Posts by Defrag

  • California Violent Game Bill Passes

    What I find amusing, is that all of these legal eagles & politicians keep banging the drum regarding games causing violence, yet in 10+ years of violent videogames being around in the mainstream, only a few deaths have been attributed to videogames, and most of those are tenuously at that. Gaming is now a huge passtime, so if games are so bad, where is the evidence to support it?

  • Fortress Forever : Level Designer & Texture Artists

    about:

    Fortress Forever is a Team Fortress mod for Half-life 2's Source Engine. Our independent 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 is talented throughout, and hopefully stronger still with another level designer onboard, as well as a map texture artist. 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, you MUST INCLUDE SAMPLE WORK. It's not our job to go out and find out just how good you are at what you do -- so please don't send an application detailing how awesome you are, but neglect to attach any sample work. URLs are also perfect. Just don't send us game models or tell us you did x for mod y and then expect us to go and download & install a game / mod just so we can see your work. Link or send us images of your work. Failure to do so will result in us deleting the application (you'd be amazed at just how many people send in an application and totally ignore this requirement).

    We need to fill the following positions:

    Level Designer:

    You will be required to create new maps as well as recreate old favourites for the mod. Obviously there is a balance to strike, but the initial phase of the mod is concerned with giving classic TF maps a new spin. There will be plenty of time for creative license once this phase is finished. We're looking for mappers that can really thrive with a Fortress theme. Those that love to get creative and start to dribble when thinking of superfluous architecture would be well at home . There's plenty of scope for varied themes and creative license, too.

    Mappers with mod experience, or with many released maps and a proven track record will obviously have a better chance. Also, since the mod is TF-based, TF mapping experience is an undeniable plus for any applicant, since it takes quite a lot of know-how to make a playable map due to the class balance and such. This is somewhat negated by the fact that we'll be putting quite a bit of focus on Attack and Defend maps, though. Those are less complicated to make, but just as compelling (if not more) to play.

    As you might expect, we're looking for applicants with a solid grasp of source mapping, as we don't really have much time for people to get acquainted with the editor & the game's resources before they get crackin' on the mappin'.

    Texture Artist(s)

    Since our last two texture artists decided to jump ship without trace (what is it with those zany art dudes?), we're once again recruiting Map Texture Artists. Applicants must be skilled with their editing application of choice, have a good grounding in texture design for game engines and preferably be familiar with Source's material system (this is a plus, but it's not hard to learn, so it's not a requirement). Applicants must understand how to create normal maps, spec maps and all that good stuff. Mod work and / or varied sample work is preferential. Texture artist applicants must also be prepared to work with level designers and create textures as part of a theme for any given map or style.

    Please feel free to browse our development team's personnel page for more information. Despite our team's size, we are a fairly close-knit team, and everyone gets along very well. If you are a very enthusiastic person, then you'll fit right in. If you're a bit more reserved, then that's cool too. The main thing is that we want to finish this mod, but we have a good laugh while doing so. We're not slavedrivers and it's a cool mod to work on.

    Finally: We have achieved much exposure and our forums are buzzing due to the 2000+ registered users. If you work on this mod, it's pretty much a guarantee that your work will be viewed by many people. People really want to see a solid TF mod for source, and we're committed to making it happen.

    If you're interested, email an application to FortressForever [a t] gmail.com with the position you're applying for in the subject line. 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 potential recruits).

    Cheers, I hope to see some applications soon.

  • You will play this HL2 single-player expansion.

    Nicely built, but I thought it wasn't exactly riveting. The biggest disappointment, for me, was the narrative style. Something about it just doesn't really fit. There were some nice scripted sequences (seeing the combine all sprinting across the walkway was cool) and stuff, but overall I found the inside of the combine area quite boring. I really don't have much fun running around several corridors and stairwells that all look exactly the same. I didn't find it difficult, either. There was too much health and armour everywhere. The beach area was nice though. It's a solid start and it's obvious the guy has a lot of talent, but I don't really understand why everyone is so impressed.

    IMO if he works on the narrative and gets some good voice actors it'd be so much better. Getting some text every now and then (which I didn't feel was particularly well written and was trying too hard to be enigmatic / puzzling) doesn't really inspire me to keep playing.

  • Next-gen headache

    I think it's good that Gabe talks so openly about how Steam basically sucked from a technical standpoint when it was introduced. In many cases, I am still very dismissive of the technology for one reason: Overhead.

