Enjoy being scared? This mapping competition challenged mappers to make a scary scene. No combat was required but allowed.
There are 5 entries in this mappack. The maps can be played in any order.
I have listed them in the order I received them. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alex from JustMakeGames for providing the motivation to run the competition and TheHappyCloud for providing the prize.
In addition, I would like to thank all the entrants. GREAT WORKS GUYS!
Don’t forget to play late at night with all the lights out!
- Title: Halloweenville
- File Name: hl2-ep2-sp-ppmc-halloweenville.7z
- Size : 30.8MB
- Author: Botolf, Greenman, Leslie Aerts, Alex Haddow-Mendes and Justin Carlton
- Date Released: 22 November 2011
HalloweenVille is a joint mapping competition between PP and JustMakeGames.Com, with TheHappyCLoud.Com providing the prize, which is Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
Full details can be found on the HalloweenVille Project page.
The winner is displayed below the servers and screenshot heading, so that readers can download and play the mod, without knowing who won.
If you have played it and want to see if you agree, please scroll down.
- Copy the halloweenville folder into your SourceMods folder.
- Restart or start Steam.
- HalloweenVille should now be listed in your Library tab.
WARNING: The screenshots contain spoilers.
Each map has 5 screenshots.
1600 x 900
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It was probably not a good idea having 2 judges! Whilst we didn’t completely disagree, we didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye either.
We put our top 3 maps next to each other and the one with the lowest score was the winner. Hopefully that makes sense.
Therefore our winner is..
Missing Person
Congratulations to Justin for creating such an interesting series of maps. Please take time to read the readme as there are details of some secrets.
I would also like to give an Honourable Mention to Dark Bad. This little map really had me on edge, and was actually my personal favourite. I will be providing a smaller prize for this entry.
Well, that’s it. Below is your chance to tell Alex, me and other readers what you think.
I hope you enjoyed the maps.
The playthrough below is provided by Custom Gamer as part of The Ville Retrospective event.
See more of his playthroughs on this site: VP: Custom Gamer.
The playthrough below is provided by JustMakeGames.Com
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6,695Overall
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Using Gauge: Users
Manually: 5 Users
Time Taken:
Average: 0 Hours, 46 Mins
Shortest: 0 Hours, 34 Mins by ArctixSnowPup
Longest: 1 Hours by Pogo Pogo
Total Time Played: 3 Hours, 49 Mins
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So, where do I start? At the beginning you say. Okay.
This review contains spoilers, so play the mod first if you don’t like them.
All Hallow’s Isle
This was a great little island. I actually swam all the way around it, just to see if there were any hidden areas – you’ll have to do the same if you want to find out. Anyway, getting to the top area wasn’t too hard and the events that transpired were not so much scary as frustrating.
I liked the effect after you drank the bottle.
Asylum
Visually, this was very good and there were touches of atmosphere, but nothing really made me feel scared. Of course, I kept expecting something to happen and that in itself can be fun, but I just felt it lacked at least one real scare.
Cabin Fever
The setting was pretty good and not being able to leave was well done too. Once I got the flashlight it didn’t seem to make much difference. Up to that point I was carrying the lamp around anyway.
The final room was surprising but not really scary enough. When I replayed it, I couldn’t get the same ending.
Dark Bad
This was perhaps the shortest entry, but as I mentioned in the main post, it was also my favourite one. I just felt that the idea of running from something and wanting to look behind you but not daring to was really well done.
I died the first time I played it, as perhaps many will do, but once you continue the events are nicely controlled.
Hiding can be such a dangerous action, yet here you have little choice. Really well done.
Missing Person
And onto the winner. There’s little doubt that a HUGE amount of work went into this entry and it’s much larger than any of the others. But that’s not the reason it won.
It really managed to scare us. I actually felt frightened and lost in the woods and probably ran around in circles like a little girl for most of it. We feel the author really managed to create believable scenes that always had you on your toes expecting something to happen.
The floating burnt corpses were great but personally I didn’t like the “in your face” demons.
Overall, a worthy winner and I am very curious to read your comments and see how the poll goes.
I would say that this was another succesful mapping competition and can’t wait for the next one, which I’ll discuss in the next few days.
Thanks for playing.
Setting up a decent scare is all about building a sense of tension before you unleash it.
I think all the mappers managed to create atmospheres that put you on edge its just that Dark Bad and Missing Person unleash the payoff of the actual shock as well.
What works with Missing Person is that its just random enough so that you dont know where its coming from next… what doesnt work is that its all passive. The player has nothing to do but keep moving forward. Combine this with a little more actual gameplay and a nice horror survival mod may be born…
I loved the visuals of Asylum, like viewing the world with a migrane.
Cabin Fever and All Hallows Ilse lacked player direction which can always lead to frustration but the lighting and the atmosphere in both deserve our attention.
Wow, I think this comp. is unique on it’s type, I mean create an atmosphere in a mod or map is allways a really underestimated element most of the time, so here we could see how mappers can create more than the best thecnic elements, the best environments, I can’t wait to put my fingers on this, I sure I will, but i’m also afraid I could poop on my pants doing it, so I hope end this scary comp, in the next few days and see how my review will be.
