Justice - SP

I am at work right now so I cannot upload any screenshots. As soon as I get back home, I'll upload the screens.

Please comments on the gameplay. There are many possibilities in the map, so I want to ensure that there is no flaw in the game design. Thanks in advance.

Please post any comments on the beta release in the forum thread. Reserve the map comment section for reviewing the final release of the map. Thanks.

hey, could you please post some screenshots? i can host em for oyu if you want.

i'm realy curions about a sp map ^^

I just played through it, and I have to say it is a great start!

Here are a few bugs I found.

The turret in the confrence room shoots at you throught the glass when you first escape.

I had some proplems with troops spawning infront of me in some areas,
I'd say that you should have a drop ship bring them in or somthing.

If you go to the roof you can not only jump around up there but there
is too much AR1 ammo and you can see the repeling troops just kinda
hanging there off the side of the building.

It is way too dark, work on the lighting. There should be more light filling the rooms from the sun alone.

Toss some auto save spots in there. Place them after helth packs
so you know the player is gonna have some good hp and before big groups
of bad guys.

mix up the combine, there is only the one type.

The ant gaurds can run into one side of the prison and they kill
everyone. Then you can kill the ant lions by stanging on the roof
or onto of that generator.

The few zombies seem out of place.

Add some more detail to the map, and work on VIS blocking. The
fps seemed to suffer a bit but I think you could make that map run very
smooth.

Then the good.

Love the layout, its not just one room after another, I really felt like I had a choice of how to attack each area.

The fire fights were fun and intence, even though the AI got stuck up
and was some times easy to kill, I got a rush and had fun gunning
around.

I understood my mission and was able to follow through.

Bravo'

Thanks, DrGlass, for playtesting it.

The turret in the confrence room shoots at you throught the glass when you first escape.

Actually, I've made the ceiling glass bulletproof. Even though
the turret below is firing, the player doesn't get hurt by it.
This is fair to the player because there is no good way to disable the
turret from that location, but it gives the alert player a heads up
about the turret when he/she reaches the conference room.

I had some proplems with troops spawning infront of me in some areas,
I'd say that you should have a drop ship bring them in or somthing.

Really? I'd like to know exactly where you encountered this
problem. I took great pain at preventing this from happening.

If you go to the roof you can not only jump around up there but there
is too much AR1 ammo...

That's intentional. I was always running out of ammo at first
before I placed the huge box of ammo there. Even with the ammo
boost, I occasionally find myself running low on AR1 ammo. Maybe
I'm just a bad aim. :smile: I plan to leave the ammo there
though.

It is way too dark, work on the lighting.

I guess this is a matter of personal taste. Someone else did
comment on this issue previously, and I did add quite a few lights in
the map since. I want to keep certain rooms dark on purpose to
hide the Combines. This way, all you can see is their little blue
eyes glowing in the dark and perhaps an arch of red light when they lob
a grenade at you. Too much light can reveal their positions too
easily and take the fun out of sniping at them in the shadow.

Toss some auto save spots in there. Place them after helth packs
so you know the player is gonna have some good hp and before big groups
of bad guys.

I'll look into this. But I am afraid to add auto_save triggers
because it might save over a game that the player has from the
commercial game. They'll be really pissed off at me if that
happens and they lose their place in the game.

mix up the combine, there is only the one type.

This can be easily done.

The ant gaurds can run into one side of the prison and they kill
everyone. Then you can kill the ant lions by stanging on the roof
or onto of that generator.

This is actually part of the gameplay by design. That's why I
provided a rocket launcher and some ammos. And if you're good
(apparently you are), you can set up the antlion guards against the
Combines to save you some trouble.

The few zombies seem out of place.

Yeah, I know it's strange to have zombies in the basement of a
courthouse. Most courthouses I've been to aren't haunted.
But then again, it's the world of Half-Life, and strange things happen
there.

Add some more detail to the map, and work on VIS blocking. The
fps seemed to suffer a bit but I think you could make that map run very
smooth.

I've tried hard on this task, but it's very challenging to block VIS
with the Source engine. It usually insists on rendering almost
everything in the vicinity. I've tried func_areaportal_window and
hint brushes, but without much improvement in frame rates.

Actually, the most taxing aspect of the map are the models. I
have many occluders set up in the map already, but some of them cannot
be blocked (otherwise they look very strange when they disappear right
in front of your eyes). I've also set up max_dist on most of
them, so they won't be rendered when they're out of sight.

