Things that improve your story and some mapping tips

[The chaser]

Hello everyone in this forum! O/

As a lot will know, I'm The Chaser, known too as the Dolan Duck.
Note that english isn't my main language, but I'll try to explain myself the best I can.

I've observed common things in a few CS's and I've compared them with some of the most rated. I will explain too some things to make your mapping work a lot easier so you don't have to mess up with a lot of things.

Well, I'll begin with the mapping tips:

What people usually likes more are beautiful and detailed maps, like the ones from the main game. It's entertaining to make those, but they are hard to do them too.
So, let's see what things could you use and how:

Tips for: Light

This is a very important place where a lot of mappers fail at. The main reason is because it's very hard to make a good lighting. But, hopefully, with the tips I will give you everything should be easier.

There are three types of light: Box light, Point light, and Spot light.

Box Light: This one shall NOT be used for a single room. This one should be used for lighting a whole map, to make an ambient light. It looks very ugly when a door get's suddenly lighted when a Box light collides with it.
Also, the Box light won't look natural if you apply a very bright color (the default one). It's reccommended to make them very faint and with a very little touch of a color.

Point light: This is an spherical light. It's used for lighting rooms or increasing the range of candles.

Spot light: The most important. For me, this light is the master of every light in order to make a good lightened map.
They are a bit tricky but cool. A spot light is a light that only illuminates looking at a direction, making it ideal for stoves, some bonfires, and windows.

When a light comes and goes through a window, it goes in a direction, right? Well, in Amnesia the Spot light would be that light. Something that makes them even better is the possibility of adding a Gobo to them.

A gobo is an image that it's casted to the direction of the light. When a light goes through a window, the possible parts of the window (such as drawings, wood structures, etc) should cast a shadow. A gobo is made to simulate that.
To make the spot light cast shadows, tick the Cast Shadows option.

Also, something that engages my "RAGE MODE" is noticing that the gobo is backwards. Just like this:

http://i.imgur.com/rAefj.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/uYXtF.jpg

Tips for: Billboards

A billboard is designed to make some details, but their main functions are making light beautifuler, making effect such as dust. Well, they are very easy to use, but they have some things that you may use for making them a lot more beautiful:

There are three types of billboards:

Point: This one will always "look" at you, doesn't matter where you are. FG did this with the candles, putting a point billboard in it, so the effect was always facing the player.

Fixes axis: Those are the ones I like more. You can rotate them and do whatever you want with them, when it is about rotation. They can be useful to make the light effects.

Axis: This type is one that comes handy sometimes. I don't really reccomend it, but what it does is a mix with Point and Fixed-Axis. It always looks at you but from a certain angle. It makes an effect that I don't really know how to explain. It's just looking you but from a certain angle.

It's recommended to use these with dark colours with a touch of blue when it's night, and using a bit brighter and yellower ones when it's the day.
Also, if you have to rotate them, with a light connected to them, I reccomend making the billboards and the light a compound (B) so they are like a single object. That way, you can handle them with complete comfort.
I also recommend to connect the billboard to the light they go with.

So, with the billboards done, let's go to the particles.

Tips for: Particles

The particles are those details that are everywhere in our life but that we don't pay attention to. So, let's see them:

There are a lot of particles. They are made to make small effects like some bubbles in an acid container, a wind blow, some additional dust in a window, etc.
They add atmosphere, so why not putting them?

Tips for: Sounds

Now, sounds are very important. They add a lot to your CS, so you should put them. If it's a forest, put some wind, there's wind in our world. Or, why do we hear the grunts? Because of the sound. Imagine that amnesia didn't had sounds, it would be a lot harder.
But, they can be a very scary factor. Going through a castle and suddenly hearing a scream, for example. That's not normal, a scream leads our mind to tell "Damn".
So, sounds are important. Add them.

Tips for: Static_objects

They are the base of our map. They are the walls, the windows, sometimes the floor, hell, they are BASIC. So, when it comes to these, be sure that you use them in creative ways. The original assets of Amnesia are made to fit each other, so why not using all the possible ones?
The thing that angers me is that not all mappers put care in this. They just put random walls, and they CLIP. Damn it, is it so hard to make a wall not clip? These things destroy every single atmosphere that could be. If your static_objects aren't well, your story isn't. This is it.

Tips for: Entities

Those are items, gameplay things, shelfs, furniture, etc. Not much to say with these, just put them in a logical order. You don't find a dining room in a dungeon, for example.

Tips for: Primitives (or planes)

They are planes, which usually do the floor and the ceiling base. The only thing about these is to watch the tiling, if it's a not tiled floor (like a sand texture) reduce the tiling. The sand isn't tiled, right?

Tips for: Decals

Add them randomly but with an order, I don't know if you understand. They are there to decorate the levels with small details, like a bit of dirtiness or a broken tile. The places where we live have things that decals can simulate.

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Let's go to improving your story.

YOUR STORY: THINGS THAT CAN PUT THE ATMOSPHERE AND SUCH

Now, here I won't enter in the level detailing or scripting, here I will explain the utility of our .lang file. Some other things too.

The .lang file is something very basic. Here you put all the text, so a lot of story will be in the .lang file:

-Death hints
-Notes (very important!)
-Mementos
-Journals
-Messages
-Level signs
-Signs

Now, in our life we don't see in our eyes "Outside", but it's important to have them in Amnesia. It's supposed that the player knows things about where it is.

The signs aren't the most important, but they add a touch. Personally, I use them for the character thoughts.
Be sure to add these if they are necessary, they add a very important touch. It's not the same playing a monotone story where there isn't a single note than playing another with a lot of text.

Now, generally talking:
Your story will be reminded if it has creativity and a good story. By this I don't mean the puzzles, by this I mean how did you use the assets: The assets can be used in a very long and creative way, making HPL2 (the Amnesia engine) a very versatile game for modding.

Some links that you may like:

http://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-10107.html
http://www.frictionalgames.com/forum/thread-12665.html

Thanks for reading this thread. I hope I helped you in the most ways as possible. If you have something to add, feel free to do it.

[Racingcreed]

Thanks for providing this, the tips about lighting is something that I'll value a lot as I learn to use the editor, so again, thank you.

[Rapture]

Can we have some pictures to illustrate the bad vs the good? Getting tired of these big ol' walls of text.

Btw, the 2 gobo pictures don't really show the common mistake of gobo's flipped.

[The chaser]

Can we have some pictures to illustrate the bad vs the good? Getting tired of these big ol' walls of text.

Btw, the 2 gobo pictures don't really show the common mistake of gobo's flipped.

Yes, of course. I will add them the soon as possible

The pictures show it. A window, and the gobo that is backwards. I think is clearly visible, but if you want me to unite the two pictures, I'll do it.

[Rapture]

Please unite it into one picture like this. Showing the bad example and the correct one.

(Top Right one is correct. Bottom left is wrong.)

Spoiler below!

[Racingcreed]

Oh, i see the difference now. If I'm honest, in The chaser's photos I couldn't figure out was wrong, I thought perhaps it was something I wasn't aware off, but seeing the photo above, I see the difference.

Thanks