Posts by sven

  • GTA V

    Are those pictures meant to imply that GTA is racist? Because I'm pretty sure the missions involving the white protagonists did not involve helping elderly ladies cross the street.

  • Natural Selection 2 - Biodome

    I never mapped for NS2, so thanks for the explanation. 300 lights less just seemed a lot coming from Source. I haven't played NS2 in a while, but these recent updates sounds like a good reason to try it again. I find if very interesting to see how transparent Unknown Worlds is with the regular updates on the site  .

  • de_holland (WIP) + introduction

    After the previous play test, I made quite a few changes. Some things from the top of my head:


    CT's complained that the shortcut to B over containers took too many jumps -> so I made a ramp to turn 2/3 jumps into 1 smooth movement. Timing seems pretty much unaffected.


    Made the wind mill inaccessible to focus action to the other paths. Previously you could enter the wind mill and enter the tunnel system or snipe from the top.


    Removed all the tunnels (basically around 4 different paths). Only one tunnel now, and it is very short and straight forward (litterally).


    I removed the ramp that gave T's another way to A. Instead of this ramp and the tunnels, I added a more straight forward and visual route from T spawn to A and B, which is also slower and more exposed.


    Simplified the side route with the bunker. Flanking is still possible for both teams, but now maybe a bit more predictable.


    Improved the player clipping and and models a bit, though this is still all pretty much placeholder and WIP.

  • MapCore CS:GO Playtesting 3.0

    Like Vilham said, you can change things up, but people may not like surprises.


    I think (never done this, so I might well be wrong) you can restrict weapon choices, change reward money, etc. within a map. You can have 3 bombsites, or just 1. You can have hostages spawn randomly in one of a dozen locations, etc. As for having intentionally unbalanced players numbers; I think that might be difficult to have such a map in rotation on a server that uses auto-balance.


    I think the biggest variation between mainstream maps was between defuse maps and hostage maps. CT's are more or less on the defense on de_ maps, and T's could generally camp their base with cs_ maps. However, with the change in the hostage mechanics, cs_maps have become more like de_maps, because now on maps like cs_italy, the terrorists have to guard 2 quite distinct areas, much like CT's on de_ maps.


    Part of the fun of CS, at least for me, comes in coming up with tactics, and adapting those based on enemy play. On many classic CS maps, you can defend with an awp, rush with a smg, camp with a shotgun, run and gun, move stealthy, etc. If you spawn on a tower with a sniper rifle, while CT's try to rush your location, that tends to take away the choice of the player, which many people may not like.


    I liked cs_havana in CS:S, which had randomly changing routes, but it not very popular on servers. CS:GO supports custom game modes, and there is an example of a sniper vs T's with the map Rooftop Control, I have no idea how popular that is online.

  • cs_compound

    Some feedback from the playtest: I think the addition of the tunnels and the outside route make the map a bit more boring than it should be, at least on smaller servers. In the playtest, when I was CT i could easily just go right in the tunnel and not encounter anyone,except maybe at the hostage hut. Its been a while since I played the CSS version, but I think a large part of the appeal of Compound was that you had to some how storm/sneak into the main building.

  • [CS:GO] de_sake worklog by MrSkellyBones

    You can add the playerclips as late as you want, just make sure you do the basics before you begin testing with other human players.


    As for tactics/layout: you might know where everything is, and that route X will become very narrow after three turns, but when a public server runs your map for the first time, people are not going to put that much thought in it. You can easily have 5 man go that route, just because they are following each other. If they run into one of the many chokepoints, that might be problematic, especially since the server may have player collision turned on. Try to make your map play well in several scenario's. On the one side of the spectrum there is 5v5 competitive with people who know your map and made strategies for it (if you are interested in making a competitive map), and on the other hand you might have 16vs16 noobs who have never seen your map before.

  • cs_compound

    It's been a while since i played the CSS version, but this versions looks like the map i remember . Love the lighting and texturing outside.


    Some things i noticed:


    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/RgEzyS5h.jpg?1]


    I could jump on some kind of ridge or these pallets, outside CT spawn. However, I could not jump on them, even though it really looked like I should be able to jump on there. Since this looks like a quick route from CT spawn, you could perhaps change it so that it is jumpable, or change it so that it doesn't look like you can jump on it (add heigth or something).


    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/OIa5sP7h.jpg?1]


    In this "silo/tower" building, I could hear an soundscape that sounded like some gas or steam exhausting or flowing, even there are no pipes to be seen. It sounded like it was coming from thin air, which felt weird. You can try changing the soundscape, or adding some fitting prop (steampipes, etc.)