Hey, I created the dark bad map. I honestly think that Missing Person was the well deserved winner. It was lenghty, scary and very impressive, on my map I got really lazy near the end. Anyway, thanks for the input guys!
I have to say that the cheesecake goes to Missing Person.
The elements of the SourceEngine were well used.
The ambience was giving you the kind of feel you would hate in reality.
All the areas connected properly.
The scare was a nice touch.
And I actualy have to admint the way to have 2 endings , its pretty expanding.
The only thing I would point downside was nearly nothing.
———-
The honorable mention for ambience goes to Asylum.
Not only for the use of smoke particles and ambiental sounds.
But also for its foreshadowing and backshadowing climb.
Its puzzles are good and the light and cubemaps go well with the place.
The only downside was that it was kind of short, and the ending was unexpected.
Other than that it wins the honorable mention from me.
Good competition with some great maps. Dark bad is my favourite.
Great scares! Well, some of them anyway. I’ll go through each map and review them without spoilers, hopefully.
All Hallows_Isle: Huh. Is that it? Very short, no scares as much as shocks. e.g. at the camp fire, that part was nice. (Scary?:No) Lasting thoughts: It’s almost Alice In Wonderland! But not.
Asylum: Well, it was a very dark map. Which, these types are supposed to be I guess. So dark, though, that you have to highlight the metal? I believe you stole something from Nightmare House 2, though I could be mistaken. No real scares. (Scary?:Spooky) Lasting thoughts: An asylum fit for a picnic!
Cabin Fever: Loved the lamp/flashlight! The cabin also had an eerie feel, which is creepy but not neccesarily “scary”. I spent a couple minutes looking for what changed every time the light went off in the bathroom. -_- Final scene, obvious but well played. I was hoping to come across caniballistic inbreds! (Scary?: Creepy) Lasting thoughts: Beware of lamp-stealing-doors! ^^
Dark Bad: Now for the two crowd pleasers! Could have done with a custom npc, would have sealed the deal imo. The written signs were nice, though the first time it ended in me dying. Twice. Very Amnesia-esque, I would have thought you already have the game! Well, maybe you do. Nice ending. (Scary?:In a “run!” way) Lasting thoughts: It’s the IRS!
Missing Person: First off: (Scary?: Yes) Success! lol Congrats on the win. Noticed you also stole something from Nightmare House 2, hmm? That creepy music in the beginning. Maybe you and Asylum can with the source code out, but still. First “In your face” demon (as PP put it) was startling, then it got old. Again, and again. Hated the caves, couldn’t tell which was up. Also a scare in there. The forest and graveyard are great examples of how to do non-linear paths! Loved both endings. Ending one: Hey look it’s Xen! lol Ending two: Satisfaction! Not sure if the easter egg changes any gameplay, cause I only played through it once. Lasting thoughts: Eat that, burnt city 17 corpse!
So yeah, pretty good Ville.
Shiny metal? Sounds like unbuilt cubemaps, try buildcubemaps in console. Should have already been built though.
What’s the second ending of Missing Person? I’ve seen only one [spoiler]When you fall in the church and then there is the report [/spoiler]
What’s one of the only things you can pick up?
On hallowed grounds…
Burnt guy doesn’t want you to have it…
[spoiler]The cross! Take it with you to the church, when the doors open run in and impale it into the burnt guy’s corpse; he’ll then disappear in a flash of light. As the fire goes down jump over the hole to hell then drive away. You made it![/spoiler]
Okay, thanks.
Actually [spoiler]I’ve thought about that and taken The cross with me but thought it was to use on The giant flaming head again.[/spoiler]
Right. One is the other. Vice Versa.
Odd that that happened. Actually, upon building the cube maps the map had great lighting! Ha, so I retract that con from the review. Thanks Greenman.
It was. Immediately after speaking with you, I did that. I wonder if something else needs to be done too.
It has to be built with HDR and then LDR.
I was playing in HDR if that helps.
OK, just like GravityGunVille these were not much fun for me, however the looks of all the entries was great!
In some ways these were almost like art mods, a genre I don’t enjoy. All Hallows Isle did at least have a headcrab carrying a fold up chair which was mildly amusing and I liked the woods in Missing Person, but even the demon was not as frighting as a fallow deer coming at full pelt towards me in a dense wooded area (in case you’re wondering it went around me).
This was not my cup of tea but the quality of the overall work deserves a rating.
Long time no see, but I was waiting for THIS project to come. And it was done well : I was scared 🙂
And it is not too long, too. 1 hour to wrap them all.
1) MISSING PERSON : The best of them all, a 3-map long runaway using various environments (a foggy forest, a cemetery, caves…), with some backstory, and really scary mechanics (the first one… made me scream, really). Very well done. Also, amazing due to the short period to develop it.
2) DARK BAD : My second favorite, using a mechanic already used on Forward Motion and Torment, but still effecient, with a citizen/floating corpse, appearing out of nowhere and/or chasing you. Some good jumpscares.
3) ASYLUM : very good work on the sound, but only one “scary” scene, the rest is only about ambiance, and some puzzles.
4) HALLOW ISLE : A cool map with scary ambiance, and some cool ideas, I liked the reskinned enemies.
