Forum posts

I have both a Dreamcast and Shenmue! It was a pretty bold game that combined many burgeoning gameplay ideas into a pretty huge experience. Ideas that are now the standard for open world/adventure games. But on the other hand it also popularized and named the quick time event! Whaddaya gonna' do.

The only two games I'm interested in so far (Dishonoured 2 and Dark Souls 3) have had nothing but CG trailers shown. Disappointing, but they were still incredible trailers.

Hoping Nintendo brings in their big guns tonight. I want to at least see some lengthy gameplay for Zelda U, Star Fox and Retro's unknown project. A new Metroid would be nice.

Nuts. I thought I was doing poorly by pushing 1-2000 in my TWHL Tower entry. I've been out of the Goldsource game for too long!

i think it would be more fun to make such games run within the game, like on those interactive panels in doom 3, i guess quite possible on source too

Sin Episodes 1 did that, in fact. That game had some really interesting ideas in between all the awful ones.

Perhaps in the future more gaming machines will have touchscreens that you can use to interact with ingame keypads etc. Using interactive screens with a mouse is pretty awkward.

Can't say I've ever felt it was awkward, those interactive screens always felt pretty natural. The Deus Ex/System Shock 2 implementation of keypads always felt pretty good to me too, letting you punch in the code by hand or with the numpad quickly. I definitely agree that environmental/surface interaction is underutilized these days, though.

shooting Ant

Carry on.

Impressive.

The wording definitely sounds like they want to try again with a 'new' community. The next Fallout or Elder Scrolls game would be the obvious choice for Bethesda. With Source 2 also apparently concentrating on UGC, it'll be interesting to see if they attempt some sort of market there too. Something like the Unity store, perhaps.

Neat.

I assume the feature that says you must pay $2.99 to play and rate this map is still in progress?

The modding community has been driven by enthusiasm for so long, I don't think this can work.

It really does make a mess of a wonderful thing. There are so many long-standing, amazing mod communities out there that wouldn't be half the phenomenon they are if users could arbitrarily erect a paywall. Quaddicted are having a bit of fun with the clearly unpopular move at the moment.

That doesn't mean I don't think content creators deserve to earn something for their work. Donations or a standardised pay-what-you-want system would serve that purpose fine, as frankly all mods are not equal. Things are going to get very ugly, very quickly unless Valve make some huge revisions.

The last battle area looked fantastic. A bit like how I imagine the original vision for HL2 would look, all run-down industrial with a very dark atmosphere. The modified Grav Gun made that fight insanely fun too, it had me leaping all over the map in search of RPG ammo, and I ended up finishing off the last Strider by hand-tossing a primed grenade it's way from up on the tower.

Great work, Shokunin. I feel like some of the ideas weren't fleshed out enough for something this length, and the start is definitely the weakest area, but it's a really creative mod regardless.

Strider had no chance as he lives in the stone age.

I'm happy just watching the highlights, thank you!

Pre-2000 leaves you with a lot of classic maps to choose from, I like the sound of that.

I'm personally all about Strider's idea in the comments of Urby's map.

I think it might work better as a community project. We could tie it all together in a mini-mod like TWHL Tower, and throw in some story about Gordon leaping through alternate universes or whatever. Maybe after people have had some downtime when TWHL Tower is finished?

Looks like some damn fine mapping, I'll check it out.

Also, this:

Where are you? Why have you been sent? To help bring the Source Engine up to date

confused me for a second, I thought it was a meta mod where you had to fight to improve the Source Engine from within.

Sounds like vrad treats the brush like it's a translucent material, and samples lighting from the other side of it, as though the light is bleeding through the window. It is pretty sexy.

I've never used it before, but the instructions on that Sven post seem thorough enough. A few things stand out that could be stopping it from working for you, Boomer.

Create an info_translucent entity, disable the Smart Edit mode, add keyvalues. Keys are names of textures, values are their translucent amount.
Values are from 0.0 to 1.0: 0.0 = normal; 0.3 = 30% light from back and 70% light from front; 1.0 = 100% light from back and 0% light from front. Also support 3 values mode to set r g b amount individually.

