Archive for November 2015

Discussion Topic 002

A couple of weeks ago Scott Warner, Game Director for the Star Wars Project at Visceral posted a tweet and a image saying “Don’t do this in level design: prize behind counter is gated by locked door but counter could be scaled by anyone.”.

You can follow the thread if you click the link above but as with many Twitter threads it gets mixed up in other tweets.

Essentially, he said that it was an immersion issue and I disagreed.

I tried to organize a podcast with him about it but it never happened.

29th November 2015 21 Comments

Communications Detour

for Black Mesa

The military has hindered your progress by shutting down a communications array on the far side of the facility.

You need to power up the communications tower in order to re-establish a communication link with the scientists held up in the Lambda Complex.

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Total Downloads: 1,75128th November 2015
6 Comments and 5 recommendations, most say "Play It Now!"

Poll Question 330 – Is a review a product of its time?

Recently, Steve has been reviewing some older mods (and I thank him for that). Often times, he hasn’t liked them (It’s on the list of code tasks, to make it easy to find comments and reviews by users – for now, you will have to check the 100 Most Recent Comments).

When he hasn’t liked something, he has been apologetic because his review often goes against the general feeling. Please don’t think I am criticizing him for this, because I am not. Everybody has a right to their opinion.

What is interesting is that fact that like a lot of other reviewers before him, when you review something from a few years ago, it never seems to live up to the original reviews and by “original reviews” I mean the ones made when the mod was released.

Clearly, this isn’t the case for every mod as some are absolute classics, but the ones that received good reviews don’t seem to stand the test of time, which is where this week’s poll questions comes in.

Is a review a product of its time?

What do you think?

26th November 2015 21 Comments

CrossoverVille Mapping Challenge

I have to admit I was planning on AntlionVille but by the time I had finished Antlions Everywhere I was sick to death of the freaking things. I am sure there will be an AntlionsVille in the future but not this time.

There were some really great theme/challenge suggestions made by people and, again, some are sure to happen in the future, but the one that really caught my eye was CrossoverVille. I am going to open it up to a wider range of games though.

Hope it inspires you!

25th November 2015 60 Comments

Audio Interview with Half-Rats

I finally got my time machine to work again, that flux-capacitor really needs to be overhauled, and managed to sit down and chat with Half-Rats, the creator of Half-Rats – A Fever Dream.

We chat for just under the hour about the making of the mod.

You can listen via this page or download it to your HDD.

23rd November 2015 5 Comments

Antlions Everywhere

for Half-Life 2: Episode Two

The man character, Carter Grok together with a squad of rebels, has received new orders.

They are to reach City-S where more rebels are located.

To reach the city, the player’s squad is sent through the mines in an attempt to avoid the main Combine forces.

Once in the mine, the squad is separated and the player finds himself alone.

That’s only the beginning of his troubles.

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Total Downloads: 2,46522nd November 2015
19 Comments and 10 recommendations with no significant bias

MapTap 2.6.0 Now Available

Update: MapTap has been replaced by Gauge.

Alex and I are pleased to announce that MapTap 2.6.0 is now available for download and use.

Current MapTap users should get a message the first or second time the run the application telling them a new package is available. If not, just visit the MapTap page and choose between the Update (smaller download) or the full version.

22nd November 2015 10 Comments

Poll Question 329 – Should a mod author eventually show Easter Eggs?

It was pointed out to me this week that I missed some areas in Uncertainty Principle in my video playthrough, which is always a possibility when doing live playthroughs as you don’t want to bore the viewers too much.

Anyway, I am sure there have been plenty of mods released with hidden areas and secrets etc. The question is whether a mod author should eventually tell people about them. I feel they should but not necessarily in a readme.txt file or in the credits. I do feel that a player should be told exactly how many secrets there are though, as that encourages players to replay mods.

If my memory serves me correctly, The Citizen Returns had a system of 15 EEs to collect or maybe it was the first release. Anybody remember? I like that idea a lot, although it needs to be implemented really well to ensure it’s not frustrating. For example, letting a player know when the are about to leave an area that can not be returned to that has an EE they missed.

I’d love to hear mod authors’ point of view on this, as well as players of course.

19th November 2015 11 Comments

Next Mapping Challenge

So, I have been thinking about the next mapping challenge and one thing that I need to decide on is the date and deadline.

I know people get busy around Christmas time, but I also know that many people have free time.

I would like to know what sort of schedule potential entrants would be interested in.

Please tell me your preferred dates and I will take into account all the responses.

I haven’t decided on a theme yet, so let me have your ideas on that also. I have one idea but I am not convinced it’s right.

Also, this time the prize won’t be games, at least not the first prize, but a set of three HL/Portal inspired prints. The winner will have to buy the frames, but I think it’s a better prize than just a game.

18th November 2015 32 Comments