AssassinateVille contains 5 maps where you must eliminate one particular person.
Each map is set in very different environments and situations.
All require you to escape after the assassination, with some easier than others.
- Title: AssassinatyeVille
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-mc-assassinateville.7z
- Size : 22.70MB
- Author: Joseph Williams AKA Dysprogue, Tony DeBlasio AKa Starman, Dan Jordan, Pedro Marques AKA Dalannar and Richard Greenslade AKA Greenman
- Date Released: 22 February 2014
Download to your HDD [22.70MB]
- Copy the assassinateville folder into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- AssassinateVille should now be listed in your Library tab.
If you require more help, please visit the Technical Help page.
The fie above comes with 5 gridview icons. To use it, select “Gridview” in Steam (top right corner). Make sure you have saved the image to a location on your computer – you can’t use it from the compressed archive directly. Right click on “AssassinateVille” and select “Set Custom Image”. Then browse to the “SourceMods/assassinateville/steam-gridview-icons” folder and select the image of your choice. Then click “Set Image” and that’s it.
Of course, you can create your own custom image if you prefer.
Leaving your buggy outside the inner complex, you must acquire a special weapon and some keycards and then assassinate your target.
Use of the special weapon is required to return to the buggy, which can then carry you to freedom.
It seems that the Harbor Master has defected and therefore must be assassinated.
Arriving on a supply train, you must gain access to the yard and then use your initiative to kill him.
Intelligence suggests that he will be well protected.
Your target is in the tower and access will be hindered by a squad of highly trained Combine soldiers.
Use your guile and determination to achieve your goal.
Escape is via the same entry route is not recommended.
Access to your victim is the least of your worries.
However, once you make your move, you will be immediately attacked. Plan carefully otherwise you may have to return to the scene of the crime!
The rebels are causing too many problems and one in particular must be eliminated.
You have been dropped just outside their base.
Use the element of surprise to your advantage, but don’t waste too much time.
Get in and get out!
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Each map has 5 screenshots. Thanks to ArctixSnowPup for providing the screenshots!
1600 x 900
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4,370Overall
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1Today
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1Last 7 days
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8Last 30 days
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146365 days
Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 14 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 1 Hours, 3 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 5 Mins by Dysprogue
Longest: 3 Hours by Hec
Total Time Played: 14 Hours, 36 Mins
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Here are my mini-reviews for each of the maps….
I felt the environment was too boxy and the changes between the textures a little abrupt. However, the most serious issue was the new magnum mechanic. I had discussed this with the author and suggested some changes. My problem was that you had to be very close to the forcefield to disable it and having it on the Magnum just made no sense.
I also feel that the player should have been forced to work their way back through some areas rather than being able to jump down after assassination
There were too many little issues with this map for me to really enjoy it. I couldn’t find a way into the little sewer section until Tony told me and that’s not how maps should work. I also got stuck in a few places.
All in all, this is a great map that is well laid out, but suffers from gameplay design issues.
An outstanding entry, just let down by an error near the end, where the pipe is transparent. I didn’t notice until my final playthrough otherwise I would have let Dan know, so he could fix it.
Besides that it felt it was the best entry and it gets my vote for the winner.
I really quite enjoyed this and felt that the escape was quite exciting. The trouble with having to find the keycard could add a surprise to players if they didn’t check the gate at the beginning and I almost feel that it should force the player to go back, which is what happened to me the second playthrough. It was my own fault, as I forgot to get the keycard.
This was the late entry and is technically not eligible for the winner’s prize. I must have been very lucky because the target came to me and I killed him or her without really knowing who it was. I think in this sort of map/situation the target should be as hard to reach as possible, or at least not come to me!
Manually
Easy
58 Minutes
How about a hint how to get in that sewer section in Harbormaster? Thanks!!
You need something to break the cover. Your crowbar is not strong enough. If only you could get something to hit it with enough force. There must be something that could do it.
Took a while to see that. Crowbar was strong enough for the next grate tho! LOL!
Am I supposed to be able to get the Harbor Master after he has locked himself in his room? I have managed to kill him before he enters but with the rockets lying around the map I was expecting more of a finale.
Yes After he locks himself in, a dropship, tank and strider appear. The strider destroys some containers and one contains an explosive charge that you place at the door.
Only if you go and check the door at the far end of the cargo yard, past the crane and by the boat. The battle doesn’t start unless you touch the door. Absolutely poor design.
Yeeeaayyy!!! Was looking forward to play this since the contest’s announcement!!
very cool, I was waiting for this 😛
Entry 1
– I don’t understand how I can get in at the beginning but not get back out
– nice pet grub
– I walk into the room with mag, then go in the bathroom and get emp msg.. makes no sense, and I’m probably biased as I got used to the new device when I tested it
– a mediocre entry, the added details here and there are nice touches but not enough when it comes to general layout, texturing and the player’s purpose throughout the map.
– oh and I noticed minor lighting bugs
Playtime: 11m
Entry 2
– some crates break, others not, typical Tony DeBlasio! knowing this, I didn’t bother much with it, I mean there’s a locked door, some invisible walls when trying to stack crates, I think I see some rockets but no rocket launcher, and of course a padlock that cant be shot.
– after some running on top of trains I finally notice something peculiar, after 10 minutes wasted; turns out its the damn solution, but no one will randomly look there! You can’t expect the player to be inspecting every inch of the map, 360 degrees, in all directions. If you want him to look up, MAKE him, give him a reason to do that, no one can guess the author’s mind, that’s just bad design.
– what’s more baffling is this: to get out of the water I just got in, I need to break a greate, with?!?!! A CROWBAR, because in 2s my crowbar rendered itself effective
– hooray for unbreakable padlock #2!
