Posts by Defrag

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    Quote from ReNo

    Love that second shot man, looks hot.The first one I'm not so impressed by, mostly due to the rockwork along the top. Reminds me a bit of HL1 style rockwork - just a big, long, continuous cliff and the displacements aren't too believable or natural looking. Maybe try and spice that up a little with some towering outcrops or something. The big flat concrete wall between the cliff and the rest of the building is also pretty bland and doesn't help matters. The building itself is quite cool but has some awkward looking angles about it. The bit with the window on the left hand side for instance, doesn't look quite right to me.

    I totally agree with you, but the problem with the cliffs is simply that the FR sits directly behind them, so there's very little room to manoeuvre. The yard was knocked up in a day or so, so I'm sure I can come up with something better or get more creative to solve it. /me puts thinking cap on.

    Quote

    By the way, did you go to that games industry job fair yesterday? I did but didn't stay for long - just walked around a few of the companies, chatted a bit, and forced my CV down their throats Shame there weren't more traditional games developers there, the only ones that were particularly well known were Real Time Worlds (upcoming games "Crackdown" and "All Points Bulletin") and DC Studios ("State of Emergency 2"), though a couple of lesser known ones were worth a look such as Outerlight (made "The Ship" mod for HL1 as a prototype for their Source engine version of the game due out next month) and Cohort Studios (lots of the now-closed Visual Science team started this one up).

    Yeah I was there. Firstly, whose idea was it to stage the event in Fat Sam's? Fucking hell. Worst venue ever. Sticky carpets and a horrible smell. Hardly E3 was it?

    I enjoyed the "ask the panel" stuff (other than the cocky git that was chairing it and kept interrupting people mid-sentence), but the rest of the things they laid on were pretty boring

  • Plane, Snakes on A...

    Quote from mikezilla

    Actually marketing doesn't have the slightest idea what to do with it. Sam Jackson also exe-produced it and refuses to let them change the title. So now they're embracing it more... the movie is called snakes on a plane so... the trailer is snakes... on a plane.It will make very few dollars as it has the look, feel, and script of a straight-to-blockbuster piece of shit. Perhaps a better word for this movie is, anomaly.

    I think people will go see it in their droves, if only out of curiosity. The curiosity being "how terrible can it be?". The answer is likely to be "God awful", but still.

  • Palm skin

    I think the problem with learning to UV is that there's about a zillion different ways to achieve something. It can be intimidating

    Finding a good DVD (or internet vid) can be a good help though. Or just figure it out yourself.

  • Fortress Forever needs Mapper, Prop Artist & Texture Art

    Now looking for a prop artist, too. This will be on the site soon.

    Formal blurrrrrrrb because I can't be bothered rewriting it!

    Quote

    We are recruiting one dedicated prop artist. Applicants for this position must be able to model, uv map, texture and compile props for the Source engine to a specification provided by level designers. The packages used to create the content aren't important, as long as the applicant is able to export their work for use with the Source engine. In addition to working to a specification, successful applicants will be able to suggest their own ideas when working with a specific map theme. There's a lot of variety in the fortress world; artists will have the chance to work on a multitude of subjects -- from cornfield stalks to industrial machinery.Applicants must be proficient in all of the above areas as we're looking for self-sufficient prop-makers who require little (technical) assistance from others when creating assets. We're looking for strong team players who welcome constructive criticism.

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    IMO photshopping screenshots of your maps is like false advertising. I remember one HL mapper released a series of beautiful screenshots back in the day (when I didn't really know much) that looked so crisp and detailed. I later found out he'd used PS to eye-candy his stuff up.

    To me it's pointless. It'd be like photoshopping your photo and posting it on a dating website. It may fool people initially, but they'll only want to kick you in the balls when they meet you and see you've been misleading them.

  • It seems like we going to meet Battlefield again

    If by "support" you mean "make the game not fun and fuck up fixing most of the bugs" then yeah!

    The game is currently awash with people using the PKM as a sniper rifle (it was silenced before the last patch due to a bug, too). EA's testing procedure goes like this:

    Begin testing.

    Did computer explode yes/no.

    If "no", release. Actually, release regardless.

    All of their bug and gameplay 'fixes' have been brute force and cack-handed. I have no idea how they can make the alterations and think they're suitable.