Disable Smart Edit and insert a key the same name as the texture you want the light to filter through, and enter it's translucency as the keyvalue, from 0 (no light filters through) to 1 (all light filters through). Make sure the texture name is correct and the value doesn't go over 1.0. You can use 3 values to set the individual r g b bleed amounts, but that doesn't seem that necessary.

There is also a limitation in the shape of solids that use translucent textures: They must not be thicker than 2 units. (The max thickness '2' can be changed by hlrad parameter '-depth #').

Make sure the brush is 2 units thick, or use that compile parameter to increase the thickness to suit your brush.

Gonna' have to test this myself. I'm pretty surprised at how advanced ZHLT is, I'd have killed for half this stuff when I was still mapping for Source.

Initial list is... 22 levels. I've got some trimming to do. Thank god you clarified no mods/maps or my list would be three times as long.

Oh, and is Deadly Shadows worth playing, or will it taint my love of Thief? (I know the new one will.)

Hm, yes and no.

Yes because it's another great supernatural & mysterious story in The City, more like the first game then the second. Garrett is still in fine form and you'll learn a lot more about the Keepers, who have their own sins.

No because while it's still essentially Thief, it's Thief spoiled by Xbox limitations and a bunch of iffy design choices. Instead of sprawling, non-linear levels like the originals, they're fairly small and connected by frequent loading zones. There's glitchy ragdoll physics, loot glint, glowy arrow trails and lots of giant, weird UI elements. You can explore regions of The City between missions, which you may or may not like because again, they're small and full of loading zones. There's also a faction system now you can use to stay in favour with the Hammerites and the Pagans, but it amounts to little more than Oblivion fetch quest type stuff.

It is to Thief 1 & 2 what Invisible War is to Deus Ex, really. Not completely terrible as people claim, but a dodgy version of a classic.

There's a number of tweaks you can apply to ease the pain a bit, but there's also a fan project underway to connect the levels into singular maps and fix as many of the issues as possible. If you're in no rush to play it you might want to hold out for that.

All the money, ever.

Ooh too bad, my fee is all the money ever plus one.

I can't believe I forgot to mention that Jeanette Voerman is voiced by the one and only Grey DeLisle. That's like... 'nuff said, right there.

Someone's angling for an Invert-x guest spot!

How much do you pay.

Put way too much work into this, but here goes:

Garrett (Thief: The Dark Project/The Metal Age/Deadly Shadows)"I've always equated feelings with getting caught; they both get in the way of my money."

As an orphaned child Garrett attempted to pickpocket a mysterious man he spotted on the streets, a man who did not wish to be seen, and who nobody else could. This odd display of talent led to him being recruited by the Keepers, and ancient sect dedicated to observing and maintaining balance in a world locked in conflict between order and chaos. Here he was trained in the arts of discretion and subterfuge, before he decided to leave and forge his own way in the world as a thief. He is cynical, solitary, and sarcastic, but also professional, and insanely talented. There's a reason Garrett came to be known as the Master Thief. And while on the outside he seems cruel and insensitive, in the few instances where his interests align with someone else's, he reveals a sense of loyalty and concern you didn't think existed.

The less said about the reboot abomination, the better.

"The Indomitable" Cate Archer (No One Lives Forever/No One Lives Forever 2)"Excuse me, do you mind if I borrow that parachute? "

Cate spent her early life as a cat burgular ("The Fox") which left her with a particularly useful set of skills when England gave her a second chance, and put her to work at UNITY. When a series of UNITY operatives are murdered by a mysterious assassin, she is called up on to prove to UNITY, herself, and particularly doubtful superiors she had what it takes. By the end of the first game she's one of the top, if not the top field agent. There's something to be said about a game set in the 60s featuring a subplot about a powerful women having to prove herself, but the game is so wonderfully subversive and does not even remotely pander to you. Cate simply gets the job done, and in such style. Not to mention the games are freakin' hilarious.

Jeanette Voerman (Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines)"I can tell you and I are going to get along just like fire hoses. When we get turned on, there's bound to be flames!"