– After killing the 2 metrocops, nothing happened for a while (SHOCKER!); I randomly went to the door near the gate I just opened with the button and opened it from the outside to trigger apparently some combine ship; I went hmmmm so reloaded, opened that door from inside, opened gate, killed 2 cops, and whaddayaknow, door trigger gone. I guess I managed to break the map, unless it was a timed trigger or connected to something else, somehow, idk, and I’m seriously tired of trying to figure out how this author’s mind works
– I think he relishes on our frustration, so from now on, I will just avoid playing his entries, and that won’t be hard, as it’s recognizable in 2s or less
Playtime: 27m
Entry 3
– so I have some invisible walls behind me, and near me, a car that won’t start; in front, some combine fence that I can easily turn off with a button, cus that happens in every mod out there (sarcasm); great start!
– but I Have to hand it to the author, a lot of work went into this map, visually, and it shows; I’m always amazed by how much can authors do in such little time and I will always admire them for coming up with stuff from scratch and turning it into something playable
– granted, this needed tweaking: some combine don’t notice me, as they’re spawned with their backs on me, and there’s a lot of combine in the locked house and not enough health, but on further attempts things went smoother as I used a radiator that randomly fell after I naded their nest
– having autowepswitch “on” right near the target and giving player rpg is a bad idea and killing the actual target was a bit of an anticlimax if you spawn a combine ship right after that, tho technically it makes sense that they come after you
– oh NOW the car works.. haha, well so far this is the best entry yet, quite enjoyable
Playtime: 23m
Entry 4
– nice outdoors once I’m put in the map
– the airboat is twitching for some reason
– indoors kind of simple and boxy tho, and the next area might have some nice curves but it’s still simple overall, I didn’t understand the middle construction at all, layout nor purpose wise
– I cant remember where I needed a keycard, but I finally went back and found the elevator, but apparently thats not the way to go… (same mistake, you show it but it’s unusable til you killed your target)
– the smg can totally be missed, the placement bears no importance, doesn’t attract the player but it’s not really needed apparently
– cant remember what my target is… I’m guessing it’s the only super soldier? Well once I kill it, despite of the huge amount of combine soldiers, running towards my airboat turned out to be a lot easier than I thought, and a bit of a disappointment, because there was like a build-up and a foreshadowing about a not so easy escape
– how did 2 combine get into the sewer? oh well, mission accomplished, but didn’t feel like much
Playtime: 12m
Entry 5
– I’m guessing the target was the rebel with a different skin, I didn’t do anything to any stash tho
– what can I say, the mod presented no difficulty, simple in layout and the objective was reached too soon, at least no visible bugs, hehe
Playtime: 1 whooping minute
Bear in mind that total playtime is high(er) cus of steam chat.
Overall, felt like a big wait for not so big entries, most enjoyable being the 3rd, of course, and runner-up being the 1st. 4th was decent, last one too short and the 2nd, well I didn’t finish it, nor do I plan to, but I wouldn’t recommend it either way. From the ones I did play, it was nice to see they all executed the main theme this time.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour, 14 Minutes
Complex 471 (My Entry)
Fairly average map, brush work is unremarkable but functional though some certain areas are too big and under developed
Layout could have done with some rearrangement.
Multiple paths/ approaches and freedom are good but alternative paths are not likely to be discovered by other players also the freedom of approach can make it either very easy or very hard, ranking system would make players aware of the existence of different approaches.
Tutorial was not as clear as it could have been, there is a lighting problem with the teleporter and the text comes up too slow.
AI needed more extensive triggering in order to make sure they don’t completely lose track of the player.
The cat and mouse game play with the hunters is fun but it is too easy to skip it completely.
I seriously doubt that anyone will find the hidden room without cheating.
Also apparently the EMP only works with the Magnum for some people? No idea why this is but for me it’s just bound to right click regardless of what weapon you have. Still no idea why it might be different for different people.
Harbor Master Blues
You start in pretty much pitch black so I didn’t notice when the map had faded from black.
First puzzle I didn’t solve until I looked at the comments here, I ended up having to use the ent_remove command to progress on my first playthrough. The locks should have been destructible, I don’t think anything would have been lost by having that as an alternative solution to the puzzle.
Then comes the actual assassination, the target starts running to his little cupboard before you actually see them so they can lock themselves away before the player is even aware of them.
As far as I can gather the goal is to kill the target before he gets to his little booth which isn’t easy but it is possible (though an auto save before the getting to this point would have been good) After killing the target nothing happens, I’m assuming that’s the end because I couldn’t do anything else.
An invisible wall spawns to block the player as the target runs which suggest to me that I wasn’t supposed to kill him before he entered his kiosk thing but I have been all over the map even on top of the big boat (which I then found I wasn’t meant to).
[EDIT]
Saw mention of striders and dropships above so I replayed this, looks like some dodgy triggering is going on but when it works it works ok, I liked the strider reveal although its initially unclear that it is shooting anything of value so it is easy to get owned by it.
Terminus
Excellent map, was a bit disappointed that the car didn’t work and the shield wall model doesn’t turn off but these are very minor niggles.
It is very clear from the beginning where you have to go but I wasn’t aware from the beginning that there were multiple paths which is pretty neat.
The stealth approach is cool and there are plenty of areas that look like they were designed with stealth in mind I’m not entirely convinced a legitimate stealth approach is entirely possible.
Health is quite scarce so it took me a few attempts to get through the map alive.
The target is quite obvious but there is a rocket launcher lying on the ground right next to him, if you get too close you automatically pick up the launcher which may give him enough opportunity to kill you though shooting him with a rocket was satisfying
The airship battle was ok though it pretty much came down to circling around the ammo crate (though on later play throughs I found that climbing up to the top then jumping down the drainage hole was a fun way to escape)
Also using the rocket launcher to clear a path is immensely satisfying
I think maybe having some auto saves could have been helpful especially after killing the target.