    Here's some wonderful examples:

    Problem: People jumping and shooting too accurately?

    Solution: Don't let people shoot in the air.

    Problem: AA doesn't hit anything, ever.

    Solution: Make AA hit everything every time, ever. In fact, don't even require any kind of skill to use it, just point it in the general direction (say within a 30 degree tolerance) and fire, easy kill. Actually, that's not going far enough. Let's make AA do 180 degree turns and literally orbit vehicles at retarded speeds. Have we fucked it up enough, yet? Nope. Let's make AA hit friendly vehicles more often than enemy vehicles.

    Problem: People using C4 as a primary weapon while jumping about like a retard.

    Solution: Make C4 fly about half a foot forward. Don't allow any kind of flexibility. Reduce it to a weapon that is for people who have the reactions of a sloth and fuck the rest of the people. Want to throw it over a fence or a two foot wall? Eat shit.

    Problem: People are using the gren launcher as a two foot close combat weapon.

    Solution: Lower the splash damage. Make it bounce off walls.. and.. still explode if fired two feet away at the ground. Yeah. So now the GL gets used as a two foot weapon exclusively as the splash is so tiny that you can't really kill much at range, and if you tried, it'd be easier just to use the rifle instead. Total fuckup. As I predicted, the assault kit is barely used compared to the others as the GL's splash is so crap and the medic has the same stuff as the assault kit plus regeneration, healing, reviving and so on. To fix the "noob tube" problem they could've simply added a minimum arming distance as well as a minimum time delay, then possibly even increased the radius. In this way, it'd be useless in CQB as by the time the thing exploded, the target would've moved. The increased radius would make it a more viable weapon at medium to long range. Considering how accurate most of the guns in the game are now, why bother lining up weak GL shots and risk missing if you can just point 'n' click? Most of the assault users I see now are those who have special forces weapons. Hardly balanced, is it?

    Problem: Blackhawk squads rape unless people are clued up about using 50cals against the BH.

    Solution: Make the BH a flying coffin. Make the miniguns useless unless stationary. Make the armour as effective as wet cardboard. Eliminate the final common source of camaraderie and enjoyability as a vehicle squad. It would've been far too sensible to limit the repair rate, require the guns to be fed by support classes every few seconds of firing (thereby further limiting the engy orgy in the back) and require BH squads to have an even mix of classes. I used to have tonnes of fun chasing down BHs or just riding in them and wailing on people. Pre-patch, scheming players would simply park a vodnik or a humvee in an area where it's hard to spot, then they'd wail on the BH. With a bit of luck you could take one down and it was a great rush. Now it seems everyone knows how easy this is, and with the reduced armour of the BH it goes down so easily that it's pointless even flying in it.

    Problem: Support guns suck.

    Solution: Turn the PKM into a 100 round semi-auto sniper rifle. Don't bother testing the change. Release.

    Problem: Not enough people are going to buy the expansion pack

    Solution: Let expansion pack users utilise the expansion pack guns in regular BF2. Fuck the people that don't buy the expansion pack. Protest that the guns are balanced despite the fact that the soldier gets flashbangs, the medic gets the G36-E which rapes, the sniper gets the L96 which is easily better than the other rifles and so forth.

    I could go on all day.

    Like I said, pretty much every major gameplay decision has been so badly botched it is laughable. Nearly anyone that has played the game for any length of time could offer potential solutions that don't result in any given feature being 'nerfed'. Dice/EA are hopeless when it comes to tweaking stuff. BF2 was a game I enjoyed playing a lot before with friends. Now pretty much all fun stuff has been eliminated; the only remaining 'fun' to be hand is vehicle tag teaming on Karkand, and that gets boring after about a single round.

  • Two rants on level design, need opinions

    I agree with a lot of what you said, but the whole issue is a double-edged sword.

    If you don't split it up, it's an enormous challenge to do everything by yourself. People with the ability to do a whole next gen map themselves are few and far between, especially as technology pushes on.

    If you do split it up, you have a lot of potential problems.

    If you were to split everything up, ideally you'd have a team populated with people who are equally comfortable in every respect of level design (gameplay, architecture, modeling, texturing, lighting, scripting etc) who all appreciate how the different things connect together and don't make totally inept decisions due to ignorance.

