$500 Mapping Contest! Sci-Fi/Horror Theme

Done! Can you send me an email via the address in the documentation? Nice job!

 

Hey all,

A little update for everyone. Added a bit more detail, textures, and adjusted some of the lighting...along with some better shadows, a screen overlay, a bit of AO and global fog, and a bunch of other small tweaks. I really want to make sure I get the atmosphere just right.

Hope you all like it thus far Got a ways to go before the entry tomorrow! I'm going to be closing the right side of the dome in, adding an eerie entryway, a few pipes/wires, and a couple stasis machines along with a lot more detail...I hope I can make it!

PS: This is a high res image btw, so it looks a lot better if you save it and open it up at full screen

 

+1 on viewing that image in full res- absolutely lovely! In my opinion, for what it's worth, this is setting a new bar for competition, great work ZedalisDesign. Just one thing...more, more!

 

@ Zedalis
Great atmosphere, love it!

@ Yahodahan
Any idea what time the deadline is for the competition? I need to figure out how much time I have left due to being in the UK.

Cheers
Jay

 

Will do! I'm at work now I'll get you the info in the next 24 hrs!

Thanks!!!

 

This is unbelievable. I missed it again, didn't I? Can we have a do-over? (Or: Now I really have to beat all you guys for the first place.)
@Zedalis Oa, you sure are some competition. I will try hard to keep up!

Good luck for everyone! Cant wait to see everyones entries tomorrow.

 

Hi Everybody

Bit of late wip entry but I only started using probuilder a few days ago! (when I heard about the competition). Here are a few screens of my demo level for my upcoming sci-fi horror game called Hypersleep! It's been built with probuilder in about 2 days using textures and a few props created previously. Very impressed with the probuilder tool, reminds me of making maps for Quake a Half-Life back in the day.

 

4-10-2013, 11:59 PM, Central Standard Time (Chicago, USA time)
That's about 39.5 hours remaining!
Super Secret Hint: If you end up just a little late, don't sweat it, as long as you are within an hour or so

Always more chances!

Awesome work, especially for just a few days. Keep at it, just over a full day left! Great to hear you are liking the tools, and please share with us more on this Hypersleep game! Website/twitter/etc?

 

Hey all,

Had the chance to work on it a couple more hours. Added some structural detail, messed with the lighting some more, added some more textures. It's still got a ways to go but at this point, I'm happy with the results.

As promised, it's 100% ProBuilder.



As with the last couple ones, it looks better if you save it and open it up in full screen Also, thanks for all of the comments, and good luck to everyone else in the contest! Looking forward to what some of you come up with.

 

Looking great, again! Clever use of the textures

One thing, it looks like the normals and spec might be getting lost- make sure you bake with "Directional Lightmaps" to keep those, and turn the "Aniso" level on all textures up to 5, it'll really help! Of course, you might already be doing that, just pointing it out in case

 

Project already sent

 

Thanks! You can see more on the game here indiedb.com/games/hypersleep It's a stealth horror game with a System Shock / Half-Life feel to it. You can also check my blog and follow @Trashgames on twitter for more news in the future. I'll be writing a blog post when I finish the demo level about how it was created with probuilder.

Here's a couple more screen shots so you can see how it's progressing. I think I'm just going to play with the decals and lighting today just before I submit it. Wish me luck!

 

Oh man, anything that is even loosely based on System Shock sounds good to me! Can't wait to see more of this

 

Well, I've been working hard on my corridor concept, trying to get a Giger feel with the textures I have and getting the lighting right. I decided this would be more important than building out loads of geometry into a huge level since it's the shots that are getting judged.

I spent a good while figuring out the new ProBuilder features, namely the smoothing which I've used for the tubes and rounded walls. Spent ages trying different options with the textures but I'm close to happy now.

So here's a shot of where it's at, definitely should be viewed full-screen, preferably in a dark room with something scary standing behind you

Let's see how much more I can get done before time runs out!

 

I had absolutely no motivation/energy left (due to allergies), but then I saw your amazing work on your blog and bäm! I was hyped again.

 

Fun concept, and looking good! Definitely following your game, and will be contacting you directly as well- setting up an area on the site to highlight and promote games being made with ProBuilder. Keep up the great work!

Also, thanks for ProBuilder write-up, really appreciate it. Make sure to let me know, I'll bump that around our network as well

 

Very nice! You've definitely hit the Gieger look best of all here, way to stick it out with a difficult style. Good to hear the new features of 2.1 (smoothing, mainly) are of use already. More, show us more!

Hurray, glad you are back in the game for more! Exactly 12 hours to go!

 

Hi, i have a question, Did you recently released an update of ProBuilder and send them to the people with the proVersion? Because I havent got mine I already have the pro version

 

I did, yep. Could you send me an email with your invoice # so I can register you...or check in my list for why I forgot to register you previously, heh. Sorry if it's my mistake, we'll get it fixed right away though.

