Posts by Lizard

Quote from JorisCeoen

On 2/23/2021 at 8:21 AM, JorisCeoen said: Pretty amazing, once again... I think the overall atmosphere and theme are great! Perhaps if I were to say one thing, the motel looks like the only area that's most 'slapped together' (so to speak). The overall idea is nice, but it currently looks too clean and misses some fine detail compared to the rest of the map. There's something about those big pillars that should be more worn in my opinion. I really love the quarry, however, probably my favorite part of the map!

Congratulations on your release, and I don't doubt this will already be included in the next operation ?

Motel is my plan to induce small nostalgia trip for some players. I talked with Soctom if he was ok with us using his old map as a base for our location and he said 'sure'. The challenge here was to take a map that was made in 2013 and somehow recreate entire thing with present quality standards while also maintaining detail level of a DZ map. I knew there needs to be some trade offs when it comes to quality as well as geometry itself. I didn't want to take the original and put it in our map so I had to pick only few of the key elements and make them do the heavy lifting. Thanks!

Quote from ┌HP┘

27 minutes ago, ┌HP┘ said: Astonishing!

Quote from leplubodeslapin

35 minutes ago, leplubodeslapin said: WOW this is so good !!! Is there somewhere I can play on it ?

The trailer is a real beauty !

Quote from Kokopelli

52 minutes ago, Kokopelli said: This map looks like straight fire. Absolutely brilliant work! It has SO much character and all the environments feel so fresh.

Thank you guys! I'm really happy that people like our map at least from the screenshots

Quote from FMPONE

10 minutes ago, FMPONE said: Looks polished with a fittingly massive scope, certainly not an easy task. Great work. Congrats!

I almost wonder if a more sunset or amber skybox color would help set the map apart? For example, this really resembles the first danger zone map at times in the more wooded areas. That’s the main bit of feedback I have from these screenshots, that the skybox choice seems a bit conservative and I think there is room there to do something a bit riskier but more memorable.

Thanks Shawn! You are right with the skybox. I guess it went under our radars. Its been blank for a very long time now and it didn't cross my mind to actually do anything with it Will definitly look into this. Thanks once again.

Quote from Radu

16 hours ago, Radu said:

External Content www.youtube.com

Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.

Display content once Display all external content

Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

Why does this guy has his eyes somewhere around his nipples?

Maybe the original resolution of the texture is small? Or the brush has the texture scaled up. Could be few things to be honest. I would start with brush texture scale since the other textures looks ok.

Quote from blackdog

1 hour ago, blackdog said: Interesting angle, hadn't seen this kind of analysis before.Pity the guy spoils the ending of Alyx without any fucking warning! ?

Talking about the content though, I feel this Liam guy is reversing the production pipeline... correct me if I'm wrong, the pacing of a map is not based around a music track: it comes through the narrative and gameplay beats, so is the result of the work of writers and level designers.

Also, way too much artistic appreciation is given to silence. I don't want to take anything away from Bailey, but I would guess the stretches of silence were due to budget limitations rather than artistic choice... except the choice of not going for looping themes that is. The analysis suggests the silences are carefully studied and paced, but the way soundscapes are setup don't support that theory for me.

Personally, I always found HL lacking in the sound department, with the tracks triggering too suddenly to punctuate certain events, breaking immersion in a sense, rather than pushing me further in... they would clearly inform you that "something is gonna happen now".

This especially around the time HL2 came out (2004), as other games evolved in either direction, layering looping soundtracks (Splinter Cell, 2005) or accentuating the environment (Doom 3, 2004). It is only with the HL2 Episodes delivered what HL2 should have from the start, and we kinda have the proof of that straight from the mouth of the devs, because it's when they were working on the Episodes that all the talk about "peaks and valleys" came about, as everybody recognised HL2 had been stretched out in terms of levels.

figure my surprise when I read in the comments that some tracks are mostly made of samples from packs.

Display More

Yeah I think there is some audio voodoo in his video. He talked about this track that plays when you are on the bridge on your way to nova prospect and how the low bit rate or some shit is adding to the eerie feeling of the environment. I bet someone at valve selected wrong preset when exporting audio

I talked with @Radu about this video today and I had the same feeling. Some parts seems a bit stretched for sure but... I think its the same way for all the level design gurus on twitter where they draw some lines on the screenshots screaming " LEADING LINES". Maybe the original creator didn't put this there intentionally but if you feel like this red cable pushed you into right direction then thats cool. I think its the same way with audio and music. Sure some parts are crafted exactly to invoke some emotions but sometimes it is just a happy accident.

Quote from dux

1 minute ago, dux said: No I was frustrated at the tone. If the general individual had any idea how difficult it is to port a modern game to older hardware. Sure, they aren't obligated to know that and I've said like 3 times now in my posts that it was A BAD CALL to release it on ps4/pro or at least release it now instead of giving it another 6 months which it clearly needed. But it sure would be nice of it was at least outlined how much effort goes into porting something like this to a brick. What I'm saying is try to be realistic instead of saying "sounds like you didn't do much do address how horrible this game looks on console". It's a console from 2013/16 trying to run a legitimate next gen title from 2020. What do you expect? No doubt the team who ported this did all they could given the circumstances and are pretty exhausted and burnt out. Then seeing comments like that is cherry on the cake, while I imagine the suit that ordered it be ported is sat on a mountain of cash feeling pretty good about themselves.

