Campaignjunkie

It works really well in Oblivion too. When you hit someone, it feels really, uh... "visceral" - plus, there's still plenty of strategy involved with movement and timing your attacks. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this, especially since the developers are big fans of Thief and System Shock.

I think it's the texture tiling that gives it away - in the mountains or in the grass sprites. But then again, I guess that's not really an issue in-game.

Great work, you really captured that whole "vast" feeling, simply in the screenshots alone. I dig the mesa too.

I'd say NS is one of the more successful / iconic implementations, though. I heard that game Savage was supposed to be pretty good too.

I hear SketchUp is quite nice.

He seemed nice enough to me. But in the face of this overwhelming testimony, I guess I was the exception rather than the usual? No matter what his behavior actually is, I think you guys might be making too big of a deal out of this. He's just a person - not a comic book villain.

With regard to phys props - I think few players are going to go the bathroom just to fetch some sink or toilets. Both bathrooms are death traps; pretty cramped, with only two exits. Sid Meier defines gameplay as "a set of interesting choices" - and this layout doesn't provide much choice. I understand you want to create an accurate recreation of the pools, but I'm of the opinion that you can have your cake AND eat it too. Realism is just a tool to make maps awesome - I don't think it should be a goal in itself. But clearly... you have other ideas.

I think the layout needs work. I've never been to the baths of course, but if this is the actual layout, it doesn't make for very compelling play. Very linear, one-level play with few height changes or Z-axis gameplay. Not much opportunity for cover either, and only a few phys props (which is where HL2 DM really shines, IMO). Visually, I also think you can push the map farther. It needs more light contrast, and all the rooms look the same - especially since the layout is mirrored. There's no recognizable landmarks to help the players navigate. Look at the HL2DM source VMFs included with the SDK, see how Valve does some of its stuff. Some suggestions: - Ditch the sunset sky, it's generally overused. (I would suggest not using a sky at all, it takes focus away from the interior) - (Basically a consequence of getting rid of the sunset sky) Ditch the orangeish lighting. I think it looks busy and muddy when it interacts with the blueness of the textures. Of course some people like that, but I don't really care for it. - Consider making the lamps into prop_physics, to make gameplay more interesting. Plus - If the player can rip radiators off the walls, then why not these lamps? Of course, they won't be able to emit light anymore, but I think the map would be better off with less light everywhere. - Replace the brush benches with prop_physics benches. It'll look better and make gameplay more interesting. - There's no signs of use in the level. No dirt, nothing broken, everything is in pristine condition. Add some chairs, stools, towels, dirt, etc. You don't have to demolish the place, but I'm just saying that real-world stuff is rarely in perfect condition. - Add landmarks - unique bits that will make a certain room stick out. Maybe a fountain or something? - Showers in the bathroom? For the ones who'd rather not use the baths, huh? If you'd like, you can send me the VMF and I'll try to help with the lighting and such, or at least voice my opinion.

It's really.. uhh.. blue. So blue infact, that I find it really distracting. Really distracting! How has no one else mentioned this yet? It seems like a really glaring thing that needs improvement... C'mon! I'm not crazy! Stop staring at me! You and your accusing eyes! AHHH! But seriously, I would tone down the blue to a more earthy saturation. And get some of that fancy specular shader stuff on the tiles, this is Source after all! EDIT: I'm assuming you're basing the level off of this image ( http://www.carto.net/neumann/travelling ... n_bath.jpg ).. Hmm, tricky. But notice that the blue tiles on the bottom wall trim are more purpleish, while the blue tiles on the walls are less purpleish. Also, the blue on the columns is REALLY desaturated, not nearly as strong as you have it right now. And as the others said, work on getting some natural looking light coming through the windows - in HL2, sometimes Valve just used a pure white texture (I think it's called fakesky or something) and put a window over it. But anyway, this is certainly a good start, keep working on it!

Underwater art deco = all kinds of awesome.

It's really fun to play with, though, and fairly intuitive. Do the 15 minute tutorials that come with the program, don't just watch the video tutorials! And if you're a student, you can probably get a hefty discount, provided you file the appropriate paperwork.