Undercover
A decent looking map and I like that you have to look around for the key card and weapons though on the first play through I did just thwack the target to death with my crowbar and run.
The mission structure is similar to the one in my map and it has the same problem, it is too easy to get out though challenging yourself to kill all the enemies on the map is satisfying, ammo and health are scarce (the only health you get is that which is dropped) The weapon drop is pretty cool although the target seems just to wander randomly about so sniping him from that balcony unfortunately may not be an option.
I feel that the target should have been put on a track seeing as he can turn up pretty much anywhere.
Nix
I liked this concept and the feel that it was going for and it is quite satisfying to sneak around and shoot a bunch of rebels in the back of the head though this was short lived for be because I seemed to be invariably spotted by an unknown enemy. It is somewhat problematic that the target comes out to get you and isn’t significantly different looking to the others. Another problem is that it is quite clear that an obvious intended approach is to go in above the room that the target is in and drop a grenade down.
It was also slightly disappointing that the rebels didn’t follow you out of the base seeing as there was a combine on a turret supposedly waiting for them.
But the map was decent enough.
Again most fun to be had when killing all rebels but this isn’t what the player is automatically inclined to do.
Manually
Medium
5 Minutes
This review is based on an earlier build of AssassinateVille – I don’t think anything changed with the levels themselves
– Complex 471
If you’re a level designer and you tell yourself, “You know what this level really needs? Keys and locks,” you need to go and sit in a corner for five minutes. Seriously, this wasn’t cool in 1994 and it’s not cool now. What makes the problem worse in Half-Life (aside from all the cooler things you could be doing instead) is that there’s no standardized visual language for keys. I searched the remarkably long, square corridors of this level for quite some time looking for the blue key only to find that it was inches away from the blue door.
This level has the overall structure of a decent get-in-get-out assassination mission, but the layout really needed to be tightened up and offer fewer superfluous corridors that only serve to get the player lost. The EMP mechanic was interesting, but when you’re trying to escape, it takes an awfully long time to recharge. I think I wound up using it to disable some Hunters and I had to run circles around the “EMP lock” dodging bullets, waiting for it to recharge so I could shoot the lock. It gets some points for the creativity of the EMP, but loses just as many for using locked doors.
– Harbor Master Blues
Not even going to review this. This mapper ignores advice and fails to improve from release to release, continuing to make the same mistakes over and over again. I honestly think by this point, he’s rubbing our face in it (see: a cargo container filled with crates that have unbreakable locks). A dreadful map. Get someone to test your work, that’s all I can say. It should be abundantly clear by now that most players do not approach your levels the way you seem to expect them to. Even a simple, 10 minute test would expose all the glaring flaws.
– Terminus
A pretty clear winner. Terminus offers a rather free-flowing design and multiple approaches to the objective. There’s too little health and minimal reward for exploration, however. I also thought the Antlion sand was kind of excessive. It’s nice to see that mechanic again, but it needs to be signposted. By the time I noticed what was going on, I was already in the thick of it. I really liked how the main building was a coastal house with Combine architecture hastily fastened to it. The whole level looks great and I liked how you need to ascend floor-by-floor to the top of the tower to kill the target. The Gunship battle felt a bit tacked on, however. I think it might have worked better if you didn’t have the means to kill it right there and it chased you on the way out. Or, perhaps, it’s a Hunter-Chopper instead and you need to get back to the airboat (instead of the jalopy) to shoot it down in a great final battle. But that’s a lot to ask for a 14 day competition. 🙂
– Undercover
From a high level, this map probably has the best setup. You are shown where the target is by way of clever helicopter use and given the optional opportunity to find equipment to help kill the target. I liked how you could wander around the area unobstructed until you made the first move. The concrete apartment buildings were simple in design but had an interesting feel to them.
Once you kill the target, however, everything goes a bit south for two reasons. One, there’s a locked door at the beginning which isn’t communicated very well (in fact, it has a bright green light on it, which led me to not even bother investigating it) and you need a keycard to open it. Problem is, that keycard is way back at the target, easy to miss, and no one said you needed to find one. Rather than a keycard, perhaps having some forcefield controls at the console in the target’s room may have been a more natural approach. Two, the escape airboat is confined to a very narrow path and gateway and it’s hard to squeeze through it, particularly when you’re under fire. Because of that, the ending is less than epic.
– Nix
This is a rather ugly looking map in terms of terrain, but the building architecture is striking and I give it points for trying to pull off a snow theme. It reminds me of some Modern Warfare levels. You play as the Combine and you need to kill a rebel. Only thing is, you don’t actually know which rebel. Once they see you, they all start attacking and eventually, you’re just going to kill the target. There’s a poorly explained side objective of sorts to blow up some supplies in a bunker which occupies your Combine helper. With more work, this could have been a rather interesting mission. For what it is, it’s not broken or anything – just a 2-3 minute time killer.
(Playtime is an estimated 1 hour, I didn’t time it)
Manually
Easy
1 Hour
Finally got around to playing it, so let’s take a look.
COMPLEX 471
Some odd mechanics that I didn’t really understand. Can get through the forcefield at start, but not at the end? I assume it’s the suit charger box thingies to disable, glass doesn’t always break.
I got as far as the keycard without cheats, didn’t know how to get through that particular field. Good design in terms of leading to the goal (The Cable), what you do next is a mystery.
Would have been a nice looking map with more time, the setting was nice. Right now it’s kinda boxy.
