Absolutely stunning bit of work. Very classic Half-Life feel throughout, with the difficulty dialed up a few notches. Had some deaths at the hands of the slaves and marines, as well as sheer stupidity and ham handed handling during the platforming sections.
A nice use of puzzles and a lot of backtracking, but it's all labelled so clearly with the use of new enemies spawned in and in one case a friendly NPC showing up to help out.
In my opinion, it could have done with a little more in the way of storytelling. What was there was amusingly dark which is just the ticket in my book. However, some audio logs, or at least a living scientist or two to explain what exactly was going on in the facility wouldn't have gone amiss. Also, the state of the place in general was somewhat confusing. There was a lot of visible rock and offices and break areas looked somewhat makeshift, all crammed in together. However, I could not tell if this was due to a collapse or simply hasty construction.
Took me about 40 minutes to complete and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Commented 5 years ago2018-12-27 14:10:31 UTC
in news: Competition 35 Results!Comment #101694
I totally missed this until Jessie posted in the shoutbox. Would it be possible to make the most recent competition more prominent on the homepage. It was more so before the results were out.
Looks interesting. Will have to check this out when I get home. One thing I will say is that the lighting in the screenshots looks really strange, like the really defined light spots on the ceilings.
Commented 5 years ago2018-12-09 21:44:40 UTC
in vault item: Demo of my unnamed modComment #101676
Well, I downloaded the .bsp directly but you've used counterstrike textures and not -wadincluded them in the compile, so most of the walls are purple checkerboards.
Commented 5 years ago2018-11-29 23:31:45 UTC
in journal: Video editing softwareComment #101641
I've only really got experience with Sony Vegas Movie Studio but I love it. It's expensive if you go for the latest version, but older versions tend to be much cheaper but you sacrifice functionality/features.
Commented 5 years ago2018-11-25 23:33:36 UTC
in vault item: Tunnel VisionComment #101636
Wow... Well I would certainly be surprised if this doesn't get first place in the competition. Seven maps!? That's insane!
Played on hard as recommended and it was certainly challenging in some areas. I think for the most part I was running around with 100HP, but the various combat encounters were often frantic and I wound up in the red a number of times. I must admit that it was getting a little tedious at the start given the number of zombies and headcrabs, as I would engage these with the crowbar to conserve ammunition and whittling their health down took a long time.
There are quite a few areas that serve as little more than combat arenas and as such they lack detail or do not make a lot of sense. One example that comes to mind is the crossroad shaped section which had a single office in one wall... The middle section with the laser cannon was also a little bland in terms of detail and lighting.
However, not once was the game play dull, including the Half-Life staples of combat and platforming with the occasional bit of exploration which was always rewarded.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable map pack that hits a lot of the beats from the original campaign without simply copying it.
Bug Report: I noticed that with the electrical arcs that appear after the generator starts up, the trigger_hurt doesn't always disable properly for the first one. In two play throughs I took a chunk of damage when the beams were off, but only on the first one. The other two work fine.
Commented 5 years ago2018-10-17 13:48:38 UTC
in journal: MemoriesComment #101559
Glad to see you're still popping in from time to time, Satch. I have to admit now that I have kids and a load of more mature friends, I am starting to seek my entertainment elsewhere. I love gaming and mapping and the TWHL community, but as my kids get older I will be looking to do more and more with them, out of the house.
Of course I will simply stop making maps one day in the future, but not just yet, and it is highly unlikely that I will ever stop gaming full stop.
Retirement seems so very far away at the moment that I couldn't even imagine how I'd spend that time, but I guess I'll have a better idea closer to the time... (38 years to go yet...)
I don't really do unusual purchases these days. It's either gaming related or buying or replacing something functional for the house. Not sure if missing out or just becoming one of these "adults" I hear so much about...
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Commented 5 years ago2018-07-21 21:05:23 UTC
in journal: Bought a House!Comment #101394
@DiscoStu, you should see it where I live in the UK. My sister moved to her own place a couple of estates away and the layout inside is identical to our mum's house. My grandparent's place which was a couple of estates in the other direction was also identical.
Then, when I moved back to Market Drayton three years ago, we got a house close to my mum's place, and the layout of my house is identical to my childhood friend's house, who lived one street over. So it seems this entire area where I live, the houses all have one of two layouts...
I'll be honest. I've not been able to catch the live stream for a couple of weeks. British Summer Time means that I can only really get the first hour of the weekday stream before needing to retire to get a semi-decent amount of sleep. The weekend is just getting hectic with the youngest starting to move about and the eldest wanting to play in the sun all day...
That said, depending on what is put in place, I will try to watch whenever I can, otherwise I'll be catching up via the VODs when I'm cooking dinner and whatnot.
Hell, I've wanted to get back into streaming myself because I really enjoyed the interaction aspect of it, but my time is just getting soaked up by toddlers and babies and wives... mostly one of each of those.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Commented 5 years ago2018-05-26 15:17:27 UTC
in vault item: Access PointComment #21351
Woo! A singleplayer map in the vault!