 

I've already sent you my invoice, but no problem i will send it again right now Thanks

 

Heh, figured Although, looks like you purchased via CG Cookie- so you can just log in to the store there, and download via your personal download link

 

Already did, but It's still the 2.0 haha already read the txt and it says 2.0, so could you better send it to me via my mail? Please, I'd really appreciate that thanks

 

Ah, just confusing naming, my bad. Latest version sent via email as well!

FYI for all users- versions will always say "ProBuilder2". It's the revision number that matters, on the actual Unity package file inside the zip file. So, 2.1.1 is actually "r786", and so forth. Just check the revision number against the one you already have, to make sure it's the newest

 

Ok so I've worked out a longer corridor with a curve based on my initial geometry, have a look!

 

Ok this my corridor i have been working on. It is great that all i have used to make this corridor is Pro Builder.
This will be one of the levels in the game i am making,
I must admit it is hard to see the detail with a white background.

Cybershead

 

Way to ninja in cybershead! MetaKid, that's looking quite nice as well!

Just a note to all- your project doesn't have to finish uploading by midnight, just make sure you start the upload before midnight! Yes, I'll be able to tell

 

Digging the glow effects. Looking really neat! Are you using a custom shader for that?

 

Just over 2 hours left folks!

(those glow effects look like SelfIllum materials on a small area under the walkway, then lightmapped).

 

Hey all,

Added a sunlight coming in through the windows to balance out the lights/atmosphere just a bit more and finished up the texturing work. I kinda wish I had installed 2.1 so I could have some smoothing in here but I think I portrayed the mood/feel I was intending to. I also didn't have any decals to add :/ Hope you all like the final results regardless. As with the others, save it and open it up full screen to see all the details

Please Note:
Geometry is 100% ProBuilder - no 'detail' meshes were used
Only Textures used are from the GameTextures.com pack provided

I'll be uploading it to Dropbox soon!

 

Zedalis, you are blowing my mind, man! This is why I'm glad to NOT be a judge- I'd hate having to choose in this competition!

 

Wow, there is some very nice stuff in here! Great job everybody!

 

Disaster! Project done messed up, now that my friend's using 4.X, a few things broke on import. Lost about 3 days work...but now it's actually in Unity 4 I guess.

Got these screenshots off the 3-day old version in in U4 though:









Zipping up project and screenshots for submission now...

 

@Zedalis and Metakid
Sheesh you guys are insane, awesome work.

As promised....
Link to an album with my shots:http://imgur.com/a/TwXQh
Screenshot of my original room just to make this post look useful:

Regarding ProBuilder:
If you're wondering just what ProbEverything in my scenes except for the barrels and the pipes were all made in ProBuilder; The only reason those weren't ProBuilder objects is because I don't have the full version. The point is, everything you see could be made with a full version of ProBuilder; so if you're on the fence about ProBuilder, play around with the free version and see if it fits your needs. Besides the texturing (again only going to be an issue with the free version) everything else was great. I'll be sure to write a proper review of ProBuilder if I remember once I'm back. Until then, I highly suggest you play around with the free version and see if it fits your needs.

Cheers,
- Brotherhood

 

Oa, I'm 2 minutes late... currently uploading...

 

Dial-up users eat your heart out; 10MB Gif file incoming! Don't be too brutal, I'm hosting the image myself because the Unity forums won't take it


I'll echo Brotherhood's impressions of Probuilder. I didn't have time to use the full version much, and 99% of everything you see in my screenshots uses the free version. Having said that, the features of the full version were impressive and useful enough that I'll definitely be using it a lot in the future.

Anyway, my level is for a small multiplayer game; 2v2, where the only weapon is a small, throw-able remote charge (max 3 per person, with 2 ammo resupply areas in the level). The full level design used a dozen small corridors, ducts and vents linking together eight rooms ranging from crew quarters and storage rooms to the main reactor hall. Each room or area had at least 1 window and airlocks at each join, so that if the glass was broken (by, for example, a small remote charge), the doors would seal and whoever was in there got sucked out into space. There's a control box at one end of the main reactor room that can seal all doors for a 10 seconds and trigger the reactor room ceiling to break after a 5 second countdown. Audio is a big part of the game, with the intermittent crack of the bombs followed by a rush of air escaping and the slam of the airlocks keeping players on their toes.

Claustrophobic in some areas, vast and open in others, with little gravity and the constant rotation of the surroundings, it's been fairly effective so far at keeping playtesters unsettled and uncomfortable, and in some cases slightly nauseous (motion sickness) (you have been warned).