5) CABIN FEVER : at first, I was thinking I had to carry the big lamp… Until I found another small lamp… And then, nothing really special until the very end… I found that actually a bit lame…
Either way, thank you for all modders for developing such map’s in such a short lengh of time. Waiting for next year and HalloweenVille2 🙂
This one was really enjoyable to play true good short nice looking environments.
With the exception of the winner which got me terrible lost that was on its own a scary thing so he clearly deserves the #1 position but that doesn’t make the other one’s less bad overall greatly worth your time.
What we need for the next competition is an Originalityville type thing. For instance, the set of rules can be: No Valve sounds, no Valve music, no Valve textures, no Valve models, no Valve animations. And the entries can be judged on overall quality. I’m tired of hearing Kelly Bailey stuff and seeing City 17 citizens in player-made mods that have nothing to do with Half-Life.
Definitely worth playing it because here we have a perfect junction of horror maps which we strangely see in HL modding-mapping universe, is great, I insist, how the environment or atmosphere are really important facts to create spooky stuff, I mean I know just doing a map or mod centered in horror elements could be limitative, but sometimes “cliches” momments are just perfect for the ocassion, and here is where the last 2 entries stand out from the rest:
Dark bad was the perfect horror-thriller film [spoiler]where u are being chased by that diabolic entity and those signs on the walls advising u what to do just put the nerves up!, I loved that, and the end was the classic clich in horror stuff but in here it wqas just perfect aplied and that’s just good. [/spoiler].
Missing Person, oh it has some really “what the shit!!!!!” momments that make u jump out!!! definitely, great psicological terror in there too [spoiler]i loved that feling that great atmosphere of being in that classic horror place anyone wouldn’t never wish to be, that diabolic forrest sourrounded by the earie fog and then PUMMMM a freaking perfect clich (reffering by clich to the classic scary momment taht makes u jump out of ur freakin seat in horror mods) momment u wont expect, appears in front of u[/spoiler], I was sacared but glad because of that, I mean I had a really cool taste in my mouth after I played that, and I could say I would love a medium or short length size mod out of that story was great and I don’t know why modders are just so intersted in killing everything it moves, instead of explore new cool ways of modding, and i’d love to see more scary mods and play them in the near future, but I don’t know whose mods are being built on that category I hope at least more than one!!
The other ones were ok, but I think many elements were obviously missed so they are just ok, the first one about the island was really nice, I loved that spooky island but I imagine that island more as a combat scenario than a hooror place to run a mod, anyway the feeling of the spooky nature of the island was so delightful and [spoiler]that rain allways falling was a perfect little misterous detail [/spoiler]. The one about the hospital-like, Assylum i think it was the name, was another promissing one but scare rushs were totally missed, altough the atmosphere of that forsaken hole hospital feeling is there all the time, it has a strange ending and makes me think the author needed more time to finish it propperly, i’d love that he would work on it in the future and offers us a cool work to play!.
An then the one about the Cabain, Cabain Fever well that was a shame not in a despectful way, it seems that the basic map was there but time again was the main ennemy for that project, I hope the author doesn’t upset about that and finish the map and his scary ideas for it propperly!
So in conclussion was a great experience and I hope definitely to see more scary-spooky maps and mods more often!!
I have to give credit where credit is due, Missing Persons was by far the best map in the pack; however, there were some other good ones. Here are my picks in order
Missing Persons:
Brought together everything that a horror mod should do. It had a few jump scares, though one appeared a few more times than necessary, had an actual plot and story to follow thereby it was building up to something and [spoiler]each of the endings actually made sense and were good[/spoiler] The forest was a very nice touch and that is where you can see the most work was probably put into this map.
Dark Bad:
A shorter mod; however, it overall had a very creepy presence. I did die the first time as I feel it would have been easier to know what to do if the maker added a visual clue. I also looked back… Overall, a very strong Halloween mod the only disappointment was the ending. Feels like the layout and final scares of one of the lost chapters to NMH2 and a bit of Underhell too, not that that is bad, just it was a little bit of a rehash.
Asylum:
I really enjoyed this map because again it reminded me of NMH2 in a good way. It was creepy walking around because I was expecting a scare, the problem was that there really was not too many. All the scares [spoiler]with the man appearing[/spoiler] where extremely predictable even the timing. It was still a very good map. Though I feel if the ending was expanded upon a bit [spoiler]explain that you were that man appearing or something of that nature, instead of just leaving us completely wondering[/spoiler]
Cabin Fever:
The layout and style of the actual map seems amateurish; however, it gives a good experience. The two scares were good though the final one was predictable. Get rid of the flickering lamp because I carried that with me until I found the flashlight. If it was refined a little bit more in map making, I feel it would have fared a little better but the experience was still good nevertheless.
All Hallow’s Isle:
Absolutely hated this map. I was not scared by it, just annoyed. I am not sure if I actual beat it because when I thought it was over [spoiler]Is it over after you drink the second poison?[/spoiler], the game would drop me from the server and the next map was not unlocked. It provide a nice atmosphere at times but there was no scares and the monsters were weak though I did laugh at the [spoiler]head crabs as the chair and fire[/spoiler] I feel that if you skip this map, you are not losing out. It was the only one that I felt was truly sub par.
