Posts by FMPONE

  • [HL2:EP2] FusionVille release

    So I got a chance to play Wake Up and Run, and I had some thoughts:

    Overall, really cool idea to focus the player on escape. Considering Half-Life games have always been about forward momentum, you aren't making a huge sacrifice by stripping away some of the other parts of the game to draw emphasis here.

    1. Needs better lighting along objectives. If we're trying to direct the player somewhere, we want to show them the path with lighting. You can talk about how lighting was needed in virtually every segment of the experience - when you're leaving the apartments, when you're trying to find the exits of the apartments, when you're on the rooftop and looking for the gear (which isn't highlighted with lighting), etc etc etc. There is a big need for emphasis lighting.

    2. The door puzzle at the end, this isn't much of a puzzle because it's not utilizing any directional turning and the altered states aren't very clear. By positioning the turrets at one end of the room, you're communicating to players that in order to solve the puzzle, they have to get to the other side of the room beyond the turrets somehow. This is standard puzzle design, which is basically: "lead players into a corridor with an objective in the center, and a puzzle element at the far end of the corridor that they have to figure out relates to the puzzle element in the center."

    It's kind of an M shape where the middle portion is the end, and the far part of the M is an area where players are lead -- to grab a gear for instance -- but doesn't ultimately signal the exit of the puzzle. So, your first "puzzle" meets that format, but the second puts the exit and the solution in the same general area, and thus is quite confusing, because the assumption is that beyond the turrets is where players really need to go. So, I would say make that format change, put the button console where the turrets are and ask players to go over there somehow in order to open the door.

    As it is, I didn't realize that turning off the lights closed the door, and it's not clear why those two things would be connected and what matters there. This part of the experience felt pretty strange.

    3. The actual ending is interesting, but you miss a few ways to signal that the cinematic climax is to jump through the glass: no highlighting on the window, no obvious "carrot" outside the window, most players will figure they're committing suicide by jumping out of the window, but with nowhere else to go, they may do as I did and jump anyway. That's kind of anti-climactic. Better to make the glass a really obvious, well-highlighted "carrot" that is locked by the glass, then when the enemy shatters the glass have an obvious sound-queue that leads players back to the glass. Have some health packs near the glass at the start, etc etc.

    Overall the premise of your level was cool, but it needed a fair bit of polish to push it over the finish line for me. Hope this is helpful @leplubodeslapin!

    edit: actually, showing players the "end" at the "start" of your mod would be a good way to reinforce that the other side of the glass is your objective for the mission.

  • Nintendo Switch

    Hearing you guys say Mario is the better game is reassuring. Yes, Zelda is very good, maybe even a masterpiece, but Mario Odyssey really staggered me in a way that few games ever have. (Mario 64 is still better, however, but that's another topic... and the designers on Mario Odyssey seem to know it and virtually admit it too, by mining that sweet, sweet nostalgia...)

    Like, on paper I can certainly see the argument that Zelda is the better game and maybe even one of the best games ever. However I just like Mario a lot more. There's a good deal more affection there and the core gameplay loop is a fair bit more satisfying/less frustrating. Zelda is fucking difficult, it doesn't feel like they balanced well for difficulty at all, but then again that is part of the charm and affection, it's a challenging adventure.

    Speaking of Zelda, I love the way it goes into almost 1980's Zelda vibes. There is a deliberate lumbering clunkiness in the way Link walks that is hilariously reminiscent of his sprite movements in the old NES games. It really feels like one of the NES games brought to life, the art style is Eastern and Western at the same time, and the difficulty curve is certainly there. There is that sense of grass growing out of the stone where the sword is placed, just some magic there on the art direction that really feels old school in some way.

    I noticed the 1980's nostalgia in levels like New Donk City as well, whereas Mario used to be this very heavy-handed Italian parody, and New Donk City has dudes in Zoot Suits and the whole 1920s nostalgia that both borrow from. It seems like Nintendo understands their own games' aesthetics very very well, on a deep level that is second nature and also carefully thought out. When they apply shaders to their surfaces, they seem to really bring out that magic and life that is so wonderful in Nintendo games, the shader-magic on the Switch seems to be very, very real and heavily researched for stylistic effect.

    Anyway you split it, two outstanding games.

    Quote from Mazy

    3 hours ago, Mazy said: Love the Switch! Over the last year I've probably spent 90% of all my gaming time on the Switch, and primarily in handheld mode. Apart from the usual world class first party games then I've been catching up with a lot of indie games that I never got around to playing on other platforms. Only problem is that it's made me so lazy that I can't be bothered to sit up and play PC/Console games anymore :D

    Can totally relate to this. If I was a pure gamer and not making anything, I doubt I'd play much PC for a while until I had finished my Nintendo first-party titles. Donkey Kong looks like another straight fucking banger, too. This is about as good as gaming can get, and everyone in the industry has got to pay respects and attention to this madness. Best console launch since the Nintendo 64 IMO. Imagine a new Smash Brothers on top of all this, good God...

    Got to say, Nintendo + Netflix completely own my living room space right now, and it will be a tall order for anyone else in the biz to replace them.

  • Nintendo Switch

    Finally playing Zelda. Really strong core gameplay loops.

    The controls are really overwhelming and a bit confusing, but I think I’m finally getting the hang of them. So much fun and freedom. I used all my apples climbing up a mountain, only to be really rewarded for it! Feels great, such a cool experience.

