This blog entry marks the letting go of a level I have been working on. It does show a lot of potential, and there are a lot of things I like about it. However, there are a lot of things that need to be moved around, and lot of areas that I did not develop correctly. Sometimes its easier to start back over from scratch and sometimes its better to repair what you're working on. In this case I believe it's better to let go of of it and create something new.
I really enjoy the fact that there are 3 distinct areas. The large open courtyard surrounded by walls, and the two more closed areas separated by a divider. They are all interconnected and it is interesting to move around. The problem with this map is that it is very vertical and I am using these huge ramps that are very steep to go up and down. This doesn't feel right and the vertical movement needs to be achieved in a smoother more natural way. I really like the architectural feel of things and the fact that the courtyard balances the other more congested areas of the map. There are alot of features that are lacking detail and I am trying to right now focus on layout and organization over fine details. I was going to remaster this map and make it finely detailed but have opted instead to restart.
Here is some pictures of some re visioning I was doing
And there was a ramp behind this structure that I was trying to convert into something more appealing and complex and here is the documentation of that process occurring.
We start with the original ramp. We can see that it is very large and overly simple. The ascent to the platform above is not very exciting or dynamic and it doesn't really offer many options.
Here we have my first attempt. We see a lot of winding and overlapping ramps and platforms. Visually it's interesting but it's also somewhat disorganized and incoherent.
The same thing but from another angle to display its features.
Here is another attempt. I like this attempt much better. It's much more organized and coherent and appears more structural and less abstract. Navigation would be easier and understanding the geometry and forming a strategy around it would be much more straightforward and I think satisfying. Of course there's always the guy that wants to say hey its all objective everything is correct it's a matter of taste. Then you go and see what his maps look like and they're giant arrays of abstract looking beveled cubes going off in random directions and good for him at least he gets to create what his heart desires.
Now here I simply add the wall going around the outside of the perimeter of the area and add a similar looking ramp going down to the lower level. This area seems complete for now, there's certainly always more that can be done but I think it's time to move on.