When I run through the map on my slow machine, it actually has decent
frame rates at most places. The frame rates are about the same as
the official SP maps from Valve, so I assume they're acceptable for
most people playing HL2.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

wow long post lol, well I just looked at the pics judging from picture number 1 the skybox looks kind of odd to me, either too close or something, might want to mess with that.

About the lighting. The dark is really cool, but there needs to
be a little ambent light. I could be the brightness on our
moniters. I found myself useing the flashlight quite a bit.

I'd look into having the ant lions run away when they are getting shot
from above. Its very strange to just sit ontop of that generator
out back and just shoot the hell out of the ant lion as it just stands
there. Of course I dont know how you could do this...

Your right about the VIS blocking, I have a hard time with it too.

Over all it was veryfun and I'll write you a full review if you release the full map.

The overall flow was good. I like how you could see the conference room
through the window at the very beginning. Nice bit of nonlinearity too,
being able to run around on the rooftops or go through the windows.

But... You really have to work on details and framerate. Too many
windows opened to the courtyard, causing FPS to plummet, and the
brushwork/layout was pretty messy. Lots of rooms were the bare minimum
as well. It felt pretty unpolished.

With the gameplay, you have the right idea, with lots of opportunities
for Combine soldiers to retreat and such. But now you have to develop
it further and get more complex with room layout. And as I said before,
I liked how you could see the conference room at the beginning - but I
had no idea that was the conference room. You need to provide the
player with more clues about navigation.

While suited for gameplay, the map layout made no sense. Try to design
it around how a real jail/whatever would be designed. This serves two
purposes: Gives the player a frame of reference for better planning and
strategy, and increases "immersion" manyfold.

It's a good start though, looking forward to more. :smile:

Yes! The conf roomm skylights should look more like skylights
should and one should be able to see something in the conf room (an
insignia of some sort?) that will make the conf room identifiable when
you get there later (preferably before you enter.. the same
insignia on the door of the room perhaps?).

It's way too dark. Ambient lighting can be done tastefully
without making things too much brighter. The key is to be able to
feel your way around without the flashlight, and I think it's possible
to add lighting that won't compromise the soldiers hidden in the dark.

The auto saves should not save over other auto saves.. I don't
have the definitive answer here, but auto-saves should work fine and
create a new file without a problem.

It's too bad the antlion guards or whatever they're called don't always
run away when they're getting shot from someplace they can't
reach. Or at least get enraged.

The few zombies feel out of place not because it's a courthouse, but
because there are only a few.. it doesn't seem like they belong
in the map at all since the rest of the map is populated by combine and
a couple beasts. If there are zombies there, why aren't there
more zombies? Well it's ok, I think, but I wanted to clear up why
DrGlass said they're out of place, if possible.

It's very possible to do better vis blocking, and I think you can set
the distance at which models disappear so when you're out of a room it
doesn't have to render the models for instance.

That addresses points DrGlass made. Campaignjunkie said some things I'll reiterate, too.

There's some great gameplay, but almost too much non-linearity.
It's not obvious what the next step is. You can jump down into
the courtyard and make for the gate, which of course won't open.
Once you cut the power in the basement you can head to the conference
room, but I have no idea why going to the conference room unlocks the
main gate (it ought to be obvious). It'd be better, I think, if
the player was kept from jumping down into the courtyard, if there were
more objectives and they were spelled out / stated somehow or just felt
natural.

While there were jail cells at the top, not much more in the way of
functional designations for rooms or parts of the building. The
force fields were odd since you could go around.. Maybe there
should be another force field to confine you to the space inbetween the
halves of the building (where there's already one large force field).

This map felt like an alpha version: there ought to be more layout work
done, the windows didn't make sense to me.. felt like arbitrary
holes in the wall rather than windows, more texture work, obviously a
lot more detail. Staircases were too narrow or the railings too
think. Perhaps the rocket launcher should have been hidden
better. The buggy was unneccessary, though some might find it
fun. But features of the map should have a function, and there
should be more of a direct and creative challenge in accomplishing
objectives I think. It's nice to have options in how you play,
but the game (the map..) should guide you into the next step.

