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Metastasis
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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by satchmo on Mon Sep 12th at 11:57pm 2005

Many of you undoubtedly have seen and played this already. But I thought I should post it anyway, in case not everyone knows about it yet.


"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -- Toulouse-Lautre, Moulin Rouge



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Crono on Tue Sep 13th at 12:22am 2005

CJ made a thread a week or so ago. Sadly, no one posted in it on how fun this short-campaign was.

http://www.snarkpit.net/forums.php?forum=1&topic=5718&highlight=Metastasis


This is kind of related, I guess.
I didn't know this until today, but apparently HDR is more then just blurring and crap. It seems to be a way to put in a real light source. Such as, the lost coast that is going to be released soon only has one light source, the sun.

I know my comptuer can't run that well, but, it's cool to know that it is able to run smoothly somewhere. Day/night transition: here we come <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Pvt.Scythe on Tue Sep 13th at 4:27am 2005

I played the Metastasis chapter through just yesterday. I've also played through its prequel in Project Quantum Leap. I'm eagerly waiting for new episodes. It is a great piece of quality mapping.



''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Campaignjunkie on Tue Sep 13th at 5:03am 2005

That's right, everyone post in Satchmo's thread! Neglect all of my threads! :`(

PS: Minerva ist gud.




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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Junkyard God on Tue Sep 13th at 10:10am 2005

aww ppor c, i'll post in urs then :o


Hell, is an half-filled auditorium



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Gaara on Tue Sep 13th at 10:19am 2005

Wait, 1 sun? So I wont have to put a bunch of lights in places in my map that are pitch black?


Reckless disregard for childrens well being, women and nothing but utter contempt for other cultures.



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by satchmo on Tue Sep 13th at 2:44pm 2005

Some images in this post have been automatically down-sized, click on them to view the full sized versions:

I am weeping, but with tears of joy.

I haven't experienced something so beautiful since Half-Life 2. "Metastasis" is everything that a map should be. I think I'll marry it.





"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -- Toulouse-Lautre, Moulin Rouge



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Captain P on Tue Sep 13th at 2:55pm 2005

Nope, you still place lights in corridors or buildings, or outside when it's dark. HDR affects the way light is treated, not the way levels are lit.

HDRlighting - MSDN

As far as I understand it, it has to do with brightness tones. Real-life has about 10 levels, a monitor about 2. HDR seems to provide more contrast in area's that are quite equal, so to give the impression of having more levels due to the contrast.



Create-ivity - a game development blog



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Loco on Tue Sep 13th at 3:02pm 2005

Does anybody know how the hell they made the water wave effect with this?



My site



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by satchmo on Tue Sep 13th at 3:58pm 2005

They did it like in FarCry. The official Half-Life 2 maps don't even have this wave effect.

I would guess it was done with func_train? But it's just a wild guess.



"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -- Toulouse-Lautre, Moulin Rouge



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by ReNo on Tue Sep 13th at 4:38pm 2005

I haven't seen the effect as I've not got access to my computer to play this level, but it could be done with an overlay that uses some of the material system's proxy abilities. These let you do simple things like make a texture move or rotate over time, as well more advanced abilities like letting you change color values, alpha values, and so on, based on the player's current health, distance from the object, , and so on. Would take some tweaking to get it looking good, but its possible I'd imagine.




Designer @ Haiku Interactive | ReNo-vation.net



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Captain P on Tue Sep 13th at 4:58pm 2005

It's a material, yes. Just check the mods folders for the files. This is the .vmt:

? quote:
"UnlitTwoTexture"
{
"$basetexture" "overlays/shorewave001a"
"$texture2" "test/wave3"
"$translucent" 1

"$alpha" 0.6

// "$additive" 1
"$decal" 1
// "$ignorez" 1

"Proxies"
{
"TextureScroll"
{
"texturescrollvar" "$texture2transform"
"texturescrollrate" 0.1
"texturescrollangle" 80
}
}

}


Looks quite nice in-game, indeed. There's still player 'faking' possible with those new engines. <img src=" SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">



Create-ivity - a game development blog



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Crono on Tue Sep 13th at 9:14pm 2005

? quote:
Wait, 1 sun? So I wont have to put a bunch of lights in places in my map that are pitch black?


Um ... no, you light stuff like real life. That's basically what HDR allows. It is also the varying levels of intensity ... which valve claims to put in an entirely new game play element. Since, if you're in a dark building, for example, and there are windows that get shot out, the bright light will blind you momentarily, it works more like a camera then the human eye though.