    TFC on WON = 100 fps in pretty much all cases with my old system (1600 XP)

    TFC after Steam was released = ~40-100 fps (Exactly the same PC. Recording demos made it unplayable)

    Now, if a (then) five year old game was visibly destroying my PC in terms of framerate, it makes me wonder just how much performance steam saps for modern games, too. I've heard stories of the pirated version of HL2 (the one that runs sans-steam) running a decent amount better than the Steam version. I obviously can't quantify these claims, but I wouldn't be surprised if such a thing were to happen.

    I still don't like a few aspects of steam:

    A: It makes editing a lot more painful than it used to be. Running Hammer without steam was so much more simple than the situation we find ourselves in now. Everything is packed in .gcfs, you have to run steam to use hammer, the directory structure is a total and under TRAINWRECK when you have mod source files, texture source files, compile directories, sdk directories, sdk content directories and then all of the corresponding directories under /SteamApps/SourceMods/. I just about died of heart failure the first time I compiled a prop... nightmare.

    B: The ability to rectify mistakes relatively quickly has indirectly caused Valve's release QA to become absolutely shocking. Various updates were released where FUNDAMENTAL gameplay or technical issues have been overlooked, thus requiring an immediate update to fix the earlier one, and/or a recall of the original update. Anyone remember when they released a fairly big update that was recalled? Trouble is that instead of allowing you to roll back, they just deleted your CS .gcf for you. That was really helpful.

    I guess Valve are pioneers in this sense, and for that I do applaud their ingenuity, but I don't think they can deny that their push to Steam was motivated by money (especially considering the cyber cafe stuff) just as well as independence from publishers. Steam, in beta, was probably one of the worst pieces of software I've ever used. The UI wasn't even multithreaded, so the moment the steam servers were unresponsive, your system would hang. Steam could take your whole PC down! It was unbelievable. The trouble was that most of the teething issues were far from ironed out before HL2 was looming on the horizon, but they were hellbent on releasing HL2 via Steam rather than letting Steam reach maturity as a content delivery system before the release. The fact that one of steam's best features has been permanently broken for like two years is also ridiculous. When it worked, Friends was fantastic. I kept up with my mates and played a lot of games using it, then it just broke. Disappeared. Dead. Gone. No word, no nothing. One of the key features of Steam just disappeared off the radar and nobody said anything about it. Even a simple "Friends is currently disabled and won't be returning until an announcement is made" message would've been better than nothing.

    Valve still has a lot to learn about actually satisfying the customer. Yeah, Steam does make updating and a lot of other stuff easier, but I can't really think of any other piece of software that has caused me so much grief both in gaming and modding. Like I said though, they are pioneers, so I guess a lot of hiccups are to be expected. If I were in their position, I probably would've done it, too. Who wouldn't want to guarantee the ability to make games and sell games on their own terms?

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    Quote

    Not as good, its as with the 3d view and radiant, I can say its as fast just moving your hand to the arrow and the kb and moving there, as it is using the wasd config...In reality, wsad is much better and faster, so is using the RMB to scroll the 2d map. Espec since the RMB dosen't do anything for most times.

    Hammer is super speedy for navigation in all ways that I require. Space + left mouse button scrolls, mousewheel zooms in and out and you can navigate the 3D view using WASD and/or left/right mouse button + space. I much prefer holding space & navigating with the mouse. I can't really think of a more intuitive way of navigating. Zooming in and out is a pain in the ass, especially if you just want to scroll a little.

  • Finding a mod team worth your while 101

    Quote from Hourences

    Well yeah, if your team is really big you need more than 1 leader but it must still strike a balance, the more leader crap the less friendly the environment imo, less group of friends feeling.In any way, after a while there will always be people in the team who put in more time or have more knowledge and who will kinda turn in lead or senior or whatever and who people know they can turn to if they got a problem or a question but Im kinda against putting that in font size 900 on your site "dude x is lead y"

    I agree in part, but just naming someone as a lead isn't necessarily a bad thing. Like I said, it means people immediately know who to turn to rather than having to work out the group dynamic. It may in turn infer seniority, but if the team is nice and friendly then the title itself isn't overbearing, nor is it an ego-trip. Obviously some people wear any title like a little sheriff's badge, but the majority won't (I hope!)

  • Finding a mod team worth your while 101

    It's about finding that balance between passion, fun and professionalism. FF now has 29 members, and we all get on with one-another famously. We've had our ups and downs, problem members (only two, both of which both left/were kicked) and disagreements about the way we work, but the fact is we're still here and we're still pushing on, making steady progress

    I don't think a formal NDA (at least in the traditional sense) is required, but people should always ask permission before releasing media. Whoever stated that marketing the mod is now as important as the mod itself was correct (it's unfortunate, I agree). Mod-making is a lot more prevalent these days, so you're competing with a large amount of other mods. If you just beaver away and don't release media, then no-one will be aware of your mod.

