Gamma Station

[Zytolg]

<<Introducing Gamma Station [WIP]>>


Gammastation has a Public Repository. You can visit the project here: https://github.com/Zytolg/Gammastation

NanoTrasen isn't one to pass up a deal. Especially when that deal means free employees, a bargain sale on a reasonable location next to the only known source of the valuable plasma element, and especially when it means they barely have to lift a finger to get anything done. Sure, the previous residents never signed up for this, but they should have thought about that before the station got sold to the greediest greatest corporation this side of Sol. What are those things you ask? Why they're the latest additions to the station! NanoTrasen understands that you can't make money if you can't dissect every little aspect of your locale without proper science equipment, so we bought 3 secondhand-secondhand-secondhand scrapheaps at a really good deal, towed them to the station, and welded it all together to create the greatest research station in your sector! Be careful though, we had to close off some of the previously busy areas since we didn't have any need for them, and any injuries caused by unapproved exploration of these condemned areas, will not be covered by NanoTrasen policies. Welcome to the second most advanced facility in the sector, Gamma Station!

Gamma Station is a fresh take on Mutli-Z, designed specifically around both tight and open spaces. You'll find a an abundance of both as you move to explore the various locales I've sought out to create. You'll find that most areas are accessed on the Main level of the station, however that isn't to say that you won't be spending any time down in the basement. Areas have been expanded with basement modifications, and a deep, windey, twisty, loopy maintenance corridors that'll be sure to get a ton of spacemen lost in their quest for epic loot (to be included), and NanoTransen has condemned a veritable amount of structures which you can repair, restore, and destroy. You'll also find that there's plenty out there to encourage you to explore nearstation space and augment the station with more, more, and more features than ever before. Constructing the BSA has never been easier!

Gamma Station Main Level:

Spoiler:

Gamma Station Sublevel:

Spoiler:

Gamma Station was carefully constructed with feedback from the playerbase, and as she draws nearer and nearer to the station, I hope to continue to gather valuable feedback and refine Gamma Station into the best possible experience it can be. See you soon spacemen!

[Tiviplus]

Cool and all but when are we testing it

[Jack7D1]

I hope funnystation 300 is on gamma

[cacogen]

Not sure how this will end up being impacted by the want to reduce the amount of maps needing maintaining assuming you're going to make a /tg/ PR for it but I look forward to getting lost on a new map again

[Zytolg]

I'm currently working on some Multi-Z features to add some more playability to Gamma. Since part of the philosophy of the map is having this huge area underneath most of station that I want to see players exploit. This means that players looking forwards to the station can also look forwards to some development on multi-z mechanics, especially those focusing on construction mechanics in the short term. I've already hooked up some code that permits to deconstruct the turf above their current location, and once I get the aesthetic aspects of that finished, I'll move on towards constructable wooden ladders. I believe these additions to be vital to the Gamma Station experience, and they will certainly add something to other maps as well (and if not now, then in the future). Meanwhile maint continues to be built up in Gamma, it's still a ways off, but she continues to feel more like her own world. In the meantime, I leave you prospective Gamers with some more focused images of Gammastation.

Multi-Z Xenobio:

Spoiler:

Robotics Topfloor:

Spoiler:

Robotics Bottomfloor:

Spoiler:

Bridge:

Spoiler:

Some of the areas above will continue to receive tweaks and adjustments as work continues on the station, but hopefully you have a bit of a better idea of what gamma is all about! See you guys soon. Gammaman out.

[Jack7D1]

aww man

[Zytolg]

Here's a big image of the main z-level


GammaBIG:

Spoiler:

And so much more lies under.

[trollbreeder]

Hi, i'm the co-developer on gammastation, and i work on the room design and object placement in the map.
Progress is going smoothly, room layouts are set in stone, rooms just need items, structure, and machinery placed in them.

Spoiler:

Supermatter shard toy

Electrical maintenance with not one, but TWO half life references

Research Excess Storage, with redundancy, some excess supplies, and, oh, that's a corpse. Someone should clean that up.