Missing Person was really good, loved it so much that it’s now my personal favourite!
[spoiler]Tho the setting of a foggy forest was really something I couldn’t related to, I still manged to get really scared. It wrote about an easter egg when I won, did somebody find it? What was it?[/spoiler]
Yeah, did you do what it said to?
[spoiler] After getting the second ending it told you to click on the birdhouse at the rest stop[/spoiler]
[spoiler]Easter egg is a Shotgun with spare ammo. Don’t know yet if you can kill things in the map.[/spoiler]
Yes you can. For example, at The well scene.
It completly ruins immersion, thought.
I will review later when ive played them all. Was just saying, to stop the weird reflective lighting error in asylum, type buildcubemaps in the console. The mapper should have done this but nevermind.
WARNING, may contain open spoilers.
All Hallows” Isle
First thoughts: This was promising, with nice displacements.
However, the scripted sequences were.. odd and the map was very very short. Good try, good potential. 1/5 – not scary.
Asylum
First thoughts: Odd lighting, there’s a simple fix as stated in my above comment (noface). Anyway, the map had some good gameplay elements, but didnt really draw or immerse you into the game. Just because it was dark, didnt mean it was scary. However, very nice mapping with good layout. Good. 3/5
Cabin Fever
Started alright, a little odd texturing but seemed like it could be scary.
Clever scripts, although I did spend a lot of time in a dark place trying to find my way, realising a door had appeared if I backtracked. (also, a bright light came through both the window and the closed door). Anyway, going through doors and back through new doors got a little boring, and although did slightly immerses me, didnt scare me. The final part [spoiler]with the zombies[/spoiler] was a little anticlimactic, especially since that was it until you died. (I managed to escape the zombies even though was blind, then got bored and went towards the zombies sounds to get eaten hoping a script would take me somewhere else, but I died. xD Nice try. 2/5
Dark Bad
Nice and potentially immersive. The mapping and lighting was nice, although maybe a little too dark. The only downfall of this is the insta-deaths. very bad idea; ruins immersion, slightly irritating first time, very irritating 5th time. The man could have been spooky if it wasn’t for the deaths, need a cleverer system to get you to go somewhere or something. Anyway, got a little better but overall a 3/5. And that’s a good score!
Missing Person
Very nice mapping, also with a nice intro. Like the calm at the start and the build up, then the realising [spoiler]you’re lost in a forest.[/spoiler] The weird zombies threw me a little! Anyway, very good scripting although not too scary. The well part was clever and slightly scary! Got a little bored of the screenoverlay of the monster, although good at first. Very good mapping overall and the most immersive of the 5. 4/5
I gotta be missin somethin in Asylum.Put in 2 batteries and? No doors unlock and keypad dont work.Walking back and forth between the 3 rooms I can get into is boring
Big thanks to the contestants, I felt every entry was truly outstanding and a blast to play! The entries were so awesome, and Planet Phillip’s presentation of the entries with the mod, that I had to make a video to show it all off.
SPOILER ALERT! I highly suggest you play the entries before watching the video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YAY5YvJzxY
Ok guys please help, I cant just be in the 2nd ending of Missing Person I just don’t know what the hell to do!!, I mean in the cemetery map, I pick up a strange light, what am I supose to do with it, carry to the last church section???, I can’t do that what I have to do??, please help
Look up to one of my earlier comments to get help (one with two spoilers).
Or, just take your “strange light” into the church and do “something” with it. Then leave.
Oh thanks!!, I got it, actually I realized that in the caves if u look well in the cave paths, u can actually found an [spoiler]ICHANTOSAUR!!!!!![/spoiler]
Wow, this was brilliant. I am a HUGE fan of horror games and mods and so I always expected to like this, and I wasn’t disappointed.
All Hallow’s Isle
AHI was easily the worst of the competition, but it was still pretty good. I felt it was more comedy than horror (headcrabs, poison, etc…) and it was pretty frustrating, constantly getting lost in the darkness. For anyone that may be stuck there, follow the lights. It’s basically a walk from point A to point B back to point A again, except with a horror/comedy atmosphere. Very short and it wasn’t scary.
Asylum
This was great, although I played it with the glitch that has been mentioned above. The atmosphere was very good in this one, a near perfect horror atmosphere. You always expect something to happen whenever you turn a corner and it keeps the player on edge. I felt the climb up the lift shaft was very fun and spooky, which was one of the reasons I liked it so much. Also the morgue scene was already done in Nightmare House 2, although under much different circumstances. Overall this mod was one of the best in the pack and although it wasn’t very scary, it certainly had a good horror atmosphere. The ending felt a bit rushed however.
Cabin Fever
This was the disappointment of the mod, as it could have been so much better but wasn’t. The horror atmosphere was done well (I loved the bathroom scene) and there was one or two jump scares thrown into the mix. Carrying the lamp and torch certainly was a change which I liked and it would be nice is more horror modders do this in future. Honestly the last room in this mod was probably the scariest jump in the whole competition for me, but I think it was because I had done the same thing many times without anything happening (it took me about 3 tries before it worked) and so it made the final thing a lot more startling. Could have been so much better and scarier.
