Posts by text_fish

Level Up! is perfect if you want to create a platformer for the PS2, but it doesn't offer much more tbh. I picked up the 2nd edition released this year and it seems nobody actually bothered to sense-check it because it's full of references to ideas that don't get introduced for several pages. First edition might be better, but this one was a mess and very limited in scope.

I'd recommend A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster for a more broad but insightful look at game design that introduces many ideas that are applicable to all sorts of genres and platforms.

A Game Design Vocabulary by Anna Antropy and Naomi Clark is a really interesting read (especially the first half by Antropy) for more abstract contemporary ideas, but it can feel a bit pretentious at times, and like Scott Rogers it can get a bit "narrow".

As mentioned by many other players, my main problem in tonight's playtest was the zigzaggy routes. Obviously the worst one is between T-Spawn and bombsite A. Most of the time spent in this section of the map is purely travel rather than combat, so it feels frustrating having to strafe or turn all the time just to get to the action. You could quite easily make this section in to a straight diagonal without running the risk of it becoming a snipe-fest because the T's will have cleared the distance before CT's can take position at the other end, and it's very rare that the action will return there later in a round.

On the route from T-Spawn to B I think a banana-style shape would make combat much more interesting in the outside area with the crates. This would encourage creative smoking and flashing to advance rather than peeking and pot-luck.

Mid works very well as it is, but thematically speaking it's a bit weird to have those giant containers in there.

I realise I'm not allowed to say Quake, but ... Quake. After playing for so many years I've sort of "filled in the gaps" in its narrative and these days it feels to me like a perfectly consistent universe.

But I'd also like to second Morrowind, Beyond Good and Evil and System Shock 2 as they all excel in both world and character design. Oh and pre-telltale Monkey Island.

I'll admit that most of what you said there goes way over my head Alex, but your last statement makes even less sense to me. Modern PC games that run 1080p also have to cater to older graphics APIs, so if backwards compatibility isn't an issue on the most hardware diverse platform, surely it shouldn't be too difficult to build consoles with the same versatility.

It is looking awesome, although the mud could do with a bit of dirtying up a bit, either darken it or add more leafy debris and maybe some muddier puddles? Also, the hut in the fifth screenshot looks a bit GoldSrc at the moment -- adding window trims or reducing the thickness of the walls might remedy this. Overall though, excellent progress and a refreshingly bright take on the jungle look.

As somebody who only ever plays games on PC I find it hilarious and absurd that this is even a thing that's being discussed.

I'd say game-play definitely trumps graphics every time, although in many cases graphical fidelity can have a dramatic effect upon gameplay -- in this case resolution effecting FOV and UI in certain types of game.

I would also say that gameplay trumps story, largely because I'm literate enough to read novels written by master storytellers writing in a medium that affords them sole authorship of the end product -- whereas game stories are normally ham-strung by factors such as budget, gameplay continuity, running time etc. Basically, because I want to have the best of both worlds, I will always play games for gameplay and read books (or sometimes watch films/tv) for story.

Can't wait to watch some Overpass with caster analysis.

Also, I can't unsee a misaligned texture on the front of the casters' desk. D:

[Blocked Image: http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a155/text_fish/ESLONE_Casters_zps26563227.jpg]

I like the wibbly-wobbly floorboards when grenades go off! Other than that, I agree that the gameplay doesn't look like much to write home about.

I'm also not sold on the side-by-side TV series thing they're planning (I presume that's still happening anyway). Remedy's games have always had horribly cheesy storylines, scripting and acting but it's forgivable when you only have to sit through a short segment to get to the next bit of gameplay -- I could never watch an entire episode of it, let alone a series.

CS:GO was originally intended to be a essentially an updated version of CS:S for consoles, so if they'd have called it CS2 there would have been an outcry from PC gamers. I guess by the time it evolved back in to a more PC-centric game the name CS:GO had stuck?

Quote from Insane

We are also working on a separate project that uses a newer version of our in-house engine (Spark). I actually have it running right now!

Cool! When do we get to see it?

It's true (and a shame!) that you hardly ever see "signatures" or secret credit rooms in maps these days. In the case of the latter I guess Valve kinda nerfed it with their changes to spectator view?

Yeah I thought it was a Ted original as well.

I think Brute made Tuscan?

So after developing their own in-house engine for NS2 how come they're using Unity for the new thing?

I just changed my vote from Source to UE4 to even things out even more BTW.

Hmmmm. I would like to make a small DM map for UT. Would be a good incentive for me to learn the tools.

Thanks Vaya, I re-installed from a backup so validating the data's probably a good shout!

Those screenshots look more like a dynamic lighting problem than anything else to me. Do you have your light_directional, light_env, env_sun and shadow_control entities all set up correctly (or whatever their defaults are, for the sake of testing)?

My default params for $light_exe are -game $gamedir $path$file

El_Exodus, unfortunately there are no default night skyboxes shipped with CS:GO, so the entity settings aren't well documented. Try giving the light_env a silvery blue colour and a low brightness like 15 or 20 maybe? If your map is set in a built up area you'll want to do most of the lighting with point lights anyway I guess. If you do some googling you should be able to find some nighttime skyboxes, maybe from fpsbanana or somewhere like that. If you can't find the perfect one at least it'll be useful as a placeholder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlWYT7cq_p8&feature=youtu.be

Never come across that before Vaya, sorry. I guess you haven't been fiddling with the advance compile settings or anything? Anything you may have accidentally deleted from the params? Have you tried just changing the settings to see if it's any different? Oh and I guess the obvious question -- you don't have any leaks do you?

Now for my question!

So I got my first SSD the other day and I bloody love it! Did a complete and long overdue re-installation of windows etc. etc.

I've installed CS:GO and the SDK on the SSD because I use it so frequently.

Now, when CS:GO has to restart a map because I've run "nav_analyze" or "buildcubemaps", the loading bar fills up as if the map's about to reload but then I'm dropped to desktop. Does anyone else get this?

The only (possibly far fetched) explanation I could come up with is that it's something about how the SSD handles overwrites of the old nav or cubemap files?

Sooouuuuuuurce.

Personally, I favour well rounded competitions that draw on design skills as well as technical and artistic skills. Using an engine that doesn't have a particular game associated with it such as Unity or UE4 (maybe I'm talking out of my arse here though?) seems prohibitive to any element of gameplay design in the competition.

I think a CS:GO arms race or demolition map making challenge would be a great way for people to exhibit multiple skills.

26 bombsites! Make it so.