Your Apex Map — Your Mapex Created 8 years ago2015-05-20 05:54:23 UTC by Jessie

Let's say for a moment that you're an amazing Goldsource/Source mapper, the best mapper (regardless of whether you already were, you smug bugger). You have the skill, experience and creativity to create any map (or map-pack) you can conceive, be it an intricately precise real-life reconstruction, a convoluted psychedelic mind-trip, a genuinely gripping film noir tale... anything. (You're able to mod to some extent, but not too far out of the realm of GLDSRC/SRC.)

What do you create?

Spaceships, more specifically the interiors.
Something among the lines of Dead Space 2, Alien: Isolation etc...

This was always my aim when i was at least mapping back in the day, but could never get the look right so it the result would always look like crap to me and i would trash the map. Well maybe someday.

I'd happily trade my skills in for more creativity.
I've lost most of it since I started working.

I would say I'd like to be able to map an Epic RPG adventure. Complete with Green, misty, bubbling swamps.. glacier blue ice worlds, fire caverns.. All with exquisite detail..

Perhaps I can try

I'd make the game I dreamed up before half life even came out. I think it was after I saw the e3 trailers for it though.

Non linear game based in a british city where you need to destroy a series of enemy bases. It had rpg elements such as an inventory system which you could use for health items such as food and drink.

Urby, your description almost sounds like a Just Cause game. It's a great theme!

I'd love to get RPG elements into a goldsource / source mod.

I've always wanted to, but you need to custom code anything like that

Or a crapload of entities.

I'd create a map. For a game. I'm going to do that now.

Or a crapload of entities.

The issue lies with the inability to directly control weapon stats with existing entities.

My version of an RPG will have a level 1 weapon have low power and low accuracy with a high reload time. The more you level it up, the Accuracy cone shrinks, reload time drops, and damage output increases. Either that system, or each level gains an attribute point that you can put towards any weapon function. (If anyone played Pariah for XBox, sorta like that system)

Also my system would have increases in player function as well. Suit upgrades: Jump height, run speed, zoom increases, armor / health increases.. suit power/recharge (for sprinting and flashlight)

All that would require code boooooo

Not something i would make, but if done right, i'd play the heck out of a black & white (mostly) post-apocalyptic fps.
http://imgur.com/a/r9mIn

Kachito, that looks like something easily achievable in Source.
It's essentially the Episode 1 city sections with a bunch of Striders hanging around.
You can use Color correction to make the entire game black and white.

i'd play the heck out of a black & white (mostly) post-apocalyptic fps.

Play Fallout 3 and use your graphics card control panel to desaturate the image.

Best hack award goes to Urby.

You're probably the first person ever to use that for anything.

Source Zombie mod for CS:GO
With custom maps such as cities, swamp, town, ship and the moon (space) with custom weapons, different zombie classes per map, night day transitions.
Pretty much buffed L4D, only more players and environments (not story based).

Sounds like Natural Selection but with Zombies. I would play every single one of these maps/mods!

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EDIT

Turns out you can control weapon damage and stuff with the I/O system. Maybe a code-free HL2 rpg can be created!
Check out everything starting with SK_*

Yeah, but using map commands (Point_client/servercommand) entities is kind of a hacky way to do it.
But if it's supposedto be in the sourcemod format anyway, I Think it's better to edit the skill configuration files.

Half the things on this site are kind of a hacky way to do things that are normally not possible or weren't foreseen by the devs at Valve. Your argument is invalid.

I'm all up against hacks.

Argument re-validated.

"I don't like it, therefore it's bad."

It's not a hack.
It's a point_clientcommand sending information straight to the game variables. IF anything, it's just a clever use of entities.

Putting aside for a moment that Tetsu0 was suggesting to use the IO system to change the sk_ variables in order to do skill-tree based damage scaling (which wouldn't be doable with just the config files, as they have to be dynamic) I'd like to point out that 99% of game development is hacking or cheating in some way, shape, or form.
Lighting, for instance, has nothing to do with wavelengths in games.
Objects are only physically simulated when force is applied to them, and stop being simulated when they come to rest instead of gravity always affecting them no matter what.
Pretty much literally every rendered effect is simplified or fudged in order to make the process easier.

If we were to make games to everything the way that the physical world does them, instead of using these kinds of hacks, even the best modern supercomputer network would chug trying to run them, let alone your gaming PC or feeble laptop. You simply cannot make a game without being clever about how you're using your resources over doing things "the real way"

Posted from my feeble laptop.

Man, you could even have perks like "limb and body shots do more damage" or "headshots do more damage" using those commands...

@Tetsu0: This is for you

I've been thinking for a few days that with a bit of VGUI and/or an entity setup I'm not familiar with but that'd probably involve a point_camera overlay, you could probably re-purpose the response rules system for a conversation tree. It's possible to add response contexts to the player directly so they survive level transitions and whatnot.

As mapping goes, this RPG stuff is starting to sound pretty sexy.

A slight downside to the entity-driven RPG would be level changes. There would need to be a logic_auto that ran every time you changed levels to update the skill configs from values stored in global math_counters.
Doable, but probably only worthwhile as a proof of concept.

That and I'm not sure you'd be able to check what level everything is at.. Although you could always have a game_ui reading a button press that pulls up an "inventory"... AKA a camera looking at a wall displaying levels and xp and such

Client/servercommand entites doesn't save between gamesaves as far as I know, instead it saves directly to the config files. If you were to get something like "headshot does 8762784298 times the damage" and then create a new game, that attribute would still be there.

