Altdel

I've only played a few minutes alone while I wait for the mp server to roll it out.

It's a great revamp and I think everything flows better than in the original. Rooms have better proportions and distances, although I kind of liked the balconies slightly wider. The RPG is harder to get, but I have fun riding the thing up to the thing.

Can't wait to see it on the server.

This map left me in awe. I have to praise you for the clean-looking style of the whole map, and for architectural design that keeps the gameplay flow.
I love how nothing was left untouched when speaking of detail, and you put a lot of effort in the secondary areas too, not just the big arena.

For example, this transit zone for trucks, or whatever, gives me a warm feeling of security. Simple shapes efficiently create the impression of detail.

The engine room, or whatever those wheels represent, is a bit more clumsy but it still allows for some serious action. The hard-to-get RPG will surely frustrate a lot of players while making it fun for others. Again, simple shapes define an incredible detail, and I absolutely love each time I see the ceiling polished in Half-Life maps, as it is the most difficult one to think about imo.

You gotta love Archie for his inspiring ideas for detail. I'm going to steal this one from you, bro'. When I sit hours thinking about what the heck I should use to detail a simple hall, this guy slaps a whole new room with some windows. Simple, effective, realistic.

Archie diligently explores new ideas of lighting in maps, probably a consequence of his training with cameras. I have to ask, are those sprites set to "glow" or something? They look awesome! It just feels interesting when exploring a map and you actually learn just by observing.

Last, but not least, the mothership: the central arena. This is a carefully crafted place. Although it seems like it didn't take painstaking effort to design it, I sure know it was a challenge for r_speeds. I've detected r_speeds of up to 7000 wpolys in this area, so now I can rest assured that I optimized the shit out of dm_researchvessel, which is an open space map. I think this has to do with higher resolution textures, but also because, like me, you like to add detail in unexpected places. I call this "bump map compensation" - the doors have a subtle bevel. Speaking about the doors, it is a bit misleading to have so many doors that are false, yet I like that you put a "no-access" sound.
I think somebody already told you about the blue bridges in the forums. They are a weird addition and don't really flow in the map design. Maybe construct them differently or give them a different purpose?

Nevertheless, this map is crazy beautiful. Valve would be vexed.
One question remaining: what textures are you using? Are those specifically designed for the Core?

dm_control...alt-del? Clever.

I would say a couple of areas are a little dark for deathmatch but I can't tell if that's either my screen or, my gamma/brightness settings (both bars in the center of the slider).

Then there is the Portal-esque light bridges which don't REALLY make sense. However, who said it had to make sense? Are there light bridges in The Core as the textures are possibly from it?

Negative aspects aside, the map is extremely good for a ~4 day project.

@Striker: The polys are high but I'm not surprised, it is as detailed as a singleplayer map.

Woe this blast from the past! I'm gonna try to get on the server tonight hopefully to give it a whirl, but it looks fabulous from the pics

BTW, Imgur makes for some effortless image gallery hosting for those fabulous extra screens(or until twhl4)

Pretty Map, yeah most of the map is really epic looking.

Pro:

• Feels like a hl2 map.
• Great design and good Gameplay as far as i can tell.
• Sick amount of detail!
• Archie
• Brushwork is a masterpiece.

Contra:

• The Beambridges are out of place
• Gaylight, i like the warm lights so far, but the red ones should be a darker red, the green ones less green and PLZ remove the purple lights. Purple light really dont fit in hl1, maybe for xen maps.
• R_speeds
• No Sliding ( Ramp sliding for Stairs, if your map will be played by pro/action halflife players, they will be frustrated with this )
• I see you dislike to create intresting ceillings ???

Thanks hugely for all the comments, folks!

I'll only respond to the crits and questions, but know that all the positive comments made me grin from ear to ear!

Striker:
"are those sprites set to "glow" or something?" Render FX is 'normal', Render Mode is 'glow' and Amount is 200.
"it is a bit misleading to have so many doors that are false." I appreciate that, although I made sure that all accessible doors are open from the very start. There are no closed doors that can open, except in the secret area. I hope this avoids confusing the player with locked doors.
"what textures are you using?" They're almost all textures I made for The Core, with I think two by Urby and maybe three made specifically for this map.

Moaby:
"a couple of areas are a little dark for deathmatch." That's actually quite surprising to hear! I lit it a lot more than I usually do in my single player maps. Which areas specifically were bothering you?
"Are there light bridges in The Core?" No light bridges in The Core, though it's an interesting thought! :3

Trempler:
"but the red ones should be a darker red, the green ones less green and PLZ remove the purple lights. Purple light really dont fit in hl1." I think this is going to be the only critique I'm gonna properly fight my corner on, because I must say I completely disagree!
I actually love the way Goldsource bounces purple light. I always think it adds a really nice look to an area, and I use it a lot in The Core. Purples and deep oranges are really underused colours in lighting and I really think there's a lot of room to use them. The green and red lights are deliberately stand-outish. I wanted each level of the main arena to be instantly recognisable to aid navigation. Ground floor is green, middle floor is blue and top floor is red.
"R_speeds." I try to stay under 7000, and most parts of this map never peak higher than 2000. If it's still a problem, I apologise, but it may be time to invest in a new computer.
"No Sliding." I don't fully understand this, but it sounds akin to bunnyhopping and surfing which I hate. It's not designed for that sort of player.
"I see you dislike to create intresting ceillings." Ceilings and wall details were all drastically reduced for r_speed and allocblock:full reasons. I wasn't willing to spend the time to optimize this properly, so when errors started cropping up I just axed a lot of details. It annoys me, but it's a trade-off with working in Goldsource. I agree, though, the ceilings are crap. Most are scaled to 2.0 as well.