HARBOUR MASTER
This is pretty broken. Some crates don’t break, some grates are manufactured by NeverBreak Ltd. and others by StandardStuff PLC. If you insist on bad design like that first grate, we need a visual cue at least in order to look up. Same with the padlocks, don’t use them if you can’t break them.
I got as far as the Harbour master guy in his hut, didn’t know what to do. I think I broke the map as after some running around, stuff went down (Dropships etc). It’s a decent arena for combat but I was low on supplies, couldn’t find the RPG either (Lots of rockets around, but they’re in different crates, why?) so the strider killed me. Gave up after that.
TERMINUS
I would say this is a lovely looking map considering the competition time but I can’t. It’s a lovely looking map full stop. I enjoyed this entry, and I also loved the combine architecture sitting atop the hut.
Nothing much to say about it really, just solid design.
UNDERCOVER
This map had problems, but I enjoyed it. Some things bugged me, like the light being green for a locked door, pretty straight forward, locked = red unlocked = green, just better understood by players IMHO. The map looked pretty good for the time-frame, nice brushwork on the complex walls for example.
I think the escape could have been better, I didn’t enjoy being right in the middle of so many enemies. I also saw the combine soldiers at the end spawning as I suppose I ran too fast.
Keycard could have been more noticeable as well, I found it fine but I’d guess plenty of people would miss it.
NIX
I basically abandoned designing this half-way through due to a game-crashing bug. I removed lots of things trying to hunt it down. Eventually I came across the same bug in another map (I was outputting double doors to close and open the 2nd door (Of the double) when itself was opened/closed. This causes a loop that crashes ep2, I didn’t know about the Slave system which does the whole thing automatically).
Anyways Phillip was in London so I fixed the doors, slapped an ice border around the map and submitted. Phillip knows how much I bloody hated the map by the end of it all 🙂
Think I achieved what I set out to do, a decent sidekick that goes about the supply cache objective. The easy stealth route/harder guns-blazing route. Could have improved on the latter, I had removed quite a bit of combat in the bug hunting.
Would have liked more time working on the thing, at least the 14 days of comp time. Turned out to be a nightmare. No such thing as a wasted map I guess, you always learn.
Was a nice map pack in general. Not a PP classic, but worth a look.
Manually
Medium
30 Minutes
Sounds like you didn’t go to the drop zone upstairs.
After you get to the drop zone you pick up the magnum and the EMP from the teleporter.
EMP is triggered by Secondary Fire (default right click) it takes 30 seconds to recharge and it disables generators and damages hunters.
All of this is explained in the map though I can see how it could be missed in this version of the map as it is all in text and as I’m learning people seem to miss text. (myself included)
It’s a sign of a bad map that I have to explain this but as you say “no such thing as a wasted map.”
Huge props for designing new game mechanics, just needed to be a bit clearer I think.
Will try again later I think now I know what to do. 🙂
One suggestion I’d have, based on watching some of Maxtasy’s videos, is to try reading your text aloud and see if you can get through all of it before it fades out. If you can’t, you might be going too fast. I know there was at least one map in this pack (can’t remember which) where the text went by awfully fast.
Complex 471
Map begins. Giant orange arrow on the ground telling me where to go. Great! I jump in the car and do as I am told. Oh, apparently I was supposed to go where the massive arrow was not pointing. That makes sense, stupid me.
Overall this map was a bit of a mess. I managed to kill the combine elite, but I still have no clue what I accomplished by EMPing the electric thingies. The map was a bit too free-roam; I feel like you should do a better job of telling the player what to do and where to go.
Harbour master blues
Some crates break and some crates don’t. You get a gun and then you shoot at the padlock and find out that it’s unbreakable. Also there’s a locked door and you can’t get over the fence with propstacking because there’s an invisible wall on top of it.
None of your maps make sense and I can’t advance any further.
Terminus
Nicely made map. Looks quite good and the map layout is well thought out. I found a few gameplay related issues, however.
When I had assassinated the target, I was so low on health (the map is a very hard one, in my opinion. Perhaps too hard.) that I really wasn’t in the mood for fighting a gunship. The target is dead so my job here is done anyway, why fight a gunship? I decided to jump off the spot that was obviously meant for a quick escape and I did make my quick escape. I went back to the beginning of the map like I figured I probably should and ended up dying as the gunship killed me.
I loaded up an autosave. Killed the gunship, this time I was instructed to return to the vehicle. I returned to the dock where I spawned but I could not return to the vehicle because in my confusion over not being able to enter the vehicle, I had pushed it into the water right after spawning. I assume you had a trigger brush parented to the vehicle that would end the map. Oh well.
Overall this was easily the best map in the contest.
Undercover
This map is probably made for players who have more patience than I do. I suppose I was supposed to find the keycard before taking down the target, and then escape to the airboat directly after making the kill.
Instead of doing that, I killed the target right away before even finding the crossbow. I then ran up to room 35 to find the crossbow and grenadebox and proceeded to kill every single combine soldier in the map, which was a time-consuming process. Eventually I found the keycard and made my way out, but it felt a bit silly to escape now that all the combine are dead anyway.
Not a bad map, but I think that vital information like the crossbow found in room 35 should be communicated to the player in a way that doesn’t involve just saying it in a game_text when the map begins.
Earns the title of being the 3rd best map in the contest, in my opinion.
Nix
This one was a bit too easy. I attacked into the outpost, fought some rebels, one of them was my target and I became aware of that only after killing him. Then I ran back to the beginning and map ended.
Also, you can get outside of the map very easily if you just run around the rebel outpost. I don’t know why you can even run around the rebel outpost if there’s no backdoor way of getting inside. That should probably just be blocked off.
Probably the second best map in the contest, however.