I'd prefer it if you were making a real jail break: alarm sound (if not
too annoying), spotlights perhaps. Or if the place is in chaos
due to zombies and antlion guards then there should be more chaos, more
fighting between beasts and combine, things going on in general.
Maybe people in other cells could take part in the story. Perhaps
you'd have to let a man out and guide him to a door panel that he has
to be manning in order for you to get thru a security door.

The beginning was difficult! In HL2 sp when you only have a
crowbar the first guards you run into that you must kill are
pre-occupied and thus they are easy to take, and to take their
weapon. I wish there was something similar at the beginning of
this map. Did I miss something? Would the turrets attack
the guards if I set them up right? A real player with a crowbar
may be enough to take down a soldier with a shotgun, but it's perhaps
not as easy as it should be to get started. I also think it's too
easy to wander the wrong way at game start (die easy). Guess it
doesn't matter since you'll learn fast..

Lastly the prison gate shouldn't simply make the screen go dark.
It should stop the game and show a message or something. And if
you make it to the gate before you've done what you need to do to
unlock it, a message about what's necessary might really help.

What I find most important are just a whole lot more details and finishings.

There's lots that's good about this map, too. It was fun to
explore and challenging when I was surprised. I liked the
conception of the building and the senario. The basic mapping
work was done well. The reason there's so much to suggest for
improving the map is because I hope you turn this good map into a
professional one! It takes a lot of attention to detail, but this
map has all the right potential. Thx

for sharing and keep it up!

I liked it, but nothing made sense. I start the map by escaping through
an open window? Why not just leave the door open if its this easy to
esacpe. I kill all enemies above ground only to go into the basement
and find...Zombies? Then outside I find two antlion beasts. The map is
a good start, but nothing in it makes sense. The gravity gun is sitting
in a tiny room, just lying idley as if it were a piece of trash. Put it
behind something fancy :biggrin:

Wow, thanks for the out-pouring of suggestions. I am very
grateful for all your ideas. Now, I'll address them one by one...

I had no idea that was the conference room. You need to provide the player with more clues about navigation

How about adding "the conference room directly below" in the game_text at the start of the map?

Ambient lighting can be done tastefully without making things too much brighter

I will experiment with light_environment. But in fact, the
current ambient light setting is already the result of multiple
fine-tuning attempts. I don't want to make it unnaturally bright
so it loses the sunset ambience.

The auto saves should not save over other auto saves...

I thought the engine is set to save only two auto_saves. The
older saved game gets bumped out and deleted. That's how it works
in the official Valve single player levels (at any one time there will
only be two auto_saved games--the most recent two). So I am
afraid to accidentally overwrite people's saved spots if I trigger them.

set the distance at which models disappear so when you're out
of a room it doesn't have to render the models for instance.

I've already done that with almost all the models. It was quite a
painstaking process--to maximize performance without having the player
notice that things around them tend to appear and disappear.

if there were more objectives and they were spelled out / stated

I didn't want to over do it. If the objectives are too direct,
then the maps would feel like a guided tour through the
courthouse. The player loses a sense of free will and just feels
like an automaton following orders.

Like in the real world, you have to think on your toes and manage to escape without having all the informations.

Maybe there should be another force field to confine you to the space in between the halves of the building

I thought of that also, but decided against it. It would also
take out some of the fun and free will factor from the map. I
want to have the antlion guard in the courtyard chase the player back
into the building instead of just having a force field blocking the
path.

There are also other places where I put an excessive amount of Combines
to force the player to go one route or the other. I want to have
the player go through most of the map and semi-direct the player's
navigation without making the player feel that he/she has no choice but
to go this and that way.

It's nice to have options in how you play, but the game (the map..) should guide you into the next step

If there are real options (and sometimes there are), then it's not
feasible to guide the player's movement. Which option would I
guide the player? I already accomplish this subtly by forming
specific patrol distribution around the map so there often is one
easier way to get from point A to point B.

The beginning was difficult!

I agree. I wanted to have the first prison guard to just have a
handgun, but that isn't one of the weapon options. Perhaps there
is a way around it?

In addition, there is a trick to bash the guard's head open without
getting hurt. It's not easy, but it's definitely feasible.
You have to stand right next to the doorway with the crowbar extended
into the door frame and lure the guard to the door. Then with
your body partially protected by the wall, you can quickly and
effectively split his skull with the crowbar without him having a
chance to fire back at you.

And if you manage not to get killed by the shotgun blasts, there are
plenty of healthkits inside the prison to get you well again before
facing the next squad of Combines.

if you make it to the gate before you've done what you
need to do to unlock it, a message about what's necessary might really
help

I thought the locked sound from the keypad is sufficient clue that it's locked...

