Journals
After a long exodus from mapping, brought on mainly by university and its associated deadlines, I have been reborn in kind with the mighty phoenix...only with a lot less flames, ashes and screeching. I don't have a solid mapping idea to focus on just yet, but I'm going to give it my best shot.
Oh, and it has occurred to me that I've given the wrong impression about my nationality - I'm not actually Japanese. Gosh, I wish I were; it would eliminate the necessity of hours upon hours of language study. Alas, I'm a plain, ordinary Canadian that just happens to have an intermediate level of Japanese speaking ability. I didn't think there'd be any confusion about that, because if you're familar with the REAL Gackt Camui, you'd find my account profile to be accurate with regards to his personal statistics...and more than a little amusing, too.
That said, I guess there aren't many mappers who have heard of him, in which case I'm glad to do a little promotional work for my favourite singer.
Oh, and it has occurred to me that I've given the wrong impression about my nationality - I'm not actually Japanese. Gosh, I wish I were; it would eliminate the necessity of hours upon hours of language study. Alas, I'm a plain, ordinary Canadian that just happens to have an intermediate level of Japanese speaking ability. I didn't think there'd be any confusion about that, because if you're familar with the REAL Gackt Camui, you'd find my account profile to be accurate with regards to his personal statistics...and more than a little amusing, too.
That said, I guess there aren't many mappers who have heard of him, in which case I'm glad to do a little promotional work for my favourite singer.
I have undergone a radical re-thinking of my own personal mapping philosophy, one that I wanted to share with you all. At a recent LAN party, I witnessed a depressing series of events that made me question the purpose and value of mapping for Half-Life 2:
1. Ichthyosaur's map, based on Stargate series, attracted players totalling a maximum of 4 out of the 11 computers that were capable running HL2 at peak times. The rest played Unreal Tournament.
2. My own map, which I had slaved over for hours upon hours despite the Hammer AppID error of last week, was not played at all.
3. The two people who wanted to play Counter-Strike Source couldn't get a LAN game going because no one else felt confident enough to play (based on previous losses online).
4. Unreal Tournament and StarCraft beat out HL2 for total playtime by a long shot. Even the GameCube hooked up in a separate room attracted more enthusiasm (although no offense to the GC, I love mine to pieces).
I began to question: what is wrong with HL2 and our maps that no one wants to play on them? The answer occurred to me after a while: a combination of thematic inaccessibility and unbalanced gameplay mechanics with the added over-emphasis on graphical excess/accuracy crippled our maps' playability and appeal. The reason more people were attracted to UT comes from the fact that that game is more of a sport, where everyone starts on a relatively level playing field, and where no player is given an overly biased advantage (even newbies overthrew the more advanced players in large groups). The UT maps are also highly conducive to fast-paced yet enjoyable gameplay, and "party game" comes immediately to mind - something that also reminded me of the SSBM tournaments that were going on with the GameCube in the background.
With this in mind, I decided to completely change my mapping philosophy. Multiplayer maps that are just a mish-mash of separate projects do not work; moreover, they produce unbearable lag (such as my second castle level did when combined with my pirate ship, chapel and skyscrapers) that hinders the fluidity of the experience. My new multiplayer maps are being designed from the ground up to enable fair, balanced gameplay across all skill levels. I also will address the unpleasantness of being a player of lesser skill than others in a given battle. I was displeased to have personally been slaughtered despite having tried my best, and after a while, it simply wasn't fun - the whole point of playing the game. What multiplayer levels need are novice-geared handles; that is to say, features within the map that can help newer players turn the tide against higher skilled players while still being fair to everyone.
I personally vow to make all future maps with these aforementioned concerns as my chief considerations, and I implore everyone who makes multiplayer maps to take them to heart when you load up Hammer next time, for the betterment of the HL2 experience of everyone that your work reaches.
1. Ichthyosaur's map, based on Stargate series, attracted players totalling a maximum of 4 out of the 11 computers that were capable running HL2 at peak times. The rest played Unreal Tournament.
2. My own map, which I had slaved over for hours upon hours despite the Hammer AppID error of last week, was not played at all.
3. The two people who wanted to play Counter-Strike Source couldn't get a LAN game going because no one else felt confident enough to play (based on previous losses online).