  • Mapcore Introductions Thread

    Quote from FRAG

    4 hours ago, FRAG said: Hello folks!

    Thought I'd introduce myself as I've not been around for a while, I'm FRAG I'm a level designer for Operation Black Mesa & I'm also a Technical Demonstrator at Plymouth College of Art where I cover Level Design and Unreal Engine 4. I've also made my way onto the Discord but I'm hoping to become active around here again.


    So howdy o/

    Welcome!

  • Mapcore's CS:GO Mapping Contest 2017

    Quote from hamilton5

    1 hour ago, hamilton5 said: so... Jan 11 midnight *facepalm*


    how can you say a date AND midnight!?

    All of the entrants were contacted privately and publicly to ensure that the rules were 100% clear. No one was confused about the timing of this, because we made it clear.

    Entrants were not to update their map starting on January 11th. The rules were clear, and they're going to be enforced.

  • Tangerine

    Unfortunately, this entry has been disqualified.

    As mentioned privately and publicly, we will be following our rules -- to the letter -- in order to ensure a fair contest for everyone. It's deeply saddening that this came down to a matter of minutes, however we couldn't have been any more clear about our policy on updating maps after the deadline.

  • Mapcore FACEIT Hubs

    Quote from blackdog

    4 minutes ago, blackdog said: It looked like there were other people in the hub, I assumed they were already playing and I was waiting for more to fill.

    I was very puzzled by the competitive match that appeared, maybe a glitch? It appeared when I tried to select a different map group.

    I understand your confusion, the UI could be more clear.

    The number I've highlighted in red is x/10. So, in this example 3/10. You need 10 for the HUB queue to pop. We will typically only be able to reach that number when the chat is active, the HUBs are being promoted, etc. It would be nice one day to grow the HUB to the extent that this is routinely happening, but they are new and we will need to work on building a sustainable audience.

    You click play, and you are added to that x/10 number and alerted when it's time to accept the game.

  • Mapcore FACEIT Hubs

    Quote from blackdog

    17 minutes ago, blackdog said: How is this hub thing supposed to work? Does it launch CS when a game is ready?

    After 15 min I started CS, and after a game or two when I went out to change map group, I was prompted this:

    The content cannot be displayed because it is no longer available. The content cannot be displayed because it is no longer available.

    and would just never work. Since I was trying to play casual I guess I was queuing in Faceit? Why was giving an error all the time?

    i'm not sure I understand?

    The way it works is you do everything on FACEIT, you play with 9 other individuals and you all vote on which server location and map you will use, and then the FACEIT hub spits out a server IP that you connect to. It's not something you can do on your own. It's like matchmaking in that you have to wait for 9 other users to agree to play. Our HUB will most likely only be busy during those days when we clearly specific that an event is going on, here or on Twitter.

  • Mapcore FACEIT Hubs

    Quote from blackdog

    1 hour ago, blackdog said: Anybody playing tonight?

    I just registered but is not a great moment to see if it all works. Also from what I understand and read in the chat seems like there's few people playing?

    [Blocked Image: https://twitter.com/FACEIT/status/951121459908296704] I'll be playing Grind and Breach in the hubs tonight. We need to work on maintaining a stable population of players with our events, this is only the beginning of course.

    The reality with our HUB is that we're going to need people to work really hard to prove that this idea is viable. We need people contributing to the growth of the HUBs, and working toward that goal. It's not going to happen if we all sit on the sidelines. We may reconfigure the HUBs to be a once-a-month thing if that's what it takes to have tent-pole events that lead to long term growth and engagement.

  • [HL2:EP2] FusionVille release

    Yeah, I got a chance to play A Hero Once More and Shadow of Ravensmouth, surprised by both frankly! and the quality they offer. Great stuff.

    A ton of originality in having the mortar system in AHOM. That one felt very well paced and the progressions and variety it offered were extremely satisfying. I really like the occult elements of Shadow of Ravensmouth, the ammo scarcity made the village part really fun. Curious to try the rest of the offerings.

  • Mapcore FACEIT Hubs

    It's great that we can all see the potential here!

    We need a "Master of Ceremonies" for our Hub, who can keep the queus active throughout the week, plan events with new custom maps, and generally put the effort into this idea that it deserves. Hard work here would easily translate into a Staff role on our Staff committee, but big picture, it's an important part of our ecosystem moving forward.

    So the question is, is someone willing to step up and put a lot of effort here? Your effort will be matched by promotional efforts from Mapcore, FACEIT, and we will be putting real resources here.

    Thank you for any serious volunteers.

    ----------------------

    Current Volunteers:

    @CSGOJOHNMADDEN

    @JimWood

    @Nors3

  • RTSL HL2 2018 mapping competitions

    Quote from blackdog

    2 hours ago, blackdog said: Philip at Run Think Shoot Live has been super organised and published already a calendar of the mapping competitions RTSL will run this year:

    https://www.runthinkshootlive.com/calendar/

    on top of the classic HL2 maps, this time called Lambda Cup, there will be one for Black Mesa HL2 remake, Mesa Cup, and other special events.

    Get your Hammer ready ;)

    It would be fun to team up with him for one of these events, cross Mapcore and RTSL, maybe throw in some nice prizes. Would also be fun to actually participate in one of these, as well.