What I find most important are just a whole lot more details and finishings.

I agree, but with the framerate already suffering at places, I cannot
afford to add a whole lot to the map without degrading performance
further. I've tried a lot of ways to improve performance (hint
brushes, areaportals, occluders, you name it), but I don't think there
is an easy way to drastically boost performance without some major
reconstruction of the map.

I hope you turn this good map into a professional one!

I would like to also, but in reality, I don't have the time
anymore. My wedding is fast approaching, and I am getting busier
each day with the planning process. So I will probably just
polish up this current map the best I could without spending another
month on it.

Why not just leave the door open if its this easy to esacpe?

I tried to think of another escape strategy, but I can't easily come up
with one. I agree it's strange to have the window completely open
like that, but it would be even more strange to have a key or weapon
inside the jail cell.

The gravity gun is sitting in a tiny room, just lying idley as
if it were a piece of trash. Put it behind something fancy

This can be quickly remedied. I'll put it on a table with other interesting contraptions.

How about adding "the conference room directly below" in the game_text at the start of the map?

That's another thing: I suggest against using game_text's. Who would be
sending these messages to the player? The mapper? Plus, it has about as
much subtlety as a nuclear missile. That's where the "design" comes
into level design - you have to be gently guiding the player, have them
think this is all their own "independent and unique" playstyle.

Basically, make them jump through the hoops, but don't let them know there were hoops in the first place.

For example: The player will probably figure out to escape the jail
cell. I suggest removing the sentry guns outside (their placement doesn't really make sense either). Anyway, the player
will look through the window and maybe see Gman there or something,
putting a key on the table. Now the player has an objective: to see
what Gman put there in the conference room, and it was done without the
need of a game_text.

I think the ones with handguns were civil protection, not combine...

I kept catching of architexture... also alot of the stairwells were
barely big enough... not to mention a definate lack of glass anywhere
but in the conf room and those two on the ground floor...

Also, the 2 antlions are too easy to take out, walk outside to trigger
them, then go into the building and let the combine finish them off...

and those sentries right outside the window are useless.... not to
mention they take off around 20-50 health, then you run into the
combine with the shotty....

I ran out the window picked on of them up and used it as a shield to run over to the other one so I could knock them both down.

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quoting DrGlass</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>I ran out the window picked on of them up and used it as a shield to run over to the other one so I could knock them both down.
</DIV></DIV>

Wow, that's an ingenious approach. I typically just knock down the one closest to me and then sprint/bunny hop to the other one to knock it down. It usually only take 20-30 health from me if I run fast enough.
But DrGlass's way is better. :smile: I plan to leave the turrets there.

the player will look through the window and maybe see Gman there or something, putting a key on the table.

That's a great suggestion. I'll work on the scripted sequence to see what I can do.

I couldn't figure out how to escape the cell without getting killed. The turrets were bad enuf the way they were placed - but the guard just takes me down instantly - you said there were other routes .. but I could not find them. Turned on God mode

Overall its not a bad map although I personally would have liked to see more doors that open, more physics, and more traps.

Great mapping however

Well.... its a very well constructed map with ALOT of enemies(and i like that:)) but, i died several times trying to get a weapon(even though it was easy:)) very cool map...

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.

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.

Oki . (-_-)...

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.

: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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

There was nothing wrong with the turret
specifically, but there's usually at least two turrrets in any building
which has them. Coupled with about 50 different windos designs, I still
feel it's a valid point. :smile:

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.

<br style="color: orange;">
I've never seen a stove in the lobby of a courthouse. I'd imagine they use the regular type of old fashioned heaters.

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.

Perhaps you're not giving them a distinctive enough texture.

Yeah, I can see your point with the windows. I kinda got a bit carried away with the windows. But in the actual courthouse, the window designs are quite varied too (but not to the extent of my map).

I did carefully pick a distinct and eye-catching texture for the door trims. And now that I've looked at them more, I can see more of a visual impact.

I'll post the update when I'm done with some gameplay changes.

Turned out that I still wasn't satisfied with the supposed "final" release. But I'll make some final changes and perhaps release the real final version tomorrow.

So, that was a "fake" final version. I'm making some additional updates and perhaps release the real final version of the map tomorrow.

