Posts by Chimeray

  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

    Just bought the game and gonna play later this evening.

    So... Which mods do I need for better graphics? Been checking out some collections, probably just gonna pick a few and see how it goes.

    I don't want anything that breaks the feel off vanilla though.

  • Dishonored

    Looks cool but I really don't like the way the character moves around...

    I don't know, there's something weird about how he traverses the environment without actually "climbing", and dropping down from everything in the way that he does... Looks a bit oldskool, only thing that's missing is a double jump

    I like it more when there's weight behind the movement, hand-planting, etc. Not digging the cartoony style of that.

    Enemies also don't really seem like a threat as a result? Blowing them away and such, I like it more when there's some struggle

    Still high on my list though!

  • Level Design Help Files

    Hi folks! I'm looking for a website that has building references, not in the visual sense but structurally speaking... what different types of buildings consist of. A cross section if you will... For instance in a supermarket you have the shopping area (duh) but then what most people don't see unless you work there is the cooling areas, where they collect and store supplies, etc. An office building has ventilation maintenance thingies and other kinds of stuff you usually don't come in contact with...

    I had a book when I was a kid that I found very interesting but that was more about exotic structures like a spaceship, submarine, etc...

    The reason I'm asking this is because this is, at least for me, very valuable information. I mean, how many of you have been in a nuclear plant or even less special places and know what's behind that door, behind the scenes?

    Definitely would be helpful for level designers. Not necessarily in the sense that we can make better authentic places (although important) but rather just to have more stuff to work with.

    Knowledge is power!

  • jesus christ this is awesome

    Quote

    They originally had no plans to return to the spot, but the spike in interest from the public has led them to begin planning a return trip.

    So they found a mysterious object, possibly a UFO, that causes electronic equipment to fail... And they don't wanna go back?

    Oh but now there's publicity and they plan on going back?

    C'mon, this smells fishy. They probably were exaggerating or lying their asses off...

    EDIT: Oh, seems like they didn't know about the electronic equipement failure back then... Alright.

  • DayZ Mod for ARMA II

    I think the strafing is just a bit unfair, gameplay needs to be somewhat predictable to be fun. Cause and effect. I need to know where I'm supposed to aim to avert the danger. Now I'm just waiting until they start hitting me otherwise I just end up wasting ammo, at least for those crazy runner types.

  • Blade Runner 2049

    Quote from Mazy

    In my defense... : I've seen a whole lot of philosophical/mindfuck/scifi movies (ghost in the shell, vanilla sky, gattaca ...). Perhaps it's because of that but it takes a lot for me to be impressed by the story now. I just found the acting weird, story/screenplay quite bland. The visuals were so dated by then that not much was in store in that department either. So yeah, forgot pretty much everything of that movie already. I only remember stuff that was really out of place, like that blonde girl... WTF? 8| Guess those kind of things were what destroyed it most for me, they sorta pushed in some B movie crap. (Did I watch the wrong cut or something?)

    There's some interesting things, for sure... but I found the execution to be so very flawed that I've found it hard to be memorable. It was still enjoyable though, perhaps even "good" but I just remember it as mediocre.

    Too bad I suppose, should've seen it when it was hot. Would probably have adored it You can only explore the same concepts so much before they stop tickling your senses... Even if you got the order of origin wrong.

    So I just take people's word for it that this is the movie that inspired a whole range of movies that touch upon the same concepts. Given the time of release it's not difficult to imagine it being ahead of it's time.

  • What are you playing now?

    Just finished MGS4... mind blown... Finally closure to this clusterfuck! It's everything I was hoping it to be, even though it's really, really heavy on the cutscenes... But at times I don't even realize I'm watching them cos it's so intriguing. And gameplay from basically every MGS out there 8| I don't understand how they were able to afford all of this, it's insane.

    Started playing at the end of April (after finishing MGS3 from the HD pack) but stopped after 2 hours cos I wasn't really sucked into it.

    Quote

    I disliked the rebels/terrorists whatever and getting dropped in a middle eastern warzone.