    The main problem, for me, is that I don't see an obvious way to remedy the situation. Every HL2 map looks nearly the same because the vast majority of 3rd party mappers can't make props or texture them; valve's cryptic documentation and lack of user friendly interfaces just compounds the problem. Even if the documentation and tools were better, would it really matter, though?

    I think it may just be a case of an unavoidable shift, as there's no idea solution

  • Nightwatch stops development on HL version...

    I saw the new screenshots and just assumed they were HL1. This is partly because their HL1 mapping was amazing and partly because their HL2 stuff just looks pretty uninspired compared to their use of the HL1 engine. I s'pose it's only natural that it'll take the dev team a while to find their feet on source.

    I was kind of looking forward to seeing how much more they could squeeze out of the HL engine, but I guess that's now history. Oh well. Best of luck to them

  • Fortress Forever needs Mapper, Prop Artist & Texture Art

    Update - we've got the sound dude now, just need the texture artist. Additionally, we're now looking for an additional level designer and a prop artist.

    It's that time again!

    Standard preamble:

    about:

    Fortress Forever is a Team Fortress mod for Half-life 2's Source Engine. Our team is creating this mod entirely from scratch.

    Fortress Forever should please those who have stuck with or been a part Half-life: TFC over the years while at the same time doing more for new players than any prior Fortress attempt. This is not a strict remake of TFC, but it will incorporate the features we have come to know and love. It will also add a feast of new features to enrich the playability as well as make the MOD more accessible without compromising gameplay.

    Team:

    Our team has a fair amount of talent, and we're looking for another couple of good recruits. All applicants must be friendly, dedicated and, most importantly, able to work as part of a team and respond to constructive criticism. No big-time Charlies with huge egos, please. If you apply for a position, to be seriously considered, you MUST INCLUDE SAMPLE WORK. Images / URLs are perfect.

    This stuff is posted to let you know that we're a serious team and have been around for a long time now, but we're actually a really friendly and laid back bunch.

    Fellow mapcorians on the mod include:

    Blunkka

    CrackerJack

    KoKo5oVaR

    Zazi

    If you have any questions, leave 'em here or speak to me on IRC (#mapcore or #fortressforever).

    We're looking for a:

    Map Texture Artist

    The FF team is in need of an additional Map Texture Artist. This involves creating new and original textures to the specification of the FF level designers. This work will include traditional fortress textures (found in most maps) in addition to much more specific themes (for strongly-themed projects).

    We're ideally looking for people with the following qualities:

    - Experience in image editing, preferably with past experience in game texture creation (mod, personal or otherwise).

    - Ability to receive and respond to constructive criticism in a positive fashion.

    The following abilities are not vital, but are a plus:

    - Experience with normal mapping, spec mapping etc.

    - Experience with the Source material system.

    Applicants must provide sample work to be considered (preferably in the form of attached or linked images).

    annnnnnnnnd

    Level Designer

    Usual stuff. Check site for details.

    Prop Artist

    We are recruiting one dedicated prop artist. Applicants for this position must be able to model, uv map, texture and compile props for the Source engine to a specification provided by level designers. The packages used to create the content aren't important, as long as the applicant is able to export their work for use with the Source engine. In addition to working to a specification, successful applicants will be able to suggest their own ideas when working with a specific map theme. There's a lot of variety in the fortress world; artists will have the chance to work on a multitude of subjects -- from cornfield stalks to industrial machinery.

    Applicants must be proficient in all of the above areas as we're looking for self-sufficient prop-makers who require little (technical) assistance from others when creating assets. We're looking for strong team players who welcome constructive criticism.

    ...

    If you're interested, email us at FortressForever [a t] gmail.com. Also, when you attach sample work, please put your name or handle in the filename (it just makes it easier for us to track & filter applicants).

    Also: We're always happy to take a look at applications relating to any field regardless of whether we're actively recruiting in those areas. We may also be looking for an additional level designer soon, so watch out!

  • Links to sites with HL2 model content

    Is there a better way to export from hammer -> max than using .dxf files? DXF is almost useless (faces inverted, each poly is a separate object unless you weld everything, which just causes the vertices to become even more erroneous in position in relation to the original .vmf geometry). Some kind of .map or .vmf import would be stellar.