Dark Bad
If this was a standalone mod, I would have given this Personal Favourite. It was my favourite in this mod because of how well the atmosphere was created, along with the feeling that you are constantly being chased, even when you aren’t. This mod managed to scare me a lot more than the others, especially with the red writing that tells you what and what not to do. It didn’t have many jump scares, and still managed to be scary which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. My favourite of the mod, and certainly scary.
Did anyone actually look behind them when they see the writing telling them not to?
Missing Person
I thought this was incredibly overrated. It was my second favourite in the mod, but it barely beat Asylum for me. I felt that the face that keeps appearing on your screen was more helpful than scary, since it usually happened before you get another scare. There were some brilliant things in this, the scene where you go underground when approaching one of the graves was brilliant, as well as the part with the floating bodies. Also the author created a great horror atmosphere in the forest, where it is easy to think that you are lost (when you are not) and so you start running around like crazy out of fear. It was very good mod, and I can see why it won, but I thought it was overrated.
Overall this was a brilliant mapping competition, and I’m hoping we get another like this next year.
All Hallow’s Isle: Maybe
Asylum: Play it Now
Cabin Fever: Play it Later
Dark Bad: Personal Favourite
Missing Person: Play it Now
This is an excellent tool for others to learn from. All of these maps have a great atmosphere, and that is extremely important to level design.
“Missing Person” was clearly the strongest entry. Very good showing, very impressive scenes. I thoroughly enjoyed the flashing demon face and the “drag me to hell” scenes.
I was able to escape the final room in “Cabin Fever” and survive. That was almost more horrifying than all of the oppressive darkness because I was expecting the author to have designed an alternate ending for people who escaped the final room. He didn’t, so the magic wore off quickly. “Cabin Fever” was full of untapped potential.
The other entries were alright, but there is little more to write home about. I liked the usage of projected textures in “Dark Bad” but the totally ordinary citizen made me think he was an ally…so I died while trying to interact to him. That’s bad design. Finally, “Asylum” and “All Hallow’s Isle” were relatively uneventful.
Howdy, I created the Missing Person entry and I’m glad to see that it was so well received. Unfortunately for me, when I played the other entries I realized that it may be impossible to scare me with the source engine unless you mess with my expectations, since I was looking at everything from a mapping perspective even when I was trying not to. Though from this perspective, I thought I would weigh in on the other entries.
All Hallow’s Isle
My biggest complaint with the mapping was the lighting. It was too dark to see anything, which made it even harder after you find the first bottle. However,
[spoiler]I can’t get over how much I loved the chairs. It was so simple but so creative. It helped that I didn’t notice the headcrab until it jumped at me. Maybe I’m strange but it was extremely enjoyable trying to get the chairs to jump off the cliff. Also, the shotgun successfully tricked me. Also, also, I swam out to the ledge when I got bored…[/spoiler]
While nothing in this map scared me, it did have two things that messed with my expectations and because of that, it was still enjoyable. Given more time and direction I think the mapper could create some interesting content.
Asylum
I think this map created the best atmosphere. It was believable and subtle, which is the perfect way to set up a horror map. The downside is that, as others have mentioned, it doesn’t really release any payoff. The problem was that I felt alone through most of the map, which actually decreased the tension. If I felt like there was something around my shoulder, it would help keep the tension up,
[spoiler] which would make the morgue scene more terrifying. [/spoiler]
Even with these issues, it is my favorite entry because the atmosphere was so well done. It suspended my disbelief and I stopped thinking in mapping terms and started to enjoy the entry.
Cabin Fever
This is another entry that seemed to have some untapped potential. The mapping was not the best and it had some design flaws, as I also picked up the floor lamp and took it around with me.
[spoiler] I thought the mapper could have done a lot more with the bathroom. However, the hanging corpse when you pick up the flashlight was a very nice touch (the whole messing with expectations thing). The end was more humorous to me than scary. I heard the zombies, turned around, thought “Ohh my…”, and then proceeded to be mauled to death.[/spoiler]
Good effort with some good ideas, but it fell short.
Dark Bad
I enjoyed playing this entry but it lost its potential with me unfortunately due to one design flaw. The beginning started off great messing with my expectations and I wasn’t thinking in mapping terms. The atmosphere was fantastic and I was cautiously moving around.
[spoiler] When you come to the writing that says to run, I couldn’t quite read it on the dark wall. As I came up to it I noticed the guy and immediately jumped back into the safety of the stairwell. I then died instantaneously as he ran by. This unfortunately also killed the experience for me, since I started thinking about mapping from that point on. Fear of the unknown was working in the maps favor, but now that I knew what the consequence was, I wasn’t nervous about it anymore. When the writing told me not to turn around, I quick saved, turned around, and walked towards the guy to see how far I could get before he killed me…
Ironically, I think this is the same problem that some had with the demon in my maps…[/spoiler]
Overall the entries were very fun to play, which for me is the purpose of making maps in the first place. Great effort by everyone who entered!
HEY PAL. Please give us a horror sequel of MISSING PERSON!!!!, that would be sooo cool!!!!!!!
