they've accomplished. But it just messes too much with my immersion when the animations are so crude, like the mechs are being pulled along by an amateur puppeteer.

[elismallz]

Kudos to you. I would not have noticed most of these which is kind of a drag. Great post.

[Molossian Dog]

The artwork in general is above average. There are exceptions, yes. The graphics are low quality, yes.
Do not confuse graphics with artwork, people.


Now if the map artist wouldn´t be hampered by a map design philosophy of "stupid is good" and the game would offer something to do on these maps, that´d be great. Closed Beta graphics would be even greater. Fun gameplay the greatest.

[aniviron]

Good thread. PGI's art department is fantastic; I really do think they would be better off with a singleplayer title where the art would shine and balance mistakes wouldn't be so gutting. Shame that the overall graphical quality has gone downhill over the years, even if the art direction hasn't.

Alistair's a cool dude though, so I'm here to help out.

The concept behind Frozen City is just nothing short of cool. The execution is pretty good too- here's the docks on the waterfront, still there from before the planet froze:



There's a ship not far away, entombed in the ice as well:



The refinery on Caustic is really something. Great attention to detail and scale, lots of ladders, walkways, doors, and human-usable objects there. It's fairly striking, and actually relatively fun to fight in as well. Shame it doesn't happen often because of how far away it is, and the fact that the middle hill has sightlines on it.





I think everyone knows about the giant wurm lurking just below the surface in Viridian Bog, but I don't think everyone knows that this isn't the first time there's been a battle there, and the bog does take prisoners...



I think it would be remiss to not include some of the great detail on Canyon as well. The oil slicks running through the river are fantastically realized (if you can overlook the mis-scaled texture on the shoreline foam).



And it turns out that the oil slick actually has a source, too, something that looks like a treatment plant.



Next to that, there's a secluded little area where garbage is being dumped indiscriminately



And then finally, off in the distance, you can see the source of all the pollution.

[MoonUnitBeta]

FatYak, on 06 May 2015 - 04:59 AM, said:

Closed beta looks so much better than it does now... thats pretty sad really

You know how many people would complain about that fog on river city if they went back to that? lol. people are complaining about the fog on forest colony... they don't even know.

[MW Waldorf Statler]

Im Hope, the mixed the assets more in future Maps ...Why not a refinery, or one of the large industrial installations of mining in a forest planet with a large polluted cleared area around it, and supply roads that lead through the forest, or the moon installations (without the basement Groundstructures) on a desert or swamp planet

[Alistair Winter]

aniviron, on 06 May 2015 - 03:53 PM, said:

Good thread. PGI's art department is fantastic; I really do think they would be better off with a singleplayer title where the art would shine and balance mistakes wouldn't be so gutting. Shame that the overall graphical quality has gone downhill over the years, even if the art direction hasn't.

Thanks, you posted some really great picks. I wish I had thought to post many of those, especially the parts of Canyon Network people easily ignore. The docks on Frozen City is also one of my favourite spots in the whole game. And I love the ensnared mechs on Viridan Bog, I started a threa about that a while back. I think there's 3 or 4 of them, that I could find. I'll post them here. And the industrial complex on Caustic has amazing details, I wish PGI had resources to do a whole map like that. Mining Collective has some pretty spots, but obviously it would have been tremendously expensive to make that map without a little bit of copy-pasting existing assets.

And yeah, you're absolutely right. I really hope they do make singleplayer campaign packs, because like I said in the OP, normal PVP battles don't afford you the luxury of absorbing the art in the same way that single player does. I actually enjoy playing a lot of games on easy difficulty settings, just for the sake of enjoying the game more as art while I play, instead of sweating and cursing through the whole process.

I would pay lots of money for a series of PVE campaign packs.

[Telmasa]

Alistair Winter, on 06 May 2015 - 12:34 AM, said:

I would really like to fight over that open landscape in the horizon. A 12 v 12 battle across an enormous, empty landscape. that would be amazing.

Agreed! I saw the outside landscape outside the borders of the map and I was AMAZED. It looked real. Someone put alot of unappreciated work there.

I understand some of the aspects of the map itself, if viewed from a purely gameplay perspective; and the gates *finally* feel like they actually belong on the map...but still, sometimes I want to know why we can't just have painted red lines on the ground that say "don't go past here" as opposed to all the clearly artificial canyons, walls, cliffs, and whatnot.

Edited by Telmasa, 06 May 2015 - 08:43 PM.

[Molossian Dog]

One thing I don´t understand is why they don´t make adjacent maps.

Like the city in the distance on Canyon Network. Why not make a second map that covers that area.
Or the part of the city that sits on top of the cliff on Crimson Straights. There are even gates leading into said cliffs. Nobody would mind if a spawn would be at the other end of the tunnel leading up to the cliffs. And looking down to the current map would give you a real sense of scale, help immersion and orientation.

That something like this would be practical for all kinds of gameplay related diversification, even tree campaigns and whatnot should be kind of obvious.

But then PGI´s policy in terms of map design (not art!) and map size (ridicolous!) is well known.
Another lost opportunity.

Edited by Molossian Dog, 07 May 2015 - 03:58 AM.

[LordBraxton]

So bitter. The closed beta screenshots get me every time.

God damnit the game looked so good...

WHY PGI?!?!? WHY!?? **** the potato computers. **** em.

Edited by LordBraxton, 07 May 2015 - 04:16 AM.

[Mister Raven]

LordBraxton, on 07 May 2015 - 04:15 AM, said:

So bitter. The closed beta screenshots get me every time.

God damnit the game looked so good...

WHY PGI?!?!? WHY!?? **** the potato computers. **** em.

Pretty graphics same lame maps.

it matters not to me. gameplay>graphics

[MW Waldorf Statler]

in the Moment ...Lame Gameplay /Hitreg...and No IK , no collision and low Grafics and framesucking Particleeffects

Edited by CSJ Ranger, 07 May 2015 - 07:36 AM.