Commented 13 years ago2011-06-05 09:46:55 UTC
in vault item: sp_gravityComment #19212
Just played the updated map.
I like what you've done with the glass chamber, it's a bit easier to see how the pieces of the map fit together now. The timer on the wall is also a nice edition (that wasn't there before, right?) Plus, no need for skill jumps to get the cube. All good!
However, I did find one bug which was fairly interesting. I was a bit stumped as to how to get at the button when I played through this time: in the previous version I'd just stand on top of the glass wall and jump down, hitting the button in the fall. In this version, that was impossible because of the black block on top of the glass chamber. I eventually got the proper solution, to use the catapult to propel yourself upwards from the bottom of the chamber, but before I found that I actually did this: https://www.failreactor.com/images/sp_gravity0000.jpg It only happens if you put it in the right spot, if it's too high it just runs into the glass wall, like this: https://www.failreactor.com/images/sp_gravity0001.jpg
Even though it's a bug, maybe it could be a sort of alternate way of getting to the button, perhaps if you raise the glass chambers a units off the floor so the player can clearly see that a light path fits under there. Dunno, just a suggestion.
Commented 13 years ago2011-06-04 22:08:19 UTC
in vault item: sp_gravityComment #19206
Great to see that you're accepting feedback and refining! Professional quality level design right there, bro. I'll definitely play the updated version when it's up.
Commented 13 years ago2011-06-03 10:49:51 UTC
in vault item: sp_gravityComment #19197
Note: this review contains some spoilers as how to solve the puzzle in the map, so if you have yet to play it, don't read on.
I just finished it, without cheating, and I must say I'm super impressed with the puzzle itself.
To preface, I say this with no experience of Portal 2 mapping, nor have I played any custom Portal 2 maps before this, so I might not be up to date with all the Portal 2 mapping quirks, but here's my take on the map.
I was a bit stumped during the first part, but once I got to thinking about the light path I solved it fairly quickly.
What I like about the puzzle is that it doesn't just blindly copy Portal 2 problems, but instead uses familiar concepts - the Light path, slanted white walls (seriously, when I see a slanted white wall I know it's serious business), propelling yourself with a catapult, timed buttons - to come up with a really innovative puzzle. You had to actually think about new ways to use the existing tools, and as such I think it was hugely successful. You really felt that familiar "Got it!" feeling once you figured it out, the feeling we all know and love from Portal 1 and 2 themselves.
I don't at all mind that you force the player to stand on top of one of the glass walls. It is indeed fairly unintuitive, but this is not a bad thing in and of itself. It forces the player to re-examine the map and re-think their presuppositions of how Portal 2 puzzles "should work". In my opinion, Portal 2 did a bit too much "hand-holding" in some of its puzzles, e.g. leaving the mechanics too obvious. If anything, the white walls above the glass chamber are very pointed hints as to what the player needs to do (white walls, again, are a major signal that stuff needs to happen in that area).
One thing where I think the player needed a bit more of a hint was the "skill jump" required to fetch the Cube from the bottom of the slanted ramp. I had to quicksave there and do a few jumps before I made it. A little protruding platform or some other (visual and ´physical´) aid to the player to help with that jump would've been nice.
Puzzle mapping, as I see it, is a very hard to maintain balance between what's obvious and too hard. Make it too hard, players will give up or become frustrated, make it too easy and it's not a puzzle, just a going-through-the-motions exercise. I feel this map struck a great balance between those extremes.
Now, as for the cons of the map itself, I'd say the visuals. The entrance elevator fits the Portal 2 feeling superbly (and I, for one, liked the turret. Was a bit of a "Whoa!" before the map even started) and I like the run-down "broken" feel of the elevator room. The lighting especially was awesomely moody and gloomy. That goes for the exit elevator room too.