One of the best examples I can think of a for a character that is way more than meets the eye. First impressions make you think she's little more than a sultry bar fling, but the more you talk to (and before long work for) her, the more intriguing her story gets. The Baron of Santa Monica, she runs a seedy little club called The Asylum with her twin sister Therese. Anyone who's played the game knows she and her sister have one incredible, dark, twisted little secret. Can't really say much without spoiling it, but the writing in this game is so damn good in this game, it's almost worth it for her quest line alone.

SHODAN (System Shock/System Shock 2)"Good. You've murdered their young... and prevented their escape."

A pretty obvious choice, but a good one none-the-less. An AI suffering from megalomania, and one of the coldest, most manipulative, scary, and downright awesome game villains I can think of. Famous for one of gamings most original and terrifying plot twists. Originally created to oversee a research/mining space station, an unlikely hacker removed her guidance and ethical restrictions, resulting in SHODAN seizing control of the station in typical rogue AI fashion. Unlike most rogue AI stories however, SHODAN has ambition way beyond KILL ALL HUMANS. She began creating, and before long biological experiments of hers evolved and into something beyond comprehension. By that point she is a literal machine god, a mother to new life forms, but of course she does not want to stop there, and before long she seeks to create a new reality in itself. One of which she holds total dominion. SHODAN would not be half as frightening without the amazing voice work of Terri Brosius.

Alyx Vance (Half-Life 2/Episode 1/Episode 2/Development Hell)"Yeah, we make a pretty good team."

The original kick-ass sidekick NPC. Surprised she's not up here already! More modern games have tried their best to replicate her (looking at Elizabeth), but none of them seem to understand how important it is to have a character who actually reacts to the world with you. She fights along side you instead of hiding behind cover, comments on your actions, and her role is not simply about springing to life when the script demands it. There's real talent in building a game character who endears themself to you through actual in-game actions instead of just looking and sounding like they walked in off of some Hollywood casting call. It also helps that she's got a great personality, top notch voice acting and strong motivations.

Special Mentions:

Gunther Hermann (Deus Ex)"I-I-am not a machin-"

You're probably thinking "That blocky stereotype?" but the more you think about poor Gunther, the more realised and afraid he seems. If you can look beyond the questionable voice acting and crude graphics, there's a lot to pity about the big guy. He's seemingly one of the last of the fully decked-out mech-augs still in service, and along come the Denton brothers with far more advanced nano-augs that both outperform him, and carry none of the body-image stigmas that his mechanical counterparts bring him. To top it off, you have no choice but to eliminate his partner Anna - possibly the only other person who truley understands his violent, miserable life. Outdated, alone and hideous, it's no wonder he goes a little Terminator on you before the end!

Smiling Jack (Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines)"The Sabbat are worthless, man. Fake tits on a zombie worthless. Fun to watch though. Like the Three Stooges with chainsaws."

Hard not to love this guy, and not just because he's voiced by Bender. When you're first thrown out on your ass as a vampire fledgling, Smiling Jack is the first person you find who befriends you, cracks a joke or two, and helps the crazy new world you entered make a bit more sense. Beyond that he can be found a downtown LA bar offering various insights into the games events. Apparently a pirate when he was mortal, he's lived for many generations, and by the end of the game it's revealed he knew a lot more than he led on, and might be in league with one of the most ancient and mysterious players of the Masquerade universe.

@Stridey: It's hard to get a judge for size. About how much of the floor area does that space encompass? Looking damn fine, by the way.

Thanks, the area in that shot is about a quarter of the whole map size.

Also, am I sensing a little element of stealth to take place on your floor, Strider?

Yep, though it's pretty basic. Just avoiding cameras and trip-lasers.

Cheers Urby! One step closer to finishing my map, and that skybox should work quite nicely with the mood I'm going for.

That's my jam, right there. That's my marmalade. Will buy, thanks for the recommendation.

If you had to buy just one, buy Dragonfall: Director's Cut. It's a standalone story so you won't need any knowledge of Returns, and it comes with a bunch of tweaks and fixes to the formula. Plus it's set in a gorgeous post-collapse, run-by-the-people Berlin that's just packed with cool touches.

