Roman Colisseum - Suggestions Wanted

Hi everyone. I'm working on an update to a map that's been released, and I'm trying to redo the terrain to be more...fitting.

The basis premise is that you're a Gladiator in games similar to the ancient Roman games - you don't fight tigers though, you fight monsters. It's somewhat similar to Gladiator the movie. There is an emperor who taunts and mocks you while you play while he watches from up at his throne, and there is a crowd that dynamically fills the "stands" as you play.

I think that's enough background. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I have a bunch of screenshots included, and I'm looking for suggestions. Here are some things I'm trying to accomplish:

1) I want the Arena (the area that the fights take place in) to look "good". I'm not really sure what the best appearance would be. In 1.0, we had the entire arena as just plain dirt - no grass, no rocks, just dirt. It didn't look awful, because it is fairly believable. It looked somewhat like the arena in the Gladiator movie. Nevertheless, it was plain. I'm trying to find something that makes sense but is not so plain.

2) I'm not very fond of the "stands". It's not a big deal since you will almost never look into the stands, and I'm not sure what I could really do with them to make them better. There is no "sit" animation, so it seems silly to throw a bunch of wooden couches up there and call that the seating. It kind of makes sense that they might stand in the stands anyway.

3) I am looking for input/suggestions on the Emperor's "area". The Emperor has Arthas' model, and there's a shot that focuses on him. The purple fences around him are there because he's invulnerable, and I want that to make sense.

4) In the arena, there are structures I'm going to call obstacles. Honestly, they don't make a lot of sense from a practical standpoint, but they need to be there in some shape or form for strategic purposes - besides, they just make the game funner, and I'm willing to sacrifice some realism for that. I've included shots of two different kinds - one with a white ivory type appearance that is OK, but the walls don't link together very well. You don't have to look very close to see that the wall is made up of a number of doodads - you can see the "lines" in between them. The other is a stone obstacle I've just put together. I'm unsure about it, and looking for feedback or suggestions.

5) The Hero Selection area, at the bottom of the map, is being completely revamped. Basically, I want to put all the Gladiators in a jail cell. You'll walk outside of the jail cell onto the circle of power to get that Gladiator. I have had NO luck whatsoever finding a good way to construct this. The Blight on the ground may be temporary, depending on how the prison cells end up looking.


If you have any suggestions, input, feedback, ideas, or complaints, please let me know. I will openly admit I am a very poor terrainer, my right brain was growing mold from lack of use. Thanks a lot for any help or suggestions.

EDIT: By the way, on the full screen shot, ignore the three gates at the bottom of the arena above the hero selection area. In the old hero selection system, you would select a hero and then walk into the arena through those gates. Unless I can make a good prison, I'm going to keep that method, so I don't want to erase those gates yet.

i've got a gladiator map if you need one... though there isn't just dirt..
because it was meant to be in another dimension with fissures and stuff...
a Hazard Arena

Thanks but no thanks Hound Archon, I'm not really interested in adapting another map to fit this one - I have a complete and working map with lots of Region dependent triggers. I'm interested in taking the map I have and trying to improve it.

do you want some screenshots... cause im to darn lazy to post

If you think it would help feel free to post screenshots - but it doesn't really sound like what I'm going for. I'm trying to give my map the feel of a Roman Colisseum - those weren't exactly Hazard Arena's :)

Regardless, if you think it might help I'll take a look.

well first of all make it more "round" there are tricks to make it round without useing cliffs, u could try to make it our of dodads, like i made my undead colosium, but slightly different, and it wouldnt be too hard to make it walkable i can post a ss of it if u like

maybe u can add a trap where a tiger comes out like the movie ;)

cool idea, also u could make anice throne if u made it out a few doddads

I like the idea of rounding the colisseum, especially the stands. I would like to see a screenshot of the undead colisseum, sure. I can't really think of what doodads are going to allow me to make it look rounded though. What do you mean?

If it were rounded though, the arches at the top of the map would make more sense. Incidentally, pathing is only important inside the arena, which should probably stay square. The whole game is inside that big sandy box :)

Here are some shots of the new hero selection area I created today. I'm sure it can be improved upon, but I'm happy with it now because it still seems "fresh". I feel like it really conveyed what I wanted, which was that you'll be choosing your gladiator by freeing him from a cell. You used to just gain control of the hero, now it teleports you to the center of the arena which I don't like as much...but that's neither here nor there.

btw, LOL at the trap idea. That would be kinda neat, but it wouldn't really fit in with the game.

well try to do something like i did, but with something white, and actually i think it would be cool for the arena to be round, it would make it new and never b4 seen(least i havent :P)

this is the colosium without the sorruoundings done


this the finished version

I guess I'm afraid to make the arena round because of region constraints. But maybe I can round the corners of the arena without causing too many problems...make it into an oval...hmm...

Nice use of Support Columns in your arena :).

Thanks for the examples...but now I'm not convinced I can find a good way to round it and have it look good (not that yours doesn't, but I don't know if the doodads exist to blend with those tiles I chose...

Well, I'll mess around with things for a bit. Thanks again.

OK, I messed around with things for a bit. While I like the appearance of a round colisseum, it seems like it might be harder to actually play in, if you know what I mean. Because of the way the game is set up, pathing would be strange...well anyway, I decided against it for now.

Instead, I've kind of tried to focus on the angular and block-like construction. The shot of the white squarelike obstacle kind of exemplifies this: it's not a marvel of construction at all, but rather a functionally designed device. All of the obstacles have taken this format. In addition, I've paid a lot more attention to lighting. I changed the Time of Day to late dusk (19:00) and frozen it (it was previously frozen at 12:00). This darkened things up a little bit, but now it makes sense to light up the stands a little bit. There are torches are braziers all over the place, which make the stands a little more lively I hope.

I've changed the Emperor's Throne, though I was unable to center it :( like I wanted to. I'm going to see if I can find a way to set the X/Y of a doodad, or at least simulate that.