Campaignjunkie

I like those spiral pillar things... But seriously, way too much sharpen in these screenshots, and it'd be cool to credit the original author of those textures, Sock (http://www.simonoc.com/pages/materials/ ... /index.htm)

You could have a 1024x1024x1024 level made out of three 512x512 textures that you exit through a locked prefab door...

This.

Hurray!

Peris: any details you can share on your level generation algorithms? I'm liking Recursive Division right now (http://weblog.jamisbuck.org/2011/1/12/m ... -algorithm) because the layouts seem kind of realistic, with occasional long hallways / rooms / courtyards. I'm going to try to implement it in Unity, I think.

Another contest idea: take the first VMF of HL2 (d1_trainstation_something_something), preserve the first minute or two of gameplay... but then start making changes to it. Upload a sequence of 4 or 5 screenshots or a video for judging. Awards for the top 3 in "most plausible" and "most insane." Custom assets allowed and encouraged.

For the door compo, I think submission should just be a download link + a sequence of screenshots / captions that show at least 1 solution (ideally an interesting one)

Awesome work. Only thing I don't like is the square vent above the door, feels too "game-y", like you just wanted to put a prop there or something -- instead of the vent actually being part of the building.

If I had my way, small 512 x 512 x 512 single player maps for HL2 vanilla (so it's compatible for Ep1 and Ep2 too) and then we put them all in a mini map pack at the end. LONG LIVE SINGLE PLAYER!~

Oregon Trail. Still among the most difficult games ever. Still amazing.

What was the "very embarrassing bug"? A giant prop_static accidentally hidden?

Also: if / when this goes official, I hope you make a lot of money with the donation thing!...

FarCry 2 seems cool but damnit I want to start wildfires! And why does everyone talk too fast and mechanically? They really dropped the ball on voice over direction.

the line "you must go back in time and kill yourself" in it

Okay now I really want to play it but now you've also kinda spoiled it. Hmmm.

Hipshot: you should've finished that!... Whatever it was. Or tweaked / changed your mechanics if the grav gun wasn't working out.

Happy: That's awesome and really realistic.

Anyway!

Here's some of my Doom 3 level, for a Thief-style mod called "Dark Mod." They've just released 1.03 publicly and already have 30+ levels out. If you guys like Thief, you should look into mapping for it, their version of Radiant is pretty alright and they have a lot of textures / props (a lot of them are bad, but you find the good ones quickly enough).

Going to Doom 3 from Source is kinda weird, but it's fun to figure out the quirks. The standard for map size is pretty great too, a lot of maps are just a handful of rooms but they're praised and loved, and I imagine a DM level would round out a portfolio quite nicely and prove you can learn a new engine properly as well as digest new single player mechanics... cough cough.

(I miss light maps)

Gah, I only have 1685 hours in Source SDK

Congrats! A warning though: Irvine is probably the most boring place to live. Ever. You'll want a driver's license and/or a car, ASAP, so you can take weekends into Los Angeles or something. Good luck!

Congrats Briscoe + Corwin!

Yeah, I already have Braid and Machinarium... and Osmos is, like, in every single bundle ever.

Having worked on both:

Nightwatch died for a lot of reasons; no animators but a lot of animation to do -- which stalled NPC code that relied on animations which stalled map design that relied on working NPCs, rampant feature creep, a global content reboot or two, an engine getting increasingly obsolete and so it was difficult to recruit for staff turnover, etc. (Who wants to work on HL1 when HL2 is out?) There's probably more to it than that, but that's what comes to my mind first.

Black Mesa has well-staffed departments (or it did when I was still there) and experienced leadership that has shipped MMOs, and Source is still relatively viable / usable for the near future... and since it's a remake, there's a clear roadmap as to how to finish things. (You won't see new, entire chapters or entire new game mechanics)

To sum it up, I don't think the comparison is accurate. They're both huge single player mods with talented staff (and a lot of turnover, haha) but that's it.

They're still working on it. A lot of it is very far along.

So give them a chance... or not. It's not like they owe anyone any explanation.

Playing through Mass Effect 2. I liked how they stopped kidding themselves and got rid of the RPG elements. Now I can just focus on killing lots of things. The "Jack" character is really annoying though, a rather large misstep on the part of the writers.

Geez, what is this, the gay police? Anyway, it's based on this: http://www.increpare.com/2008/12/rara-racer/

Your apartment in Brooklyn. Probably too green. Trying to match the near-future of George Clooney's apartment in Solaris. Using PhilipK's Morning Star set.

If you need a paragraph to explain how to navigate your website, and it's a paragraph that no one reads, then don't do it.

Change the page structure of your site entirely. Make it a lot simpler; there's too much hovering and clicking.

Look at this: http://www.magnarj.net -- simple pages that let their work speak for them.

Reviving an old idea: a level where you have to make a level. (Sort of.) We'll see how it goes.

(before I get attacked for posting what's got to be the blandest Hammer screenshot ever: this is an in-game screenshot... your view = the 3D view in Hammer, the wonders of env_screenoverlay...)

I love you, Lunaran.

I don't get it. You have a job already? It's hard to give portfolio crits if you don't have any intended audience in mind, e.g. an employer.