Kachito: Been watching that, but it is a bit too early to jump in. There's also another in-development game called Reflex trying for the arena shooter market. Early days, but it has an in-engine co-op mapping system, and glorious old-school, high-paced movement.

What Archie says. Plus Source is a weird engine half stuck between semi-modern features and old methodology. It's not enjoyable to work with at all. I'm simply waiting for Source 2 to drop, because those alpha tools are fantastic.

I'm also enjoying mapping for HL again in the meantime, especially with Spirit. I'd definitely be up for more projects in good old Goldsource.

Hey Urby, is there any update on the skybox texture and lighting values? I threw a couple of windows into my map and I'd like to see how the lighting suits the mood. Would anyone find it remotely plausible that in the space of reaching my floor a thick layer of fog rolled in outside, it started raining, only for it to all disappear by the time you made it to the next floor? Heh.

My map is probably 85% finished, I might have it done this weekend. I sorta went nuts with custom content so I'm just going to apologise ahead of schedule for the download size!

Alrighty, have some WIPs:

Browsing through these Spirit features is giving me big, stupid ideas and I have to rein myself in if I want to finish this!

...that being said, does anyone know if there's a way to modify player speed with Spirit/vanilla, or temporarily disable running? I have a little bit of sneaky gameplay in mind...

More logic entities might help what I have in mind, but I can work with vanilla if everyone would prefer to stick with it.

I mean last time I tried placing models in Goldsource even slightly too close to a wall it had the swirling yellow dots around it, which means it's stuck in geometry iirc (?). I forgot models bled when you shot 'em.

I'm just wondering if it's possible to litter props around (like a garden) without that error now? Like I said... woefully out of practice with Goldsource.

I miss prop_static. :<

Looking good. I'm rusty as hell with Goldsource but I'm slowly getting the right vibe with my room. Need to experiment with info_texlights.

Can someone remind me if it's possible to place non-solid models anywhere around the map without summoning the invasion of the yellow blobs? I might try and cook up a few custom plant models and I've forgotten everything!

Hm! Sign me up.

Ohhh this is a tough one, so many to choose from...

I know one that absolutely must go here:The closer he gets, the browner your pants become. I need to think about the other four bosses.

I had a read through the brainstorm over the weekend and knocked up a few early limestone variants, I'll chuck them up on the dropbox when I actually finish setting up access. They'll probably need some revisions when I see them in-map with lighting and so on.

I'm assuming 256x256 is the standard for tiling outdoor textures in Goldsource these days?

Those concepts look like they're from UT2004 and UT3. I can get you some in-game reference shots from either if they'll help establish a mood.

I could maybe help with a few textures if things don't line up. If you want you could PM me that brainstorm, I have a long weekend ahead of me with some free time to have a look.

Shadowrun Returns and Dragonfall Director's Cut:Returns was pretty good, and Dragonall was fantastic. If you like X-Com style combat, genuinely difficult moral choices and crazy cyberpunk-meets-fantasy worlds, you should definitely give 'em a shot.

More Grimrock 2.Spoilery screenshots from the last half of the game.

Easily my game of the year. Sorry, Shovel Knight!

It's very pretty.
Are the Legend of Grimrocks as spiritual-successors-to-Lands-of-Lore as they seem?

I don't know about Lands of Lore particularly, but it's inspired by several old dungeon crawlers like Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder and the two Ultima Underworld games.

Holy balls that's purdy... What kind of game is it? RPG?

Tile-based dungeon crawler. You control a group of 4 prisoners (two at the front for close-range, two at the back for ranged attacks) and move around the grid solving puzzles, mixing potions, shooting, fighting, doing the monster mamba and exploring. The level design is complex and chock-full of devious secrets.

Strider will no doubt confirm my prowess (or, at the very least, demonstrate his ineptitude).

Scoff!

Legend of Grimrock 2More pics. Amazing game.

The Evil Within

Shinji Mikami's newest, maddest game. Basically Resident Evil 4 Mark II. Gorgeous lighting too, it's a miracle my PC hasn't melted.

Terrible bloody PC port though, took some work to get it running in 16:10. ;/

I can imagine a few ways you could get a tile system going, but I'm not really sure what value they would have over instances. Tiles are far too rigid for 3 dimensional level design. A versatile set of instances could be used for modular construction, and are painless to use.