 

So, finally! Here's my entry:

I have tried to mix some elements from Fallout 3 Old World Blues, Event Horizon and a scifi comic a read some weeks ago. At first I wanted to make some rooms where the player can push buttons, change the environment and so on... but due to a lack of time and those bloody allergies (spring is coming!) I had to make a lot of cuts.
Also, my Unity crashed every time I tried to generate lightmaps... so the scene is only lighted with the real-time lights using deferred shading.

Edit: Its kinda hard to show everything in a few screenshots. There are a lot of corridors... But I hope, these four screenshots give a good impression.

(Edit2: The upload's taking forever...)

Edit3: I really had a blast working with probuilder! It's an amazing tool!

 

Hi All

Here's mine. It looks a LOT better moving, but getting compile error building the exe or web player. If I can fix it I will post the link at a later date!

Thanks Jay

 

Cheers
Jay

 

Grrr, my Dropbox upload keeps crashing. Have to leave for work now but will try to upload from there.

Some awesome work on here! Good luck everyone!

Jay

 

@Bucket Monkey, FreakForFreedom, Jesus, Brotherhood, ZedalisDesign, cybershead, JorgeLuis and AlexM_Infinite (hope i haven't missed anyone):

Just wanted to say there's been some amazing work submitted, really great being on the bleeding edge of Unity BSP and pushing the boundaries with you guys. May the best man win!

Here's one last detail shot that I submitted for the contest showing a bit more detail texture work. Good luck everyone!

 

Wow everyone, beautiful, beautiful work here. I'm definitely going to dig in one-by-one and give a solid response for each, for whatever that's worth. Don't forget we have judges from Offensive Combat, Interstellar Marines, Rochard, Folk Tale, and more, who will be reviewing these and making the final decision.

But honestly, amazing work from all!

One more thing- I'd love to see some "post-mortems" from you creators. The good, the bad, the ugly, on using ProBuilder+ProGrids for these scenes. How was the learning curve? Any part of the tools that were particularly good, and/or particularly annoying? Would you use the tools again? You can wait till after the contest judging if you'd like, haha, but promise speaking ill of the tool won't affect your judgement- that's part of why I'm not on the judging panel!

Thanks all!!
gw

 

Hey, just wanted to give some feedback on the tool and I'll hit on a few of the things you mentioned:
(Keep in mind that I was using 2.0 for this contest, not 2.1. Also, I've used the tool fairly extensively at this point)

The GOOD:
Learning curve - Honestly, I'm not really sure there is much of one to speak of, especially if you read the documentation. I've probably used 20-30+ 3D tools/applications now, and this is by far one of the easiest I've come across. It really is easy to just let your imagination wander.
Automation - The snapping/grid system, shape creator, texture application...it's all very easy to use IMO.
Interface - It's nice and straightforward (drastically improved over 1.0+) I'm a graphic design major so this aspect of applications is always a big one for me. It can be ultra powerful but if the UI is convoluted for no reason, I won't use it. Period.
Groups and Merging - I'm so glad you expanded on this and the naming conventions. It's a breeze now!
NoDraw/Collision - As with the groups, it's incredibly easy to designate geometry to have certain characteristics.

The BAD:
Angles - At times, even using ProGrids, I found it very difficult to get a particular piece of geometry angled as precisely as I wanted to. It's fairly easy to do 45 degree angles, but anything other than that and it sort of becomes a guessing game nightmare. I suppose this doesn't affect as many of those that primarily build straight-edged/modular structures but it slowed me down a bit in this contest. I actually have a separate support beam every 7.5 degrees. I don't profess to be a programmer so I'm not entirely sure of how you would pull it off, but some precision angle snapping would be HUGE for me. It would be even cooler if you could snap an angle off of a particular reference or pivot point.
Selection Tools - I really like them for the most part and this may be more of a bug than a detriment of the program...but occasionally I would be trying to select only a few vertices and the rest of the geometry would be selected as well. It happened a few times in a row in a couple instances and it slowed me down a bit.
Geometry Losing Texture Information - At times, even though a texture was assigned to a particular piece of ProBuilder geometry, the textures wouldn't show after hitting Play. I had to reset the texture and reassign it to get it to show up.

The UGLY:
I can honestly say I have nothing to put here.

Conclusion:
When it comes to building geometry for a game/scene, especially prototyping, I wouldn't prefer any other tool. ProBuilder makes it so easy to just let your imagination do the work. You aren't bogged down by an extravagant UI that's tough to master, you aren't overwhelmed by the complexity of the controls. There are still a few quirks here and there and a few features I'd like to see implemented but when it works, it simply works. It has allowed me in many ways to push my level design skills to another level. For that, I can't thank you enough.

About the Contest: I just wanted to say that I had a blast working on the scene. I enjoyed seeing everyone's submissions and works in progress and I'll definitely be taking part in the next contest you host. Receiving critiques and feedback can only make you stronger as an artist so it's great to see the community come together for things like this.