In my quick bit of testing, the values reset themselves after every map load.
I didn't try saving however.

It would be interesting to see how DOTA2 handles character levelling, as well as when obtaining certain items. The issue is of course that it could well be using commands along these lines, since the "map" never changes during a single round and stats are always reset when starting a new game.

Having said that, this would certainly be a feasible option in a defence style game or mod where you get to choose a perk between waves as the same rules could apply. A "GAME OVER" would prompt a map change or restart, thus resetting the values set in the console. You would need to prevent people from editing the base skills file though, to prevent cheating.

Editing the skill config files in any game can be considered cheating.
Whenever I make a mod or something like that, I follow a simple rule: "If it isn't fixed in the official game, there's no reason to fix it yourself."
I guess you could try and use encryption, but eh, who cares really?

If it isn't fixed in the official game, there's no reason to fix it yourself.

Said no modder of a Bethesda game ever.

Urby... Bruh

this would certainly be a feasible option in a defence style game or mod

HL2 tower defence game where you build towers with citizens in them (or func_tanks) shooting at enemys in waves. Upgrades can be bought for the citizens by modifying THEIR skill config file.

Oh man I SO WANT to do a proof of concept for that.

The problem with that is that I am absolutely certain that you could pull it off.

If it isn't fixed in the official game, there's no reason to fix it yourself.

Do you mean"If it aint broke, don't fix it" because that's a common rule most people apply to everything. The thing is, as JeffMOD pointed out, some games are broken in places.

I can think of so many things that I would add into Half-Life 2 if I had the ability to model, code and animate everything. Not cinematic mod as such, just an enhanced version with new enemies and gameplay tweaks.

I'm told there already is a Big Boobs Mod.

"or so I have read"

@urby Actually, what I meant was: "If it is broken, let it stay broken".

Well now, that is a terrible rule for gaming and life in general.

I'm just thinking "Those guys who made the game know what they're doing. There's gotta be a good reason for things being how they are."

In Valve we trust.

Take a look at the valve developer wiki some day, and just poke around some of the entity descriptions - there's bugs in a surprising amount of entities that have shipped with the game.
I'm sure that the bugs didn't affect Valve too much, but the community gets hit hard with them when they're trying to do some complex entity work.

I'm not saying they don't know what they're doing - the software guys at valve are really smart and they do great work.
So you're correct that the things are broken for a reason; delays or budget reasons probably.

Or just lack of use/deprecation for the specific things that are broken. I don't imagine Faceposer has seen much use in-house since SFM came out, so it's no wonder it's been busted and only just barely usable with workarounds for years.

Don't even get me started on faceposer

Still trying to find a way to get auto-extraction working on Win7.
Thinking I'll have to dig out my XP desktop and dust off its installation of the SDK as a workaround.

"Should we fix this plane? I mean, it's our job, and it is quite obviously missing three of its four engines."
"Nah, it was like that when it landed, so it's meant to be that way."

Dr. Orange kinda reminds me of Karl Pilkington, except he isn't funny.

HAHAHA

I'd create half life 1 all over except this time... You're a dolphin.

You'd literally just dry up before the tram door even opened.

I'd go through every effort to remake the entire game, but you don't get to play it. Instead, you would be left staring into Barney's crotch just wondering why you can noclip an entire game before you die that you can't actually play.

The name would be something like, "Flipper's Attempt" or "This is bull shit." Maybe even "H2no."

On a serious note I've been wanting to make what I have always called a trippy map or shroom mod. It's very reminiscent of my dream competition etry "somewhere in time" except instead of dreaming and going on an adventure you eat shrooms and go on an adventure.

I've began the mod at least three times before each being lost in hard drive failures. They were done back in the day when I mapped on my parent's computers. They aren't really computer savvy so the computers had always ended up breaking and I was young and didn't backup anything. Anyways if I ever were to attempt the mod again i'd follow a few rules to get it done.

The previous attempts I simply began mapping away. After they reached a certain point i'd lose interest. With the dream mod I completely planned everything before beginning. So, i'd do the same for this mod. The one thing that would be different in this planning though would be that i'd include things I wasn't yet capable of like animated models, minor coding and some other things. Who knows, maybe i'll get started soon. I just have to find a way to make learning these things "worth the effort."

Also, i'd take my dream mod's criticism into consideration. For example people commented on the architecture not being that great. I had made it plain so that it would appear as "regular" and could be relatable to the audience as I could safely assume everyone playing it was doing so from a cookie cutter house or apartment. This time i'd have to make the architecture do the same thing but be great at the same time. I'd also make sure everything flowed smoothly and was understandable.

Of course if I was an Apex mapper/ modder this could be done in no time however I might try working with some people to get it done faster.

The alternative to this mod would be to recreate the dream mod since I don't want to condone doing shrooms.

If hard drive fails are hindering your mod, consider getting an online repository. Some services are free up to a certain size limit, while others you pay from the off but they have very reasonable rates.

It certainly helps with team projects but I've lost count of how many times I could have potentially lost The Core. With it being hosted in a repo I can pick it back up on any machine I work with. I'd probably use hosting for my next project as well, even if it's a solo mod. If you brick a file, you can go back and get a pre-bricked copy

I remember a bunch of hl maps I lost from reformats and stuff, like this one map where you start on a boxy sand area and drop down in a sand hole and fight invisible grunts. The map was called 'gaga'

Yeah I would just like to Finish a project I once was excited about.

Do not start new project until you finish an already started one. Instead write it down in detail.