The 1 sun comment was because that's how the lost coast is lit. Since, the area doesn't have and electricity. But, yes, it seems they wanted to realistic lighting. They are even talking about how unrealistic lighting in hl2 is currently.

The bad side is HDR takes an arm and a leg to run smoothly! They're suggesting a DX9 card with at least a Gig of ram and 3 Ghz processor (this makes sense, since it's dealing with light calculations!)

I'm really looking forward to the physics processors. Just because, I hope, it works development wise, like the GPU and CPU, since you could use it to process whatever you like, light included!

The other thing that HDR allows, is realistic light bounces. Which means, if there is a large light source ... like a sun ... and that's your only source. The only way an area would be completely black is if it is completely sealed off. But even then, the HDR stuff allows "adjustment" so the cameras eye would adjust to the dark, just like yours. Now, obviously this doesn't matter if it's literally pitch black, since there's no light to enter the eye. But you get the idea.

Valve has said that the goal with the lost coast was to take Source add to it and make it more of a next generation engine. Apparently though ... implimenting HDR, specifically for artists, is going to be more work. Because, skyboxes, for example, have what? 5 different versions depending on intensity.

I think it'll be really nice. Add this with AF, AA, and Depth Feild blurs ... and HL2 would have complete new life breathed into it.


Blame it on Microsoft, God does.



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Captain P on Tue Sep 13th at 9:45pm 2005

? quote:
Because, skyboxes, for example, have what? 5 different versions depending on intensity.


Read up on HDR images. These contain brightness values beyond what a screen can render, so there's actually more information than can be displayed. Waste of space, untill the image gets over- or underlit. Then the extra info comes in handy to prevent loss of quality. Details that were otherwise too dark in the normal image (and when lit, wouldn't get displayed since there's no darker thing than pitch black for normal images) are now visible due to the wider range of brightness values in the file.

But indeed, images are going to take more time this way. Can't they never stop... I think I'm just going for a nice design rather than a hyper-realistic thing...



Create-ivity - a game development blog



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Dark Tree on Tue Sep 13th at 10:51pm 2005

This was a great, detailed small single plaeyer campaign. I really enjoy it when the author(s) have a sense of humour and don't take themself so seriously.

BEGIN TRANSMISSION

" How were we supposed to know about a heavily-armed military base on the other side of the island......oh yeah, our satellite imagry...Oh well! Have Fun! "

END OF TRANSMISSION




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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by FatStrings on Wed Sep 14th at 12:28am 2005

looks great
makes me wish i had hf2




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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by satchmo on Thu Sep 15th at 4:49am 2005

I just made it to the underground facility, and I have to say it's one of the best architecture for gameplay that I have seen. The place seems so vast, that there are an endless corridors and rooms to explore. I felt like a kid in a candy store. None of the official Valve HL2 maps are like this one. It's an incredible experience.

The only point I'll take off for this set of maps is the constant "messages" that get displayed on the HUD. But with the map layout being so non-linear, I think it's necessary. However, I do believe that there could be less of it though.

Sometimes in the heat of the battle, there's an incoming message. I just want to yell "NOT NOW!"

But anyone who hasn't experienced this map needs to do it before you die. Otherwise, you'll be missing out on one of the great pleasures in life.



"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return." -- Toulouse-Lautre, Moulin Rouge



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Nickelplate on Thu Sep 15th at 5:00am 2005

SOME MOTHERf**kER STOLE MY LANDBRIDGE!!!! I had it on DM-Coast in as soon as HL2 was mappable! f**k s**te ass minge bollocks dogs**t!

ps. It looks better than mine, tohugh...




I tried sniffing coke, but the ice cubes kept getting stuck in my nose.
http://www.dimebowl.com



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Pvt.Scythe on Thu Sep 15th at 6:29am 2005

But Stachmo I thought you were already married. If you liked this one, try it's prequel(in PQL)! The messages showing up at bad time are part of the fun. They're nescessary part of the gameplay.

I think I'm in love...


''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires



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 Re: Metastasis
Posted by Andrei on Thu Sep 15th at 6:58am 2005

? quote:
SOME MOTHERf**kER STOLE MY LANDBRIDGE!!!! I had it on DM-Coast in as soon as HL2 was mappable!



That'll learn you not to use decompile protection. :P





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