The test chamber itself, though, is a major let down in the visuals department. It's little more than a blocky, monotone sparse-looking chamber, very reminiscent of Portal 1 (and honestly, that's not a good thing). Portal 2 did wonders with its visuals and atmospheric test chambers, and I'm a bit disappointed there wasn't more of that "broken" feel to the test chamber itself. In Portal 2 the test chambers always hinted superbly at the immensity of the Aperture Science facility, that's what I'm missing from this map.
The audio is all good, I liked the addition of that ambient sound and even a music track at one point, but nothing remarkable.
To summarize, the negatives were in the visual and atmosphere departments. But these flaws are easily shadowed by a superb puzzle that really brought back the puzzle solving feeling of the games themselves while not using obvious or repetetive solutions to problems.
4 out of 5 stars, with the visuals and atmosphere being the only real obstacle towards full score.
Commented 14 years ago2010-01-14 16:52:14 UTC
in vault item: Rooms Half-lifeComment #17825
Oh, nice, we finally get to see this.
Played through it, I quite liked it. There were ups and downs, but generally a quite enjoyable little journey.
I dunno what rules there were, exactly, but I'd have loved to see some more gameplay. Maybe not guns blazing action, but a bit of puzzle solving perhaps?
The rooms I felt stood out there most were, first, Rimrook's palace - fantastic scenery, good use of models and architecture. Just beautiful.
Second, Muzz's room. Although the appearance was rather standard-Half-Life I simply loved the little quirks in the map. For instance, the first thing I thought when the Gman peered at me through a window was "man, it'd be creepy as hell if he were in the next window as well"... and wouldn't you know it, he was. Great effect, made me jump a bit. Other than that, nice little gizmos and details on the walls.
Third, World Crafter's horror-themed room. Absolutely fantastic. It was the room with most gameplay value (even though there was very little), seeing as how it was the only room to make you do something besides just walking in a fairly direct line to the end (some button-pressing notwithstanding). Disregarding that, it was easily the most atmospheric and, dare I say it, beautiful room in the pack. I especially liked experiencing the stark contrast between the lit and dark "versions" of the room, really made you appreciate the difference a few grungy textures can make. Very well-made, good job to you sir.
A special mention to DiscoStu's room, which really made me smile -- quite unexpected, and like a breeze of fresh air from all the previous rooms.
Finally, some general comments... Blazeeer's Submerged textures. Gosh darn there were a lot of textures from that wad, and I must say I am getting fairly tired of it. It'd have been nice to see more varied custom textures -- props to Rimrook and Worldcrafter for avoiding the Blaz pack.
All in all, good job to all those involved, and special props to Captain Terror for putting it all together. It turned out to be quite the spectacle.
Nah, Nickelplate never owned #twhl, but it was owned by some inactive users, and the new mods (Ant, Penguinboy, Strider) wanted channel ownership, so they made #twhl3, the name coming from the prospective TWHL version 3.
For any IRC-fags who don't want an (usually) inactive chatroom, I can recommend #failreactor , created by me, Nickelplate and some other old-timers.
To prospective IRC users, note that active times in #twhl is pretty much only when Australians are around. Which is at stupid times, because they live in farawayistan. If you find yourself in a completely inactive chatroom, don't be alarmed.
Commented 16 years ago2008-10-05 15:58:57 UTC
in vault item: CarbaseusComment #18236
Incredibly artistic and well laid out map, despite (or thanks to?) it's hugeness. It really is gargantuan, which is one of the main charms of the map. The style and feel of the map is awesome, with the swirling structures, steep walkways, grated pillars... I loved it.
We tried it tonight with a nigh-full TWHLDM server (we were 7), and it was a lot of fun. Admittedly, you have to be quite a few to enjoy it... when the server was just me and Urby, we ran around for minutes without seeing each other.
Commented 16 years ago2008-06-01 22:56:42 UTC
in wiki page: Tutorial: CarvingComment #100799
Well-written and very thorough tutorial. Would perhaps need a short description to how to make carved-out cylindrical holes with vertex manipulation instead of carving? Or at least a link to a tutorial that describes the process?