Anyway, that's my overview of ProBuilder and the contest in a nutshell. I hope the review didn't come off as too derogatory. I just want ProBuilder to be everything it can be Good luck to everyone!

 

I've been quite sick the last couple days unfortunately. I have no problem not being able to qualify because i missed the time constraints (anyways there's quite a few here I think are much better ) but would you like me to upload for the sake of completionism/promos/etc?

I'll have a post-mortem up soon. I just need to sleep for another 16 hours or so

Anyways great work everyone, some really awesome stuff here. Zedalis that final update is mind blowing!

 

@Zedalis- thanks for the great feedback. Angles can definitely be an issue, we'll be addressing that with ProGrids, and your other two issues I believe are already fixed in v2.1!

@Alex- definitely, please do submit regardless. We've all seen your screenshots, which will be the items judged- no way of faking that! Anything added on since those public screenshots would have to be for promotional only, just to be fair to other's, sorry. Still send those as well, I'd love to see and show them! Hope you get better soon

Judging will begin this Sunday, and should be complete by mid-week. Now is the time to send those cash bribes!

 

hahah I forget to bring the files with me when I left to go on a holiday of sorts...if you can call it that. So good luck to every one who was able to enter.

 

Post-Mortem

The Good:

To be honest I've not been a big fan of Unity up until this point because of the lack of decent primitive manipulation. I come from a background of doom, quake and halflife modding. I am very much attached to blocking my levels out with brushwork first. Hammer is one of my best friends. I would much rather have a tool that has good brush manipulation and a bad art pipeline than the opposite.

Probuilder for Unity allows me to have the great brush manipulation of classic BSP editors with Unitys awesome art pipeline. Essentially giving me the best of both worlds.

I also love that I can do operations with Probuilder primitives that would be illegal in classical BSP editors such as editing a primitive in a way that it would be non-planar.

The Bad:

This isn't a probuilder issue per-se but I wish I could select multiple primitives and apply a material to all of them at once rather than individually.

The Ugly

My work schedule getting in the way of me being able to spend more time on this contest

 

Bear with me folks, sorry for the long delay! Images are about to be submitted to the judges!

@ Johny - feel free to send in the files that everyone already saw, no reason you should drop out of the contest after putting in so much work. Also, I'd love to see what your final map looks like!

@Alex - Thanks for the Post Mortem, great to hear ProBuilder has given you faith in Unity for game creation About the apply-all-at-once issue, you can do that! Just select each ProBuilder object (PBO), then hit "J" to enter texture mode, but DO NOT select any faces, or change the selection at all. Then, choose a material in the Texture Tools panel, and hit "Apply". Bam, all faces on all selected PBOs are painted!

gw

 

So when are we gonna get the final decision from the judges??? !!!!

 

Alright, nearly all images are ready for submission! Just a quick check to make sure I have everyone:

AlexM_Infinite
Brotherhood
BucketMonkey
Cybershead
Ebkac
FreakForFreadom
Jesus
JorgeLuis
MetaKid
TrashGames
ZedalisDesign

Did I miss anyone? Please let me know ASAP!

Awesome work everyone! Some of the entries in particular just blew me away- a serious amount of work went on behind the scenes!

 

Almost forgot to do this post.


The Good

Well from my point of view Pro Builder is a great add on for Unity, to design within unity is a something cool for me, i can create a scene or level and test it straight away with a First or Third person character, this enables me to see how it feels and change or tweek things quickly.

Below are a few things i love about Pro Builder and other Tools from 6by7

• Quick prototyping with in Unity.
• The power to add materials to any face and move the material around to the position you want.
• The ease with Pro Grids to help snap objects together.
• The power to keep down draw calls.
• Simple to use in every way.
• Fantastic Help desk, with prompt forum replays.

I think that this is a tool that can help bring your thoughts and game level dreams to life with in unity.


The Bad

It is hard to say what is bad as they make upgrades and listen to feed back to crate an even better Pro Builder. I mean people have said that you only create from cubes and cylinders, but you can do so much with those if you have imagination plus i am sure we will see spheres in the future. So i think the only bad thing i can think of is they need to move to the UK so i can pester them more in my own time zone.

The Ugly

Humms, well apart from myself looking in the mirror after a long Pro Builder session after a long day at work, their is nothing that is ugly about it.

Summary

Everyone will have different views on this software , but in my eyes its allot cheaper than 3d max and the fact i do not have to leave unity makes this a must have tool for me. I am sure Pro Builder will grow more powerful and the Pro Builder team are on the quest for perfection and not just a quick buck.
The more i use it the more i create with out even thinking, my creative thoughts and fingers take over and produce a smile, plus it gives me a platform to run along and blow things up....


Hugz and Stuff

Cybershead