    Was too much of a difference for me to handle, but boy do I wish I stuck with it cos it gets better + nostalgia WTF!!! Hideo really threw in some goodies for the ones that grew up with the series

    Guess no game will ever do that again, what series hauls so much baggage with it? Paid off though, oh yes. And now it's over

    On a sidenote, they use a shitload of Deus Ex Machina's though. You sometimes just have to keep an eye shut

  • Blade Runner 2049

    After seeing Prometheus I'm pretty confident the sequel to Blade Runner will have the same quality as the original

    It depends on what you're looking for I suppose. Blade Runner now is nothing special, all the things I saw in that movie were done better elsewhere. To me it doesn't matter that most of those were probably influenced by Blade Runner. Guess I should've seen it back in the day (saw it a couple of months ago)... I did, however, acknowledge that back in the day it must've been sensational.

    If you're looking for an inspirational successor, leaps ahead like the original was (back then). Then I don't think this sequel will be like that at all... It won't set any standards.

    So in essence it depends on what you're expecting... The kind of quality of what Blade Runner is now... or was.

    Does that make sense? So yeah, for me it doesn't really matter that much. I feel like this movie will deliver the same lackluster experience like Blade Runner (now) and Prometheus, definitely not expecting it to have the same impact as it did decades back.

  • DayZ Mod for ARMA II

    The new patch ruined it for me (before the hotfix, so I assume it's semi-fixed now with 1.7.0.1 )

    Had all "gadgets", super cool camo sniper suit, shotgun, bloodpacks, you name it. But the zombies, QQ... They spotted me from a km away and I soon found myself out of ammo.

    I also blew myself up with a frag grenade and had 28 hp left (no shit). Then it was a slow struggle until the zeds finally got to me.

    Oh well, good times. Perhaps I should revisit my tent up in the hills but it's probably already been raided... there were like 4 tents nearby. xD Seems like everyone goes to the far north, left of the dam Finding a good spot is really hard, saw something in the patchnotes that it's easier to place it now? Good!

  • map project from concept art

    The goal is never to make a detailed blueprint, at least for me, I think in blocks, structure.

    You marked the overall structure of the map quite well but detailed the town a little too much I think. It all depends on the stuff in your head though. If you've got no specific ideas then structuring a town on paper is a good exercise to get the creative juices flowing. Don't rely on it too much though cos it'll likely change quite a lot once it's in 3D.

    Therefore I usually never detail every street/house more than neccesary cos it ends up being a waste of time. But like I said, if the idea was not yet in your head then drawing often helps you get ideas and visualize it.

    On a random sidenote, sometimes I add moodboards to different areas, not always neccesary though.

    I usually mark/scribble way more on the map than you do, I see almost no gameplay. But perhaps that's only because it's not for a specific game?

    I'm thinking combat scenario's, progression (bridge that opens at a certain point in time for instance), puzzles, dragon here, ambush... That kind of stuff.

    I take it it's meant to be somewhat open world-ish since it's an RPG? Even if it is a semi-open game then they often block certain paths to the next areas by a certain progression element, a key is missing, a troop of orcs is blocking the end of the road and you can't pass it until you finished Quest X. These are structurally very important. Right now I see a very isolated map, not tied into the game as a whole. I see no start, no end.

    I also draw the player path if there is one, a sort of visual timeline so to speak. Depending on the structure of the game the player might have a quest that requires him to venture into this new area, towards the town for instance. That would be the start. The end is not marked either (going to the new area).

    Ask yourself if this is ready to be shown to other people, this is a tool for yourself but more often than not you'll have to share it at design meetings, show it to your art director, ...

    Is it missing key elements that are important for these parties?

    As far as the actual layout is concerned I notice the player will have to use the same roads quite a lot, so you better plan for some shortcuts/interesting transitions or the experience will become quite stale. All this feedback is from a level designers point of view though, not sure how far you'll want to go with the concept since you're not actually gonna create the gameplay.

    So it depends if you wanna treat it as a fictional "level" or rather as just an artsy area. Just my 2 cents