Sometimes it’s better to start over

This past week I’ve been working on the second redone map for our publishing demo. It’s been coming along great, but along the way, I’ve hit a snag or two. A couple of areas… no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get them to look good! One of the areas in particular was a long hallway. No matter what I did to it – no matter what kind of ceiling/wall decoration I added, no matter how intricate…

… it still looked boring.

So I decided to do something different. I decided to break the hallway up into different sections, and shape it differently overall, while still keeping the same basic idea. I added a couple of inlets to a curved room with some steps, which ended up being a lot more interesting than a hallway. See for yourself:

I don’t know about you, but I think that looks a lot better!

So what’s the lesson here? Sometimes a design idea can be so flawed that no amount of detail, texturing, lighting, etc. can save it. All you can do it scrap it and start over. If you find yourself frustrated while trying to make something look nice, ask yourself if the underlying idea is fundamentally flawed. (Is it too simple? Too complicated? Is it not consistent with the rest of the map?) If it is, scrap it and start over, and quit banging your head against the wall trying to make something work that can’t! You’ll free yourself to come up with something much better, and save yourself lots of frustration.

EDIT: You can now click on the shots for a higher resolution version!

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7 Responses to Sometimes it’s better to start over

  1. Slyor64 says:

    Great idea Carn, that looks way better. No one likes a boring Hallway.
    The lighting effects on the pistol look great too.

    Now, will the weapons have invisible hands in the finished product, or will they eventually get actual hands?

  2. Brad Carney says:

    Thanks! :) And I would imagine that there will be hands.

  3. Demyx says:

    I have to agree with Slyor, it does look alot better.
    Great job Carn!

  4. Oh wow, so that’s the same hallway? Straight hallways, or rather long and straight hallways, can be a pain to detail well. If your able to just turn it into a different shape your usually better off. And that’s just what you did! Looks great man :D

  5. Carnevil says:

    You did that same thing when reworking demo1 not too long ago (specifically the starting area and the chute you go down with the mauler), and it worked out very well! :)

  6. Slyor64 says:

    There we go, the higher resolution thingy worked. :)

    Now my desktop background looks better!

  7. Recurracy says:

    Awesome stuff man. That really looks alot better. Keep up the good work!

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