Posts by Schmung

I think it's the floor that's not working out too well. The green isn't working too well and the red in the centre isn't really working either IMO. I think it's because it's a really busy texture and that it's so light. Maybe use a variant of the green in the middle and put some spec on the existing stuff?

I think the busy texture actually works in the theatre area, but that you need to play around with your lighting in there a bit. It's pretty bland at present. What about dimming it a bit and using trim lighting on the floor and stairs?

Aha, well explained! Rather thick of me forgetting that it was the sea we're talking about.

I still think floating cities are cool though, thats perhaps the fault of reading too much SF.

I guess the feeling of emptiness if perhaps the lack of variation of vegetation and the stock props. With a bit more colour and texture in the terrain then you could probably fix that.

At present it's the overt brightness and repetitive nature of parts of it that are hurting you. I think the other guys are right with the lighting, you could really help the atmosphere with a slightly different setup. Failing that can you clamp the maximum value or something? That seems the main issue now, the average brightness in some shots is fine, but some of the rockfaces look like they've got lights inside them in one or two of those shots.

Anyway, it's a great idea for a theme and gives you loads of potential for dramatic areas - as you said the bombed out cities, the odd protected enclave with an almost post apocalyptic feel to it, higher parts of towns that people have somehow managed to hold out for a while. All sorts of stuff.

I get a nice vibe from some of those shots, but you say initially that it's meant to be war torn and ravaged etc. My feeling is that if the amount of land had been reduced then folk would be trying to use as much as possible of it for farming, or would have huge floating kelp/seaweed farms and floating towns. Plus, obviously if there's been a war then there's going to be lots of damage. I guess it depends on the when as much as anything though, how much the sea has risen etc.

Anyway, you seem to have built a nice environment thus far, but I think it needs populating somehow and the background story you've given yourself lets you have lots of different ways to approach that.

You're better off starting from scratch and just making a few test maps to get the hang of things. Source is different in some significant enough ways from GoldSRC that you'll have to change your approach. Last I checked there are a number of example maps included in the SDK that should give you most of what you need. Once you're more comfortable with source, go back to your HL1 version, delete everything but the essential geometry then go from from there.

The bad has, I think, been covered enough, so I'll talk about what I enjoyed instead.

Combat is awesome, the locking mechanic is a necessary evil. It makes you feel like such a badass mofo, pressure them to get an opening, counter their hits, throw them off of the rooftops. It's great fun, well though out and executed.

Freerunning is sublime. Some people moan that it's not hard, that it requires you to hold two buttons and a control stick and you're away. These people are miserable cunts. It give the player freedom, bring a smile to your face and allows you to make creative use of your environment and think about where you're going instead of how you get there. It's a very appropriate solution that works well within the context of the rest of the game.

Agreed on repetition and most other faults, but those two things along with story win it for me. Oh, non skippable cutscenes are hyper shite though.

Did this as well.

There's a wagamama in Covent Garden as well. Delicious!

That, the museums, Southbank and various train stations is about the extent of my knowledge of London. Imperial War Museum is pretty good as well and the HMS Belfast is pretty interesting.

I've had the same thing for ages. Haven't touched 3DS in about a month now and I haven't been near hammer for 8 months or so. I just junk everything I start within a few minutes, or can't seem to work out how to translate the design into the editor. Seems like I stall as soon as I can't find the texture/model I want to get to the next stage. Haven't made a map for two/three years now and it frustrates me because it's something I really used to enjoy. I'm not sure if maybe it's the complexity of next gen combined with my own lack of abilities thats stopping me.

oohh, I missed this thread. Pre ordered this on the basis of the demo. Great fun, but as previously mentioned the finicky nature of the controls makes doing certain tricks a real pain. It's a really good laugh online as well, but I'm stuck and frustrated in SP at the moment.

I'd love a Blade Runner map. I tried it back in HL1, but never managed it. Someone did make one, but it didn't quite work. It's just such a strong film visually and would make an awesome, awesome map if done properly.

haha, you want to get oldskool then feel free to rip into any of my TS maps.

It'd be kind of interesting to see someone point out all the flaws, even if they are rather old.

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Yeah, the environments are a bit repetitive due to over-usage of identical props in every area, but it's damm fun and quite slick.

Things have changed since the days of HL, back then you could download, play about with and, if you wanted, delete a mod in about an hour. It takes bloody ages to load anything in source and the download sizes are huge.

Release early, release often doesn't work so well because the audience expectation is so different from what it was in the days of HL. I think it's still possible, but from what I've seen so far people seem to have the wrong idea.

Everyone seems incredibly focused on delivering content on first release, which is bullshit and a waste of effort for all involved. It's especially endemic with source where it's all about how pretty your screenshots are and how many guns/maps your first release has. I'd much rather wait six months, d/l a 200meg file that has two maps and a really good, clear focus on gameplay rather than wait two years, and d/l an 800meg file with x number of maps, but with gameplay that feels barely evolved.

I've barely touched any source mods because I see a thread on some forum about the release of some mod and nobodies ever got anything positive to say about the gameplay. Fine, I'll come back in a few weeks when the next versions released and try it again. Except that never happens. A lot of teams are so focused on getting more content into their releases instead of improving their gameplay, the thing that's going keep your mod alive and give you time and motivation to expand. Instead, they spend years slaving away on something and when the first release hits and all they get is a sigh from the public at large and that kills your motivation.

Fly there, nab a cheapy hotel or hostel for a few nights and give yourself time to recover from jetlag and have a look around between interviews.

There are few things worse than ending up somewhere you hate because you think the jobs worth it.

Gameplay > Realism

The kills thing doesn't bother me so much, but the hateful class selection and lack of map etc is beyond reason.

We are not the military, this is the internet, you will not be teamed up with people you trained with and know, you're teamed with a 13 year old who just wants to blow shit up and a guy so stoned he can't see the keyboard. In situations like these I'd like to know where my teammates are and not have to potentially die to find out.

I can't comment on who the devs are targetting, but it seems they want it successful and that means appealing (at least somewhat) to the foaming masses and that means making concessions to ease of use (not use, not skill in playing) and that fact that most people will be playing in public servers.

Quote from ifO

Small mods can't really afford to be ruthless and cut out maps that many of the community love. 1 man's hated map is another man's favourite. I actually like metro, regardless of how shit it looks it plays quite well.

Exactly - the TS community is bitchy at best and much as some maps should be removed for the sake of sanity there community would have a shit fit.

I reckon magazines would be a better source of ref material.

If you got a sample of magazines from certain years/periods and did some sort of analysis of review scores across publications with graphics comparisons and so forth and so on.

Leffe Blonde is indeed awesome. Can't drunk Heineken in this country anymore, went to Amsterdam and had it there, totally different and far nicer.

From the ones on the list, probably Carlsberg.

Budvar is probably my fave, but sadly you don't see it very often.

It's rather odd. You can't copyright the likeness of a building can you? Otherwise movie companies would be shelling out millions every time they filmed part of the New York skyline.

Awesome concept and very brave targeting it kids as well. Could well end up being a stroke of genius. I really like the demented art style as well. Think I'll give it a go.