The medieval style cylindrical turret is a perfect example of something
completely out of place.

The cylindrical element was actually taken directly from the real
courthouse in Santa Barbara. I feel that it adds nicely to the
architecture, but everyone is entitled to his/her opinion and taste.

The "stoves" you've mentioned are actually old-fashioned heaters.
They are frequently seen in old European-style buildings. I
thought they belong to those big lobby areas. Otherwise, the
lobby just seems so bare.

I added trim to almost all the doorways, and the framerates stayed
about the same. So they're definitely staying. However,
when I walked around in the map, I didn't notice their presence that
much, especially in the shadows.

I agree with the trim suggestion. I've considered that, but I was afraid to make the framerates even lower.

I'll experiment with it and definitely keep them if the performance doesn't suffer as a result of the addition. Thanks.

You desperately need to start using trims. You don't need to goe overboard, but as a general rule all doors should get trims.

I had fun playing through this, and especially enjoyed the open-endedness which others have mentioned.

The map would have benefited visually if you held a more definite style
thoughout. You seemed to have tried to mesh various styles together,
with the result being that the building just looks awkward in places.
The medieval style cylindrical turret is a perfect example of something
completely out of place.

On the topic of things out of place, there were a number of offending
props. Why is there a stove in a random room in the courthouse? I
understand you weren't shooting for realism..... but still, a stove. :smile:

The difference nice a trim makes: (I hope my url doesn't fall foul of the word filter) (it did)

http://twoknives.f**kyouanddie.com/images/trimexample0000.jpg

http://twoknives.f**kyouanddie.com/images/trimexample0000.jpg

Thanks for the detailed description. I spent all day yesterday
trying to figure out which two guards you're referring to, and I
finally realized they're the ones in the corridor connecting the prison
and the big hall with the statue.

I know understand how you can trigger them to spawn when they're not
suppose to do so. Their trigger is actually located half-way on
the stairs leading to the tower (the platform where you find two
secondary SMG ammo). But under certain circumstances, they'll be
awaken. For example, I believe a fire fight in close proximity to
them will trigger the spawn.

I will work on this problem, probably solving the issue by moving their
spawn location to somewhere more isolated so nothing disturbs them too
much.

And having turrets in the basement is a good idea. I am going to add them to see how that affects the gameplay.

Thanks again for the input.

Thanks for the fast reply.

2 guards:

One spawns in each corner of the indent in the hallway. I think they are both armed with smgs. (I'm pretty sure the one behind me had a smg. The one in front of me didn't get a chance to fire, or if he did I didn't notice.) If that doesn't clear it up you can try my directions below. I was a bit detailed since I wasn't sure what caused them to spawn. It may have been me ducking out of the hall to hide for a second, or maybe I killed a specific guard.

This should get you to the 2 remaining guards:

From the gravity gun, take out the two guards that came after you.

Go into the hall they came from.

Go a bit past the doorway on the left, realize that there is a guard shooting at you and fall back, retreating out of the doorway you just passed. (you should now be just outside on the platform with the stairs leading up.)

Realize that you still have enough rounds to take him out and head back in.

Stick all the way on the right side of the hallway, but don't go down the stairs to where he is.

Take him out. Take out any others that come along.

This is the best description I can give you right now. (at work) If it doesn't help let me know, and I can try to get a screenshot, or something.

Side Note:

BTW, I was just wondering, since you removed the zombies from the basement, have you thought about placing a turret or two down there? Afterall, it is unlikely that they would leave a hole that big in their perimiter and everyone knows that guarding a basement is a boring job.

:smile: No, martinloki, it's not too late. I got the mapping fever
last night and this morning, and I've been fixing little things here
and there for the past eight hours! So I appreciate your
suggestions.

The prisoner "squad member following" bug has been fixed already.
That has been bothering me also, and I squashed that message yesterday.

And I did carefully choreograph the spawning of the guards. The
latest release of the map should hide this "magically spawning" guard
issue better. True, the gurad does spawn with a trigger when the
gravity gun is taken, but I planned it so it's not so obvious. I
had the gurad patrol into the player's position so it looks like he's
coming to investigate the source of gun fire in the prison.

Next I found 2 more soldiers that appear suddenly from the spawn
void. In the hall leading to the second building, on the right
hand side, they spawned in front of me twice. (actually one in
front and one behind) I had dodged outside into the stair
landing to avoid some fire and when i returned and tried to forge on,
one spawned right in my path and the other right behind me.

Hmm, I am not exactly sure of the location of those guards you're
describing. I playtested it many times, but I've never had that
happen to me. Then again, I have a preconceived notion of where
the triggers and guards are, so I am inherently biased.

