Contrast
One of the first things that I noticed about Duke 3D level design were the exaggerated light/shade effects. I tried, at first, to make objects appear as they might in reality under certain lighting conditions with a more artistic look but what I found was that the soft approach didn't cut it in the actual game play. So, I took a closer look at how the original Duke maps were designed with respect to shading. I had a hunch and my hunch was confirmed upon further examination of the original Duke Nukem 3D levels. If you look at the originals in Build you will also notice that the shading is exaggerated. The reason for this is the fact that in game play, one doesn't notice lightly shaded areas. The difference between the lighted and shaded areas has got to be greater in order to have it register in the player's brain. There are just too many other distractions in the game to be strolling, casually through the map taking in the scenery. When in Build, you are moving through the map rather slowly and paying attention to detail but in game play you are moving far too quickly to notice subtle differences in shading. Although, in Build it may not look quite as it would in reality, in the game it will make for the submersion of the player. Example: Ever find a really cool map, it has just the right amount of baddies and good weapon, ammo, and power up placement, yet there seems to be some thing wrong? You just can't place your finger on the problem but some thing doesn't feel quite right about the map as you play it. If everything else is cool about the map, then most likely it's a shading problem. What the author has not done is give much attention to the detailing of the light/shade effects. Making the lighting and shading effects is a lot of work; I'd say, 40 to 60% of the level design process. The thing about light/shade effects is this: either you give 100% or you give it nothing. This is because without the light/shade effects, the map will still be functional and despite the intended awareness of the game play, it will still be playable. However, if you do any shading, you must do all the shading, other wise, you have gone from one extreme to the other. Instead of the player being aware that something is wrong, he will know what is wrong. Make any sense? The reason so many user maps are made without light/shade effects is probably for a number of reasons: "I just want to get a map built and out on the internet, most user maps are not shaded, so why should I bother, it's too much work, I have tried but it's too much work....hey, I'm not getting paid to do this!" All plausible reasons if these are good enough for you but if you love level design and are more interested in building the best maps that you can make, then you are probably going to take the time needed to add light/shade effects. The addition of light/shade effects is a lot of work. I suppose the trouble with it is that, usually, the map (or the area of map) is completed before the shade work is begun and it can be problematic. If you were not considering light/shade effects while you were building the area, then many times things have to be changed, restructured, in order to accommodate the effects. I can understand why this might disconcert many mappers. You have already spent a lot of time building the map and now going over it and restructuring it for light/shade effects can be a daunting task. The word daunting is appropriate. It comes from a Latin word which means tame and taming your map can be daunting. (laughs insanely) Joking aside, these four topics on lighting will cover some of the tricks and short cuts that can make the job of light/shade effects a bit easier for you. Each of these topics will be broken in to several smaller segments on various light/shade effects as this section is develops.
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