4. Unreal Tournament and StarCraft beat out HL2 for total playtime by a long shot. Even the GameCube hooked up in a separate room attracted more enthusiasm (although no offense to the GC, I love mine to pieces).
I began to question: what is wrong with HL2 and our maps that no one wants to play on them? The answer occurred to me after a while: a combination of thematic inaccessibility and unbalanced gameplay mechanics with the added over-emphasis on graphical excess/accuracy crippled our maps' playability and appeal. The reason more people were attracted to UT comes from the fact that that game is more of a sport, where everyone starts on a relatively level playing field, and where no player is given an overly biased advantage (even newbies overthrew the more advanced players in large groups). The UT maps are also highly conducive to fast-paced yet enjoyable gameplay, and "party game" comes immediately to mind - something that also reminded me of the SSBM tournaments that were going on with the GameCube in the background.
With this in mind, I decided to completely change my mapping philosophy. Multiplayer maps that are just a mish-mash of separate projects do not work; moreover, they produce unbearable lag (such as my second castle level did when combined with my pirate ship, chapel and skyscrapers) that hinders the fluidity of the experience. My new multiplayer maps are being designed from the ground up to enable fair, balanced gameplay across all skill levels. I also will address the unpleasantness of being a player of lesser skill than others in a given battle. I was displeased to have personally been slaughtered despite having tried my best, and after a while, it simply wasn't fun - the whole point of playing the game. What multiplayer levels need are novice-geared handles; that is to say, features within the map that can help newer players turn the tide against higher skilled players while still being fair to everyone.
I personally vow to make all future maps with these aforementioned concerns as my chief considerations, and I implore everyone who makes multiplayer maps to take them to heart when you load up Hammer next time, for the betterment of the HL2 experience of everyone that your work reaches.
TWHL de meri Kurisumasu ya akemashite omedetou gozaimasu, minna-san! Here's wishing you all compile error-free, bsp-zipped good times in the coming year, and I wish you all the best in your mapping endeavours and beyond. Yoroshiku ne 
- eats Christmas Pocky *
For those who are wondering, I AM still alive and working on my mod. However, it's coming to the end of my Fall university term, so my free time is going to be very limited until the 20th of December. That said, I have been breathing life back into an old mapping project of mine - the drivable Tumbler! Yes, folks, the flawed and sketchy (yet oh so beautiful) Tumbler I made based off of the one in Batman Begins is being re-worked from the ground up. I have made numerous graphical enhancements, and I'm completely re-doing the steering mechanism. Also, weapons are being added for the enjoyment of the driver 
The biggest enhancement so far has been the addition of moving wheels and working floodlights - both using techniques I learned while working on my new DM mod.
I'll remake the Tumbler demo currently available in the Map Vault (under Unfinished Stuff) once it is ready to go.
The biggest enhancement so far has been the addition of moving wheels and working floodlights - both using techniques I learned while working on my new DM mod.I'll remake the Tumbler demo currently available in the Map Vault (under Unfinished Stuff) once it is ready to go.
Here's the latest teaser poster for my up-and-coming Deathmatch mod. No, I'm still not giving out the name Please note that this image is NOT the room I had previously mentioned I was working on, and it is still in a very early stage of graphical improvment. However, I thought it would be a lot more interesting than the other room I have on the go, and also a lot more thought-provoking. Here's a hint: this screenshot could almost be considered a spoiler....
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/Gackt_C/dm_modteaserB.jpg
If you can tell me what the mod is about based solely on that photograph, you'll earn your name in the credits! Please PM me with your guesses, and I'll let you know whether or not you were right.
Please note that this image is NOT the room I had previously mentioned I was working on, and it is still in a very early stage of graphical improvment. However, I thought it would be a lot more interesting than the other room I have on the go, and also a lot more thought-provoking. Here's a hint: this screenshot could almost be considered a spoiler....http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/Gackt_C/dm_modteaserB.jpg
If you can tell me what the mod is about based solely on that photograph, you'll earn your name in the credits! Please PM me with your guesses, and I'll let you know whether or not you were right.