Some invalid HTML on this page too, as a note to the moderators. Should probably restrict the way tutorial-writers can use HTML (like <li>'s without <ul>'s).
Commented 17 years ago2007-01-09 14:43:52 UTC
in vault item: SPC_Beta5Comment #13952
Well... it's an interesting project, certainly. I am quite impressed with the sheer size and the optimization this map must've gone through. I noclipped up, above the map, just to see how big it was... incredible. Over 6000 Wpoly up there, too .
Anywho, as for the gameplay, I can't say much... I haven't tested it in MP. Ask Muzz to get it on the HLDM server and we might play it sometime. But my initial reaction is, this map is far too big for HLDM. Already on default maps that are one third the size of this, I have trouble finding people when playing. HLDM usually isn't that populated... 8 players is the maximum amount of players on lots of servers - you'd walk through lots of emptiness before reaching an enemy in this map. Size does matter, but bigger isn't always better.
The look of the map is fairly generic... really nothing special to comment about. Everything looks sort of decent, nothing that really stands out. I noticed some small details that I enjoyed, like the little non-sensical concrete platform in one hall and the moving, pumping machine in one of the walls... small details like that really do liven up the area, but they weren't enough to raise the general feel of the map's look.
The lighting was, as well, fairly generic. The dark-orangey part was pretty nice, but those orange, bright wall-lights (bah) looked horrible. The red-lit ventilation thingy was also way too dark. I hate having to stumble around with the flashlight to find my way. I was playing at Brightness 63 - I usually have 0.
Commented 17 years ago2006-12-03 10:17:45 UTC
in vault item: GungodComment #13598
Excellent map, especially in terms of gameplay. I had lots of fun playing it with 7 other people the other day. I think one of the things that make it fun is the fact that it's practically "objective"-based. Your ultimate goal is to get the gauss and longjump - to get them, you need to work some switches and whatnot. The looks aren't as impressive, but they definitely work. Here's the cons and pros anyway...
[ Pros ] + Excellent gameplay. I mean, loads 'a fun. + Textures. Not the most exciting set on their own, but they're a refreshing change from HL-default. + Secrets and stuff. This includes the "hidden" gauss and longjump, but also the boobs-room and the big "don't be a cunt"-sign. Good fun. + Layout. The entire thing feels circular, which is pretty cool. + The turret. Just a neat addition.
[ Cons ] - Details. Honestly, there isn't much to actually look at - some areas are painfully empty and boring. - Repetitive. Pretty much every area looks more or less the same, especially the hallways. Makes it sort of hard to tell where you are.
I'm astounded. I knew you were a good mapper, Muzzle, but this good? Wow. This is actually the first custom map I've ever felt that "feels" like the real half-life - I mean, if someone told me valve made this yesterday I'd buy it anyday.
Gameplay - well, it's the same as uplink, what can I say? Very well executed. Scripting was awesome, especially at the Gargantua fight. NPC Sequences all worked well without any problems.
Brushwork - extraordinary. It was so good I didn't even notice it, too busy fighting zombies, headcrabs, grunts and whatnot - but when you actually examine the surroundings it becomes clear that everything has been done with utmost care. The "broken" laboratory was probably my favourite.
Lighting - as good as it gets, really. No room for improvements, anywhere. Just excellent.
Any cons?.. not that I can think of. A 5, without a trace of doubt.
Commented 18 years ago2006-05-12 13:36:36 UTC
in vault item: Compo 20 - Locked InComment #11801
I liked it. The atmosphere was nice and the camera effects were superb, combined with the quick fades and sounds it looked amazing. The exploding generator-thingies were a good addition, aswell.
I loved the hung scientist, heh.
But, it really does deviate from the competition goal - nothing was destructified. I'm going to rate it as a standalone map, having nothing to do with the competition.
One thing you could change would be the lighting - it was very contrasty, made it hard to see some places, IE one spot was completely black and the area next to it flooded with light. 3 stars. Nice work.
