Posts by Thrik

  • Need help with scaling a room! *headdesk*

    The biggest HL1 mods still have a reasonable player base, but not many of those are realistically going to try out new mods. They most probably continue playing the mods out of habit and aren't even aware of the engine's community outside those mods.

    Using the health of CS as an argument for continuing HL1 mapping is pretty mental. I'm sure D3 used to want to work in the games industry, and I can't see many companies giving two shits about some HL1 engine work these days. That is because no matter how good you are, it looks old and unimpressive. That goes for every single HL1 mod bar none, and I include Nightwatch and Paranoia in that statement.

    If D3 is happy indefinitely producing content for a relatively small fan audience then that's fine. If he actually wants to go through with the plans he shared years ago of working in the games industry it might be an idea to take a couple of steps further forward than he was at in 2003. Because you know what? It's four years later and I still can't think of anything notable he's produced, nor do I see him being any closer to doing it for a living.

    Sorry to be harsh d3, but it does genuinely sadden me as I watch the months pour away and you seemingly accomplish absolutely nothing, despite still seemingly wanting to do this professionally. You seriously need to move onto newer technology and become passionate about newer technology if you want a hope in hell of getting that job.

  • Activision + Blizzard = divide by zero

    They've already been doing it for 10 years without Activision, so doing it for another 10 years wouldn't exactly be much of a surprise.

    Although publishers can be a bit of a pain, it does seem like they catch a bit too much flak for stuff that's just as much down to the developers and audience a lot of the time too.

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    Good stuff, although I think you're coming dangerously close to having a cartoony look to some of your foliage.

    One area that Crysis really moved on from Far Cry is that it made everything not quite so overwhelmingly green, as too much solid green looks both unnatural and adds to the cartoon feel.

    If you check out some real tropical areas you'll notice that the majority of green patches are a little more desaturated, and the lighting on them is broken up so you don't have any big patches of solid green.

    I think you could fix most of it by just revising the textures and putting more yellow and other plant colours in there, and perhaps adjust the lighting so there's more shading (or just do it with textures) on the grass itself.

    The trees look great though. They're a bit more multi-coloured and it shows.

    HDR is a bit bright, too. I don't think you'd get an effect like that through your own eyes or a camera.

  • The elephant in the room - Kane & Lynch reviews :D

    I think what happened to that GameSpot editor, one of the leading games press sites, is a frightening testimonial to just how immature this industry's press is.

    I mean, it was already pretty clear considering that we're still using crazy 1/100 score systems, but this is just the last nail in the coffin.

    Games press needs to grow up, and fast.

  • Deus Ex 3

    Entirely impossible to say whether or not it'll be good, really. New teams have handled existing series fantastically in the past, just like they've managed to screw series up in the past.

    Incidentally, I semi-reliably heard that a big motivating factor in having the studio develop Deus Ex 3 was to attract talent to the studio with such an enticing franchise and get it established (Eidos Montreal is new).

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    Yeah, definitely. The reason the trains work in Well is because they're actually really easy to spot and avoid, but when you're caught up in a frantic battle you somehow don't notice the bells and feel like a real fool when one flattens you.

    If you take away that element of control it's more about random chance than alertness, which isn't fun. Ever.

  • DM Krodan - WIP - UT3

    Yeah, rocks aren't going to be that shiny unless they're wet. You could get away with it if you somehow incorporated a watery theme into the shiny bits such as a waterfall, or perhaps just have rain.

    Even cooler would be to have intermittent rain, but I have no idea whether or not the editor could let you do that.

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    Looks cool and I like the idea, although on my monitor it looks pretty dark. I've noticed that TF2 tends to avoid truly dark areas even in areas that would probably be pretty dark in reality, and keeps everything vibrant.

    I'd suggest just putting some more torches and stuff in there or otherwise look at the lighting inside the Dustbowl tunnels which I recall being a lot brighter.

  • Some FarCry 2 Vids

    I think they've done a very good job, although the videos do make it look a bit better than it actually is. When you see the high-resolution stuff the cracks start to show and a distinctive essence of last generation shines through. There're a lot of special effects (Post processing?) that do a good job of masking this, though.

    Can't fault them on the theme though, which has some really nice-looking areas; they made a good decision by going in the direction of Africa or whatever rather than trying to compete with doing the same thing as Crysis (especially seeing as Crysis is armed with the better engine). The gameplay could be great too. Have to wait and see.