Posted by Captain P on Sun Oct 9th 2005 at 11:44pm

Thanks people, it was fun playtesting with you. I'm glad to see the map is holding well with these player amounts. Also nice to see some other people came in and liked it. " SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">

So far, my TODO list is like this:

- Fix spawnpoints, place them better.
- Fix the getting stuck points, adding some playerclip to avoid falling between rocks and platforms where these are close to each other.
- Make the caves more impressive. I am adding a large waterfall to the water cave and I plan another few caves that aren't accessible but look deep, large. Most caves will be enlarged vertically now.
- Fix the lighting. I'm going for a style that emphasizes the routes players can take, and that puts some details forward, while leaving most of the cave-walls dark or dimly lit to give it a stronger athmosphere.

- Fixing some dismaps, tidying stuff up so no more grey brushes are visible.
- Of course, creating more prop models to give each of 4 area's it's own characteristics. This should make the map look better and easier to learn by giving landmarks.
- Creating custom materials for the rocks, platforms and waterfalls.
- That's pretty much it I think...


DONE list:

- Earlier playtests showed that the waterfall cave was less used, and didn't flow well. I've added platforms and a gimmick there now to make it flow better.
- Added some weapons, there's now 2 AR2's and shotguns in the level and a couple more grenades. I've also hidden 6 batteries and 6 vials in the map that are harder, or at least different to get than other items. " SRC="images/smiles/icon_smile.gif">

Posted by MisterBister on Sun Oct 9th 2005 at 11:07pm

I playtested it on the snarkpit server a few minutes ago and heres what i discovered:

Gameplay:
I think that everyone who was playing the map do agree with me when I say that this map is really fun. It was action packed and intensive. I think that it was so much fun simply because it had so many variations in the Z-axiss.
I think that if you add even more varation in the Z-axis with platforms and such, it would be even more fun.
However, I have one complaint, the spawnpoints. They dont seem to be planned at all. People spawn in the middle of corridors, and i dont know how many times i killed a guy from behind and he didnt even have a chance to turn around.
Try to place the spawnpoints at better locations where they are a bit more protected during the first three seconds.
Players got stuck all the time aswell, but i think you are aware of that.
Ill post some screenies of this when I have time.

Architecture:
Since the map is in very early stage its pretty hard to give you any opinions about the architecture, however i have a few suggestions here aswell.
It would be cool if you added some epic elements to the map, not just narrow corridors and small cave rooms. Remember that you are using the Source engine, not the hl1 one. Its very powerful and can do more than you think.
Dont be a coward! Strech the ceilings and the bottom of the cave much further to create giant shafts and stuff in certain areas.

There where different opinions about the lighting, but im happy with it although i still think that you need to add some finesse aswell as more contrast into it.
Make the dark corners much darker, and the green light from the crystals much greener.

Think thats about it for the time being.. Ill check back if I get other ideas.

Posted by Addicted to Morphine on Sun Oct 9th 2005 at 4:10pm

I agree. Can we get some shots of your level thats show off the ceilings in your level? Do they just fade up into darkness so it seems like you're at the bottom of a chasm?

Posted by Captain P on Wed Oct 5th 2005 at 10:24pm

Thanks for the comments so far.
If it's a little further detailed and all, it'd be nice to have it betatested on the Snarkpit server. Is anyone playing on the server these days? I haven't been there for a while so...



I know it's not original, heh, the idea for this came from another game (Abe's Oddworld)...
But it's something else than the usual themes for HL2DM maps and it's athmospheric, plus it lends itself fine for impressive area's and interesting theme's. I like maps with great, high area's. Not really accessible area's always but just to impress players.

Also, yes, I have the alpha-bug. In the editor it's quite strange to work with a grassy cave but since I had done most of the displacement maps before that update, that's not a too big problem. I usually work with dismaps in lightmap mode anyway to see the relief better.

Posted by Andrei on Wed Oct 5th 2005 at 8:27pm

Hehe, well, the cave theme is not as original as you think, but not half as exploited as the HL2 one.

I agree, the way you used displacements is very nice but I was just wondering: don't you have that alpha mask bug most of us seem to have?