[HL2: EP2] Station 51

[SamCom]

Station 51

A level for Half-Life 2: Episode 2, about 10-15 minutes of fast paced running and gunning. I'd love to get some feedback before I release this for real. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Combine forces are closing in on your rooftop observation post. Fight your way out and escape! I tried to expand on lessons learned from my other HL2: EP2 level and numerous other small projects since then. More open combat arenas, with multiple lanes and room to maneuver with plenty of cover. Visually, I tried for more complex/realistic brushwork, and a more cohesive theme.

This has been on the backburner for quite a while, but I've recently been cranking on it to get it released. I'd consider this an alpha, since I've been the only person to playtest it so far. So please do let me know your thoughts if you give it a try.

DOWNLOAD HERE

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DOWNLOAD HERE

EDIT: I've updated the map with the feedback I've gotten and added a post in the Release sub forum. I've also updated this download link to the newest version.

[insta]

Cool! I'll be sure to play it and give some feedback!

[insta]

Now I've played it, and here's the feedback!

It's really good! Love the use of color, even though it can get a bit dark in the outside areas now and then. The enemies would feel better if they're more active from the start, right now it feels like a lot of them are just waiting for you to come into their line of sight. Ambient sounds would be great, I can't remember if they were there or not, but if they are, then they are a bit too subtle. The jump right after you get the airboat was a bit weird and ruined the flow a bit. After the large fight near the beginning, with the guys coming from the dropship, there was a pretty long calm period, maybe re-introduce light combat towards the end of the lull since right now it goes from no combat at all to business as usual very quickly.

Anyway, I recorded a demo while playing it, so you can take a look at that and draw your own conclusions. Definitely think you should continue developing the map, I think it will end up great!

http://magnarj.net/files/station51_playthrough_a1.rar

[SamCom]

Awesome insta, I got a whole page of notes from your demo playthrough, that was extremely helpful, thank you.

Darkness noted, I think I'll play with the environmental light a bit more, I had earlier complaints that it was too bright, I think I took it too far the other way. I'll give the NPCs a few more patrol paths, the rebels looked especially odd just standing in one place, waiting.The airboat jump is awkward, I'll move the boathouse back a bit so you can get more of an approach. I have soundscapes, but they are very subtle, I'll bump them up. I was wondering if the bit after the dropship was boring, I can add some excitement there. I planned the spot in between as kind of a down time, but it was way too long in your playthrough, I need to spice it up. It took you a bit longer to find the forcefield switch than I anticipated, it is a little out of the way. I was worried players would breeze through that area.

I didn't know barnacles would pick up grenades! It makes sense, but I'd never tried it. It's cool to see how much differently someone approaches the level, I have my own approach ingrained. A lot of the space where I was thinking "Yeah, you can maneuver around this way, and take this route, and flank," it seems like you either charged directly in and took your hits, or retreated so the troops filed in one by one. I'll probably add some more entrances and routes to the later bits, especially for the laundry, so the player can get flanked if they decide to pull back and wait like you did.

Thanks again, I'll keep at it.

[Drakeee]

Hi man, played through today

Fun! Good work! Seemed very easy at some points but I was playing on Normal. There wasn't enough enemies at most rooms to provide a challenge, there usually seemed to be a max of about 3-4. For the airship battle there should be a wave per rocket i reckon. I wiped the two hunters no problem because of the rockets too so no challenge there. Some stuff could be worked on but I still enjoyed it for a quick belt around

I recorded a demo too, can't hurt to watch my playback!

http://www.15eleven.com/playthrough.rar

edit: I only decided to start recording after about a minute so the first min is missing

[SamCom]

Thanks Drakeee, I'll give the playthrough a look when I get back into town. Noted on the lack of enemies, I've been going through and improving it, that's definitely something I'm going to fix.

[Sentura]

i'm opposed to that, i think there was too many enemies for most of the battles. in general there is very little pacing, and i worked up a lot of combat fatigue fast. also in most places you don't get to regenerate health before going straight into the next fight, which, mildly put, is fucking annoying. also goodie crates should be more reserved as a reward for exploration rather than just thrown in the way of the player (i noticed this was the case in a few places), and you need to put more direction in lighting and spacing in areas such as the copter thing, i was stuck for a while not knowing whether i should fight it or just run to some exit. and for the love of all that is holy, don't put critical assets in spaces that are difficult to access WHILE fighting a boss enemy like a copter.