Ha, I remember that part... A little surprising, to say the least.

The Dark Brotherhood quests are fantastic. At least try them out (preferably on a stealthy character) before you shelve the game. There's definitely plenty of flaws (character animation is ugly, poor framerate, lots of NPC faces are ugly, etc.), so I won't try to defend it, but the quests and exploration are definitely the best elements. Just get on your horse and go riding into the forest - you'll probably stumble upon something interesting after a few minutes... Some shack out in the wilderness could be the trigger for a really entertaining quest. You might meet another adventurer and team up with him. You might encounter some crazy boss monsters and run for your life. If you're tempted to keep going through the main quest even though it's not very fun: don't. Seriously, just stop and do something else - go to the book store and read some books, investigate some ruins, join a guild! The main quest will still be there when you decide to return to it. Zaphod: Running speed depends on your attributes. Power up Speed and Athletics to get faster. Or get a horse.

I think the point is to have fun making an entry, rather than actually striving to win the contest. Good gameplay, bad gameplay - oh well, just get off your ass and make something.

Huzzah!

(Wow, a few months too late, but...) Cordon off pieces of the map and compile them seperately, so you can get an idea of the rough location of the error. In the old HL1 days, you would have to do this if the pointfile led nowhere, and it was kind of annoying like that.

I love the mountains. It makes the scene seem so much more alien. It kind of reminds me of the climax in the movie Contact, where Jodie Foster encounters the aliens.

I think it would be up to Adam Foster to release the WADs, since he made at least 95% of the textures.

I think PV went over the problems pretty well in the NW forums, but I'll give my perspective on it anyway: - Interest in HL1 was clearly waning. People didn't want to mod for HL1 anymore, so it was difficult to find new members to replace the older ones. Some of the most important members had left by then: KFS, Ken, MrBen, BadMofo, TommyD, Ferret, Melkior, as well as others. Their productivity was never really matched again - I don't mean to belittle the newer members, but it just wasn't the same. - The design was too ambitious, including a new race of NPCs and ~80 BSPs. Although we eventually cut it down to something more managable, it was still too much. We could have cut our losses and polished what we had, but we discussed it and dismissed that as a cop-out, so we didn't. - Too elitist. Or maybe that was just me. But seriously, I think we scared away some great talented people at times. I also didn't like the somewhat bureaucratic approach of development, but I sure can't think of a better way so I'll just shut up. Well, hindsight's 20/20, yeah? I clearly have regrets over the whole thing, as do many other members, but oh well, this is how it turned out. I'd be interested in polishing what's left of the HL1 version, but that would involve more work than people are willing to do: finishing the codebase, animating the NPC models, solving the crazy map errors, etc. And that's why I think Nightwatch on HL1 probably will/would've never been finished. It was too much work then, and it's too much work now.

omg, I thought that too! Specifically the outdoor cliff sections and the interiors seem Repair Bay-ish. I like it, though the ceiling could use some height variation. I don't necessarily mean "detail the ceiling, put 20 grates and pipes on it" but rather just don't let it be so flat like that. Though realistically, I doubt players would care...

I love the music, especially that "Propaganda" theme in the Akuda Bar. This thread reminds me of what my older brother said about BGE a year or two ago: "It's gay. There's no guns or anything, you just have a camera. It's so stupid."

... I've never been so horribly insulted in my life. Kudos!

Since Ferret loves HL1 so much... Here's an HL1 thing I'm working on. Mostly using Blaz's de_halla textures and whatever's left from my Persia map. Single-player, of course. More screens here: http://campaignjunkie.hlgaming.com/fishstory/

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Minerva Metastasis 2 - 'nuff said.

Technically the brushwork and everything is fine, but when it's all together it lacks something I can't put my finger on. It lacks... harmony? It's like taking random parts from all the DoD levels and putting them into one map - while each part is well constructed on a technical level, the sum of the parts looks very awkward. I know that crit is really abstract and vague, so you should probably ignore it. I just had to get it out there.