Thanks for playing the beta all along and waiting patiently for this release.

I may just be spending too much time playing with this map, and I hope
i don't seem to nitpicky. While seeing what could be done I found
that the antlions can spawn with no warning right in front of
you. In order for this to occur, or at least the way I did it,
start a new game and go to the roof. Go around until you can see
the repellers getting ready. Jump up and walk the fence until you
get over to them. Now comes the fun part. There are a bunch
of ways to get down. Either jump to the statue and take some
damage, or drop to the lamp, circle around, jump to the wall
decoration, then to the arch and down, or drop to the wall decoration
above the fountian, and hop to the fountian. Now try to go inside
the breezeway. It's really a nasty surprise.

I really do love the non-linearity of this map, and can't wait for the final release.

Also, I like the antlion gaurds, and really hope you dont get rid of
them, so if you cant find a way to bring them into the game without the
sudden spawn I have a few ideas that may work. Just let me know
if you need them.

Thanks martinloki. You're really my best and most reliable playtester.

However, I've spent countless hours playing it myself, and I am
starting to get sick of this map. I very much appreciate your
tips and feedbacks, but I think I am really done with it by now.
I know there are a few bugs that still exist in the map (like the one
you mentioned), but most players will not encounter them unless they go
through extraordinary means to trigger them.

The majority of the players will go through the most predictable
routes, and I've painstakingly covered most of the possibilities.
Designing a non-linear map is quite challenging, as I do have to take
into consideration what crazy ideas people might come up with when they
play the map. Most players will be unwilling to take a sixty-foot
fall to the courtyard or go hopping on the exterior walls to get to the
outside. And if they do, well, they'll find themselves with the
main gate locked and the antlion guards wanting them for a snack.

I couldn't have the antlion guards spawn at the beginning of the game
because the Combines inside the building will invariably notice them
and start a huge battle with them. So when the player gets to the
ground level, everything is already dead. I tried to hide them at
first and then have them patrol, but that didn't work. They don't
like the idea of patrolling, despite carefully set patrol
path_corners. They seem to not obey these rules, unlike the
Combines.

Anyways, thanks for the input. And have fun playing the final
release! It's got more puzzles and physics, especially towards
the beginning. Without using some quick wit, the player wouldn't
be able to survive very long.

Now there! The final map is released. I got this thing off my chest and I am so ready to move on.

Have fun playing it, and use your brain as much as your brawn
confronting the obstacles. After all, Gordon Freeman is a PhD
from MIT. :smile:

Now the map is released in its final verison, feel free to take it for a spin and write a full review in this section. If you want to make a quick comment, you should still post it in the forum area.

Have fun, and aim for the head.

I'll d/l it again, I wrote up a review for you but it got rejected, so its a good thing, what did you update?

I fixed some gameplay bugs, where the player might have enemies
spawning right in front of them. I also limited the movement of
some NPC's, so they won't get lost running around in the yard.

In addition, I added quite a few visual details, so the map doesn't
look as bare and unfinished. I know I could've done more, but
I've decided that I spent enough time on this map already.

I also added some puzzles (not very difficult) to the beginning of the
map. The combat is somewhat different in the beginning. I
changed this so people won't gripe about having to deal with the two
turrets outside the jail. The first couple of prison guards also
got stripped of their shotguns, so it's not so unfair for the player to
fight with them with just a crowbar.

Thanks for writing the review. By the way, why did they reject your review?

I've played just now your map so i think it was the latest version.

Escaping out of the prison was ok; however,there was a bit of ennoying gameplay before getting a decent waepon.

The biggest problem for me is that there are 3 windows where you can kill the gards way to easy . First one is in the place with the big statue ; the window halfway the small stairs. Second one is the window in the small corridor behind the court room ; when you go outside the gards go to that corridor and are easy to kill .Thirt one are the windows in the room where the suitrecharger is .

I suggest to cover them with bulletproof glass.

Then , i havent seen a prisoner ( nonlinearity is good but only if you can finish the map without missing half of it; i have seen only one living big antlion ; the other one was already killed out of my sight . There is still a respaw guard hanging on the roof .

To finish , there was not much HL2 in this map ; the blue screen was not functional ; the gravitygun was not usefull ( just to grab some ammo ).

Overall a good try and i had no problems with the lighting.