Not bad. The really good maps were the Asylum one and the last one, where you start with the car. The third map was pretty good aswell. But the first one… was there even an antidote to cure?
ok, I don’t get it…. the only map I can play is All Hallow’s Isle (even though Phillip says they can be played in any order). So I play All Hallow’s Isle, [spoiler] after the second potion.. I wriggle and explode, [/spoiler] then it sends me back to the start game screen. I still can not select any other map. Surely I don’t have to manually type the next map in the console do I? I must be doing something wrong I guess???
Don’t think it’s anything you are doing wrong. It should all be available. Go to the halloweenville folder and then to the CFG folder. Open config.cfg with a text editor (notepad but not MS Word). Search for “sv_unlockedchapters” and make sure it says “sv_unlockedchapters “15”.
Save and try again.
Ok, you were right, that fixed it. Thanks! Don’t know how, but it was set to “1” instead of “15”.
All Hallow’s Isle was indeed pretty bad, the result of a lot of technical issues and not enough time. The HDR lighting path wouldn’t compile, it was plagued with entity crashes, and the drink macguffin was basically a last minute addition to provide the barest of reasons for walking around and doing things. Figured I’d at least salvage a profoundly frustrating creation process by including a meager atmosphere morsel.
Gave this contest a review over at my site, but it contains screenshots, so a warning if you don’t wish to see those: http://taw.duke4.net/2011/12/hl2ep2/halloweenville/
I enjoyed myself with these maps. Great job to all those who participated. Here are my opinions for each submission. It’s full of spoilers, just to warn those who have not played.
All Hallow’s Isle
To me it was a rather fun and silly level. Not much scariness to it, but I enjoyed it none the less. the part with the gun was rather surprising. My first thought was “was that supposed to happen?” and then I dove in to the water to try to find it, though I couldn’t. The poison part was random, but I found the ending amusing.
Asylum
I would consider this level the most visually well done. There weren’t many actual scares, but the detailed environment gave me a constant feeling of uneasiness. There was that cubemaps thing, but I simply built the cubemaps myself. I liked the brief use of puzzles, but there was this one bug that I found with the battery puzzles where if I picked up the battery from the radio room first and put it into the receptacle, the other one would instantly appear in my hand. It doesn’t occur if I put in the one near the message first. Also I feel the ending could have been more dramatic, but overall, everything was good.
Cabin Fever
Forcing the player to carry a light that provided very limited light was a good idea. It created a lot of tension. If the level was created with the 2007/2009 engine though, it would have been better to make one of the lights into env_projectedtexture (higher quality). Some things: when I was holding the lamp, I went towards the front door, and when it closed, the lamp got stuck in the door, so I had to go through some of the level without light. Also, I was not a big fan of the “zombie surrounds you” ending. When they showed up, I remembered where the exit was and quickly went around the zombies and left the room. I’m guessing I was supposed to get killed, but I ended up surviving with no where left to go.
Dark Bad
I liked that the level had the player run and hide from some kind of assailant, but I didn’t like how the level simply forced the player into the situations without really any context. When you first start getting chased, a guy just starts running after you. I died the first time simply because I didn’t know if I was running with the guy or away from the guy. There wasn’t anything that indicated he was dangerous besides the fact you’d die if he reached you. But for the most part, the level was well crafted and had good ideas.
Missing Person
I agree that this was the most frightening and showed the most creativity. The use of effects was very effective. The events had both a scary and cool element, which I enjoy. People have complained about the corpse in your face moments, but I think it added to the game since it reinforces the fact that the crazy stuff was emanating from the evil corpse thing. The addition of the writhing motions for the corpse was a very creative idea and I found it strangely amusing. I also noticed a lot of subtle things, such as figures moving about at the edge of your vision in the forest and such. Other entries used this, but I feel this entry did the best job. The part I have a question with is the “spirit” guiding you to the cross (which I really liked). It fades in and out of view, but its shadow remains visible with the flashlight. I assumed this was because I wasn’t supposed to have the flashlight. However, in the grave yard, you can see the shadows of figures in the graves with the flashlight, and it doesn’t seem like they’ll appear otherwise. Very impressive job with this level.
Hopefully there will be another scary themed competition next year. Scary maps are awesome, and maybe I can finally submit something.
I found this map pack to be terrible. I’m normally a fan of jump scares, but in order to work you have to build tension. None of the maps do this. Most of the maps involved nothing more than stumbling around in the dark looking for the next trigger. Missing Person had some startles, but because it didn’t build tension before hand it was just irritating like a friend sending you a bunch of screamer videos. Each time it happened it either fell flat or made me more angry.
The scene with the grave was nice, as was the ‘don’t turn around” part, but the mappers really need to learn how and why each element of horror works instead of just taking random horror cliches and throwing them together.
First, Thank You to all the authors for your entries. I hate to criticize something that I have absolutely no skill in doing so I think everyone should give these a play to see if they are to your liking. Its not fair to any entry for me to judge, these just weren’t much fun for my taste. There were some nice environments but other than Missing Persons they had no gameplay content. I think in my mind (and its not fair given the competition and time frame involved) that I held them up against a benchmark mod for this type Nightmare House 2 which is a top 5 PF for me
Surprised by all the entries since I don’t particularly like horror games, but these were all very atmospheric and well done.