[Zytolg]

Hi, i'm the co-developer on gammastation, and i work on the room design and object placement in the map.
Progress is going smoothly, room layouts are set in stone, rooms just need items, structure, and machinery placed in them.

Spoiler:

Supermatter shard toy

Electrical maintenance with not one, but TWO half life references

Research Excess Storage, with redundancy, some excess supplies, and, oh, that's a corpse. Someone should clean that up.

Haha, looks like you beat me to it. As stated above, I've brought on trollbreeder as co-developer to gammastation. I realized I needed some assistance with some areas that I'm less familiar with, and it helps to have a second pair of eyes to spot what you miss. trollbreeder is a capable mapper, and with their help, progress on gammastation has skyrocketed, all while maintaining the quality some of you will have come to expect from the map via my more personal updates. Currently, I am hosting gammastation on Github at https://github.com/Zytolg/Gammastation. While I may not always post progress updates in this topic thread, you can keep track of gamma's progress and even take her for a spin if you so fancy via the maps github. There are bugs and issues, but as the map moves closer to completion, they will be patched out.

Currently, I've been working on Security. While not a far cry from what you're familiar with, Gammasec offers a unique dual-access armory designed to streamline the process of managing who gets what. While the Primary Armory Doors might remain shut, Wardens from all around the sector will be pleased to discover that the Secondary Armory Doors connect directly to the Security Gear Room, meaning you don't have to worry about manually assigning who gets what, or keeping the doors open for deputized assistants during an emergency. Security has also been upgraded with a Ablative Blast Door System designed to keep visitors and staff safe in the event of [REDACTED]. Prisoners will enjoy a luxury stay at the converted truck stop dorms, which offer direct access to an exterior courtyard designed to meet the detained's physical needs, while Security Staff will learn to appreciate having direct access and control over one of Gamma's hangar bays. Remember, here at NanoTrasen, it doesn't matter if you're in our state of the art planetary mountain base, or a converted asteroid rest-stop. We endeavor to make your employment as cheap enjoyable as the local governmental body requires by law. If you have issues with this, pay the lawyer a visit in his new state-of-the-corporate office so he can file the necessary documents with HR.

Spoiler:

I've also done a pass on cargo and it's lookin' pretty good.

Spoiler:

[Googles_Hands]

Sec is looking very good overall so big + from me, but the fact that there are windows in the armoury leading to space (tbf it allows laser/disabler shooting but also nukies or anyone with an simple gun will have an field day), while there are none for the warden to look into it is not pleasing my inner Warden.

Edit: Forgot to mention spacecarp, so all in all I recommend placing an reinforced window below the wardens armoury door and putting an grille line where that 3 by 4 starts to keep critters from venting the armoury/giving the AI more time to alert camera movement (like pubby does it).

[Tlaltecuhtli]

why the erp bed in cargo? i dont think any officer will have the audacity of putting a prisoner inside the pmc HQ, if you want to add mini cells only medbay makes sense

[Zytolg]

Sec is looking very good overall so big + from me, but the fact that there are windows in the armoury leading to space (tbf it allows laser/disabler shooting but also nukies or anyone with an simple gun will have an field day), while there are none for the warden to look into it is not pleasing my inner Warden.

Edit: Forgot to mention spacecarp, so all in all I recommend placing an reinforced window below the wardens armoury door and putting an grille line where that 3 by 4 starts to keep critters from venting the armoury/giving the AI more time to alert camera movement (like pubby does it).

Thanks for the advice. I hadn't given carp much thought until just now. I've been working on touching up some more of sec, and have a more completed pic to show now. I'll plan on adding a close-by EVA airlock soonish, and I'm going to give the war room a bit of an update as well in terms of its shape (to better accommodate the MULEBOT Access). The 2 basement levels are a recroom for the prison (couch and game) and the labor camp transfer.