Commented 18 years ago2006-02-10 19:15:25 UTC
in vault item: dm_fugitive3Comment #10845
Thought I'd review it.
. Layout The layout is quite basic. It's just a big square outside with building with a couple of rooms in the middle. Nevertheless, it provides quite intense gameplay. The cliffs outside are wellmade, no complaints there. The inside of the building could've been alot more detailed, but seeing as it's a hldm map, it doesn't matter much. 3/5.
. Gameplay As stated before, the gameplay is intense. The on-going tau jumping and the battle for the gauss actually puts it down alittle... having people jumping all over (literally) the map, killing stuff, is rather annoying. The insides are cramped, especially the little holes in the wall. 2/5.
. Design Brushwork is OK, at best. The cliffs are the most wellmade element. The outer walls (the crete ones) look rather blocky and just un-nice. The inside of the building is bairly a bunch of blocked out rooms stuck together. 2/5.
. Lighting The outside lighting is way too yellow. Feels like you're playing with a huge smilie over your head. The insides are quite dark, bland. 1/5
. Overall A fun map, no doubts, even though it's frustrating. Not much to look at, plays pretty repetetively (is that even a word?), good for some minutes o' fun.
nfs sucked since underground
I like what you've done with the glass chamber, it's a bit easier to see how the pieces of the map fit together now. The timer on the wall is also a nice edition (that wasn't there before, right?) Plus, no need for skill jumps to get the cube. All good!
However, I did find one bug which was fairly interesting. I was a bit stumped as to how to get at the button when I played through this time: in the previous version I'd just stand on top of the glass wall and jump down, hitting the button in the fall. In this version, that was impossible because of the black block on top of the glass chamber. I eventually got the proper solution, to use the catapult to propel yourself upwards from the bottom of the chamber, but before I found that I actually did this:
https://www.failreactor.com/images/sp_gravity0000.jpg
It only happens if you put it in the right spot, if it's too high it just runs into the glass wall, like this:
https://www.failreactor.com/images/sp_gravity0001.jpg
Even though it's a bug, maybe it could be a sort of alternate way of getting to the button, perhaps if you raise the glass chambers a units off the floor so the player can clearly see that a light path fits under there. Dunno, just a suggestion.
Anyway, all in all good changes!
I just finished it, without cheating, and I must say I'm super impressed with the puzzle itself.
To preface, I say this with no experience of Portal 2 mapping, nor have I played any custom Portal 2 maps before this, so I might not be up to date with all the Portal 2 mapping quirks, but here's my take on the map.
I was a bit stumped during the first part, but once I got to thinking about the light path I solved it fairly quickly.
What I like about the puzzle is that it doesn't just blindly copy Portal 2 problems, but instead uses familiar concepts - the Light path, slanted white walls (seriously, when I see a slanted white wall I know it's serious business), propelling yourself with a catapult, timed buttons - to come up with a really innovative puzzle. You had to actually think about new ways to use the existing tools, and as such I think it was hugely successful. You really felt that familiar "Got it!" feeling once you figured it out, the feeling we all know and love from Portal 1 and 2 themselves.
I don't at all mind that you force the player to stand on top of one of the glass walls. It is indeed fairly unintuitive, but this is not a bad thing in and of itself. It forces the player to re-examine the map and re-think their presuppositions of how Portal 2 puzzles "should work". In my opinion, Portal 2 did a bit too much "hand-holding" in some of its puzzles, e.g. leaving the mechanics too obvious. If anything, the white walls above the glass chamber are very pointed hints as to what the player needs to do (white walls, again, are a major signal that stuff needs to happen in that area).
One thing where I think the player needed a bit more of a hint was the "skill jump" required to fetch the Cube from the bottom of the slanted ramp. I had to quicksave there and do a few jumps before I made it. A little protruding platform or some other (visual and ´physical´) aid to the player to help with that jump would've been nice.
