@CPripyatUit: I don't map for source, but I would suspect the it works similarly to the citizens? However you select their heads, so too would you select the zombie model so long as the model has any submodels.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Commented 2 months ago2024-08-20 15:09:24 UTC
in journal: Which WADComment #106312
It's people like yourself, developing tools 25 years after it's release, that keep the Half-Life modding community alive and I appreciate that.
We had a tomato plant for a few years when we lived out in the countryside. There's nothing better than a fresh tomato, right off the vine. I made many a cheese and tomato sandwich during those summers. Grew our own courgettes as well and one year we missed one when picking the plant and it kept on growing. At the end of the summer we found that we had a lovely plump marrow to dig into.
Zombies are fixed but the map is still quite inefficiently put together. Hollow vents that you never enter?
A big skybox around the whole map? I'm sure the map compiles quickly enough due to its small size, but you're going to need to start optimising things when you work on larger and larger maps... because "Yikes!" that's a lot of unseen stuff being rendered.
Gave this a go and a few things I noted. Firstly, your zombies are messed up. Looks like the model is incomplete and missing the textures file (zombiet.mdl)
1. I notice that the crowbar can be easily missed, which I did at first. I accidentally picked it up when checking if I missed anything.
2. Button placement/Signposting the thing the button does. I hit a button in a room and somewhere a door opened? I assume I did this right because I have no idea.
3. Sloppy, sloppy brushwork. This is a consistent thing in your maps and it suggests a real lack of care and attention at times. It seems like a nitpick, but it feels like you make a room and then copy past prefabs to fill the space. It can be game breaking because I got stuck between vehicles/crates/walls multiple times with very little effort on my part.
4. Glass doors but the glass is opaque? Is that a mistake?
5. Couple of flags to check for next time. func_door has "Monsters can't" which stops NPCs opening doors when they shouldn't be able to. Your grunts were opening the door in the lobby fight even though the button to open them was on the desk. Also, item_suit has "short logon" which stops the HEV suit voice droning on and on and on at the start of the map.
6. Really bad clipping issues around the entire map as well. Near some of the trucks it seems that there are clip brushes placed around for no reason? I got stuck near the truck with the turret in and had to noclip myself free, but there was seemingly nothing there blocking me.
Overall, a little improvement over your previous maps. It actually looks like the kind of space you could easily drive a vehicle around, but the combat is still ridiculously easy throughout. The grunts are once again not being given the change to fight intelligently and mostly just line up in doorways to get shot.
Commented 2 months ago2024-08-14 21:54:04 UTC
in poll: Favourite HL TitleComment #106297
OG Half-Life hasn't been topped imo. Opposing Force was fun but took too many liberties with the lore. Blue-Shift on the other hand, didn't do enough with it. It kinda peaked with the pre-disaster section and all the little character moments during the tram ride and walk to work. Can't really cast too much shade at an intended Dreamcast game mode turned full release, but it's just kinda mid.
Commented 6 months ago2024-04-18 08:34:02 UTC
in journal: Hiatus(Yes, again)Comment #106135
Life will do as life does, everything else must take a back seat. Sorry to hear that things are rough, and I wish you the best. The Pathos Engine stuff I've seen is really quite promising.
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Commented 6 months ago2024-04-10 09:58:53 UTC
in journal: HikingComment #106123
I love a good hike. My family and I have a National Trust membership which gives us free access to those sites all over the country. Mostly just stately homes and old castles, but the grounds often reach far and wide have offer some stunning views. Waiting for the late spring/summer months to kick in so that England is a little more photogenic. Haha.
Hopefully the sun comes out for us at the end of May when we tackle the Wrekin again. You can see a good portion of Shropshire from the top.
Commented 6 months ago2024-04-07 10:18:39 UTC
in journal: 🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀Comment #106116
Yup, five is the total. t0a0b and t0a0b2 appear to be duplicates of the firing range map with the former being a little larger, including the flashlight area.
Commented 6 months ago2024-04-06 20:51:17 UTC
in journal: 🐀🐀🐀🐀🐀Comment #106113
Yup, I've known about the rats in the Hazard Course for a looong time now. Not sure when I first learned about them. I didn't know there was even a rat model until I played Drug Barons, the first custom campaign I played for Half-Life back in 1999.
Commented 6 months ago2024-03-25 22:03:56 UTC
in journal: Objective designComment #106085
You say that you've written yourself into a corner, but really the planning phase is where it's the least hassle to adapt your plans. Better to make changes at this stage than when you've got a fully detailed and scripted map that you then realise doesn't make sense.
