Posts by Campaignjunkie

Quote from Buddy

Can you list some HL2 sp mods with cool concepts behind them? I wasn't looking into it very much last year, maybe missed something good.

There's mine, called "Radiator" (though maybe too esoteric for its own good) http://www.radiator.debacle.us -- I'm trying to make the "high concept" mod except without the ugliness that usually comes with experimentation, you can decide whether I'm successful or not, I guess

There's Dan Pinchbeck's stuff, Dear Esther and Korsakovia http://www.thechineseroom.co.uk/ (fairly ugly... the displacement work makes me cry... but pretty high concept and lovely voice acting)

I love anything by Brendon Chung (though not HL2, it easily could've been) http://blendogames.com/ (not ugly, but emphasis on simpler cleaner visuals than the noisy dirty stuff flooding the mod scene these days)

Nestlings (not ugly, but visually kinda mundane, nice and short) http://www.moddb.com/mods/nestlings

Flesh (neon lights, pretty ugly, too many colors -- but a cool mechanic where you see from the eyes of monsters) http://www.fleshmod.com/

Quote from Buddy

Some of the HL1 mods were really awesome. Now they mostly focus on visuals tbh (and that aspect takes a whole lot more work now)

I disagree. It's players who focus on the visuals, so those are the only ones who ever get any attention.

Point of View. http://mods.davlevels.com/pointofview/http://mods.davlevels.com/azuresheep/index.php

Looking good, happy to see a good amount of progress -- though I'm a little distressed that my AM levels look relatively unchanged, you might want to take another art pass on them... but I guess that's impractical with so much work on UC already done, from the looks of it.

Quote from Ginger Lord

When I'm next out that way (early new year) I'll swing by and take a photo, the roof tiles are on at a 45 degree angle across the whole roof for no reason.

Ha, I've seen office buildings that look "wrong" like this -- too much tiling, poorly painted specular map for the windows, and needs a proper trim texture for the top, etc.

My favorite architecture book, in case you just want no-frills reference: The Grammar of Architecture

Beautiful engravings, lots of floor plans and close-up diagrams, cover practically every national style of ancient / medieval architecture and then some.

[Blocked Image: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51VC2…L500_AA240_.jpg]

http://%7boption%7d

The Dickinson residence, modeled with ~50% accuracy off the real thing (http://%7boption%7d) with a cross-processing color correction filter.

I've been told that I should use detail props for the buttercup field instead of static props, but for a huge area like this (6000x6000) I think the hard-coded detail-prop fade distance (at ~1400 units?) would ruin the illusion of a full field. Even if the result doesn't look as good, I think I'd prefer a fuller looking field. Though either way, I'm pretty sure I have to use 1-bit alpha testing or else the overdraw will kill most computers, and thus it'll look more or less the same no matter what prop type I use. Thoughts, anyone?

I think the biggest plus is that they're including the level editor - you can add more rooms for it to randomize within the dungeons, or make your own tilesets because all the model / textures formats are open - the modding possibilities sound pretty cool. I'd say it's the game's big leg-up against Diablo 3, considering Blizzard's track record with supporting Diablo mods.

Speaking as a modder, I have to say it's not about the tools - it's about the install base.

The average gamer doesn't care whether it's BSP or polys. He or she cares whether it looks interesting and whether it complements the gameplay. And the sad, but most obvious truth: if you make a Source mod, people will actually play it. How many people even own a copy of Crysis, much less still have it installed to play a mod for an hour? How many people own a copy of UT3 and still have it installed to play a mod?

It's pretty good. A little (too) faithful to Thief 1 and Thief 2 to the point that there's some boggling design decisions purely because that's how it was done back in 1998 - but other than that, I'm pretty impressed. Some of the levels look a little too blocky, or too pitch-dark like Doom 3 for my tastes, but I assume the modding community will step up their game in the coming months.

I'm trying to learn Radiant for it... what a pain in the ass. I know that I prefer Hammer only because I'm used to it, but... ugh. It's so frustrating. Everything seems so ass backwards - holding shift+alt to select things, etc.

Sushi restaurant seems way too spacious / open for the average place in Tokyo, but uh yeaaaah don quixote!!

Another of my single player minimods. This one has gone through a bunch of restarts but now I'm finally gathering the nerve to push through it. In this one you're trapped in a sinking submarine which doubles as Emily Dickinson's kidney - and you're going to have to fight her poetic soul if you want to get out. I'm trying to keep the interiors vaguely mechanical, but at the same time avoiding too much detail because I want it to be more symbolic than realistic. Or maybe I'm just really lazy. Inspired by BioShock / The Sims / System Shock / Thief / untextured model renders / Emily Dickinson poems / New Orleans, among other things.

Maybe put a trigger_teleport there, set to teleport away any physics objects that touch it - or put a trigger_remove maybe. It's basically the same effect, a grenade disappearing.

[Blocked Image: http://uaplayer.com/plugins/download_game/images/game/64_Thief_3_Deadly_Shadows.jpg]

Kind of shitty if you're a Thief 1 + 2 vet, but the Shalebridge Cradle level in Thief 3 is among the greatest levels ever made for any FPS in recorded history.

This list just makes me want to sin even more.

I don't think it'd work well for mods - maybe small indie studios, yeah. I remember when Black Mesa won the Alienware desktop and we kept talking about what to do with it... how would a mod team go about splitting the funding? Plus, fans are stupid. Just pump out a few screenshots and model renders and you'll get money flowing in. What happens when a mod (or small indie effort) crumbles, as they often do? Do the fans get their money back?

It's a cool idea, but I don't see it working very well

I still use some old Nightwatch screenshots for figuring out cool mechanical shapes... Ken Banks, man.

Hey. I've released the second episode. It's about gay marriage counseling, psychological repression, and the nature of theatricality in level design. It's not very fun, but hey, at least I finished it and released it. And it has voice acting!! Now to never look back on it again, thank god.

WEBSITE: http://www.radiator.debacle.us

DOWNLOAD: http://www.radiator.debacle.us/01/#download

Assuming this isn't just a one-room portfolio piece, even though it looks like one to me: if you're going to actually develop a real level out of it, you should just keep the art style like that - the untextured flat-shadedness looks nice, and it'll be less work on your part to make a whole level out of it.

Please please please make it a 3 map campaign. The 5 map length of the official campaigns really puts me off, I've found.

Uh, make sure you have HL2 Ep2? I don't know what else to say.