Puzzle mapping, as I see it, is a very hard to maintain balance between what's obvious and too hard. Make it too hard, players will give up or become frustrated, make it too easy and it's not a puzzle, just a going-through-the-motions exercise. I feel this map struck a great balance between those extremes.
Now, as for the cons of the map itself, I'd say the visuals. The entrance elevator fits the Portal 2 feeling superbly (and I, for one, liked the turret. Was a bit of a "Whoa!" before the map even started) and I like the run-down "broken" feel of the elevator room. The lighting especially was awesomely moody and gloomy. That goes for the exit elevator room too.
The test chamber itself, though, is a major let down in the visuals department. It's little more than a blocky, monotone sparse-looking chamber, very reminiscent of Portal 1 (and honestly, that's not a good thing). Portal 2 did wonders with its visuals and atmospheric test chambers, and I'm a bit disappointed there wasn't more of that "broken" feel to the test chamber itself. In Portal 2 the test chambers always hinted superbly at the immensity of the Aperture Science facility, that's what I'm missing from this map.
The audio is all good, I liked the addition of that ambient sound and even a music track at one point, but nothing remarkable.
To summarize, the negatives were in the visual and atmosphere departments. But these flaws are easily shadowed by a superb puzzle that really brought back the puzzle solving feeling of the games themselves while not using obvious or repetetive solutions to problems.
4 out of 5 stars, with the visuals and atmosphere being the only real obstacle towards full score.
Very nice!
Played through it, I quite liked it. There were ups and downs, but generally a quite enjoyable little journey.
I dunno what rules there were, exactly, but I'd have loved to see some more gameplay. Maybe not guns blazing action, but a bit of puzzle solving perhaps?
The rooms I felt stood out there most were, first, Rimrook's palace - fantastic scenery, good use of models and architecture. Just beautiful.
Second, Muzz's room. Although the appearance was rather standard-Half-Life I simply loved the little quirks in the map. For instance, the first thing I thought when the Gman peered at me through a window was "man, it'd be creepy as hell if he were in the next window as well"... and wouldn't you know it, he was. Great effect, made me jump a bit. Other than that, nice little gizmos and details on the walls.
Third, World Crafter's horror-themed room. Absolutely fantastic. It was the room with most gameplay value (even though there was very little), seeing as how it was the only room to make you do something besides just walking in a fairly direct line to the end (some button-pressing notwithstanding). Disregarding that, it was easily the most atmospheric and, dare I say it, beautiful room in the pack. I especially liked experiencing the stark contrast between the lit and dark "versions" of the room, really made you appreciate the difference a few grungy textures can make. Very well-made, good job to you sir.
A special mention to DiscoStu's room, which really made me smile -- quite unexpected, and like a breeze of fresh air from all the previous rooms.
Finally, some general comments... Blazeeer's Submerged textures. Gosh darn there were a lot of textures from that wad, and I must say I am getting fairly tired of it. It'd have been nice to see more varied custom textures -- props to Rimrook and Worldcrafter for avoiding the Blaz pack.
All in all, good job to all those involved, and special props to Captain Terror for putting it all together. It turned out to be quite the spectacle.
For any IRC-fags who don't want an (usually) inactive chatroom, I can recommend #failreactor , created by me, Nickelplate and some other old-timers.
We tried it tonight with a nigh-full TWHLDM server (we were 7), and it was a lot of fun. Admittedly, you have to be quite a few to enjoy it... when the server was just me and Urby, we ran around for minutes without seeing each other.
Great job.
MuzzleFlash is correct, though - GldSrc pointfiles aren't useless.
Some invalid HTML on this page too, as a note to the moderators. Should probably restrict the way tutorial-writers can use HTML (like <li>'s without <ul>'s).
Anyway, very nice tutorial.
Anywho, as for the gameplay, I can't say much... I haven't tested it in MP. Ask Muzz to get it on the HLDM server and we might play it sometime. But my initial reaction is, this map is far too big for HLDM. Already on default maps that are one third the size of this, I have trouble finding people when playing. HLDM usually isn't that populated... 8 players is the maximum amount of players on lots of servers - you'd walk through lots of emptiness before reaching an enemy in this map. Size does matter, but bigger isn't always better.