The first entry was funny with the invisible zombies with 2 lights instead of eyes and the burning crabs with chairs. I swam all around the island then came back to drink the poison, then the antidote which was another poison? What? Other than that, it was great scenery, the type that makes you sit, look and absorb every inch of your screen, then wander around still in awe (kinda like Dear Esther). I liked the player vision also, was a neat trick.
2nd was atmospheric but funny and dry ending. I liked the green hue in the room with the radio and wish it was longer.
Cabin fever started right after it finished? I liked to carry the lamp and the flashlight around with me but didn’t enjoy the death end either.
I also died in the 4th entry cus I ducked back from instinct. Playing this after ChaseVille it kind of reminded me of the theme and I think it would’ve been a good entry for it, since I didn’t particularly like the others. Had a silly end imo.
The last was my favorite too and the second I saw the mountains for which I stopped the car on every bridge to just inspect the forests, I just knew.. this was the work of JC 😀 I rarely if never enjoy chills n thrills but I really liked this one, I really enjoyed being scared! Really worth your while!
Did anyone get a white screen error with this mod? I installed and ran it only to get music and a white screen, same as a number of other villes. The error message: Can’t find background image materials/console/startup_loading.vtf
Any tips on how to resolve this?
This error is caused by the SteamPipe update to Source engine games.
To fix it on this and most other Episode 2 mods, open the gameinfo.txt file, which you can find in the mod’s folder. Select everything from “SearchPaths {” downwards, and replace it with the following code:
SearchPaths
{
game+mod |gameinfo_path|.
platform |gameinfo_path|.
game_lv hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep2_english.vpk
game+mod ep2/ep2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic/ep1_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk
mod+mod_write+default_write_path |gameinfo_path|.
game+game_write |gameinfo_path|.
gamebin episodic/bin
game |all_source_engine_paths|episodic
game |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
platform |all_source_engine_paths|platform
}
}
}
There will be a full article about this on the new LambdaGeneration.com site when it launches. Hope this helps!
Thank you! I will give it a try.
MisterAddy – THANK YOU for that fix. I finally got Halloweenville to work after months! I wish the same could be said for Nightmare House 2 which many people are having a problem with.
This review was done after playing Halloween Ville for The Ville Retrospective event.
A fairly simple map with a certain Dear Esther vibe going on. Monotonous to actually play however as you wander aimlessly in the environment until the end. The highlight were the flaming headcrabs wearing chairs on their heads. Yup.
Average looking asylum themed level that unfortunately had cube map issues so most reflective surfaces appearing glowing white 🙁 I almost had to restart the map because I had forgotten the four digit code for the door and the piece of paper telling you this code is removed after you read it. Ouch! Gameplay is super standard navigation with some simple platforming in a few areas. Not particularly scary!
Similar to Asylum in that all you really do is move around the level and look at things. This level had an interesting mechanic in that you had to hold the flashlight as a physics prop, but this was never leveraged in any way by the designer. I was expecting to have the light knocked out of my hands or otherwise taken away but this never happens.
This level has some interesting ideas and presentation but ultimately fails in it’s execution. it tries hard to set up a ghostly figure as a tormentor chasing you through the map but due to not teaching the player about this figure and it’s abilities before throwing it directly at the player (an instant kill btw) it ends up being frustrating and confusing! There are some nice little nuggets in here where you have to hide from it as it moves around but aside from that the level left me feeling indifferent.
Justin saves this pack of levels from the trash can with this one. A simple but effective intro leads you into the map and from there on a roller coaster ride of well scripted and fun encounters concludes with some righteous demon bashing at the end! Some of the encounters are marvellous and I don’t want to spoil them here, suffice to say that Justin outdoes all the other entries in the level pack while also producing something fairly unique and at the end of the day fun to play.
It is hard to rate this pack over all. If Justin’s map had been released stand alone I would say Play It Later but the rest of the levels in this pack drag the over all score down to a Maybe? And that is perhaps a little bit generous! In my own humble opinion : Download this pack and play Justin’s level “Missing Person” and safely skip the rest.
Until next time!
Manually
Medium
35 Minutes
And here we go. I don’t scare easily but I enjoy well done horror.
You just walk around for a while. There are only two things to interact with. And invisible enemies. And a flaming chair that jumps around. Yes, really. The ending was funny though.
Well, it looks nice. There’s really only one extremely easy puzzle and the rest of it is just climbing. Nothing creepy or scary happens.
You walk around in a dark cabin with a flashlight that’s not very good. Then you get killed by fast zombies.
Well, it’s certainly dark and bad. You walk around in a very dark environment and there’s a guy. They didn’t bother to use a creepy character model, it’s just some guy. Yeah.
You walk around in huge confusing places where you have no idea where to go and jumpscares happen. The ending is pretty cool though.
Yeah. These were not good and they didn’t scare me. Ah well, next up, CrossbowVille.
Just played this for The Ville Retrospective. Overall a decent pack, although there were some frustrations in there as well. Some really cool ideas, some cheap (but effective) jump scares too.
