Posts by ReNo

A writer moves to some small town because he has insomnia or wierd nightmares or something, but then this small town starts having some wierd shit go on (like that random tornado I guess). I think it is based a lot around time of day stuff too - so its relatively safe during the day but more dangerous at night. I don't know for sure, to be honest, but I seem to recall a trailer a while back suggested that was the case.

You not played Shadow of the Colossus Ferret?

I had no idea the name of that level was a Shadow of the Colossus reference - this statue is gonna make sure not many others make the same mistake

I must admit I wasn't all that taken by it. I'm sure it would be pretty good fun in coop, and there's no denying that the game has charm by the bucket loads, but from a gameplay standpoint it didn't really do it for me. Might pick it up just for some coop laughs if I'm feeling short of games at some point though

Quote from Tequila

I really felt that drill. Hopefully we'll have death sequences like that in the full thing.

Tell me about it! I felt seriously uncomfortable after watching that video - for some reason it felt so much more violent and frantic than pretty much any other action scene I've come across. I guess it's just not all that normal to have a clip like that shown from a first person view. Other than the Doom movie of course

You might wanna get a tissue dux, you've, eh, got a little HDR on your face there

If thats the one that got put up on the Live Marketplace yesterday - my word it is strong stuff. Very intense, and very well done. A lot more gory and violent than I expected to be honest.

Well I guess maybe it is just a nicely done paneled wall texture, but I do think that the unorthodox, off-centre, overlapping circles cut is a pretty cool detail that sets it apart. As the squirrel says, a set like this could be pretty special.

Nice one dude, well played

Quote from dux

Was close to finishing the damn thing too, yarg! When I've got 10 minutes I'll try and finish it and release it as a hl2dm map >_>

I keep telling myself that about my AG map too Seriously though, you need to do it, cos your map was looking awesome.

Like everything else in your portfolio it seems! I think thats a great selection of shots, covering quite a few different styles. Only ones I think seem a little sub-par are the rocky valley HL1 shots, which seem a bit bland in terms of lighting and look over-sharpened to me. Otherwise, rocking Good luck getting a job, I'm sure you'll have a lot of interested parties.

I don't think that long air duct looks right, and as the others have said it is a bit too "perfect" in its repetition. Lose some of those wall vents, use a flickering spotlight or some broken/discoloured in places, and some debris or litter on the ground. Otherwise, cool - nice work and a style of architecture you don't often see in Source.

Whats with the guy getting shot loads through the window as he places a demo charge or whatever, then just running off? I get that games tend to let you take a fair few bullets and I'm sure K&L is no different, but it struck me as VERY odd to show it off like that in a trailer for a game like this Still looks and sounds awesome though, can't wait to see more gameplay.

Holy Crap. Just saw this linked to on Penny Arcade today...

Linky

Not sure how much the player is in control of here, or hell, whether it's just a "concept" trailer like half the early PS3 trailers, but that looks bloody brilliant. No idea how the combat system works, looks like it might be some sort of timed button press system (maybe more rhythm game style - along similar lines to Vagrant Story's counters?). Excited.

Fucks sake Mazy, your in lead level designer already?! And on a project like K&L?! Unless I misunderstood, you deserve a MEATY pat on the back man!

I've been a big fan of the style since I first saw screenshots, but this video left me rather underwhelmed. He talks it up like the things he is showing are revolutionary, when they've been done in games (including FPS games) for years. Wow, so you can use some "power" to get an AI to attack another AI? What, you didn't play HL2? Hell, its not exactly distant from leading aliens to soldiers in HL1. Or perhaps using security - you know, that feature used in dozens of games such as Deus Ex or Project Snowblind? Its not like any of the things shown were bad features - but don't talk them up like they're your brand new creations. He says at the start he's redefining the genre and then goes ahead and shows off features used in dozens of its predecessors.

I think it looks like a good game, but sadly I was more excited about it before this video. Still loving the style though

Left click on the initial face with "lift and select" mode. Hold alt, and now right click on the adjacent face to seamlessly apply the same texture. Now left click on that newly textured face, hold alt, and right click on the next adjacent face. Repeat all the way around for seamlessness

Indeedy - Mass Effect is jaw droppingly gorgeous. I'm sure we'll see more of that at X06, which is where most of their Western stuff is probably getting held back for. I'm still a sucker for JRPGs though, even if as you say, they are all just FF clones

Well the 360's main press conference has been and gone, and though there wasn't a huge amount of news to make a song and dance about, I've been fairly impressed. FOUR very good looking Japanese RPGs on a Microsoft console? Not something I expected to be honest!

Blue Dragon is a little too cartoony for my liking (never been a huge fan of the Dragon Ball Z style), but looks like an extremely solid FF style RPG. Nothing about the gameplay trailer stood out, but it all looked very polished and very enjoyable. I was suprised to hear it's making it out in Japan before Christmas too - I'm sure it's not gonna be much of a saviour against the inevitable PS3/Wii Japanese domination, but it certainly isn't going to hurt!

Lost Odyssey also looked very traditional in its gameplay (but to be fair, judging it on what appears to be the very first battle scene of the game alone is perhaps a little too hasty), but by golly does it do it with style! Beautiful visuals and by the looks of things, suitably epic in scope and story. Can't wait to see more of the gameplay that they have promised for the TGS show floor.

What I'm even more interested in though are the two new JRPG announcements - Trusty Bell: Chopin's Dream and Infinite Undiscovery. The former doesn't look all that visually impressive during the combat sections shown in the trailer, but the brief exploration sections looked lovely. Very nice cel-shaded style during the cut-scenes too - its getting a bit cliched to use cel-shading in a JRPG now but here it comes across very polished and very effective. Not sure quite how the combat system works but it reminded me very much of Grandia, so here's hoping it can live up to that!

Infinite Undiscovery I know absolutely nothing about, other than its being developed by Tri-Ace and looks fan-friggin-tastic. Very very eager to hear and see more of this one.

Perhaps the game comes with 0 cars and 0 courses, but allows you to download up to a value of $40 or whatever worth of content for free (after which you have to pay for them). Seems like a more feasible approach than simply selling the Blu-Ray distributed game for $5-10.

Bad news

On the topic of the actual games - not much in the way of surprises really. I had assumed Assassin's Creed was the spiritual successor to PoP since it was meant to be a trilogy, so it is a surprise to see a new one up there, but everything else was pretty much expected. I'm UBER sceptical about the Lost game - heard mention of it the other day and I really wish they'd just leave it be as a great TV series. I think there's a lot of potential in a game using a similar scenario to Lost. I think there's zero potential in a game based on Lost.