Oh, and I feel like I should probably discuss this just a little bit. When this contest was announced I asked if the target could be non-human. Phillip gave me a somewhat reluctant yes. I’ll explain the idea I had.
My idea was that the player is a member of the resistance who is informed that Breen is currently at his summer resort, which is less heavily guarded than the citadel. You invade the summer resort, defeat the combine, enter Breen’s room only to find out that he’s not actually there. Your intel must have been false, so you settle for assassinating Breen’s pet pigeon instead. The map ends here.
It was supposed to be a somewhat humorous map, but it was doomed by my aversion to making outdoor areas.
Should point out that my idea was to kill a Combine Adviser. Basically, you’d come across a cell-block of Nova Prospekt with the Adviser in the middle in a pod. You would have to open the pod by severing the large cables of goop connected to it (using the consoles on either side of it on the top levels of each side of the cell-block) and then return to ground level to initiate a laser that would fry it while a final battle with Combine happened.
This was one of those ideas where I thought I had a decent layout and plan, but once I started building it, I didn’t like how basic and symmetrical it looked and I feared there wasn’t enough to it. That’s sort of my problem with these comps – when I have only 10 or 14 days to do a level, I err on the side of making it too small, knowing that I can always grow it if it turns out I have excess time. Sometimes, the problem is convincing yourself early on that it’s not TOO simple.
I did have another idea that came about midway through the comp which I never built, but I thought it was interesting. Basically, you are a sniper in a building opposite an apartment building where you could only see through the windows in zoom mode. Each window corresponded with one individual’s room – Kleiner, Alyx, Breen, etc. – and each individual had something of value prominently displayed in the window. One of these individuals would be randomly selected as the “thief.” While everyone mills about visiting each other’s rooms, the “thief” steals the valuable object. If the thief steals X number of them, they escape and you fail. So, the idea was you’d have to pay attention to each individual and see what they did, but you’d have to be mindful that you can’t see everyone at once and if you spend too much time focusing on one, the thief might get a valuable. Ideally, you catch the thief in the act and shoot them.
I don’t think the basic concept would have been hard to do – tweaking it and doing it well in 5 days was a different story.
Miggaa and JG, you guys should both continue working on those maps. The concepts for each of them sound great.
As for me, I was planning on a map plan where a rebel was handing stolen supplies back over to the combine. You catch him in the act, so he runs off and hides in one of the nearby buildings. The location where he would hide was selected at random. I unfortunately didn’t have near enough time to execute this idea either.
I agree, get to it!
as for my plan, my plan was to test more entries 😀
I worked on it for only about an hour so the map is practically nothing in its current state
There isn’t anything to finish, really.
Complex 471:
Sorry, but to me this seemed like the weakest of the entries. To start off the layout is confusing. All the corridors look the same and there aren’t many defining areas to help you orientate yourself. I’m not a person that easily gets lost, both in games and real life, and it didn’t take me much time to figure out the basic layout of everything, but it feels to me that many more people would easily get lost in the map, especially trying to find the red keycard.
The key cards were weird. They were easy to find and get to, but I don’t understand why I can pick them up and have them break, with a glass shatter sound, right after. An invisible button over them, that simply kills the button and opens the corresponding door would have been easier and more satisfying.
It also suffers from the same problem my entry does. After you kill your target, you can simply jump down and run to the exit, without having much of a fight. Unless ofcourse you still need to disable the force field, which was strange. It let me in just fine, so I imagined it would let me out just as easily, which cost me my life the first time.
The EMP mechanic could have been better done. It didn’t have any feedback, no sound or anything, and it didn’t seem to damage the hunters. I would have expected them to imediately die after using it on them since you have very little ammo to speak of, but they still kept going at me.
Speaking of little ammo, having no crowbar is a no-no for me. If the player runs out of ammo, which is very possible, seeing as there is so little, there is nothing they can do.
I really don’t have anything good to say about this map, which is a shame since you the author tried to incorporate interesting new mechanics. Hopefully it will be better next time.
Harbor Master Blues:
As most people noted already the initial puzzle, to get into the sewer area, is horribly designed. There is nothing to draw the player’s attention up, and even if they did look up they might not have seen it if they were too close to the cliff. I didn’t manage to find it on my first playthrought, and I only found it on my second go at the map after reading some comments about it. The second grate is also a kick in the players patience since it breaks with just the crowbar and goes against the “rules” that had been shown.
The rest of the map goes well. The only thing I would say is that the dropship took a long time to get there. I spent a couple minutes running around trying to find out what to do until it showed up.
The fight was nicely presented, and the strider coming out of the ship gave me a jurrassic park feeling, which was great. The ending was a bit dissappointing. After placing the explosive near him I expected an awesome explosion with bits of wood and flesh flying around but it just vanished and created a little flame.
Terminus:
This for me was the best out of all. The multiple entrance paths gave me a sense of freedom and it reminded me of the first crysis, and how they promised you could approach every area diferently. The area was also nicely designed, giving you weapons if you searched for them, or allowing you to go straight for the target if you chose to do so.
However I was dissapointed when I started entering the area. It seemed like it was a stealth mission, with combine looking away. It looked like I could sneak around the place without being detected but they quickly turned around and started shooting me in the face. I know stealth isn’t a very easy thing to achieve in HL2, but it seemed like it wasn’t used to its potencial in this entry.
Another thing I didn’t like was the fact that the smallest touch of the water would hurt you. Even water you could barely see, like the very shallow surfaces covering the sand. Having it happen farther out into the ocean is fine but there wasn’t a section of water I found that wouldn’t hurt me.
Apart from these there were a couple of problems with NPC movement and AI, like the shotgun soldier in the pier not moving, and the fact that the tower didn’t seem like a very nice place for a gunship fight.