The look of the map is fairly generic... really nothing special to comment about. Everything looks sort of decent, nothing that really stands out. I noticed some small details that I enjoyed, like the little non-sensical concrete platform in one hall and the moving, pumping machine in one of the walls... small details like that really do liven up the area, but they weren't enough to raise the general feel of the map's look.
The lighting was, as well, fairly generic. The dark-orangey part was pretty nice, but those orange, bright wall-lights (bah) looked horrible. The red-lit ventilation thingy was also way too dark. I hate having to stumble around with the flashlight to find my way. I was playing at Brightness 63 - I usually have 0.
Score... 3/5. The size alone deserves a star.
[ Pros ]
+ Excellent gameplay. I mean, loads 'a fun.
+ Textures. Not the most exciting set on their own, but they're a refreshing change from HL-default.
+ Secrets and stuff. This includes the "hidden" gauss and longjump, but also the boobs-room and the big "don't be a cunt"-sign. Good fun.
+ Layout. The entire thing feels circular, which is pretty cool.
+ The turret. Just a neat addition.
[ Cons ]
- Details. Honestly, there isn't much to actually look at - some areas are painfully empty and boring.
- Repetitive. Pretty much every area looks more or less the same, especially the hallways. Makes it sort of hard to tell where you are.
3.5 stars, rounded to 4.
This is actually the first custom map I've ever felt that "feels" like the real half-life - I mean, if someone told me valve made this yesterday I'd buy it anyday.
Gameplay - well, it's the same as uplink, what can I say? Very well executed. Scripting was awesome, especially at the Gargantua fight. NPC Sequences all worked well without any problems.
Brushwork - extraordinary. It was so good I didn't even notice it, too busy fighting zombies, headcrabs, grunts and whatnot - but when you actually examine the surroundings it becomes clear that everything has been done with utmost care. The "broken" laboratory was probably my favourite.
Lighting - as good as it gets, really. No room for improvements, anywhere. Just excellent.
Any cons?.. not that I can think of. A 5, without a trace of doubt.
The Hunter:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/kids/2004/06/images/big_cookie.jpg
Couldn't open zeditor.wad.
Clumsy, mate. Remove wads before you compile.
Anyway, the IP isn't the G-mans... it does point to someone though. A cookie to the one who finds out who
I loved the hung scientist, heh.
But, it really does deviate from the competition goal - nothing was destructified. I'm going to rate it as a standalone map, having nothing to do with the competition.
One thing you could change would be the lighting - it was very contrasty, made it hard to see some places, IE one spot was completely black and the area next to it flooded with light.
3 stars. Nice work.
. Layout
The layout is quite basic. It's just a big square outside with building with a couple of rooms in the middle. Nevertheless, it provides quite intense gameplay. The cliffs outside are wellmade, no complaints there. The inside of the building could've been alot more detailed, but seeing as it's a hldm map, it doesn't matter much. 3/5.
. Gameplay
As stated before, the gameplay is intense. The on-going tau jumping and the battle for the gauss actually puts it down alittle... having people jumping all over (literally) the map, killing stuff, is rather annoying. The insides are cramped, especially the little holes in the wall. 2/5.
. Design
Brushwork is OK, at best. The cliffs are the most wellmade element. The outer walls (the crete ones) look rather blocky and just un-nice. The inside of the building is bairly a bunch of blocked out rooms stuck together. 2/5.
. Lighting
The outside lighting is way too yellow. Feels like you're playing with a huge smilie over your head. The insides are quite dark, bland. 1/5
. Overall
A fun map, no doubts, even though it's frustrating. Not much to look at, plays pretty repetetively (is that even a word?), good for some minutes o' fun.
Final score:
Weak 3, strong 2: 3 Stars.