I am currently building my first official, for-the-public mod. Even more surprisingly, its a Deathmatch mod - and the gameplay is unlike anything you've ever seen on Steam, I guarrantee you. However, I will not reveal ANY information on it until it is finished - trust me, it's for a good reason. Instead, I wil offer you cryptic riddles to solve, which may help you understand what I'm up to.
You can find my first teaser picture here:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/Gackt_C/DMMod_teaser.jpg
Let the speculation begin!
You can find my first teaser picture here:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/Gackt_C/DMMod_teaser.jpg
Let the speculation begin!
Not to be outdone by the team behind Halloween HL2, I now have given new life to my Half-Life 2 horror mod, Brethren. I'm definately going to miss a Halloween 2005 release, but I'm hoping to give them a run for their money at earning the crown for most-popular-horror-mod-of-October-2006. For those of you not in the know (or alternatively, who haven't read my forum posts), Brethren is a horror mod I'm making, designed to be a thinking man's Resident Evil.
Here's some things to look forward to:
Here's some things to look forward to:
- A STRONG, plausible storyline (I'm a writer by trade in reality, so I feel this is my mod's most potent aspect) grounded in reality, featuring a new spin on why there are zombies/monsters lurking about.
- Sandbox gameplay: I give you a level, and it's up to you to figure out the mysteries it holds. The gameplay is virtually non-linear, and players will have to earn a complete understanding of the story by investigation at their leisure, and in whatever way they can.
- CHALLENGE. You WILL die if you don't think clearly. Why will it be hard? Well, unlike Resident Evil, you have realistic limitations: no guns, no HUD display (in real life, you don't have an HP counter), no ridiculously fast sprint (slower, more realistic movement forces you to think ahead of your present situation), among many other things.
- Thrills and chills: Brethren goes beyond mere shock scares with its already-creepy atmosphere and intellectual rhetoric. You'll finish the game wondering if it could possibly happen in real life (that is, if you finish the game alive...)
- Hammer-exclusive design: I am a strong supporter of Hammer-only mapping. I don't do modelling, and I don't do coding. As with my mech, I'm out to prove that the only limits to Hammer level design is your imagination. Also, what won't be present in terms of custom models will be made up for in clever level design, custom textures and innovative mapping.
- Lastly, there will be a special treat for Malice Mizer fans...
Reality bytes. Yes, I spelled it wrong - for a reason. The bytes carrying HL2's beautiful pixels from my video card to my monitor are now of DX7 quality, curteousy of my unstable Radeon 9600 XT 128MB card. No, I'm not using that particular card - rather, my old GeForce 4000 MX, which I thought I would never touch again. Once my PC started crashing when I added NPCs to my Source maps, I had had enough.
I'd rather have nauseating graphics than the inability to render maps, but geez, DirectX 9 effects grow on you after a while. Now it feels switching from a DVD player to VHS. Add to that the fact that I'll be poor for a good three months or so, and you have a recipie for one unhappy mapper.
Sigh... my next card'll be an NVIDIA - after the experience I've had with ATI, I'd never go back. Heed that warning well, young ones.
I'd rather have nauseating graphics than the inability to render maps, but geez, DirectX 9 effects grow on you after a while. Now it feels switching from a DVD player to VHS. Add to that the fact that I'll be poor for a good three months or so, and you have a recipie for one unhappy mapper.
Sigh... my next card'll be an NVIDIA - after the experience I've had with ATI, I'd never go back. Heed that warning well, young ones.
My Current Projects (ordered by priority):
1. Christmas Manor (personal project, will be private until finished)
2. dm_dunvegan (the spiritual successor to the yet-to-be-released dm_castle)
3. dm_castle (World's largest HL2 castle that lags even a Dell XPS)
4. Haunted House (more Fast Zombies than a Ravenholm drainpipe!)
5. dm_tumbler (Steering correction is next on the agenda)
6. dm_socratesdemocracy (Ichthyosaur, here's lookin' at you!)
1. Christmas Manor (personal project, will be private until finished)
2. dm_dunvegan (the spiritual successor to the yet-to-be-released dm_castle)
3. dm_castle (World's largest HL2 castle that lags even a Dell XPS)
4. Haunted House (more Fast Zombies than a Ravenholm drainpipe!)
5. dm_tumbler (Steering correction is next on the agenda)
6. dm_socratesdemocracy (Ichthyosaur, here's lookin' at you!)