It's really well made but there's a few things I would play around with.

a) Dirty up those walls! The white and yellow go great together, but they look like clean office interior walls.

b) The normal map on that right modular wall is unusually strong, it makes it look plastic-y and oversharp.

Also, it's early but I'd think about unifying the colours on each individual building. I can imagine a scene full of such buildings would end up looking very visually noisy with clashing colours on every surface. You have fairly even amounts of red, white, yellow, green and plaster tones when you could get away with two of those colours and maybe a third for rare highlights.

Still teaching myself the mesh tools. I decided to start a modular building set based on a local pub, because why not.

Why this should be Source 2? It seems just the same as Source 1 with in-editor rendering features. It's still Dota 2 afaik, hence Source 1. :/

I'm just skeptic.

The tools run a separate build of DotA 2 that people think is running on Source 2. It's been ported over. It has an entirely new console and countless changes to the file structure and config files. The whole editor unifies models and world meshes, and does away with brushes, which is something Source 1 definitely can't do.

EDIT: Forgot to mention it's got a deferred renderer now so we can go fairly nuts with dynamic lights. It's not the original Source engine, for sure.

Fooling around in the new DOTA workshop Hammer, trying to wrap my head around all the mesh tools.

Cool competition. I am forming an idea.

The new season is great so far. The villains are fun in an evil A-Team kinda way, and the Beifong history is interesting.

Something they've been doing across all the seasons I really like is making it apparent that the original Team Avatar were pretty imperfect parents. Even after all the shit they've been through they still had a lot to learn. A common theme for all the adults, come to think of it.

The new avatar great? I thought the Aircrafts, ships, cars, etc kinda ruined it

Well it is 70 years on from a world that had snow tanks, immense rock drills, airships, submarines and barges.

Unreal/Return to Na Pali (Alexander Brandon & Michiel van den Bos)
Dusk Horizon
Surfacing
Infiltration (really pumps you up for fighting Skaarj)

Gunpoint (Various)
Cold Halls and Footfalls
Defenestraight To My Heart (also the best song title ever conceived)

Metal Gear Solid 3 (Norihiko Hibino & Harry Gregson-Williams)
Snake Eater (a bit obvious, but so very Bond-ish)
Ocelot Youth
Takin' on the Shagohod

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory (Amon Tobin)
Penthouse
Battery

Silent Hill Series (Akira Yamaoka & Mary Elizabeth McGlynn)
Theme of Laura
Promise (reprise version is also good)
I Want Love
Rain of Brass Petals (Three Voices Edit)
Room of Angel (I think every Silent Hill fan knows this one)
O.R.T.
One More Soul to the Call

Bonus songs:
Timesplitters 2 - Neo Tokyo
Metroid Prime - Underwater Frigate Reactor Core
Resident Evil (Remake) - Save Theme (strangely relaxing and haunting)
Unreal Tournament 3 - Firestorm
Vampire: Bloodlines - Vesuvius
Wind Waker - Dragon Roost Island
System Shock 2 - Med Sci 1

EDIT: Curse my slowness. I will be back in a month with my top 5 OST's.

Thief: The Dark Project/Gold
Absolutely my favourite game of all time. Tense, creative, emergent gameplay, and a beautiful, dark, mystical world. People say the sequel is better, but it stripped out a lot of chaotic supernatural elements in favour of mechanical villains, and a bunch of overall 'ordinariness' to the world design that just doesn't thrill me. Looking Glass were the best.

Metroid Prime
Die hard Metroid fans would probably be upset about anyone choosing this over the equally amazing Super Metroid. Oh well! I still can't believe how well this game translated the Metroid principles to first person, and also managed to be a good FPS game on consoles, because they usually suck. Probably had something to do with the lock-on dodging, scanning for weak points unique vision modes adding a stack of depth where it couldn't really exceed as a standard shooter.

Deus Ex
Not sure anything ever really needs to be said about this game that people don't already know. Developers should be using this game as a framework for the future: deeper simulation, better AI, more narrative agency. If I could make one game in my life it would be based on the principles of this.