The planning phase is where you draft the overall play through steps, think up a theme and the kinds of engagements you want the player to have. The block out phase is where you work on a very basic layout with some mock up encounters throughout and can easily make changes if something doesn't work the way you intended.
Neither of these phases are "easy," but they are when the map is at its most adaptable.
As for your current theme, the combine facility in an urban environment accessible to citizens, that certainly wouldn't be a secret. What it would be however, is fortified. The United Nations building in New York isn't a secret, but it's not exactly inviting people in either. There could be a secret entrance though.
I've started writing my level design briefs. It's actually how they managed things over at Slipgate Ironworks. Everyone was assigned a level and given some key points (map introduces these 2 enemies, map introduces these new weapons, etc). Level designers then had two weeks to plan their map out entirely on paper (or in confluence), before getting that signed off and starting on the blockout phase.
The documentation would be divided up into segments with the occasional rough sketch of the layout.
Commented 8 months ago2024-01-23 08:19:04 UTC
in journal: Back Being an MDComment #105920
Damn. I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work out. However, I'm happy to hear you were able to return to your previous calling. I suspect it wasn't too difficult getting a new position, given your decades of experience.
You can simply copy and paste image files into your post, assuming they're in a web format. Otherwise upload the image elsewhere and then post an image link.
On topic: Always happy to hear about more single player content in the works.
One thing I will say though is that the reflection isn't done well. There should not be a huge gap between objects and their reflection. The reflection of the wire is where this is most obvious and you can even see it in the screenshot. The reflection would show on the floor's surface, so objects ON the floor would be in contact with their reflection.
Commented 10 months ago2023-12-22 00:17:39 UTC
in vault item: High (sky)Comment #105777
Always happy to see your sky uploads. Makes me think about all the different places you could set a Half-Life map besides New Mexico.
This one might actually be ideal for my mod idea set in the Peak District here in Britain. I don't suppose you've considered providing the same skybox at different times of day?
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Christmas Day has actually become a little less chaotic as the kids have gotten older. Everyone comes to our place now on Christmas Day/Boxing Day rather than us racing from one end of the county to the other to visit everyone.
The rest of my week off will consist of looking after the kids, playing as much Baldur's Gate 3 and Fortnite as possible and maybe even doing some mapping if the mood takes me.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
A short map with a range enemies to shoot at. They are little to no threat due to there being no node graph to guide the AI and a lot of them are stuck in the geometry. Certainly not worth a 70MB download since the one audio file included caused my game to crash to desktop until I deleted it...
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Commented 10 months ago2023-11-26 10:44:29 UTC
in journal: So I drink coffee now...Comment #105659
Yeah, decaff is a good shout. I drink coffee throughout the workday and then switch to decaff in the evening. That way I still get the yummy hot drink but I don't have any trouble sleeping.
Commented 1 year ago2023-09-05 23:36:12 UTC
in vault item: Contact EstablishedComment #105529
A very nice little map pack. Short, sweet and channelling the feeling of the early map packs of the 2000s. I love the little details dotted throughout, though there are spots where things look a little bare. The cafeteria for example, with only a single table and no seating.
Combat encounters throughout are pretty nice and we fight quite a large selection of enemies from Half-Life's roster, including the alien grunts in the later sections.
It would be nice to see some more verticality as you have already said yourself, but it was nice to see some sections where you could catch the enemies by surprise, or the occasional spot where areas were repopulated with enemies for return trips. I will say that playing on medium, I didn't find it particularly challenging. I was practically tripping over health kits that I didn't need and I had plenty of suit power meaning if I ever did get hit the damage was negligible. Giving some enemies like the HECU more room to manoeuvrer and to get around the player and flank them, or perhaps just increasing the enemy count in some places would do wonders to upscale the difficulty a little.
Commented 1 year ago2023-08-31 12:11:09 UTC
in vault item: Lab HuntComment #105521
Not a bad little map this one. It starts with you meeting Barney in a side room and then you have to lead him through the labs. You'll find yourself navigating vents and leaping over lasers in order to help him get through. The map even reloads if you get him killed and ends when you reach your goal. Something I'm used to not seeing in early mapping attempts.
If I had to criticise anything I would say the looks are a little bland and the layout makes little sense in-universe. The player starts in a dead end hallway with no form of entrance behind them. A tank busts through a wall, having been seemingly parked in an otherwise inaccessible room. Also, there are some spots like Barney's room where there is no node graph, so you have to carefully guide him through the doorway.