    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/FAWHDWVh.jpg?1]


    These windows at CT spawn have weird greyish edges. They all have it, even though the windows themselves don't really show anything that might explain it. Am I missing something here? Not sure how you can fix this.


    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/RA2y6Xzh.jpg?1]


    This little hill leading to the ledge looks like an appealing side route, but the ledge is in accessible. You can consider moving the fence closer to the hill, so it is more obvious that the ledge is not accessible.


    There is also a weirdly stretched texture there on the ledge: http://i.imgur.com/tXayEFAh.jpg , which you should be able to fix with the face texture tools.

  • [CS:GO] de_sake worklog by MrSkellyBones

    Layout looks okay, but those indoor corridors/ramps seem very narrow. That might be okay for one exotic route, but not really if you want several people rushing through there at once. Also, make sure you use playerclip brushes to make sure that players dont het stuck in your support beams and such.

  • Tech Support

    overclock.net forums has the Dust Brothers thread. It will give you an idea of how dusty a computer can get.


    Some gems:


    [Blocked Image: http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/7459/dsc00374pm.jpg]


    [Blocked Image: http://i469.photobucket.com/albums/rr57/brob127498/IMG_2512.jpg]


    [Blocked Image: http://cdn.overclock.net/c/c0/900x900px-LL-c0fb6485_Photo0939_zps799413e2.jpeg]


    EDIT: most newer mid end gpu's are pretty capable of running current games on 1920*1080. More than 1GB of video RAM is not very important unless you are running a resolution higher than 1920*1080/1200, multiple monitors, or using very high texture pack mods.


    You could check out reviews for the AMD 7790 and Nvidia 650 Ti Boost, or go up a level to the 7850 or 660, which are probably significantly better.

  • Oculus Rift

    Quote from csyver

    [Blocked Image: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m926ynPzP31qhex74o1_500.jpg]

    VR from late 80's/early 90's


    That thing is from 1992, cost $60,000, had about 4 games, weighed a ton, and showed you this:


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L60wgPuuDpE


    Looks to be non-3D, no wide fov, low frame rate.


    Soon, you will be able to get the Virtuix Omni and the Oculus Rift for around $750 (on top of your which shows you the latest next gem games in 60 fps, 3d, wide fov, on a 350 gram headset.

  • DOTA 2

    I am by no means a super great player, but I have played quite a few hours of Dota 2. If anyone wants some help or coaching, feel free to send me a private message with your steam name or something. I think Dota really rewards experience and knowledge, so tips from someone who knows about most (i think) aspects of Dota might give you a better start than I had (learning from scratch).


    In the earliest beginning, there is something to be said for sticking to one or two or three heroes (like Lich, Dragon Knight, Tidehunter, Lion, Viper), so you can focus on the general aspects of the game (farming, creep flow, ganking, vision, etc.) instead of having to focus on "what the hell do my skills do?" and "what items should I get on this hero?".


    Re: Terrible UI, other moba's: I have never played the original Dota, nor League of Legends, nor HoN, though I have seen some gameplay videos from all of the above. I think that if you haven't played those other games, you might not miss some of those features. For example, the last hit/deny counter is plenty big for me. It doesn't matter that much (you can generally tell how well you are doing by looking at your gold, level, items, etc.) so the numbers do not need to be in your face imho.

    Regarding the names of the heroes being cut off during grid view pick phase: yes, that is silly and should definitely be fixed, though I never noticed.


    Controls: I play with WASD to control the camera. Years of playing FPS make that feel very natural for me. Downside: you lose 4 hotkeys that you could otherwise use for skills or items. Upside: you can always keep your cursor on a creep you want to last hit, or the enemy you want to target, even while moving the camera. And you can always use edge-pan anyway if you want to in a certain situation.


    Items: there are quite a few items, but generally every item has a pretty specific place in the game, depending on type of hero (support/carry/ganker/etc,, ranged/melee), stage of the game (early/late), etc. When you play different heroes, you will experience what items are good in different situations.

  • de_minaret WIP

    While the general theme might feel a bit too much like dust/dust2 to me, the gameplay and lighting are different enough to appeal for me . I like the overpass/ramp area mid.


    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/YpfMuJa.jpg]


    The left route from T spawn to B annoyed me a bit, since it involves doubling back over those ramps. You have to run quite a bit to get there, then you go on the ramp, basically run back, then do a 180 and run to B. This might be due to timing/balance, but maybe there is a better way to achieve that. Also, that opening to mid (seen on the right of the above image) is a bit to subtle, especially compared to that left ramp to B. On the one hand having a very noticeable and a less noticeable route is not a bad thing, but if you want you can draw more attention by adding props, signs, and/or lights.