I bet you there's some guy sat there going "We should port this to the switch!" while every ground level developer dies inside.

Totally agree with you. I dont think anyone who knows how much work and effort went into this game will call out devs for the undercooked product we got. But people who dont know or just dont care about the devs on the other hand will say some stupid and hurtful shit. Thats why I think its in the company interest to explain why the game runs like this to kinda educate those who have zero idea. Typical customer that will buy the game have zero idea how much money, effort, time and love goes into this he just want a working product especially when it was advertised as one. Bad call from the higher ups for sure...

Quote from dux

Just now, dux said: Are you being dense on purpose? Are you the guy who made the comment? Of course it was directed at the devs.

Lol why would I? I'm just trying to say that you got winded up by really reasonable comment in all that shitstorm. Do you believe that a "Game runs suprisingly well on old generation consoles" comment was made by someone actively developing the game and not some marketing guy/ c- level person?

If a company advertised the game for older consoles the consumer have a full right to point out the game runs horribly on old generation consoles, am I wrong here?

Quote from dux

2 minutes ago, dux said: [Blocked Image: https://media.giphy.com/media/fd1TSJqq3b4GI/giphy.gif]

I'm sorry but I cant make sense of what you're saying.

I'll reiterate: Dumb to port to ps4. Guy whining that a 2020 game runs badly on his 1980 console. I dunno how plainer to put it. "sounds like you didn't do much do address how horrible this game looks on console" who's he referring to then when he said that?

I will reiterate if you have problems understanding what I wrote.

- You called the guy entitled whiner - Your explanation was that it was not devs devision to put the game on ps4 but higher ups and they should be blamed for it not devs - The problem is that the original comment wasn't directed to devs directly. That was your (imho wrong) assumption

Quote

Quote who's he referring to then when he said that?

Dunno man. Company as a whole? Marketing team?

Quote from dux

6 minutes ago, dux said: I don't understand your question? I'm saying it was dumb to port it to ps4 and I'm saying that guy coming across an entitled whiner is irritating. There's not a lot they can do to get a legit next gen looking title to run on a pentium 2.

Well you said that it was probably suits that called for it to be on ps4 and you got irritated buy this guys comment on how they did not address how horribly the game runs on ps4 because he sounds entitled. How? He didn't say this directly to the devs.

Quote from dux

3 minutes ago, dux said: Reading their forum and the entitlement of some of these little shits.

Yeah it was ported for PS4. I'll bet you the suits called for it to be on a PS4. And I can guarantee you every single person who had to work on porting this to that old brick of a system had a shitty time doing it. This shouldn't of been ported to last gen consoles, they just cannot run it. Bad call. But also fuck that guy and his comment. That stuff winds me up.

While I totally agree with you, isnt this comment directed to "suits" that called for it to be on ps4?

Quote from Radu

12 hours ago, Radu said: It would be a novelty element, cool to see the first time and never looked at again afterwards. Idk, I guess it could have some strategic gimmick potential? If you make large puddles towards some corners or areas that you have to avoid as to not give your position away. I doubt it's worth the time investment.

Swamp flashbacks

Quote from atrocity

12 hours ago, atrocity said: Thanks Lizard! I based it off of a bunch of Edinburgh pictures I took during a trip there. A lot of those buildings certainly have that Dishonored vibe to them.

I think you could check out some playthrought from Kaldwin's bridge mission (Dishonored). They have super interesting city parts (architecture and gameplay wise) and they are close to what you have there. Loving the beer vats

Getting Dishonored vibes here. Looks great and I heard it plays well too. Good job!

Quote from Rump3L

On 11/20/2020 at 4:54 PM, Rump3L said:

The lighting looks really awesome! Everything looks super cozy too.

Great job guys! Map really improved a lot visually.

Quote from dux

2 hours ago, dux said: I bet that studio is about to pop with the amount of pressure inside it

☠️

Quote from Minos

10 hours ago, Minos said: do you really need to clock in 8 hours? Or can you maybe set yourself some goals and try to maintain a more steady output. Honestly the part that killed about being at the office was being "forced" to stay there 8 hours. Some days I was an 8 hours kind of guy, while osme days I was just a 2 hours kind of guy... and hand to do like the guy in Office Space and pretend I was busy or go for looong walks until it was time to go home lol.

No we don't need to. When we plan our next sprint we plan it for 6 hour work day so it leaves 2 hours of meetings, editor loading times, calls, and mandatory breaks each hour. But on home office is a bit different. When we have a boring meeting I know I could spend some time in the editor and it leaves me with a feeling that I need to compensate that later.

Quote from dux

8 minutes ago, dux said: I did feel guilty that I wasn't working non stop for my first few years. Worked myself to the point of exhaustion. My mental health and sanity are important to me, so I learned not to work myself into a hole. I'm more beneficial to the company, and myself, functional over non functional. Try being creative and focused when you're exhausted and burnt out from working non stop. Your work ends up being more trash than it was before.

Wise words dux... wise words. thanks for the answer!