Overall this entry was the best out of the competition and it provided me with quite a bit of fun.
Nix:
I really liked the atmosphere in this one. It didn’t look that great, but having the snow falling felt great, especially since you don’t see it very often in maps. However the rest didn’t feel very well implemented.
To start, my AI partner didn’t seem to care at all for the rebels attacking me, and they didn’t care about him either. It almost seemed like they couldn’t see each other. After the fighting starts he simply ran to the shelthers and didn’t try to help me. The second thing is the target. I killed him without even knowing, like some other people did. I had no idea who it was, he simply came to me like any other rebel and I killed him/her, without having to search at all.
Something else that was quite horrible was the fact that the fencing around the base was solid, meaning you couldn’t shoot throught it, and the rebels couldn’t see throught it. When everything it is is a meager 3 thin wires, it make no sense at all.
I don’t have much else to say about the map, neither good or bad. I don’t feel it gives me much to talk about.
Undercover (My Entry):
Like my DefendVille entry, I don’t think it’s very good (go figure). Of course, starting from scratch four days into the competition cut back on what I could do, so the map doesn’t look very good, especially the main building, which was supposed to be a somewhat fancy restaurant, but turned out like just a bunch of random walls and windows.
From reading the comments it seems some people don’t think the keycard was a very good mechanic. I agree. I implemented it because I didn’t want the player to be able to reach the boat before he had completed his mission but I could have done better. I tried my best to tell the player he could actually open the fence door. I added the green glow, instead of a red one to tell the player that he could interact with it, and it wasn’t just part of the scenery (since combine locks usually have a slight red glow) and tried to make it clear that there was only one way to reach the boat. Unfortunatly it didn’t seem to work quite as expected. The green glow gave some people the impression that it was already opened so they didn’t bothered clicking it. New mechanics like these are always hard to implement in a way that makes them feel both natural and part of the game and not just an abstract representation.
In the first layout of the map, there was a small corridor, with a door on each end, one of them being the locked fence door. It might have been better, since the player would open the entry door, and the only thing there would be was a green glow and a locked door. A random empty corridor doesn’t make much sense, so that could likely have made the player go to the end and try to open it.
The main building could also have turned out better. I tried a lot of different ways to make the combine move around, and since I didn’t (and still don’t) have much experience with AI control most of them failed. I first tried giving them an actbusy schedule, but that turned out unreliable. Combine soldiers have 5 (if I remember correctly) “actbusy” sequences they can perform, which all but one would freeze them for ever. Making my custom sequences also didn’t work out very well. For one I couldn’t get them to be recognized by the game, and second because combine soldiers have really no good non-combat animations to use. They really are just designed for combat situations and completely fail their job if there are no enemies in sight.
In terms of the atmosphere I tried a couple of things, but I had so little time by that point that they didn’t turn out as well as they could. Firstly I tried something Daz mentioned I could have added in my DefendVille competition entry, which was to include the helicopter flying by. I’ve done this a couple of times in other maps of mine and it’s something I really like to do. Making them is really easy, they look natural and add a lot to the map. The same with any other flying NPC, namely gunships. I added a “second” one that lifts away after you find the outpost because the area felt really empty when you first entered it. The helicopters turned out good and I really like them.
The second thing I tried for in terms of atmosphere was to add soundscapes. I had never worked with them before, and having now a somewhat rough knowledge of them, makes me want to use them in every map. They are incredibly flexible and give the map author a lot of control. Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to work on them so the ones I included are kinda crappy. That should be rectified in my next maps going forward.
Overall I a bit more satisfied than my DefendVille entry, but still a kicking myself xD.
Manually
Hard
1 Hour
For the first entry, the emp does work on hunters, I managed to weaken 2 of them and you can notice that from the stuff that pours out of them, plus they are easily finished after that.
In the 3rd entry for me it didn’t seem stealthy at all, just combine spawned facing the wrong way, but I agree about the water, so shallow and so hurtful.
For your entry, the default hl2 combine lock with red light also makes a certain sound when used, so you couldve used: diff lock, red light, diff sound… and even if same lock, they can still be opened, from some terminal or by Alyx.
maps are blocky, ligtning is terrible, some of the maplogic and/or the triggers are extremly bad.
http://youtu.be/EfYMEKBF53g
Manually
Easy
30 Minutes
How do I rate this map pack when I gave 3 of them a 5 out of 10? Yes I agreed with the first and second choices in the voting, that was easy, and I loved those two.
I just have to say, when a map requires that many people come back here after quitting, out of curiosity to see if there are any tips in people’s comments that could help to let them actually PLAY the map (lol), then it IS a design failure! NOT a cute diversion or trick! People have been saying this for years. Sheesh, nobody gets it, hello. Its really too bad because two of those 5 out of 10 maps had so many good things in them.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour
As a rule of thumb, I rate the contest mods on the basis of their strongest entry. I don’t think it’s fair for someone who clearly put a lot of hard work and polish into their map to be brought down by lazy entrants who didn’t. As for whether or not it’s fair, then, for a lazy entrant to reap the rewards of a high rating? It’s not – but anyone can tell within 30 seconds who actually deserved the mark and who didn’t.
Some good entries, but they all have a few problems.
Complex 471 has some nice ideas and new mechanics but they are not explained very well and the new “weapon”, an EMP, has no feedback to show its effect. The complex which hosts the level is actually pretty large but it seems that you don’t need to visit a lot of areas to complete the map. It is supposed to be a Combine facility, but I think it needs a bit more detail to really sell that idea. Combine architecture tends to be more vertical and with fewer right-angles.
Most importantly though it was actually fun to play, once I understood how things worked.
