I've been promising it for a while now ... and here it is! I've just released my ninth HLDM level: Canyon: Redux.

I'd love to hear what you all think! :-)

Edit:
On a related topic, when uploading I notice it says "Upload your screenshot. You can add extra screenshots later." How exactly would I go about adding additional screenshots? I can't seem to find it... :-)

--------Journal combinatorial services by TheGrimReafer---------

In the comments to my last journal post, I got asked why I bother writing such extensive documentation for "levels nobody gonna play more then 1 hour max?" I replied there, but felt my reply deserved a post of its own. So, uh, here 'tis:

Uh ... why?

For one thing it's DM, not SP, so I sorta hope people will play it more than once. ;-)

I write big documentation because every level I build -- every HLDM level -- has its own story. It's part of the process. Maybe people want to read the story, and maybe they don't. I write big documentation because it's what I do. When I'm not a level builder, I'm a writer. (Well, gamer, and reader, and general-time-waster, and watcher-of-DVDs, and writer. It's in there somewhere...)

Much of the time involved in FINISHING the documentation -- 'cos, y'know, most of it is worthless waffle that nobody will read anyway -- is getting the credits right, giving due and proper acknowledgement of all the textures I've used which were made by other people. Getting THAT right is important -- anything less would make me a lowly scumsucker who passed off other people's work as his own!

And sure, I'm sure there are people who think my writing four novels was a waste of time too.

*shrug*

As for why I continue to build levels for goldsource at all ... well, didn't think that would need to be explained on THIS site. But I build 'em for myself and my friends to play, and HL is one of the few games we can run without difficulty at work where we most often play. That's all. I choose to make them available here to give back something to the community from which I learned a trick or two over the years ... but that's a bonus. Certainly the half-dozen or so comments I get on each level are nice -- the positive, and even the negative -- and they teach me something too, but they hardly repay the months (even, in some cases, years) of work I put into each level. No, I build them for private use!

Since I'm also working on tweaking the SDK, this may well be the last level I release that will work (almost) properly without my PetesDM mod. OTOH, since I've pushed the engine about as far as it can be pushed, maybe it IS time to branch out, to find something else we can put on the machines at work. *shrug*

Edit:
For those who are interested, I've got two novels completed and two awaiting completion. They're self-published (partly because of legal reasons -- by some definitions they're fanfic -- and partly because I wrote them for much the same reasons I make my levels...) but that doesn't mean they're bad. Admittedly, I'm a little biassed, but I think most people here who know my mapping practices know that I wouldn't make it public if I didn't like the quality... :-)

The two completed ones are available as PDFs at http://www.petesplace.id.au/array_wars/ (and at LULU, but not yet publicly searchable; if you're really keen let me know and I'll give you the link!) They're, basically, Star-Wars/Matrix parody crossover novels.

One should always playtest a level for a week or two before releasing it into the wild, don't you think?

In fact, if I hadn't taken so long to write up the documentation for my latest level (still unfinished, by the way -- the documentation, that is) I would have probably released it ten days ago. Fortunately I didn't, because in the course of playing it I've found a few textures which need fixing -- and one particular escape route which needed a redesign...

The new plan is that Canyon: Redux will be released sometime over the Easter weekend... :-)