The gravity gun is actually crucial in getting the semi-hidden shotgun
inside the prison. Otherwise, I agree it would be very annoying
to fight off the initial wave of guards with just a handgun. I
would never design a game that unfairly. If you use the
surrounding equipment as intended, the map should never be frustrating.

And those sniping spots are carefully designed into the map, and if
you've found them to be useful at camping those guards, more power to
you.

By the way, did anyone find the hidden Magnum? I've scattered
hints all over the map, with multiple locations where you find the
"ammo" for the Magnum. However, the weapon itself is fairly well
hidden. If anyone has found it, it's very useful to storm the
conference room area.

I have taken a second tour in the prison and i didnt found the shotgun.

But i didnt need it ; it was just a bit of trial and error to kill a guard with only one grenate and use his waepon to kill the two others who follow.

On the other side , if there is a shotgun in the prison , the map is definetly to easy .

I like the shotgun and i have used it all the time ( that of a guard ) , so with running and shooting instead of hiding , you are in no time through the map , and i am 53 years old , so not the fastest anymore.

Wow, I'm flattered that someone in his fifties is playing my map. I thought I was old for being in my thirties.

And you must be pretty good to think that using a shotgun would be too
easy. I had the shotgun right out in the open before, and people
were still complaining that it was too difficult.

Hey Satchmo,

I'll start by saying it wasn't too difficult, I only died once. I
thought the level could have used a crossbow though (maybe I just
missed it?). I found myself in positions where I could have
easily sniped the combine.

My number one complaint is how you ended it. I didn't get in the
buggy until the very end, I drove it up to the main gate. Then I
got out to open it but I was suprised when the level ended. It
would be way sweeter to end the map with a short drive through some
enemies and off a ramp to the end trigger. Somthing like that, more
dramatic.

If you're going to fade out at the end you should weaponstrip the
player and teleport him into a small black box. This way you
can't bumble around blind firing you gun and stuff.

Overall I thought it was fun. Good job.

Thanks, Tylak, for your comment.

You have great suggestions. However, this map cannot be any
bigger than its current size, due to the nature of the architecture and
the limitation on the framerates. I agree it would've been nice
to drive around and make some Combines into roadkills. I will
have to save that idea for another map though.

As for sniping, a crossbow would be pretty darn powerful against the
guards. In fact, I would think that could make the gameplay a bit
unfair favoring the player. I actually had a crossbow in the map
before, but I took it out to balance the game better.
Nevertheless, I still have a Magnum in the map, and that's pretty good
for sniping too.

And I also agree with you on the weaponstrip and clipping the movement,
but I thought that's pretty minor stuff. I'm glad you had fun
though.

I plan to write a walkthrough for this map soon.

Satchmo, I had meant to ask before, is there a 357 on the map, or are the bullets there just to mess with us?<span style="text-decoration: underline;">

</span>

There is a 357 in the map (I call it the Magnum). It's just well hidden, and those ammos are there to entice the player to find it.

I just uploaded an update for my single player map Justice. Instead of
having antlion guards in the courtyard, I decided that having a gunship
instead would add so much more to the gameplay.

I also fixed some minor bugs. I hope the gameplay is still balanced with the new addition. Have fun.

I've updated the map with some changes in the gameplay. The antlions guards that have caused so much problem previously have now been replaced with a combine gunship.

I hope the changes have not upset the balanced gameplay. Let me know if it's unreasonably difficult.

Wow, I just played the map again this morning. And I agree that
it's very challenging. No one can survive the combat unless
he/she has been through the official Half-Life levels first.

I died several times before I finished the map, and that's even with a
complete knowledge of all the enemy locations and traps. Now I
can sympathize with anyone playing the map for the first time.

However, the map would be a lot easier if the player takes advantage of
all the weapons I hid in the map. The shotgun hidden inside the
jail cell in the beginning is crucial in fighting the first wave of
Combines. And the 0.357 Magnum in the adjacent storage building
is very useful in eliminating those Elite Troops inside the main
control room.

And don't forget to utilize the gravity gun. It's very handy in
several places in the map, but it's most useful in dealing with those
turrets and roller mines.

Lots of combine, too many turrets, very hard but rewarding when you beat it. The brushwork is a little basic but hey, what do you expect from such an early work? The displacement mapping in the skybox is the only inexcusable problem: it doesn't take much to bump up the detail and hit smooth! Oh yeah, and there's not much scope beyond the first area for the gravity gun. It could have been exploited better. Still worth the download!