Gamma Sec:

Spoiler:

[Googles_Hands]

snip

By "where it starts" I meant (the grille line) two tiles to the south so space carp/critters actually don't come close enough to the armoury to get triggered by someone inside of it, but otherwise looking awesome, hope to playtest on it in the future.

[Zytolg]

Hello /tg/,
At this point, Gamma Station's Departments are near, or already in their final states. There are still some rooms to address (Merge Conflicts can result in lost progress), however, I keep backup images of each room I complete, so completion of a room on a second go around is always speedy. Nothing much is too new in this progress update. You've seen security and cargo. If you play on Manuel, or keep track of the discord, you'll have seen both the Detective's and Lawyer's Offices. So what else is new? Well, of course, the above stuff is an obvious addition since the first summary (I'm calling Gamma's bigpics summaries now). trollbreeder has added some terri(fying)fic rooms to maintenance that are sure excite most of you in one way or another. Security is pretty much finalized, although I need to revisit reeducation, and the hallways got lockers. In other news, I've invited EOBGames (or better known as Inept at <Something>) to handle Gamma Station's disposals network. At first glace, these tubes of trash and (trash) might seem fairly simple to do. That's exactly what I thought before packages and Multi-Z loops got involved. Inept offered his assistance in regards to this, and I'm more than happy to accept, as I'm certain if I did this, It would be broken in more than one respect. So big thanks, Inept, I appreciate the assistance greatly. All the planned disposals chutes are in, and lockers and vendors are in (as well as plants). I plan to revisit the vault and bring the decals more in line with other stations at a later point, but mainly because I'm a big fan of those green circuit tiles that make the nuke seem more imposing than it is.

Without further ado, here's the BigMap V0.2:

Spoiler:

Now, you might find yourself asking "Now, Zytolg, where the fuck is layer two?". Sadly, DMM-Tools absolutely hates a specific turf that the basement layer uses. I could take it out, but I feel that it'd ruin the spirit of the specific room that uses it. The render refuses to compile the turf, so either I stitch a map in MS Paint, or wait for better tools to become available when I make the PR of this map. Well, I'm not going to do either of those things and give you guys the half-assed middle ground image that still somehow manages to show all the latest changes (to a degree).

Half? Of Gamma Station (Basement Edition):

Spoiler:

Did you know you can dig under most of sec? Sneaky.

EDIT

DMM-Tools works. I don't know why it didn't work before, but in an attempt to fetch some error logs, I instead retrieved a whole render of Gammastation's Basement!

Spooky Basement:

Spoiler:

[SpaceManiac]

Sadly, DMM-Tools absolutely hates a specific turf that the basement layer uses. [...] The render refuses to compile the turf

I'll gladly accept a detailed bug report

[Vekter]

Good shit, I have one question.

TEG? Maybe?

[Tlaltecuhtli]

why is there no maints in the east side?
also having the z level with no departments/important places seems a flaw that was shown on donut (there was no point of going on the second level other than hide bodies)

[Zytolg]

Progress update May 7th, 2020

Work continues on Gammastation. Thanks to EOBGames (Better known as Inept), the disposals loops are fully mapped out and work perfectly throughout both Z-Levels. They're big, twisty, and bangy, but they'll take your trash, and your deliveries! Maintenance is also getting some love. I've joined trollbreeder in filling up our dearly beloved grease-tunnels, and things are looking good. Take a look for yourselves:

Spoiler:

Things are getting crazy close, and it's a mad dash to the finish line. I'm going finish piping out areas so I can move on to the power network and wrap up those silly bits. Also coming along are Gammastation's shuttles. You'll see new Evacuation, Arrivals, and White shuttles shipped with Gammastation, to fit the theme of the station. This has been a fantastic ride, and I'm looking forwards to seeing the PR up on the Github fairly soon!

[trollbreeder]

Another look at maintenance: A beautiful, although shitty abandoned dorms. Includes FREE TV and a sweaty gaming setup (are ya winning son?)

Spoiler:

Yes, that's salt under the gaming chair.