Harbour Master Blues is frustrating, because like all of Tony DeBlasio’s entries it is technically well made, looks good and has some nice gameplay but will be hated by most people because of bad signposting and breaking Valve’s design rules. (For the last time, padlocks are breakable!)
The first puzzle is pretty ridiculous; I couldn’t solve it even after noclipping around to look for clues and turning on fullbright to make things more visible. The solution is to break a tiny wooden ledge on the cliff to make rocks fall and break a grate. No player is likely to look up there, and even if they do they might not spot it. The least that could be done is adding a Lambda decal or some kind of bright texture in the area. The grate should be breakable with a crowbar anyway, and to add insult to injury the next one in the map is!
The main combat area of the map is pretty fun and again well made, although there is too long a gap between each section triggering. It does seem pretty strange how the target just stands in a little room waiting for you to kill him, and I couldn’t find the explosive that you apparently have to use.
Terminus is a very ambitious entry which provides several routes to take to reach a target in a large coastal area. As far as I can tell, being completely stealthy is not possible but can be successful in a few places. This map looks very good for a competition entry, particularly in the central building where a Combine tower has been grafted onto an existing building, demonstrating some impressive brush detailing.
The first main part of the level shows a return to the mechanic from Sandtraps where touching the sand spawns Antlions. In this instance I felt it was just a little too frustrating to get across, but a nice idea nevertheless. Subsequently there are two options, one through a small zombie area and into the bottom of the tower, and another out into the Combine occupied courtyard. I didn’t spot the former on my first attempt, and I feel there are not enough supplies to make the second option feasible.
This was my favourite entry just due to the scope and attention to detail, even though I struggled with it on my first playthrough.
Undercover was pretty well made I suppose, and the stealth element was nice. I guess it was intended for players to kill all the Combine but it was far too easy to just run away. I didn’t find a keycard, nor realise that I needed one, or even find the door that required one. I just ran back to the start and escaped down the canal…?
Nix was interesting in that it tried something a bit more unusual. We play as the Combine and having an ally is a pretty cool idea. The Arctic environment is not bad considering the time restraints and does make me wonder what Episode 3 as originally planned would have looked like. Again it was quite easy to go straight in and out without killing most of the enemies and it wasn’t that clear who the target was in advance, but still fun overall.
All in all I think this was a pretty fun mapping competition. A couple more entries might have been nice but I enjoyed these ones regardless. I hope to enter the next competition, time allowing.
Manually
Hard
1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Concerning Harbor Master Blues, from a technical standpoint, the level is a mess. The aspects you and others thought were “timers” in between waves are actually based on weirdly placed triggers. So, if you never bumped into the clearly locked door at the other end of the cargo yard, the battle would never start. Likewise, the trigger for the Strider is a weird thing that runs from the corner of the warehouse across to the ship. It gets enabled a full 10 seconds after the last Combine is killed. It’s entirely possible for the player to walk through it in those 10 seconds, not trigger the Strider, and not understand what they missed.
Then, the explosives are in one of the cargo crates that gets blasted by the Strider, provided you allow the Strider to live long enough to do it.
Ah okay, I assumed that there was just a large delay placed on the outputs, but that would explain why it didn’t work at all for a lot of people.
I assumed that the explosive was supposed to be in one of the crates, but by that point I couldn’t really be bothered to do any further investigation!
Well Overall it’s been a nice competition, with some cool maps to play and plenty of combat, also I guess, this is not the best competition ever, as there are some others which are better, but this has an ok entertaining value and that feels just right.
So stated that I proceed reviewing each entry, though I’ll try to do it short and fast just expressing the main-relevant points and main shortfalls of each entry.
Complex 471 by Joseph Willaims AKA Dysprogues
This just overall had the feeling of a big ARENA mapping style. I got very confused because it was a huge map with many areas to explore and some old fashioned pick up the keycard stuff. The murder of the CMB was fairly easy, as all the maps but the escape was quite not challenging as it could have been, also that weird mechanism by picking the secondary mouse button was something I just didn’t understand at all, I knew it served to deactivate the force fields but that was just kind of silly.
HarborMaster by Tony DeBlasio AKa Starman
Cool concept in this entry, and the way that Strider appeared on scene was just a WOW!! moment. Also the combat was fair enough cool, but the beginning it was filled with some confusion if you don’t know how to proceed or access the warehouse and main maneuvers yard, the assassination of the target was just stupid, and maybe if he would have escaped from that booth he was in, and shoot it by the back would have been just perfect end. for me this one deserve an honor mention and a fair second place.
Terminus by Dan Jordan
The best entry of them all, and just there were many, many ways to face this map in strategic terms, you could plan many assaults, and I guess you can play it with a cool feeling in more than 3 or 4 ways, though the combat is hard but pretty cool, I just would have love to battle some 2 or 4 hunters on my escape, that would have been just perfect, I guess I have no complains about this entry and I also voted for it as the number 1. Overall a well deserved decent winner of the comp.
Undercover by Pedro Marques AKA Dalannar
Nice architecture of the main combat plaza, and also the only map which actually gives you the magnificent Crossbow available to kill the target on a fair enough distance, just by that detail deserve a honor mention and I guess is the 3rd place on the podium. the combat can be pretty hard, but you have the option to run away from there and skip it completely which is not a cool thing precisely. Also the escape section is nice but the way to go is very, very short. I also had the impression this is a map you can face in more than 3 or 4 ways, I actually tried 2 with different ways to kill the main Overwatch soldier.
