4. Lighting

Something that ended up being fairly unique in this map was the lighting. I wanted to keep the “realistic” look of a Hydro dam, while still exaggerating it a bit to give some cool shadows and such. That's why I think some of it ended up looking a bit like Half-Life 2, because that lighting system actually is quite realistic (though I actually lit most of the map before I'd even played HL2). I liked how, even on the old engine, the original Hydro16 & Hydro32 had a more realistic human feeling to them than most UT maps (not that I'm a realism game fan… it just suited the theme).

For a starters – this map uses NO zonelight at all. All the ambient light is done with normal area lights, to bring out the shapes and give more defined shadows, while still giving a good enough brightness level so you can see everything quite clearly. Just about every main area in the map employed the same technique, as explained below.

• A “Main Light” or “Shadow Caster” – this is the light that is going to tell the player “Hey, there's a light here!”. It's a single bright light (in most of my cases, a spotlight or sunlight) that casts into the room and creates some bold shadows, though it may not actually light the room very much. Usually from an opening in the roof or a window or something.

• The “Reflective Light” – this is what gives the realistic look, in my opinion. In the real world, light reflects off the surfaces it hits and lights the area around it. Sometimes it can receive a bit of colour from the surfaces it hits, though this is usually very subtle. In the case of this map, all the “reflective” lights I used are the same colour as the main light, sometimes with a slightly higher Hue (in UnrealEd terms). This is the kind of light that Half-Life 2 does automatically, to an extent.

• “Filler Lights” – Filler lights are another main light, really, but I call them a filler light because the purpose of them is to “fill” the areas that aren't lit from the main light. An example is the hanging lamps in the boiler room. These should also have a reflective light associated with them, because their light bounces too! Filler lights are very useful in a number of ways though – they can also be used to give a bit more colour variation, because realistic lighting can get a bit bland and repetitive. They're also useful for lighting certain paths so that the player subconsciously knows where to go – they can see a bright area in the corner of their screen and think “Ahh, that's where I need to go” – follow the bright light! Another thing they can do is make an area look “unique” – so the player can recognize the area they are in by the lights that are around them, without having to look around.

…and to be honest, that's about it… it's as simple as that! This may seem quite an obvious way of lighting to some... but hey. Without using any zonelight, this technique involves very few lights and can create some really nice looking lighting situations :)

1. Introduction
2. In The Beginning...
3. Making The Real Thing
4. Lighting
5. Artificial... Intelligence?
6. In Conclusion