[angelstarri]

the ai core is shaped like a heart and i hate it

[Cobby]

Good shit, I have one question.

TEG? Maybe?

See https://hackmd.io/JmpPFqNxRpa7i4TpucYlqQ

[Jack7D1]

The basement is the best part, the entire maint is all on one z level pretty much. Makes for some good shortcuts!
I adore the idea of the bartender getting a wine cellar

[Zytolg]

[center]ATTENTION GAMMASTATION ENGINEERS![/center]

After 20 hours of tedious work, Gammastation's atmospherics network is finished. I'll be moving onto power next. This phase should be faster, but Placement of APC's might still take some time. Afterwards, I'll be moving onto fixing up our lovely Spacebound Nearstation friends. Satellites.

Engineering Map:

Spoiler:

Updated Bigmap(Main Floor):

Spoiler:

Pipes man, the pipes.

I know it's not the best view, but I'm still figuring out this render stuff.

[Zytolg]

After piping and wiring up the station, I needed a little creative break from the Station itself. The result? Say hello to the initial wave of Gammastation Shuttlecraft.

Arrivals Shuttle:

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Whiteship:

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[Zytolg]

All ships are made to voyage through space...

Spoiler:

But only a few ships will rise up to claim fame and glory...


Introducing The Kestrel:
As our horizons grow into untold lands, so too must we embrace the untold. To go forth and brave trials both old and new, may we then discover our inner truths. To hold up our virtues on this new sojourn we place our hopes and dreams.

[cacogen]

that isn't how you style nanotrasen

[saprasam]

for a moment i thought this was omegastation but it's entirely new

[Tarchonvaagh]

Sounds neat, hopefully it won't follow Okand's stations into the gutter

[Ivuchnu]

most areas are accessed on the Main level

One of reasons I disliked Donut was the fact it's upper level was almost entirely dedicated to maintenance, adding very little (Donut's plumbing area being tucked away yet very close to medbay was good!) while bringing Multi-Z related pain. From what I see Gamma's lower level has only Xenobio (which is more of r-wall bubble accessed from private staircase, Donut plumbing style) and Tool Storage as major points of interests, rest being... rooms for engineering projects? People already have freedom of RCDing up brand new room in any corner near station in space without entire Z level serving as ground for such project. Myself I probably won't like this map much unless bottom level becomes something more than "maintenance and couple of rooms used by few people". Think half of departments being there, no "main" level existing.

[Agux909]

Any updates on this? Is it still being worked on? It looks very, very promising and I can't wait for it to be testmerged

[Zytolg]

Hello Spacemen, Spaceladies, and Spacecreatures of multiplexenokindthingstuff,

Let me start off with a simple fact: It has been a long time since I last updated this here thread. And no, Gammastation is not a dead project. I should probably start at the beginning.
The Gammastation you all have come to know, or as I call it, Gamma3, taught me much and more about the mapping progress. It's where I cut my teeth, and I'm proud of what I did there. I created a fun map and aside from a few things, it was finished. The experience taught me a few things, and with the feedback of those playing the game, critiquing my work on discord, and those of you responding on the forums, I came to realize something. Multi-Z was just not going to cut it for Gamma3. Is it there? Yes. Does it work? Wonderfully. However there remains an inherent flaw in the base design that simply doesn't lend itself well to Mutli-Z implementation. There were 2 options that I was faced with at that point: I could gut out much of the current station, keep the footprint, and forge on with Mutli-Z and make it work, or I could start fresh with a new station and really focus on giving it that Multi-Z feel from the ground up. It's no spoiler as to which choice I decided on, but I feel that the former would take out a lot of what made Gamma, Gamma. Before I started work on the new version, I took some time to meditate up in the peaks of Mt. Mapmore. The retreat was nice, refreshing, and I was able to settle on a general idea of how Gamma4 could incorporate ideas from its predecessor while being a proper successor and truely Multi-Z. I started doing hour-long sketch sessions on the mapper, just playing with ideas. There were a few nights where I jolted awake with inspiration and painted something mad. And that, brings us to the present. In my madness, lack of sanity, or something, I dunno..., I have officially started work on Gammastation V4. It's bold, it's Z, and it's full of that ambitious gamma-feel that endeared me to that first map. I can't won't promise a release date, but instead will borrow words from the distant studio of CD Projekt Red: "It will be out when it's ready".