Nix by Richard Greenslade AKA Greenmans
This was a nice concept, but sadly just looked all unfinished, and the combat could have been a bit more intense. That artic base it was a clever touch very, very few HL2 mappers have explored or developed in their maps. I’d just love to see a whole HL2 mod based in the artic scenery, that would be pretty nice. Sadly as I said this mod just looked quite unfinished and I hope the developer can improve it and release it better soon…
CONCLUSION
Well folks that’s all I guess. Overall an entertaining competition and with a decent number of entries, I just rest to say I hope some more cool PP.com competitions encouraging clever maps in the future, many thanks Phillip for organizing another successful comp. 🙂
Manually
Medium
3 Hours
Dysprogue stated for Complex 471 ‘I seriously doubt that anyone will find the hidden room without cheating’. I couldn’t find it WITH cheating ! Where is it ???
Okay, this is what I gathered from decompiling the map.
[spoiler]Assuming you have the EMP tool, you need to go back to the start of the level and find the “BTC” logo on the wall. It’s behind where you start. Go up and touch the wall, and then use the EMP tool. A wall should open to the right which reveals a rather large secret area with a giant mechanical hand.[/spoiler]
You decompiled my map? I feel so naked!
Frankly I’m impressed you deciphered any meaning from the vmf, I didn’t exactly make it user friendly.
If anyone else is interested in looking at the vmf, I’ll save you the hassle of decompiling it.
You can get the file from here:
Download to your HDD [2.53MB]
Thanks for the reply JG. One of the other reviewers mentioned ‘the cable’ — I assumed you would find a cable in the hidden room that plus into the two side-by-side sockets, but apparently these electrical outlets play no part in the map. Thanks again.
I’m playing Complex 471. I’ve got the mag and the red key. I entered the small room using the red key. I presumed the two inside were the Elite. I shot them point blank. They didn’t react, never mind die! Is this working or am I missing something? Help, please.
I can answer my own question. The crosshair was not switched on. I tried HL2 Ep2 in Steam and that was the same, but I don’t know why that should happen. Weird!
That is strange is it just that map or are you finding that with other maps too? If you’re playing with a modded version of Episode 2 it may be some sort of incompatability with the game_ui entity used to make right click activate the EMP. That’s my best guess if it is just my map.
Took me a long time but finally i have played all entries in this great mapping competition.
I know the developers have ashort time to make there level, so you can’t expect top notch. Still, some could use some improvement, others were really well made.
Although the first 2 entries were a real mistery to me, i really didn’t know were to go and had to noclip my way through what made that a lot of things didn’t work, or didn’t work as they were suposed to work.
The very best by far i thought was Terminus, although it took me 3 times to start over before i knew how to keep alive before i could my hands on enough fire power. Love hard levels, but this was a bit to much.
All in all, had a great 2 hours with this new mapping contest,
thanks developers, and thanks Phillip!
Leon
Manually
Medium
2 Hours
Complex 471:
This one was… meh. The map itself looked ugly and the textures were boring. Lighting was alright I guess. Though, the worst part of all is that EMP thingy. It was just terrible and confusing. Overall, the map isn’t the worst I’ve played but I’ve seen better.
Harbor Master:
Another OK entry. The combat was cool, and the map didn’t look that bad either, but the confusing part like the beginning and the way you need to find the RPG is ridiculous. Again, I’ve seen better.
Terminus:
The quality got better with this one. The map looked great, the combat was great, and I liked the fact that there are a lot of ways to assault the harbour. Though, there were a lot of empty supply boxes and the difficulty was quite high. A really good map.
Undercover:
This was my favorite entry of all. I liked the way you had to assassinate the target, I loved how the map looks and, even though I found a few glitches, it’s still a very good entry.
Nix:
Here, I liked the concept that you are the Combine, which is not often seen in HL mods, but I beat it in like 5-6 mins. The environment looked good, and the enemies were about the right amount though, so it’s not terrible.
Overall, I liked this mappack, even with its first 2 mediocre entries.
A decent turnout for the competition. Overall I think this pack of maps is really elevated by the strongest map. Without it, this would have been a Maybe at best from me.
Terminus is by far the best of the entries. It’s an attractive, well-designed map with any number of ways for you to approach things. I really liked how interconnected all the areas are. The opening battle can really trip you up, or can be relatively smooth depending on your approach. The only thing that let me down a little was when I had to return back to the starting point, but that ended up just being a stroll back down the hill – I was expecting at least a token bit of surprise resistance after the climax on the tower.
All of the other maps had something to enjoy, but also had some issues. I generally liked Harbor Master but escaping the opening area was just an exercise in frustration. There were so many crates around, you really get the sense that you could stack them to get somewhere. It was disappointing that the only way out was the way the author intended – it would have been much better if there were multiple solutions and thus creativity was rewarded.
Complex 471 was interesting, but as mentioned above it was confusing, and the EMP mechanic was poorly explained and without any visual or audio feedback it was ultimately an underachieving twist.
Undercover was clever, but I ended up just spamming grenades from the infinite crate and managed to kill the target without even seeing them. Nix was also clever, it was cool to play as a Combine soldier – although your fellow Combine was unpredictable and the rebel target was seeming just one of many rebels that charged out to fight me.
Manually
Medium
1 Hour
Is the crosshair supposed to be off?
Probably not, this happens to me in some maps too. Turn it back on by putting this in the console: crosshair 1
All of the menu icons are invisible.
Sorry for the delayed reply. That was an old download which has since been updated. Please redownload and try again, it should work for you.
Thanks.
Thanks for doing that, I totally forgot.
Terminus was the best of the bunch. The rest were not enjoyable.
Manually
Easy
30 Minutes
One of my favourite Ville maps of all time. Amazing.
The map called terminus is the best.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja8HuNCsbTc&list=PL5MfhJVT6wIKbXxhAvpcJxjx8m-uEG42x&index=119
Manually
Easy
19 Minutes