Stephen Rimmer's Alpha Adventure [Completed] - LAST UPDATE 17TH May

[Khyrpa]

So yeah. I didn't actually play your map now (I tried it some time ago, got stuck and forgot about it), but I looked through the map editor and I'm going to give tips mainly for the atmosphere and lighting side of your story.
So first of all, the billboards. Actually I think I will do a brief tutorial on billboards somewhere here in this forum...hmm
Plains and their textures... Most importantly the cellarbase wood floor looks relatively bad when the tile amounts are at 1 experiment with the sizes and offset the edges so for example full tiles start from the walls (yeah I know its a minor thing, but still somehow it bugs me).

Lamp entities... Yes lamps have the light source added into the model already, but its small. Connecting a light into lamps helps to create a wider area of light and gives the point lights/spot lights the right color.
Then with normal maps IMO its best to always use a box light to give the area a good tone. Also if toned well it can make the darkness vision look nicer.

I think I have developed a solid list of what to do in normal rooms:

1. a very dark boxlight with color that supports the rooms color = room with only lamps, about 3parts red 1 part green and always 0 alpha (as guided in the frictional wiki). experiment!
2. Point lights and spot lights into windows (possibly multiple to create a natural look) and point lights set to pitch black connected into lamp entities (experiment with the ConnectionLightAmount). And if you wanna go right into them details, try putting the connection light amount into random lamp entities that the player could light (ever felt bad when the light you lit only covers a very small area and doesn't really help you?)
3. Billboards, if you have windows in your room (actually not necessary).
4. Decals: Use as low amount of decals as possible, I think they slow down the loading time a lot. When placing decals (actually how do they work? If someone knows how to, with 100% success rate put them into ceilings and weird places, tell me!) experiment with the alpha color, as decreasing it makes the decal appear lighter.
5. Particle effects: useful ones are for example the ps_light_dust ones and fogs (mainly for dark dungeons or something). And remember to alter their color too. Like if your rooms lighting is blueish, then of course make blueish fog!
6. Check for light leaks through walls, random buggy textures and places you could get stuck into...

PS. I have no idea how i managed to create this wall of text. I think it is not directed straight and only at you tho cook :S