DescentBB

sushi.h.a's absolutely awesome work has inspired me to try rebuilding the first level of D1:First Strike after his example. Ofc, the D2 engine doesn't allow for such glory as the UT2K4 engine does, but I like the challenge - and his architecture is so great, I just want to have it in D2X-XL.

The level is finished and available as download on my Descent site.
Screenshots here show the actual state of the level.

Screenshot of the start room:

Looks nice, I can't wait to see more screenies!

Dude, that's amazing!

That's really nice. You gonna make it a multiplayer level too?

Another shot from the start room:

This is getting better and better.
I'm bowing to you man!

Kind of heavy on the red light. Can you make it not bleed through the walls like that?

why the second door in the last screenshot? (at the end of the hall)

Oh very nice there Diedel!

I like it very much!

Can't wait.... sooooo HURRY UP!!!!!

Duper wrote:why the second door in the last screenshot? (at the end of the hall)

Because the level is not finished yet? ...

Kyouryuu wrote:Kind of heavy on the red light. Can you make it not bleed through the walls like that?

I can reduce brightness for the lights, but I'm afraid that's all I can do.

This is still far from being finished. I am not satisfied with some of the 'decoration' yet, lighting isn't perfect, etc.

But I really need your input to make this as good as possible.

When I look at it the first thing that comes into my mind is Ego-Shooter and only on the second look/thought it reminds me of Descent - The doors look like doors from Unreal or something in Lo-Res - don't get me wrong, it looks far better than the original level architecture-wise, but if I could do things like level design I wouldn't want it to look similar to some ground-pounder game architecture - I'd rather go for the elliptical shape tunnels like in D3 than like the hallway-type of design that reminds me so much of a ground pounder game.

That's just my 2 cent's and I guess that's what it's worth coz I could never make something that looks this good.

Look at the original level and you will see how close it is. You can see from that level's design that it has a very distinct up and down, with floor tiles etc. It looks like a well constructed mine frequently being visited by humans.

Here are two images from the level editor.



Same as wireframe to show structure:

Some more screenies, showing the reactor room:

Shaft leading down to reactor room:



Reactor room:

WOW! Very cool!!

I wish I could make levels like you do Diedel!

Awsome work there indeed.

Aus-RED-5 wrote:I wish I could make levels like you do Diedel!

Same here!

Something to try with the red arrows in the reactor shaft would be to make the red light strobe downward.

Shaping up pretty interesting, otherwise. It will be curious to see how you'll do the corridors as they snake around in the main portion of the mine.

Kyo,

The red arrows are moving downward.

Aus, Wolf,

actually I don't find it that hard to build a good looking level. The most important are cool ideas - I didn't have to have these here, sushi did already.

Then comes the constructive part with a lot of trying and rebuilding; you just need patience here. You need to check your stuff frequently to make sure proportions are right. Launching your level in D2X-XL from DLE-XP with Ctrl+F5 helps a lot here.

A hint for complicated structures: The 'split cube' operation is your friend. You may have to ponder a while how to make a complicated structure or transition from on structure to another, but cube splitting is the answer in a lot of cases. Sometimes I make several versions of a level area until everything works out. My first attempt at the start room was a failure; I had to throw it all away and start over, rethinking the way I built the tunnels.

All that comes with practise, as well as DLE-XP expertise - there are ways to make complicated tasks pretty simple (another hint: work with blocks a lot).

Just awsome work there Diedel.

The reactor room is really shapping up there.
I like the look you are going for. It works well.

Keep up the good work!

Here is a shot from a tunnel area:

Hah... yeah, it's looking very proto-D3.

I like the look personally.

A tunnel shot (pretty reddish ):

Oh, I mainly mean the architecture and texturing style. Kind of like what one might have imagined D3 to look like before they rebuilt the engine.

Reddish is good!


I like it... Gives an eerie look to it.

The small chamber connected to the reactor room:

I like the updated pics of the lvl sofar.

Looks really good Diedel!

Some more shots:

The brig:



Big room before energy center:



Reactor room:

WOW!

Way to cool!

One thing..... are you gonna have enough cubes to finish this mission?

What was the max number of cubes D2x-xl can have now?

Aus-RED-5 wrote:WOW!

Way to cool!

One thing..... are you gonna have enough cubes to finish this mission?

What was the max number of cubes D2x-xl can have now?

Currently, D2X-XL supports 3600 cubes, and I am at about the half of that, with more than half of the level finished. But if I had needed it, I'd have made D2X-XL and DLE-XP support 10,000 cubes.

1800 on that level? Wow ... though I guess I can't be too surprised you'd need it.

Some new shots:

Tunnels leading to red key room:



Room preceding red key area (lit by flares):

isnt the shelf tapered a bit?

Does the reactor room look exactly like the original?

But - I have changed the room a little (see above). Better now?

awwww mannnn.... The textures aren't the same either!

I have changed a few textures ...

lol red-5

really diedle it doesn't matter. Wsn't sure if it was intentional or just something missed.

It's lookin great.

Duper,

your feedback made me improve the design. Feedback is always good.

Here's a shot showing the energy center:

Duper wrote:lol red-5

really diedle it doesn't matter. Wsn't sure if it was intentional or just something missed.

It's lookin great.

hehe.. Its all good!

Diedel wrote:Duper,

your feedback made me improve the design. Feedback is always good.

Yes feedback is always good!
So here's mine.

I don't really like the new white (granite?) stone wall texture you applied now.
I liked the clean white one better.
Though I think I know why you changed it?
It was in some ways plain looking. Kinda gave you that "inside of a ship" feel insted of a mine.

What would be a better texture?

Beats me??

Keep up the good work!

I like it much better. The original texture looks like a rock surface (or very rough concrete; like sprayed on the base similar to plaster before smoothing it), and the new texture comes pretty close to that, imho.

I am currently at 3597 cubes (the original level has 285), with most of the level done. Here is a new shot from the secret area above the energy center:



And one from the red key room:

The level is almost finished (4372 cubes ). All that needs to be done is adding some custom textures for monitor breaking animations, and a lot of checking to find all the small glitches.

Here's a view from DLE-XP with the lit level: