Comments

You need to implement a Favorite feature on TWHL so I can favorite this journal.

Doesn't work on Android

4 days? You did this in 4 days?

You are insane.

I like how you can use the generator spinner things to get up to the catwalk quickly.

I got stuck on the rotaty bit when I tried jumping on the outer edge to ride it up. You only get stuck for a few seconds (I think you get unstuck when a certain part of the rim passes you), and it doesn't happen every time, but I found it replicable. Nonetheless, it doesn't happen every time, and it only happens for a few seconds, so I doubt it would really impact gameplay.

Thanks hugely, lads!

Whatcha mean by the one-way upper level? It has three points of access (not including gauss jumping, which is really what the main arena is designed for) and the best guns. If I added more paths up to it, it'd be too easy to get your hands on some premium ass kit!
The main stairwell is in the middle, so that gives you choice of direction, and both light bridges take you to opposing sides.

Suits you better

The Core oughta have its own multiplayer maps, and you can host the TWHL server on it!

Because The Core is obviously gonna have hundreds and hundreds of people playing it, what with all the hype it's getting--I'm pretty sure that more than just the TWHL community would play a round or two on it.

While a few parts of the layout could be improved (like the one-way-only upper level), it's a blast to play even with small groups, and lends itself to some hilarious encounters - I planted some mines, then came back minutes later to push an unsuspecting Dimbark back into them as he killed me. The textures and architecture or excellently done, and a nice taste of what's to come with The Core. The few pieces of "tech" in the map are a nice touch, adding some contrast to the mostly concrete structure of the area.

I really should hold off until I play it with more people to rate it, but frankly, it's great, and not even the little layout problems can hold me off from giving this a perfect score.

Dude it sucks just uninstall Half-Life

Sorry Stu, next time i will draw it with crayons.

Right enough on that first one. That was just me underestimating the light required and if I ever recompile I'll fix it.
The second one was intentional to give the vending machine more impact, however, and I doubt I'd change it. I don't think it's dark enough over a large enough area that gameplay would suffer.

Cheers for taking the time to be specific, it helps a lot! <3

I might just be nit-picking because of the overall high quality but, you asked where I thought the inconsistently dark areas were so I made a few screenshots.

The majority of the map is really well lit however, to me these two places stood out and spoiled that by lacking lights for no good reason.NOTE: My brightness and gamma in-game are mid slider.

Arise old maps!

Very intriguing! Perhaps a nice big screenie gallery would be nice as a preview, for those of us who probably won't play it, or don't have SC?

Thanks a billion for your lovely words TJB!
I also love maps with visible areas outside the playable world. I really think it adds depth, and I always use big windows to light my boring areas, as was done repeatedly in Portal with the observation windows. Try to ignore the fact that both examples you screenshotted are almost identical rooms behind the glass ;D

"you can sometimes get caught on the big rotating thing." Do you mean it squishes you? If so that was intentional. If not and you're getting stuck... Well, fuck.
"There are also some lighting errors on the rotating thing, although I'm not sure what you could do about that." Yeah, that was really irritating me. I set its lighting origin outside the machine which helped (it used to be 50% pitch black) but for some reason there are six or seven faces that just didn't light. Compiling this bastard with my full RAD settings was taking 45 minutes, so I just gave up.

There are a lot of positive comments that I could make, but have already been made, so I will say this. The idea of making a dm map seem like it's set in a bigger world by actually showing inaccessible areas, rather than just closed doors needs to be done a lot more, and I very much like the way it's been done in this map.My only negative comments are that you can sometimes get caught on the big rotating thing, but it's probably not really often enough for it to really impact the map.
There are also some lighting errors on the rotating thing, although I'm not sure what you could do about that.

Also, those sprites on the floor lights are too sexy, I'm sure I won't be able to play right because I'll be staring at them the whole time.

I will withhold from rating until I've had a chance to play it on the server (which will likely be after my exams unfortunately), but it's looking like it will be a 5 from me.

[Edit] Forgot to mention, I absolutely love the lighting, especially the lighting from the orange vending machine in the hallway.

TL;DR

Thanks hugely for all the comments, folks!

I'll only respond to the crits and questions, but know that all the positive comments made me grin from ear to ear!

Striker:
"are those sprites set to "glow" or something?" Render FX is 'normal', Render Mode is 'glow' and Amount is 200.
"it is a bit misleading to have so many doors that are false." I appreciate that, although I made sure that all accessible doors are open from the very start. There are no closed doors that can open, except in the secret area. I hope this avoids confusing the player with locked doors.
"what textures are you using?" They're almost all textures I made for The Core, with I think two by Urby and maybe three made specifically for this map.

Moaby:
"a couple of areas are a little dark for deathmatch." That's actually quite surprising to hear! I lit it a lot more than I usually do in my single player maps. Which areas specifically were bothering you?
"Are there light bridges in The Core?" No light bridges in The Core, though it's an interesting thought! :3

Trempler:
"but the red ones should be a darker red, the green ones less green and PLZ remove the purple lights. Purple light really dont fit in hl1." I think this is going to be the only critique I'm gonna properly fight my corner on, because I must say I completely disagree!
I actually love the way Goldsource bounces purple light. I always think it adds a really nice look to an area, and I use it a lot in The Core. Purples and deep oranges are really underused colours in lighting and I really think there's a lot of room to use them. The green and red lights are deliberately stand-outish. I wanted each level of the main arena to be instantly recognisable to aid navigation. Ground floor is green, middle floor is blue and top floor is red.
"R_speeds." I try to stay under 7000, and most parts of this map never peak higher than 2000. If it's still a problem, I apologise, but it may be time to invest in a new computer.
"No Sliding." I don't fully understand this, but it sounds akin to bunnyhopping and surfing which I hate. It's not designed for that sort of player.
"I see you dislike to create intresting ceillings." Ceilings and wall details were all drastically reduced for r_speed and allocblock:full reasons. I wasn't willing to spend the time to optimize this properly, so when errors started cropping up I just axed a lot of details. It annoys me, but it's a trade-off with working in Goldsource. I agree, though, the ceilings are crap. Most are scaled to 2.0 as well.

Overall:
Quite surprised by all the negative comments about the light bridges. I really like the extra manoeuvrability they add and the blue fill light they cast. Oh well!

Pretty Map, yeah most of the map is really epic looking.

Pro:

• Feels like a hl2 map.
• Great design and good Gameplay as far as i can tell.
• Sick amount of detail!
• Archie
• Brushwork is a masterpiece.

Contra:

• The Beambridges are out of place
• Gaylight, i like the warm lights so far, but the red ones should be a darker red, the green ones less green and PLZ remove the purple lights. Purple light really dont fit in hl1, maybe for xen maps.
• R_speeds
• No Sliding ( Ramp sliding for Stairs, if your map will be played by pro/action halflife players, they will be frustrated with this )
• I see you dislike to create intresting ceillings ???

Woe this blast from the past! I'm gonna try to get on the server tonight hopefully to give it a whirl, but it looks fabulous from the pics

BTW, Imgur makes for some effortless image gallery hosting for those fabulous extra screens(or until twhl4)

"... it's very much a case of a shit professor. She's not gone to the effort to recommend us any external materials and actually stated to not buy any other books or anything."

Is she good looking? If so, there's a way to get back you know... >:D

dm_control...alt-del? Clever.

I would say a couple of areas are a little dark for deathmatch but I can't tell if that's either my screen or, my gamma/brightness settings (both bars in the center of the slider).

Then there is the Portal-esque light bridges which don't REALLY make sense. However, who said it had to make sense? Are there light bridges in The Core as the textures are possibly from it?

Negative aspects aside, the map is extremely good for a ~4 day project.

@Striker: The polys are high but I'm not surprised, it is as detailed as a singleplayer map.

This map left me in awe. I have to praise you for the clean-looking style of the whole map, and for architectural design that keeps the gameplay flow.
I love how nothing was left untouched when speaking of detail, and you put a lot of effort in the secondary areas too, not just the big arena.

For example, this transit zone for trucks, or whatever, gives me a warm feeling of security. Simple shapes efficiently create the impression of detail.

The engine room, or whatever those wheels represent, is a bit more clumsy but it still allows for some serious action. The hard-to-get RPG will surely frustrate a lot of players while making it fun for others. Again, simple shapes define an incredible detail, and I absolutely love each time I see the ceiling polished in Half-Life maps, as it is the most difficult one to think about imo.

You gotta love Archie for his inspiring ideas for detail. I'm going to steal this one from you, bro'. When I sit hours thinking about what the heck I should use to detail a simple hall, this guy slaps a whole new room with some windows. Simple, effective, realistic.

Archie diligently explores new ideas of lighting in maps, probably a consequence of his training with cameras. I have to ask, are those sprites set to "glow" or something? They look awesome! It just feels interesting when exploring a map and you actually learn just by observing.

Last, but not least, the mothership: the central arena. This is a carefully crafted place. Although it seems like it didn't take painstaking effort to design it, I sure know it was a challenge for r_speeds. I've detected r_speeds of up to 7000 wpolys in this area, so now I can rest assured that I optimized the shit out of dm_researchvessel, which is an open space map. I think this has to do with higher resolution textures, but also because, like me, you like to add detail in unexpected places. I call this "bump map compensation" - the doors have a subtle bevel. Speaking about the doors, it is a bit misleading to have so many doors that are false, yet I like that you put a "no-access" sound.
I think somebody already told you about the blue bridges in the forums. They are a weird addition and don't really flow in the map design. Maybe construct them differently or give them a different purpose?

Nevertheless, this map is crazy beautiful. Valve would be vexed.
One question remaining: what textures are you using? Are those specifically designed for the Core?

Now all we need is an automatic banana peeler
Good luck.

@ Instant Mix
You wouldn't get offended if some one said - i like my coffee with suggar, than why get offended with some thought inducing sentence?
It should be clear the older you are that the way some people made things today is not gonna benefit every one and you need to be prepared for those things. Bad schooling system where professors and teachers dont spend enough time with their students is one.
I personally had too much theory and too little practice more than 90% of my schooling and hated it. That got me into thinking that i should do things my self and inform on what to expect in the future from what professor/term.
Some things i don't even like to do, like for example Java Script, but i still sat down and practiced only to make it easier to finish that term and be able to invest more time into something else.
Being aware that you can not score 100% on something if you don't understand it enough should be familiar to every one.
Even though i can easily understand practical problems i always had trouble with social science like sociology, economics and mother language. I found it extremely annoying and time taking to study it. Especially sociology and similar terms where they write about things like humans know nothing about anything. I felt retarded reading that. But i clenched my teeth and tried to give it enough understanding just to get an passing grade of 55/100.
I failed a few times on those terms, even though i did try to study it, but in the end i focused a lot of my free time just to get it over with. Some of those things from economics are very important for personal business and i am glad i did study a bit of that.
It might seem absurd that some one can get vectors and formula logic pretty easily but be a total "butthead" about something as simple as Sociology and Economics where you just need to hard learn all the shit thats written, but i hate to study something that has so little logic in common with me. It is annoying. Example (or a try to write one )

• Humans in groups are called an society.

No fucking shit its called an society, but why should i write it like that, why do i have to study all those annoying terms and not use my own words?
The logic in math is to learn how to write it, but what ever way you take to get the solution doesn't matter as long as the calculation is correct. Over time you will improve efficiency.

You can not rush into life is just an random sentence that makes sense only if you take a look at what is happening around you.
Too much people confused with what should they do with them selfs, too much people thinking they should force rules upon you, too much people living off leaching others. Wrong people with power. You can get harmed for something absurd on every corner.
I also did not know what to do at start but i got a lot interest into electronics at a very young age, but nowhere and nobody could help me with that. I felt empty that i can not do what i like and that i have no resources to do it on my own. I lost interest into everything that i studied . But later in life i started thinking about it differently, and that is to walker pass by what i don't like to do to be able to do what i like to do.
I found that it is much more satisfying to help others understand that they can do what ever they like as their hobby than just to be destructive to everything and everyone because i didn't get what i want.

I very much understand how do you feel about all of these things that you NEED to study in order to do something you like, but dont lose your spirit if you didn't understand it at first.
You are still young and have a lot of time to give to many things. Relax and try again, try to understand others as well. You can't make it far alone.

"You can not rush into life"
I'd like to dispute this statement. Not necessarily the truth of it, but the arrogance behind it. Not everyone has the liberty of knowing exactly what they want to do when they leave school (or otherwise change direction) no matter how much thought they've put into it. More so, not everyone has the liberty of actually being able to do what they want to do due to circumstance.

I personally didn't know what I wanted to do after school. Based purely on the fact I had achieved reasonably well during school, I went into university to study Multimedia Design. After roughly two years, I can now confidently say I wouldn't make the same decision. Besides, how was I to know whether or not I would enjoy the experience unless I did it? How dull would life be if we knew exactly what we wanted to do, and spent our whole lives following that course? Ever heard the phrase "life is a journey, not a destination"?

More on topic, while I have generally enjoyed my university experience, there are some aspects of what I'm studying that I have not. We can choose the general subject we study, but there are many courses that must be completed to progress, covering many different areas. If you have to do 24 courses and struggle with 1 of them, I wouldn't say that's justification to abandon the idea of following that subject as a whole, which sure sounds like what you're implying.

Considering the amount of effort I've actually put into trying to learn this peice of shit, I'm going to take that as an insult, stojke.

I've only played a few minutes alone while I wait for the mp server to roll it out.

It's a great revamp and I think everything flows better than in the original. Rooms have better proportions and distances, although I kind of liked the balconies slightly wider. The RPG is harder to get, but I have fun riding the thing up to the thing.

Can't wait to see it on the server.

Excellent map. A bit rough around the edges and I got stuck in level geometry a few times, but it plays great and it has a pretty good dynamic.

It's probably the best map on the HLDM server and definitely amongst the best dm maps in TWHL.

I fully understand his feelings, but what is there to say.
You can not rush into life with out thinking about anything and complain later .
Cornholio.

ITT: Stojke is still a butthead

But you did choose the college and to study it.
Get some responsibilities and priorities.

Stojke, I don't get to choose my subjects. They're all compulsory.

When you assume you make an ass out of u and v.

/irrelevant pun

The only things I can apply to that first question is that-
Dot product represents projection of one vector onto another
That being u.v = |u||v|cos theta
As u is a unit vector, |u| = 1.
The angle between uv & uw is the same, and as v has the same magnitude as w,
U.v = u.w
Therefore u.v + u.w = 2 (u.v)
U (v +w) = 2 (u.v)
And thats pretty much all I did for the first one.
If you could divide by u and take v onto the other side, itd work out, but ive No idea why 2 (u.v) is multiplied by u...

Discostu, we were permitted to take the exam questions out of the exam hall after the exam had finished.
Stojke, its very much a case of a shit professor. She's not gone to the effort to recommend us any external materials and actually stated to not buy any other books or anything. Weve got a handful of workbooks but they've just got really really shit content. It'll state 2 or 3 things, then go "from this we can get" and plonks out a seemingly random convuleted equation with little to no explanation as to what it actually means or represents. Its then followed by only 1 worked example which has no explanations as to what is happening at each stage, so youve just to guess or make a rough assumption. Its a very, very poorly organised course.

Stojkens = brainiac, this is well known

How many years of math(after PreCalc) do you need to understand this stuff?

I found physics/chemistry/maths EXTREMELY boring, but now later in life i think i could have a genuine appreciation for it.. IDK

I live in a dimension where i think about what can i pass with out torturing my self and only apply to those subjects.
If you already applied to all subjects that you well know you wont be able to pass don't blame any one but your self, it wont solve anything.

I'm sure you live in another dimension where you can put time on pause. Most of us don't have the ability to focus that easily.

Ah, another case of a professor who doesn't give a fuck.
But still, is it really that hard for you guys? I mean, there are resources everywhere on the net :/

When we here study for things we gather up information and than solve different things and help out each other who don't understand.

I know you have the potential to pass this, every one does.
When i study i start from the most basic of tasks that need to be done to complete an task. Than move on up to more complex tasks and read on why is something required to be done as it is done to get the solution. To understand what i am actually doing. After that i do a few runs on my own and get another set of tasks to complete as well.

Who the hell lets you scan exam pages? I'm quite sure I'd be frowned at if I was even seen taking pictures of it with my phone. Where are A*, B3, and B4?

I could (maybe) do B1(a). The answer to the rest would be "Fuck You". In bolder lettering each time.

This is why I quit engineering and moved over to Architecture.

Stojke, I've been at the university library pretty much every day for the last couple weeks.
We've just not been taught the course. We've been taught examples of questions and a few things like how to deal with dot products, cross products, determinants, matrices and that shit. Same with differential equations. But we've not been taught what any of it means or represents so it's really, really hard for us. Like literally, they've just taught us examples, not the actual theory behind it. Most of us came out the exam entirely confident we'd failed.

That's fine, Rim.
I'm quite fond of Tetsu0. I go by Tetsu0 or Tetsh0Sh0.
Don't think i'll change anytime soon.

I think part of engineering is screwing some things up. Including your exams. There are things I studied last year that have simply vanished from my mind.
Also, I found out that most of engineering is not about hard math. It's about knowing a lot of things, and combining those things.

This test doesn't look that hard, but because I forgot most of Physics and AP from last year it looks crazy.

I'm doing aircraft engineering, although I had a maths exam on Wednesday that I think I screwed up as well. There were three questions, and we had to do two of them. Due to nerves I forgot the very first step (and only the first step) for one of the ones I had intended to do, and so couldn't do it. I had to do the question that I had not prepared for at all, and ended up getting that question very wrong.

How much did you ACTUALLY study for this exam?

Im an engineer, not for long I think though

OMG Good Will Hunting math! <RUNS>

LOL!

You realize that you can never change your name from Tetsuo, or at least must be careful what is synonymous with your name.