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[Mangley]

Who doesn't remember the mysterious island? 



My intention is to reimagine it into a functional and purposeful area that not only makes sense but also serves as a great multiplayer map. I will document my progress and development in this thread and go into some depth over my thought processes and design choices.

Part 1: Purpose

As we can see the original island has 2 features: A guard tower and a gun emplacement. So we can say that it's definitely a defensive installation, the problem is that the original island makes no sense. Why does it make no sense? Because it has no infrascructure. Where do the guards go to rest between shifts? Where can they take a shit? Where can they eat their lunch? It would be very inefficient for the island to be 100% reliant on the dam. Is the tower there to defend the gun or is the gun there to defend the tower? You see, it makes no sense.

The island, however, provides a perfect defensive position over the water behind the dam. Any boats approaching the docks at the dam have to pass the island.

Part 2: Reimagination & Infrastructure

So my idea, my design, is to use the island primarily as a security checkpoint for boats approaching the dam. The Soviet Union sure do love their security checkpoints, an unchecked boat could be a boat rigged with explosives intended to blow the dam and sever power to the Chemical Weapon Facility. So we need docks on the island where boats can unload their cargo for screening. Where can cargo be stored? We need a warehouse, maybe even two.

The guards need guard quarters. So a large building with dormatories, a bathroom, a break room, a storage room is definitely necessary to keep the guards comfortable on this lonely and desolate island. What else does a lonely and desolate island need? A radio communications room to keep in contact with the rest of the dam.

Well, this island is getting quite large now, we need another guard tower to cover more ground and prevent infiltration.

Infrastructue:

• 2 or 3 Guard towers
• Guard quarters building
• Communications building
• Warehouse(s)
• Docks

Up for consideration:

• Helipad
• Anti-aircraft defenses
• Water outlet control

Part 3: Architecture

The Verzasca dam was constructed in the 1960's, we can safely assume that in the non-existant Goldeneye backstory that it was built in the same era during the cold war. So assuming the island is from around the same time or even slightly later it's going to look aged and worn, be predominantly constructed of concrete and be very, very Soviet looking. The island is very exposed to the elements too, so expect it to look very run down and decrepit.

Indoor areas like the guard quarters will visually reflect the style of Facility. This will help reinforce the idea that the island is part of the same overall facility.

I quickly set to work on establishing a visual style for the guard towers with a firm idea of what I wanted in my head. Here's what I came up with:

I made two different versions, using different textures. Obviously I decided to go with the second one, personally I think it stays much truer to the look of the towers in dam and also it looks much more weathered and grimy which is what I want. Here's a closer look at it:

More soon. Any criticisms or ideas are more than welcome.

[killermonkey]

The top part is too plain compared to the base. Work on some features near the roof attachpoint.

[Jonathon [SSL]]

The texture choice and brushwork on the bottom half look fucking amazing imo.

[major]

Looks very good, before I clicked on the picture, I thought those were models..

I kinda like the first one, looks a little less HL2 style(texture wise), both both are good, and once more is added wont even notice.

[Cyan]

I like where this is going, thought on the warehouse(s) with the size of the dam and this's role as a check point I would not expect it to store much long term, as anything stored their is more vulnerable than at the dam. Plus many of the items would be arriving in military or state transports so relatively little checking would be required. I guess it depends on how much unsecured scientific/raw material would be arriving at the dam since their probably should not be anything not destine for the dam passing by. Temporarily impounded cargo or vessels is really the only things I would expect be stored their.