Gammastation V4 is in Development ||||| Here's What to Expect:

Multi-Z integrated - Gamma4 will be designed with Multi-Z as a primary goal. Maint can already be confusing when it weaves around a 1Z, but now it's gonna weave in 3-D, so get those glasses on.
A Station for the Decade - Going Multi-Z means I have to be considerate of size. This map does not follow convention fuck box, fuck meta, no it doesn't look like that
Family Fun! - Gamma has life rafts. Women and Children first. No dudes allowed.
Tetris Effect - Stacking things lets me do neato things with the station. I played with this a little bit on Gamma3 but I've really kicked into high gear this thime. All travel times will (probably) be reduced. No running!
It makes sense when you think about it - "I'll be honest, we're throwing science at the wall here to see what sticks". Some of these ideas are out there.
Bring a Compas - No seriously, I'm saying fuck it to orientation. Looks better like this. It leads me to my hearts desire.
Tick tock goes the clock - I'm gonna take my time with this one. Not even the Doctor can help you here. Who?
Other things - Showing is better than telling. This is the 5th time you're showing the class superman, Johnny

I'll be trying new things and hopefully it blows expectations out of the water. Gamma4 will surpass Gamma3 in every way imaginable, especially in regards to not being yet-another-box-or-meta-station-clone-station. I don't hate our current map rotation, but I want Gamma to be that map that breaks up the gameplay in new and imaginative ways, while not totally sucking at doing so. That's always been the goal, and it reamains so even now.

Before I go I have some sneak peeks at the latest and greatest. After all, I'm not so rude as to deny you this much after so many months. You deserve it for waiting [---------------------------------------------------...] this long.
Without further ado:

Deck B - Arrivals, Commons, and Command:

Spoiler:

Deck A - Same area as above:

Spoiler:

None of what you see here is final, but more a good idea of the direction I want to head with the space. All of it is subject to tweaking, combing and scrambling until it's just as I want it.
Until next time o/

[Jack7D1]

Huzzah!

[Agux909]

Cheers! I'm glad this project is still being worked on.
I'm honestly relieved this reboot ended up being the selected approach since obviously it's the one you seem more comfortable and passionate about working on, which is important.
The screens look interesting, I'm very intrigued on seeing how the whole multi-z will end up looking.
Good job so far and good luck

[Zytolg]

I gave it a long think and came to the realization that if I design a Multi-Z engine, it's going to explode in my face. It's a simple admission that I do not know enough to do this correctly. I've put up a thread where people can submit engine designs befitting of Multi-Z, but I'll iterate better on what I'm going to do with whatever engine winds up with the bowels of Gammastation's engineernig department.

One of the first
The ultimate design feel for the engine bay will be more of a clean aesthetic. I want to give off the feel that this was a prototype Supermatter power source before it went mainstream. I know that in-lore, all NanoTrasen Supermatter Engines are supposed to be more or less prototypes, but it's honestly never the feel you get from it. To that extent, Research and Engineernig will share access to the Engine Bay, and to that extent, the Engine Bay will have a mixed engineering and research aesthetic. I don't have that part entirely figured out, but it will come with several unique features, such as Research being able to siphon off some of the Engine Gassess for research purposes. There's a lot to work on, but it'll all come into focus once I figure out a suitable engine design.

This also means some things will be shifted around. Not in an unplayable way though. Multi-Z lets one stuff a lot of crazy stuff into a tiny space, and you'll no doubt see that as I provide images during updates down the road. I'm looking forewards to how this is going to turn out, so until next time Spacers.