[SamCom]

Thanks for giving it a play, Sentura. By critical asset do you mean the rocket ammo? I imagined that would be way too easy of a fight if I left the rockets in an easy to access place - I tried it with them on the ground and it was a short, anti-climatic fight, just stand next to the crate and shoot until the helicopter dies.

Where did you think an exit was in the helicopter battle? Was there a particular place you were drawn?

That's weird about the combat pacing, almost everyone else has said there was too much dead space. Was there a particular place where you felt like you were short on health, or a place where you really wanted a breather? The crates obviously in the player's path are there so you can recharge before the next battle, and there are a number scattered around the larger spaces to reward exploration.

[Sentura]

Thanks for giving it a play, Sentura. By critical asset do you mean the rocket ammo? I imagined that would be way too easy of a fight if I left the rockets in an easy to access place - I tried it with them on the ground and it was a short, anti-climatic fight, just stand next to the crate and shoot until the helicopter dies.

Where did you think an exit was in the helicopter battle? Was there a particular place you were drawn?

That's weird about the combat pacing, almost everyone else has said there was too much dead space. Was there a particular place where you felt like you were short on health, or a place where you really wanted a breather? The crates obviously in the player's path are there so you can recharge before the next battle, and there are a number scattered around the larger spaces to reward exploration.

about the dead space: don't forget that the half life series has a history of great pacing. puzzles usually follow combat to lower combat fatigue, and in general combat needs to feel varied in more ways than just having the handful of different enemies come at you. outside of combat the areas look great, and it would really be awesome if you had opened some more room for exploration. i guess if you want to build levels for something like halo or killzone or resistance or gears where everything is combat ALL THE TIME FOREVER, there probably is too much dead space. but given that you're doing it in source, i would assume you would follow the source style of gameplay, rather than of those games.

as for the helicopter battle: i kept trying to seek cover which resulted in me moving around the back of containers. because i couldn't see the ammo box NOR the rpg i assumed i should use the copter's muzzle to break down a door or something. if you want to make it more climatic, then take a look at episode 1 where the player has to fight a gunship that has been CHASING him. i would almost go as far as to say that a climax in a battle requires a narrative, spoken or unspoken. instead of making the copter in just an arena style area, it would make far more sense that the copter chases the player through the map before the player FINALLY finds the means to destroy it with (narratively: the hero is weak and bullied around by strong force, finds object that is an antithesis to strong force and uses it to defeat it. the climax is there because there is a sense of justice being fulfilled.)

[SamCom]

You are right, it is all combat. I can see where you're coming from with that not being typical for Valve games, but the focus on combat was intentional. Hopefully I'll be able to include more puzzling/exploration in the second half. The whole concept started as the initial rooftop areas, with the rest added on as I went over the course of a couple months. Pacing is still something I'm learning as I go, and something I should be able to account for better in my next project. That's something that could be solved by taking more care to playtest with people new to the project earlier, something I'm seeing at my day job too.

I was afraid not finding the rocket launcher might be a problem, I was thinking a small shack might be a better place to put it, since the player would be seeking shelter, but I also wanted an observant player to be able to spot when they enter the area, but there probably isn't enough time for players to spot it. Something to note for next time, lesson learned.

That's a good point on the narrative, although 15 minutes seems a little short to develop that sort of relationship. I try to at least introduce the helicopter before the battle, by having it fly by the player at the start. But I could have done more. Certainly something I could focus on, actually telling a story through gameplay. I tried with the intro radio message, but I'm not sure how much of a story "Run, they're coming!" is. I've always liked audio diaries, notes and such spread throughout the level so the player can explore and get more of the story of the space, and I'm afraid I didn't do enough with the environmental storytelling. There are a few spots I'm proud of that I think really do tell the story of the space - a few rebel hideouts and hidden supply caches, but all together the story is there's an abandoned industrial area, which probably isn't all that compelling.

[Sentura]

i think you see it too much as a direct confrontation with the helicopter. there is more to building up a narrative than just direct confrontation. how about in some places the helicopter destroys paths so that the player has to go a different way (a good way to also clear up why the player goes into zombie town). also, you don't actually have to put in narrative that the player is being told by either voice or text, you could just have the environment tell it for the player. the best stories are written leaving much room between clues, so that the players themselves have to create the connection, and my personal opinion is that how well the player creates these connections determines his or her immersion in any story (game, book, otherwise). i won't claim to know shit about this at all, but i did write my bsc dissertation on environmental storytelling and some of the results correlated with this.

[Rick_D]

is your signature an envirnment?>