01 starting the map

The way wdm11 evolved is quite typical for my personal style of mapping. at the moment i tend to just start off without sketches or anything in my mind, see where the brushes take me. so i just fired up the radiant and had absolutely no clue, laid some brushes, thought of nice fighting spots and watched the outcome. at this point it's very hard not to get caught by your inner voice saying "this plays shit, try something different!". the more you map the more you know about gameplay and technicals and therefore you may notice some bad efforts while you are still mapping them. it's very important to just go on and fix the flaws afterwards.. if you didn't build utter crap. so withing the first testing sessions i felt the map really plays crap. i noticed i built something quite similiar to q1dm4 and the overall map was way too cramped, but way too open in other regions. my decision was to drop the layout for some weeks and come back at another time.

02 phoenix from the ashes

Getting back to wtest11 i was trying to save the layout by enlarging the hallways and close the open regions, but i felt it wouldn't help while doing that. so i deleted everything and started again with just one spot left from the old layout: current lasergun/green armor spot. this time i would do some planning before: 3 levels for fighting. again i started dragging some very simple brushes. in fact this was very crappy and i thought this could never get a good map, but i continued. after i had build the floors i decided to define three atriums, raised some walls, added ceilings and i was done. "doesn't look to bad." first testing session were surprisingly positive, even with just MH, RA, YA and GA. i decided to keep hands on the layout, fixed two or three spots and completed the item layout. second testing sessions showed up the layout had great potential, quick and interceptive or slow and tactical. depending on the players, quite like wdm2.

03 defining the look

As everything on the gameplay side was done i started finding the style of now called wdm11. i started with something wdm2 like, but the brushwork was far too simple for such a style to actually look good. i deleted the blue columns, but left the imprints on the walls and the floor, gave them some nice shaders, changed the rest of the textures to the wdm1 set and i felt i was nearly done.

04 wdm2 + wdm6 = wdm11

The finalizing phase for wdm11 optics. the former tests for graphics led to quite a nice stlye, but i felt it would need some more spice, so i tried to mix in some wdm6 textures. the outcome was very nice looking and so wdm11 was done. unfortunately the visuals led to some discrepancy within the team, but i decided to wait for community feedback. seeing that wdm11 was accepted very differently and not very popular in cups i had a chat with some community members and after a while i decided to do the restyling.

05 no more disco!

I deleted every detail i added to wdm11 and built a whole new skelleton out of caulk brushes. starting at point zero on the graphics department. using old textures was a bad idea, so i said hello again to good old mr. photoshop. "how about some industrial textures? yeah that's good!". started off with some basic trims, including lights and textures for the floor. i applied the new textures to the skelleton, without adding other lights and i felt it looks rather nice. feedback within the team was also very positive so i decided to get serious.

06 bubblegum industrial

The phase 1 tests still included some old textures from wdm1, so i created more unique textures for the new wdm11. the map became more dark and orange, rather rough but still fitting the warsow comic look. i'd call it "bubblegum industrial". nevertheless i liked the map more and more and feedback was a real blast. the testers did a great job helping me finding the right shapes for some details and after the overall was done, i was curious to add some more detail.

07 chasseur de bot industries

These screenshots show the current state of the new wdm11, uncluding a lot of industrial decals, good old crates, projectile impacts and blood. possibly the upcoming 0.31 release will feature an even more detailed map, depending on how much time and creativity i'm able to invest. acid out.