[map] relax (1.0)

[bonifarz]

EDIT: I was just experimenting with curved tubes and rainbow color effects when I realized that this could fit pretty well with the initial idea of relax: A playful, beginner-friendly trial map with a bright color theme and no deadly traps. So the following concept map is the successor in spirit. Thanks for considering the map for inclusion in the SVN repo.

relax.1.0.zip

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Version changes

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

relax 1.0
 - increased particle velocity and size
 - moved some triggers with unexpected bounds
 - texturecull/shrinkmap
relax s1.1
 - added one trigger per particle entity, linked them in a 2-2 pattern
 - relax.png updated as provided by Dratz-_C
relax s1 (sparkling edition)
 - colorful sparks added, adjust them with the /maxparticles or /maxparticledistance variables
 - fine tuning of entity positions and sound radii
relax r1.3
 - last section redone
 - minor fixes with lights
 - sounds in vertical segments added
relax r1.2
 -  start point cannot be bypassed anymore
 - added a coating of cubes with sky textures
relax r1.1
 - removed the nonsense leftover player start, lights and alpha block
 - moved the entire thing a bit to lower the mapsize
relax r1 (rainbow edition)
 - started a new map with a rainbow lighting theme and a smooth topology composed of cylindrical and toroid segments
RElax.0.4:
 - Some geometry changes: Obstacles and square layout
 - New pushers, shortcut fixed
 - Some more NPC-dialogue for instructions per section
RElax.0.3:
 - Some changes to the geometry near the start
 - Added some basic NPC-dialogue: Get instructions from Tutobot
RElax.0.2:
 - Enlarged geometry by a factor of two
 - Added basic lighting
 - Added opaque edges for better visibility of the pathway


[TristamK]

corridors is to tiny . Here can't play more then 1 player . But like a idea this look interesting .

[qreeves]

Concept is okay, but lacks decent texturing and shadowing. Entity placement is quite bad, hard to navigate and see where you're going.

[TristamK]

. Entity placement is quite bad, hard to navigate and see where you're going.

Yeah . Try to create a arrows on your "map" . Also try to use different textures here .

[bonifarz]

Thanks for the honest comment, Quin. It is remarkable that you take the time to give feedback even on such a minor topic.

The difficulty to navigate is actually not intended by design. I initially wanted to have the outline of the course visible from any point in (or outside of) the maze, as it is the case when you use glass material instead of blocks inside alpha material. I will try some air material at the edges of the tunnels and see how chaotic things will get.

Concerning minimalistic use of textures, I have the impression that this is quite common on non-official time-trial maps (after some random multiplayer sessions). Maybe good use of lighting is preferable here, but I have an absolute lack of experience in that. I wonder if the skybox implies a sunlight entity, or there is a smart fallback setting if a noob like me hits F7 without placing a single source of light. Anyways, it is very interesting to make ones first steps with the map editor.

Tristam, I agree that the tunnels are to narrow and scaled everything by a factor of two. The track gets a bit lengthly this way, though. Maybe I will post an update later.

[TristamK]

I think this screens can help you with the ideas . Here you can see few things .
1) Light didn't work well with alpha material .
2) You can see a good examples of creating a tonels IN alpha materials . This lines don't use alpha material and i can look on it from all positions .

About 1 texture on maps... hm ... yes . this a problem . when me or someone create a trial map (for me - most of the my old maps) he a lazy to create a good environment . But also it can be like a part of the simple design (idk how say it better on eng) . But sometimes 1 texture look not bad . Try play on map BlackWater (on one of the FPTT servers) . Are it look so bad ? And map neodrive . Not much textures - but it look good too . This depend on the texture and on the map creator ( if he can create a good light) .

[bonifarz]

Thanks for the help, Tristam. Yes, I think what you show here is exactly what i meant with putting some "air material" at the edges, i.e. to remove some alpha material. And the maps you mentioned are some of the examples I had in mind. Regarding proper use of light, I am quite unhappy with what i got so far, but at least I tried. Indeed there are some quite weird spots.

Anyone interested in this will find the updated version (0.2) in the topics leading post.

[bonifarz]

Version 0.3 comes with few changes on the map and a proof of concept for some NPC-dialogue. The idea is to get some basic information about all important moves by talking to a tutor NPC.

The writing is rather poor and some things may still be quite unclear, but I tried my best to summarize some of my (still limited) experiences with the movement and impulse system. If you find any mistakes or some important aspects that are missing, please leave your comment.

[TristamK]

Now your map look much better . Also good idea with bot .i like it . At this moment i don't have a so much time for testing all in text . On sceens you can see some my suggestions to your map . Also your map have a cheater way . With using it i can pass your map in 14 sec . I think you must fix it .
You can see temka's tutorial map . Check it . Maybe you will find some ideas ...

[bonifarz]

Thanks again for your feedback. True, passing the pushers is actually quite simple and needs to be fixed. Maybe the easiest workaround is some clipping that also prevents any falling to your death. I will update that after skimming for some more typos.

The suggestions look interesting, as far as I can guess from the screens. A plain texture actually does not look bad at all, and some more obstacles may be nice addition.

And thanks for posting Temka's parkour-training map. I have actually searched for something like this. It looks like Temka put quite some effort into it (unless there is an "ascii to octree"-tool somewhere ).

[bonifarz]

And thanks for posting Temka's parkour-training map. I have actually searched for something like this.

Temka's parkour training has its own thread in the meanwhile: viewtopic.php?f=73&t=3569
RElax is deprecated, I might return to this later, but then probably with discarded "tutorial" elements.

[bonifarz]

RElax has been replaced with relax - rainbow edition.

[TristamK]

RElax has been replaced with relax - rainbow edition.

Interesting idea. I had the idea to work with anything like this tubes but iam to lazy to create it. And it work a bit different that i imagine.
Just one error - you placed a "playerstart" outside the map (also you can change a type of checkpoint from finish to last)

[bonifarz]

Just one error - you placed a "playerstart" outside the map (also you can change a type of checkpoint from finish to last)

Hahah, that one and some lights got lost when i did /shrinkmap. Fixed.
Checkpoint finish vs last: I actually like the teleport on complete now, because i realized that you can return to the previous checkpoint after finishing a lap on many trial maps and score a nonsense lap time, e.g. some 2 or 3 seconds on test chamber.

[qreeves]

This map is now in SVN.

[bonifarz]

This map is now in SVN.

Thanks Quin, the consideration actually surprises me. I guess I should get an account for the bug tracker, such that i can commit updates to the map more conveniently.

EDIT: version r1.3 attached above, needs some more testing.

[Dratz-_C]

Congratulations Bonifarz! I will access it with the SVN when I have time.
Cheers

[bonifarz]

Version s1 attached above.
One thing that was suggested to improve the map is some indication of the direction, so people do not run in the reverse way, for example after a confusing wall-run-loop. Arrows in the outer volume or scrolling textures look rather awful, so i experimented with some particles. Since the map volume is very small, everything is within the default of /maxparticledistance (1024), so with a default value of /maxpartciles (2048) shared by a bunch of emitters (23), there are barely a few sparks on some walls. If you lower the distance cap to 300 or less, a reasonable amount of particles should be displayed without any loss of performance. Otherwise, you can bump up the max particles to your liking and adjust the particle density accordingly. I wonder, do the particles considerably lower the fps for people with old hardware? Mine is a couple of years old and i did not notice any difference.

[Dratz-_C]

I like your addition, Bonifarz. On my 2008 model nettop, I see the same framerate with "maxparticledistance 1024" as "-256." Also, here is your map preview picture losslessly compressed with PNGOptim to 102KiB instead of 160KiB, should you want to use it in its place.

relax.png

Cheers

[qreeves]

do the particles considerably lower the fps for people with old hardware?

Too many of them can, as they each contribute to the number of vertices being drawn on the screen. I wouldn't suggest doing anything in a way that would require a user change their settings, perhaps you can link the particles to triggers so only the section you are in has the particle effect.

[bonifarz]

Too many of them can, as they each contribute to the number of vertices being drawn on the screen. I wouldn't suggest doing anything in a way that would require a user change their settings, perhaps you can link the particles to triggers so only the section you are in has the particle effect.

Yeah, I also thought so, but the obvious idea to use triggers did not come to my mind this time
I will experiment with this and then post a hopefully final update. When I think it is finished, I will create a ticket on the tracker, got an account (bonifarz) on SF in the meanwhile.

I like your addition, Bonifarz. On my 2008 model nettop, I see the same framerate with "maxparticledistance 1024" as "-256." Also, here is your map preview picture losslessly compressed with PNGOptim to 102KiB instead of 160KiB, should you want to use it in its place.

relax.png

Cheers

Thanks for the feedback and the compressed png, Dratz-_C. Your framerate observation gives a good clue that triggers will work fine here.

[bonifarz]

Okay, I carefully tested different positions and radii for proximity triggers to control the particles. While doing so I finally learned that triggers and checkpoints do not work with relative distances (sphere volume) but voxels.
For now, each trigger is linked with two particle emitters and vice versa. I don't know if my solution is a good one, as the response is by far not fast enough to catch up with a fast player. Higher particle velocities might work, but that would give the environment a hasty and nervous touch. I think it is quite okay this way.

EDIT: A higher particle velocity is not such a bad thing, actually. I also enlarged the sparks a bit, because it yields a better contrast for the different colors of the 0-3 palette. Another topic are triggers and their regions of action. It seems that in some cases the presumably cubic volume is cut to some parent octree, such that the triggers (and the start checkpoint!) in the beginning do not fire if they are placed at the height of the tube axis and if you walk on the floor. In between there seems to be a boundary on some parent octree level. Anyway, that does not really matter. The update is labeled as version 1.0 because i think it is finished from my side now.