Appearance wise, I'd put more effort into giving the rooms an in-universe purpose, as well as experimenting with some height variation for combat/exploration, and some different lighting in places. Definite improvement here though. Nice work.
We had a tomato plant for a few years when we lived out in the countryside. There's nothing better than a fresh tomato, right off the vine. I made many a cheese and tomato sandwich during those summers. Grew our own courgettes as well and one year we missed one when picking the plant and it kept on growing. At the end of the summer we found that we had a lovely plump marrow to dig into.
2. Button placement/Signposting the thing the button does. I hit a button in a room and somewhere a door opened? I assume I did this right because I have no idea.
3. Sloppy, sloppy brushwork. This is a consistent thing in your maps and it suggests a real lack of care and attention at times. It seems like a nitpick, but it feels like you make a room and then copy past prefabs to fill the space. It can be game breaking because I got stuck between vehicles/crates/walls multiple times with very little effort on my part.
5. Couple of flags to check for next time. func_door has "Monsters can't" which stops NPCs opening doors when they shouldn't be able to. Your grunts were opening the door in the lobby fight even though the button to open them was on the desk. Also, item_suit has "short logon" which stops the HEV suit voice droning on and on and on at the start of the map.
6. Really bad clipping issues around the entire map as well. Near some of the trucks it seems that there are clip brushes placed around for no reason? I got stuck near the truck with the turret in and had to noclip myself free, but there was seemingly nothing there blocking me.
Overall, a little improvement over your previous maps. It actually looks like the kind of space you could easily drive a vehicle around, but the combat is still ridiculously easy throughout. The grunts are once again not being given the change to fight intelligently and mostly just line up in doorways to get shot.
Hopefully the sun comes out for us at the end of May when we tackle the Wrekin again. You can see a good portion of Shropshire from the top.
The planning phase is where you draft the overall play through steps, think up a theme and the kinds of engagements you want the player to have. The block out phase is where you work on a very basic layout with some mock up encounters throughout and can easily make changes if something doesn't work the way you intended.
Neither of these phases are "easy," but they are when the map is at its most adaptable.
As for your current theme, the combine facility in an urban environment accessible to citizens, that certainly wouldn't be a secret. What it would be however, is fortified. The United Nations building in New York isn't a secret, but it's not exactly inviting people in either. There could be a secret entrance though.
The documentation would be divided up into segments with the occasional rough sketch of the layout.
Or I dunno... favourite soup
On topic: Always happy to hear about more single player content in the works.
One thing I will say though is that the reflection isn't done well. There should not be a huge gap between objects and their reflection. The reflection of the wire is where this is most obvious and you can even see it in the screenshot. The reflection would show on the floor's surface, so objects ON the floor would be in contact with their reflection.
This one might actually be ideal for my mod idea set in the Peak District here in Britain. I don't suppose you've considered providing the same skybox at different times of day?
The rest of my week off will consist of looking after the kids, playing as much Baldur's Gate 3 and Fortnite as possible and maybe even doing some mapping if the mood takes me.
Second: You say "last night" you drank two coffees? Here's a crazy idea. Don't drink coffee at night before trying to go to sleep.
Combat encounters throughout are pretty nice and we fight quite a large selection of enemies from Half-Life's roster, including the alien grunts in the later sections.
It would be nice to see some more verticality as you have already said yourself, but it was nice to see some sections where you could catch the enemies by surprise, or the occasional spot where areas were repopulated with enemies for return trips. I will say that playing on medium, I didn't find it particularly challenging. I was practically tripping over health kits that I didn't need and I had plenty of suit power meaning if I ever did get hit the damage was negligible. Giving some enemies like the HECU more room to manoeuvrer and to get around the player and flank them, or perhaps just increasing the enemy count in some places would do wonders to upscale the difficulty a little.
If I had to criticise anything I would say the looks are a little bland and the layout makes little sense in-universe. The player starts in a dead end hallway with no form of entrance behind them. A tank busts through a wall, having been seemingly parked in an otherwise inaccessible room. Also, there are some spots like Barney's room where there is no node graph, so you have to carefully guide him through the doorway.
Appearance wise, I'd put more effort into giving the rooms an in-universe purpose, as well as experimenting with some height variation for combat/exploration, and some different lighting in places. Definite improvement here though. Nice work.