Short, sweet and very authentic. I would go as far as to say that you could drop this into the middle of We've Got Hostiles and a lesser experienced Half Life player would be none the wiser.
Played on hard and actually missed the optional side path so it was pretty challenging.
One issue I noticed was that the grunts having a conversation don't react when the other is killed. I assume this was done so that the player can bust the vent without the grunts spinning round and blasting them? Otherwise, solid.
Commented 5 years ago2018-05-13 14:14:52 UTC
in journal: #8934Comment #44160
You actually make a good point. My old Rio was much heavier than I realised. We had to winch it onto the recovery truck only to realise the back nearside wheel had seized up after three months on the driveway. Took three of us to lift the one wheel off the ground.
Commented 5 years ago2018-04-26 12:48:51 UTC
in journal: #8930Comment #48488
Likely some copyrighted element in the background, or perhaps they acted as advisers on certain aspects? I've not seen it but it is apparently dripping with references to existing franchises.
Commented 6 years ago2018-03-07 10:39:35 UTC
in journal: #8918Comment #67936
I'm real sorry to hear that, man.
On the subject of your feelings, being at the absolute peak of an emotion, even a negative one, can often provide a severe jolt to the creative process. I've often found a need to do something when losing a loved one, just to keep busy, to keep going.
I've churned out maps, short stories and even a video or two. I'm not saying don't grieve, but don't squander the creative benefits. <3
I'm not changing it because I refuse to give words that level of power.
I bake mooks!
A nice use of puzzles and a lot of backtracking, but it's all labelled so clearly with the use of new enemies spawned in and in one case a friendly NPC showing up to help out.
In my opinion, it could have done with a little more in the way of storytelling. What was there was amusingly dark which is just the ticket in my book. However, some audio logs, or at least a living scientist or two to explain what exactly was going on in the facility wouldn't have gone amiss. Also, the state of the place in general was somewhat confusing. There was a lot of visible rock and offices and break areas looked somewhat makeshift, all crammed in together. However, I could not tell if this was due to a collapse or simply hasty construction.
Took me about 40 minutes to complete and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Did you use the old compile tools because if you did I would consider recompiling using Vluzacn's tools: http://forums.svencoop.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16257
I'll give up.
Played on hard as recommended and it was certainly challenging in some areas. I think for the most part I was running around with 100HP, but the various combat encounters were often frantic and I wound up in the red a number of times. I must admit that it was getting a little tedious at the start given the number of zombies and headcrabs, as I would engage these with the crowbar to conserve ammunition and whittling their health down took a long time.
There are quite a few areas that serve as little more than combat arenas and as such they lack detail or do not make a lot of sense. One example that comes to mind is the crossroad shaped section which had a single office in one wall... The middle section with the laser cannon was also a little bland in terms of detail and lighting.
However, not once was the game play dull, including the Half-Life staples of combat and platforming with the occasional bit of exploration which was always rewarded.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable map pack that hits a lot of the beats from the original campaign without simply copying it.
Bug Report: I noticed that with the electrical arcs that appear after the generator starts up, the trigger_hurt doesn't always disable properly for the first one. In two play throughs I took a chunk of damage when the beams were off, but only on the first one. The other two work fine.
Of course I will simply stop making maps one day in the future, but not just yet, and it is highly unlikely that I will ever stop gaming full stop.
Retirement seems so very far away at the moment that I couldn't even imagine how I'd spend that time, but I guess I'll have a better idea closer to the time... (38 years to go yet...)
Then, when I moved back to Market Drayton three years ago, we got a house close to my mum's place, and the layout of my house is identical to my childhood friend's house, who lived one street over. So it seems this entire area where I live, the houses all have one of two layouts...
That said, depending on what is put in place, I will try to watch whenever I can, otherwise I'll be catching up via the VODs when I'm cooking dinner and whatnot.
Hell, I've wanted to get back into streaming myself because I really enjoyed the interaction aspect of it, but my time is just getting soaked up by toddlers and babies and wives... mostly one of each of those.
Short, sweet and very authentic. I would go as far as to say that you could drop this into the middle of We've Got Hostiles and a lesser experienced Half Life player would be none the wiser.
Played on hard and actually missed the optional side path so it was pretty challenging.
One issue I noticed was that the grunts having a conversation don't react when the other is killed. I assume this was done so that the player can bust the vent without the grunts spinning round and blasting them? Otherwise, solid.
New car is only a 1248cc compared to the previous 1399, but it actually feels much more powerful.
24th? I may be missing some tentacles.
The Core is now a Fallout 4 mod.
TWHL4 is now a Half-Life mod.
I rarely do anything else, so I can't say what issues you might encounter doing more than that. Honestly, the backlash baffles me...
<3
On the subject of your feelings, being at the absolute peak of an emotion, even a negative one, can often provide a severe jolt to the creative process. I've often found a need to do something when losing a loved one, just to keep busy, to keep going.
I've churned out maps, short stories and even a video or two. I'm not saying don't grieve, but don't squander the creative benefits. <3