Posts by Serenius

  • What are you playing now?

    Just finished Bulletstorm last night. GOTY contender for me. Serrano is one of the greatest bad guys in recent gaming history. You hate him so much, but can't help but love the wonderful lines he constantly belts out.

    "I've poured myself a Scotch and I'm VIOLENTLY fiddling with my balls in anticipation of your arrival!"

    "Quit your cryin', sushi-dick!" (to the Japanese character)

  • MapCore Challenge Discussion

    Quote from KungFuSquirrel

    So, quick update: We just wrapped up the Cube Challenge, as many of you may have noticed. Participation was a bit down from the 20-Brush Challenge, but we still had some good entries and I think the voting situation has been greatly improved from last time.I'm curious to get as much feedback as I can on how these couple challenges have gone so that the next one(s) can also be improved. What thoughts do you have? Do you also think the voting was improved from last time? Was the time between challenges ok, or did you not enter this one because you felt it was too soon? Was the schedule adequate? Are the Twitter reminders useful or do they cross the line into annoying? How much time is appropriate before rolling out the next one?

    Participation: Was likely down due to this time a year being busier for most people in general in addition to being a more demanding competition in terms of effort and time investment to get a finished product. I didn't participate because I'm trying to hold myself to a self-imposed deadline on a personal project.

    Voting: More time to vote would be good. I liked only having one category to vote in, though I think most will still vote based on visuals than anything else.

    Schedule: Time to build seemed adequate for this kind of competition.

    Twitter updates: Just right. Not too much, not too little.

    Time until next competition: 4-6 weeks sounds good.

  • What are you playing now?

    Agree with you on Alan Wake, Thrik. However, if you play it through on hard your first time in, it's comes across as a scary game since those baddies don't have to work nearly as hard to kill you.

    Got back to Bulletstorm's campaign, which is essentially one giant comedy of errors. Just simply terrific execution on all fronts. The midway point in the game puts most modern game finales to shame. Can't wait to see how they wrap this up.

  • Crysis 2

    Quote from Sentura

    lol this would actually had been good if you hadn't noticed the controller. "this game is so good my desk is vibrating"

    If you have a powerful enough sub, it totally could with all the quakes and splosions.

  • space corridor

    Quote from Pomperi

    jaboo: Thanks man! Not 100% about the blue light. It gives a nice contrast, but it kind of gives the impression of being outdoors skylight caused by the atmosphere, which is a bit since it's in space and there are no windows.

    I don't get the outdoors vibe at all from the picture he posted. I get the "where is the Xenomorph that wants to eat my face hiding?" vibe from it.

  • Unreal Engine 3.9

    Quote from SamCom

    UT3 has the same thing in the stock maps, hundreds of small point lights everywhere. Is that to simulate ambient/bounce lighting?

    Yup. There are...easier ways to do it though. Honestly, half the time I've messed around with any of them, there's barely any difference. Like the leaves on a tree are just...a slight...bit...greener. A wall is just...slightly...browner. Never really understood the point of having 2000 light actors do the same job you can pull off with 250-500 when the effect is almost unnoticeable.

  • Crysis 2

    I love, love, LOVE the changes made to the Nanosuit and the overall game play.

    So strength and speed mode have been removed as an active selection. They passively come into play when you:

    • [*:1jmk7wu7]Sprint with the shift key (speed)
      [*:1jmk7wu7]Pick up an object/person and hold the fire button down to throw it long distances (strength)
      [*:1jmk7wu7]Hold the spacebar to make big leaps (strength)
      [*:1jmk7wu7]Hold the 'v' key down to do a power kick on enemies/cars/doors/etc.(strength)

    Armor mode pretty much turns you into a walking tank, with super damage reduction and slows you down considerably while active (and rapidly drains energy).

    Stealth largely functions the same, but the power drain is lower when standing still, and a lot more severe when moving any faster than a crouch.

    Going prone appears to be gone, but crouch is toggle on/off now, so I don't miss it too much.

    Lean appears to have been removed, but a coverlink mechanic of some sort has been added that allows you to poke over/around cover in a similar manner.

    Pros:

    • [*:1jmk7wu7]Graphics - more stylized than realistic, but incredibly detailed set pieces, and insanely beautiful lighting and post-process effects. Runs way better than Crysis 1, even on max settings.
      [*:1jmk7wu7]Much less cumbersome controls for the Nanosuit, making switching tactics on the fly a much smoother process
      [*:1jmk7wu7]Level design - slightly more linear, but combat arenas are still wide open with many options for approaching each situation (some of which are pointed out by the binoculars when you scan the area)
      [*:1jmk7wu7]Human AI thus far executes very well - communicating with each other (enemy position, announcing when they see you change to armor/cloak, etc.), search and destroy patterns, moving around the battlefield to flank/surprise you, etc.

    Cons:

    • [*:1jmk7wu7]AI gets hung up on geometry, bouncing back and forth spamming "Huh?"/"What was that?" pretty often.
      [*:1jmk7wu7]A surprising amount of cover lacks the new coverlinks that let you peer over/around them
      [*:1jmk7wu7]Any sprinting at all being tied to speed mode hurts when you're out of energy and can only run at normal speed to safety. A slower sprint would have been nice here.

    Overall, fantastic job, guys!

  • Unreal Engine 3.9

    Yeah, GoW1 has some really weird lighting schemes. 40%-50% desaturation, cranked up mid-tones, and a bajillion point lights that turn into a giant brown and gray washed out mess most of the time.

    It's actually quite pretty when you turn off the desaturation and looks more like the much improved lighting in GoW2. Must have been an art direction thing.

  • Crysis 2

    From IGN:

    Quote

    Crysis 2 on Xbox 360 has taken the crown for best graphics in a console game. It's well animated and the effects are great, but light is always the star of the show.

    While I had little doubt after playing the PC version of the original, that's really saying something to steal the crown from God of War 3.