STALKER
I hated this series when I first played it. They're buggly as hell, can feel cheap, and it's amazing your PC doesn't just explode when you launch it. Now I can't imagine not loving it. Being lost in a rainstorm, surrounded by a pack of ravenous pseudo-dogs then accidentally stumbling into some reality-warping anomaly that tears you to pieces. Chugging down vodka to fight radiation sickness while hunted by near-invisible humanoid freaks. Such is life in the Zone.

It was super hard to decide everything below my number 1 game. Runners up/equal 5th: System Shock 2, Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, Quake, Half-Life (of course), Unreal, Vampire: Bloodlines....

Sorry, Strideh, but I really gotta disagree with you on the Serious Sam: TSE one...

Wow, I never thought I'd meet a Sam fan who thought TSE was the weaker one! I've always thought that the level design across the series was gimmicky, really. It's not really good level design like the shooters of old, it's just sort of large, boxy arenas to blast dudes in, with some ridiculous trick rooms thrown in for a laugh. I liked that TSE embraced the stupidity of it more. If there's one thing Serious Sam shouldn't be doing, it's actually taking itself serious. That's BFE's greatest failure, I think. Logic be damned.

The chainsaw is possibly my favourite weapon of the bunch! Ant and I once spent way too long deforesting the opening level with it just because we could. Flamethrower too is surprisingly good crowd control, and makes for excellent rocket boots.

What do you think of Serious Sam 2?

That is strange. It looks like there's either some weird colour compression issue with the base texture, or there's something up with the vmt paths. The purple usually means an incorrect or missing texture is being referenced.

Is it a lightmappedgeneric? Have you tried recreating the VTF with something other than DXT5 compression?

Also, if you're going for the hard-edged pixel look (which I love) you could use $alphatest instead of $translucent. It's faster to render and prevents sorting errors where lots of transparent materials are used.

Unreal: Return to Na Pali
Breaking the rules here a bit. The original expansion pack was very hit and miss, but the expanded, modder-made Ultimate Edition is a fantastic bit of work that rivals the original game.

Does Serious Sam: The Second Encounter count? They're considered episodes of the first chapter sorta! I'm using it anyway. Way more level variety, awesome new enemies and weapons, larger levels, better everything!

Opposing Force
Natch. I have a feeling this will appear on a lot of our lists.

Dissolution of Eternity and Scourge of Armagon
Breaking the rules again! Seperately they're sorta weak, together they give you a bunch of entertaining new levels, weapons and enemies. Alternative Quoth and Drake are great fan-made content packs for modders that add a tonne of new variety to the game.

Can't decide on a fifth, and it's been a long time since I've played some of these, so here's the rest:
Yuri's Revenge - Popular choice already. Udo Kier hamming it up.
The Stetchkov Syndicate - More SWAT 4 is something to appreciate.
Master Levels for Doom 2 - More Doom 2 is something to appreciate.
And of course: horse armour.

Should I recommend Look Around You?

This is one of those shows that just floors me laughing. Watch it with the right group of people and even jokes you've heard a hundred times before will have you doubled over, tears streaming down your face.

So watching this.

Archie: I don't really understand the amount of dislike Korra gets. From the get-go I think I instinctively treated each season as a small-scale independent story and enjoyed them that way, though S2 really did up the ante. It might do with the fact that I watched Avatar and then Korra S1 fairly close together, so I didn't have to sit through all the wait and rampart speculation.

The teen love-y stuff didn't even bother me, it felt fairly appropriate given her age and overdeveloped ego. She humbles out a fair bit over the course of the seasons, too. I think it's great seeing a character who starts with a such an inflated opinion of herself getting all that sense constantly beat into her in the harshest of ways (and actually becoming a better Avatar for it).

I've been through all of SG-1 twice, including the direct-to-DVD movies. I... still like it, despite MacGyver's departure.

This question is way harder than I thought, I don't think I can narrow it down. The only show I think I can definitely say is a top 5-er is Blackadder.

The others I can't possibly choose from are Futurama, QI, Arrested Development, Parks & Rec, Avatar (goooood), A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Batman TAS, FMA, Cowboy Bebop...