Would it be possible to describe them in detail for me (i.e. what types
of weapon they're carrying, an even more detailed description of their
spawn location)?

The odd shaped brushes you're talking about in the tower (next to the
fence) are left there intentionally. They're byproducts of the
adjacent roof, but since they actually look kinda cool next to the
fence, I decided not to fix them and leave them there.

The healthkit reachable through the fence is intentional. It
actually serves as a hint that the player should try to hop over the
short slanted wall to get to the large box of SMG1 ammo hidden there.

All the shadows casted by the models are blue in this map. This
is consistent for every machine playtested. I am not sure what
causes this, but it's possible that it's a consequence of the bluish
ambient light I set. Since it's not a major cosmetic blemish, I
left it be. I really wanted to have a bluish ambient light.

There are no more zombies in the basement. No one felt zombies
are appropriate in this setting, so I took them out in the latest
version of the map.

The force fields only block the player's movement. It's the same
way in Valve's official single player maps (remember in the beginning,
after you get out of the train station and you're wandering around in
the city plaza?). If the fields block NPC's as well, then the
gameplay would suffer.

I don't know why sometimes the manhacks made no noise. It has
happened to me also, but not consistently. I really don't have
any idea how to fix this problem.

And the Combine next to the fountain? I left it like that
intentionally, so he'll stay put and keep lobbing grenades at the
player as you try to come out of the buliding. When you finally
kill him, he usually has some interesting posture hanging at the edge
of the fountain. I like this ragdoll effect.

Thanks for all the ideas. I'll keep updating until it's as bug-free as I can get it.

I hope this isnt too late.

First, I really love the ability to take all the alternate routes
through the map. And the very begining, with the turrets was
fun. (I used the turret shield techniqe too, but it was fun to
have to pause and think for a second.

Now the down side, the bugs/oddities I found. In the order i found them.

The prisoner in the cell registered that he was a squad member, but I could not find a way to free him.

The guard outside the window after you grab the gravity gun seems to
get to his position magically. I ran in for a brief second,
grabed the gun and got out in time to watch the second guard exiting
the hall. (It took me three reloads to confirm that there really
was no way he could have come from anywhere but the spawn void.)

Next I found 2 more soldiers that appear suddenly from the spawn
void. In the hall leading to the second building, on the right
hand side, they spawned in front of me twice. (actually one in
front and one behind) I had dodged outside into the stair
landing to avoid some fire and when i returned and tried to forge on,
one spawned right in my path and the other right behind me.

On the roof, if you take the stairs up and then go straight through the
door, in the bottom right cornor where the roof and fence meet, there
is an oddly textured brush, either that, or something is clipping
through.

Also in the fenced in area, you can reach the medkit through the bars. I don't know if that is intentional or not.

For some insane reason I decided that the basement was the next place i
should go. The zombies waited until i was more than half way down
the ladder before reacting to me. Before that they were just
standing there. I may have been able to take them out. I'll have
to try later.

About this time I realized that just about all the shadows are
blue. Is this normal? (I was in the bathroom, playing with
the can when I noticed this.)

I also realized that the rails on the speed-zombie's generator are not
solid. You may want to put a no draw brush there so they seem
solid to the player.

I also discovered that the antguard (big one) was able to ignore the
force shields. (that was an unplesant revelation since I was
assuming that it couldn't get through.) Should it be able to do
that?

Once back inside I found four odd floating red lights over the doorway
leading out of the lecture hall. (I just realized that these were
most likely the manhacks waiting for their cue.) very bizzare
scene.

Trying to leave the building I was surprised to find the
repellers. I retreated to find manhacks. One of each was
messed up. One of the manhacks made no noise. (maybe that
was an odd bug for me this one time) And the right hand combine got
stuck on the lip of the fountian.

Those were all the problems I found in my one play through. I
really liked the non-linearity, and the challange level and look
forward to playing the final bug-free(er) version.

Also, good luck with the wedding. I know the time leading up can
be extremely hectic. Take care, and thanks for a fun single
player level.

Oki . (-_-)...

After carefully considering every suggestion from the playtesters, I've
made quite a few modifications since the beta. There are still a
few things I would like to have done with the map, but due to
performance limitations, I have to exclude them from the final release.

I did not incorporate all the
ideas from the feedbacks, because I have to implement the best features
into one cohesive gaming experience. I did fix a few bugs that
were present in the beta.

Any comment is welcome, but I probably will not modify the map any further. Thank you.

I appreciate the comments on the beta, but please do not review and rate the map until the final version is released. The reason for the beta is to fine-tune the map so the final edition will have a balanced gameplay.