Overall:
Quite surprised by all the negative comments about the light bridges. I really like the extra manoeuvrability they add and the blue fill light they cast. Oh well!

There are a lot of positive comments that I could make, but have already been made, so I will say this. The idea of making a dm map seem like it's set in a bigger world by actually showing inaccessible areas, rather than just closed doors needs to be done a lot more, and I very much like the way it's been done in this map.My only negative comments are that you can sometimes get caught on the big rotating thing, but it's probably not really often enough for it to really impact the map.
There are also some lighting errors on the rotating thing, although I'm not sure what you could do about that.

Also, those sprites on the floor lights are too sexy, I'm sure I won't be able to play right because I'll be staring at them the whole time.

I will withhold from rating until I've had a chance to play it on the server (which will likely be after my exams unfortunately), but it's looking like it will be a 5 from me.

[Edit] Forgot to mention, I absolutely love the lighting, especially the lighting from the orange vending machine in the hallway.

Thanks a billion for your lovely words TJB!
I also love maps with visible areas outside the playable world. I really think it adds depth, and I always use big windows to light my boring areas, as was done repeatedly in Portal with the observation windows. Try to ignore the fact that both examples you screenshotted are almost identical rooms behind the glass ;D

"you can sometimes get caught on the big rotating thing." Do you mean it squishes you? If so that was intentional. If not and you're getting stuck... Well, fuck.
"There are also some lighting errors on the rotating thing, although I'm not sure what you could do about that." Yeah, that was really irritating me. I set its lighting origin outside the machine which helped (it used to be 50% pitch black) but for some reason there are six or seven faces that just didn't light. Compiling this bastard with my full RAD settings was taking 45 minutes, so I just gave up.

I might just be nit-picking because of the overall high quality but, you asked where I thought the inconsistently dark areas were so I made a few screenshots.

The majority of the map is really well lit however, to me these two places stood out and spoiled that by lacking lights for no good reason.NOTE: My brightness and gamma in-game are mid slider.

Right enough on that first one. That was just me underestimating the light required and if I ever recompile I'll fix it.
The second one was intentional to give the vending machine more impact, however, and I doubt I'd change it. I don't think it's dark enough over a large enough area that gameplay would suffer.

Cheers for taking the time to be specific, it helps a lot! <3

Dude it sucks just uninstall Half-Life

While a few parts of the layout could be improved (like the one-way-only upper level), it's a blast to play even with small groups, and lends itself to some hilarious encounters - I planted some mines, then came back minutes later to push an unsuspecting Dimbark back into them as he killed me. The textures and architecture or excellently done, and a nice taste of what's to come with The Core. The few pieces of "tech" in the map are a nice touch, adding some contrast to the mostly concrete structure of the area.

I really should hold off until I play it with more people to rate it, but frankly, it's great, and not even the little layout problems can hold me off from giving this a perfect score.

The Core oughta have its own multiplayer maps, and you can host the TWHL server on it!

Because The Core is obviously gonna have hundreds and hundreds of people playing it, what with all the hype it's getting--I'm pretty sure that more than just the TWHL community would play a round or two on it.

Thanks hugely, lads!

Whatcha mean by the one-way upper level? It has three points of access (not including gauss jumping, which is really what the main arena is designed for) and the best guns. If I added more paths up to it, it'd be too easy to get your hands on some premium ass kit!
The main stairwell is in the middle, so that gives you choice of direction, and both light bridges take you to opposing sides.

I got stuck on the rotaty bit when I tried jumping on the outer edge to ride it up. You only get stuck for a few seconds (I think you get unstuck when a certain part of the rim passes you), and it doesn't happen every time, but I found it replicable. Nonetheless, it doesn't happen every time, and it only happens for a few seconds, so I doubt it would really impact gameplay.

4 days? You did this in 4 days?

You are insane.

I like how you can use the generator spinner things to get up to the catwalk quickly.

Oh, so it is. My bad. I guess the map is completely perfect, then.

Lovely map. Plays very well. What I really dig are the lights and lens flares. Effin' gorgeous.

The one thing I don't like are the light bridges. I don't think it fits in this map as it is the only unrealistic object in the map. I don't have a problem with unrealistic map features, but in this case I think you should get rid of them.

This is an awesome map. It is very detailed. Nice work.

I gotta say Archie, you've outdone yourself with this 2014 revamp of your classic. I haven't had a decent length game on it yet but it seems to retain the crazy fast paced action in the hallways with the conventional firearms , as well as the contrasting open combat in the main arena with the RPG, Crossbow and Gauss. Extremely well done, especially for 4 days work.

However, the light bridges. I guess you need to get murdered or something... yeah...

(I jest, I'm fine with them being there.)

Right, rolling out the new (and final) version of Altdel to the server now that I've had some big playtests and feel confident about the changes.

I'll let you know when it switches to the new version on the map cycle so you can still play the current version until Multiplay upload the new one. (I wish I just had FTP access so I could do it in like 3 secs )

Anyway, to celebrate it being finished and to thank you for all your feedback, here's the RMF for the final version.
Don't judge the lazy brushwork too harshly, it was such a short timescale for production that I couldn't afford neatness.

DM_Altdel RMF

I just realised I never actually rated the map.

A classic. There are some active HLDM servers running this.