DM-Desperation released

My latest map for HL2DM will be released in the next few days - check Plutonic Design for updates. Notwithstanding the surprisingly long time that it took me to get around to the finalising this map, I am very proud of it. Visually, it is quite distinctive from my other maps and, for that matter, anything that I have seen in the HL2 series.


Click on this image to view of widescreen wallpaper version of this image.

I increasingly find myself drawn to the artistic exploration of form and architectural style facilitated through level design. In this case, I was interested in art deco architecture as one of the periods when even industrial facilities possessed artistic integrity thereby making them aesthetically distinctive from their utilitarian cousins. I have tried to capture art deco's inspired use on contrast - contrasting linear with curved surfaces; and contrasting light-coloured, smooth materials with darker, more textured ones. I utilised contrasting environmental features, in particular the utilitarian forms of the drain and surrounding structures, to emphasise the collision of style between art deco buildings and more recent forms of architecture.