    Someone releasing their media when repeatedly asked to stop was the straw that broke the camel's back when we booted our first member many months ago (not to mention his horrible selfishness and inability to take constructive criticism on board). IMO it is FAR FAR FAR more important to have someone of slightly above average talent that is willing to learn, put the time in and remain loyal to the project than it is to get some hot-shot dipshit on board. We learned that the hard way with our first character modeler, but thankfully the damage was relatively light. In the meantime, rebo has evolved as a modeler over the last ~12 months with frightening pace, and we now have some excellent character models. Rebo is also an excellent team member when it comes to listening to constructive criticism and being motivated for the cause. He's the kind of member that many mod teams will overlook, and hire some guy that has a terrible personality and slightly more impressive models. Now we have the best of both worlds.

    I would also advise people to TALK TO THE PEOPLE YOU WANT TO RECRUIT. I can't stress that enough. The second person we kicked out seemed very professional and a decent team-worker via his emails, but the moment he started work for us it became clear we'd made a mistake. The dude was arrogant (repeatedly stated that he was lined up for a job at Rockstar, yeah right), his models weren't great (1.4k for a set of shelves.. I managed to make the exact same set in 880 tris and I'm a newb), he had problems understanding simple specifications / instructions and he got stroppy the moment you criticised his work. His emails were not at all indicative of the type of person he was. He seemed to think he was above us, despite the fact he was just hired as a prop modeler. The final straw came when I was trying to explain some obvious points about functionality when skinning (i.e. don't just randomly add detail, think about the purpose of the object and also think about where it'd be damaged / worn around the edges etc) and he basically acted in a condescending manner towards me. Bad idea. I've got better things to do with my time than be chastised by some wannabe pro that can't even get the basics down. Anyway, it was our own fault for not speaking to the guy at length before recruiting him, as we would've no doubt spotted some warning signs. I think I had about three weeks of stress before we finally punted him. It just goes to show how much of a disruptive force ill-fitting team members can be.

    As for the point about mods not requiring Lead titles, I disagree. Sometimes you need someone to take charge of a particular situation and perhaps put their foot down, or just provide guidance on an issue. If you have Lead titles, then people immediately know who they should turn to if they require advice or other information regarding their job. The project lead cannot handle everything, especially when it's a specialised subject. If your team is small, then it's probably not much of a problem as everybody knows their fellow peers very well. When you've got ~30 members, it becomes more necessary to have sub-management of most departments. E.g. if you have five modelers and three of them are spare to make some props, it makes sense to have the lead modeler assign tasks and keep track of each task's status and / or maintain a task queue so everything is organised and so forth. It's not about giving one's self some big-time Charlie wannabe title to seem important, it's purely a pragmatic thing (or at least it is for us). Obviously some people do just want to have a fancy title, but you can usually spot those people a mile off.

    Randomish post, more on mod management than joining a mod but yeah.

  • How could 'we' solve a problem like this?

    I've personally given out any/all of my HL source files to whoever wants them. I'm well enough known (at least in TFC circles) that anybody trying to rip me off would soon be caught out, so it's hardly a concern. Has anybody truthfully ever got away with stealing someone's (decent) work and claiming it as their own? As long as the work was in the public domain to start with, I can't see how it could be successfully done.

  • UT2 DM-Redkin

    Hmm is that ECE version an american thing? I say this because the UK versions I can find are 6CD or 1 DVD. I can't find any mention of Editor's Choice Edition. I fancy having a crack at learning UnrealEd in future, so it'd be nice to know if the UK DVD version has all this stuff on it.

  • Finding a mod team worth your while 101

    We may just have an opening for a level designer for FF soon, and obviously mapcore has some of the best talent so the chances are this is the place we'll be looking for recruits Stay tuned.

    Oh, and our second map texture artist has disappeared without a trace. What is it with those dudes? Someone gimme one!

  • What areas should I focus on as a game dev?

    Good thread, I'm facing similar problems myself. My games technology Uni course is basically all programming, but my passion is level design. I can't do both to a high standard, as I know that you have to throw yourself into programming to make it in the industry. I have more fun doing level design.

    I figure I may as well see my degree out (I do enjoy it) while focussing on level design & modeling in the mod world. Worst comes to worst, my level design isn't quite strong enough to land a job and my programming isn't good enough to get a games programming position, but I can still get a job with my degree somewhere making duck shooting games or doing other generic programming stuff. Best scenario: I get a job doing level design. I hope the latter happens, but you never can tell. After Fortress Forever is finished, I plan on joining a couple more mods with a view to proving I can be flexible (SP stuff and MP stuff) and reliable.