I like the island setting and the mood of this map, I just wish more had been done with it. You wander for a while in the darkness, and as I said the mood is solid – but ultimately your ‘goals’ are a vial of poison and the “antidote” which is another vial of poison, which then ends the map unceremoniously. Disappointing in the end.
Another map I really liked the mood of. I did also have to use buildcubemaps to fix the chrome bits in the map, but no problem. I haven’t actually played the Silent Hill games but this map certainly seems right along the same theme. I had some weird experiences with the battery puzzle – inserting the first battery seemed to teleport the second battery to its location. The map is creepy and atmospheric, but without even a hint of an enemy that’s kind of all there is. You’re never threatened so some of the tension goes to waste.
I didn’t much like this map. There’s just not much to it. There was a good idea with the flashlight mechanic (having to hold it in front of you) but there’s no payoff. All that happens is you come across a horde of zombies that kill you. The end. The stream viewers encouraged me to noclip and check the map out to make sure that was it, so I promptly gave myself a shotgun as well. But no, there didn’t seem to be anything else to this map.
This map has some clever design but falls down in the details. I like the idea of glimpsing your attacker down the hallway as the door opens, and then running and hiding from him. But ultimately the use of a civilian rebel model is disappointing. I understand the tight timeframe for this map, but any kind of custom model would have sold the threat infinitely better. And in the run section, the lighting on the floor is awful and blocky and gives away the fact that the lights will be shut off as you run down the hall. Overall a decent map that could have been really improved with a couple touches.
The gem of this pack, no question. Starts off a little slow with the inevitable collapsing bridge and a wander through the misty forest. But then, it smacks you in the face and certainly jumpstarted my heart. I liked the effects in the forest and lake, and the sounds were well done. I liked the sequences at the well and at the cemetery – and although I thought the tunnel ideas were cool, I wasn’t a huge fan of that part at all. I think it could have been edited out without losing anything. Overall though, a good ride with some really creepy and startling moments.
Manually
Medium
50 Minutes
First thing you will notice when playing is that the textures scaling of the ground is pretty bad, you can see every individual pixel of it clearly. For the gameplay itself, it’s just walking to the other side of the map and back again. When you arrive at the other side of the map, you drink something that was apparently poison, go to the other side to get something else and it turns out that was poison too. It ends with text ont the screen saying: “Oh my, that was also poison. You wriggle and explode.”
The horror aspect of this map was the monsters. The zombies are now mostly invisible, glowing eyes being the only thing you can see. The other monsters (if you can even call them that) are headcrabs with chairs on their head. I can’t tell if this was meant to be scary, as this was the funniest thing I had ever seen in a Half-Life mod.
This mod had a pretty good mood and setting though.
This map took me 20 minutes to complete. Not because it was difficult in any way, but because I had absolutely no clue as to what I was supposed to be doing at one point. In the beginning of the map you put batteries into a machine-thing and power up… something? The text on the screen says “Instrument Relay Power Restored” which already gives me no idea as to what happened, and searching for it had me busy for about 15 minutes until I sadly had to decide to noclip and continue the map further. After some climbing you get to the end.
Just like the previous entry, this one had a good scary mood as well.
Simple map: you get a flashlight, go to a specific hall in the house and get jumpscared and then killed by some zombies. When I got killed by the zombies the map loaded again so I assumed I had done something wrong. When I tried again, the zombies did not spawn. I was very confused. After walking around the house for a few minutes I decided to try again and this time the zombies spawned. They killed me and the map loaded again. I guess the creator of the map didn’t know how to send the player back to the menu?
This was a decent entry. The major complaint I have was that the creator chose a citizen as the main monster. An ordinary citizen isn’t exactly scary but it will do I guess. When you get to hall the citizen starts running after you. Atleast, if you actually step into the hall. If you don’t then the citizen will just run past you, killing you while he does so. This will happen to a lot of people the first time they play this map. If you get to that part again it is less scary because you already know what to expect. After that you hide for a while, go back a little and then you get to a hall with the text: “Don’t look behind you! Really, don’t! Keep moving!”. If I play a horror game and you put the text “Don’t look behind you” in there you can expect me to start sweating. I just can’t handle the thought that something may be or is behind you. The map ended on a pretty cheap jumpscare.
The best entry on this list. It has a Slenderman type setting, in the forest with a lot of fog. A setting like this makes me sweat instantly. If something is more than 5 metres in front of you, you can’t see it. But it can see you (This is not a description of something in the entry, this is just what I feel in this setting). This entry had the best scares and atmosphere of all the entries in my opinion.
The maps are big, and that’s in this case not really a good thing. Every area looks the same so you can easily get lost. I even managed to get to the start again.
Manually
Medium
50 Minutes
This year, if like me you’re sad that we didn’t have HalloweenVilleFive, rejoice!
“Halloween Horror” a compilation mod made of map’s for HL2 has been released by Map Labs on moddb
Funny map. It’s not scary and I don’t get any Halloween vibes from it. But chairs, shotgun and ending made me laugh. Not a fan of almost invisible zombies. Also, I had some issues with finding out where to go.
Great visuals (even with broken cubemaps), interesting layout, little battery puzzle. Wanted it to be a little more creepy. Disappearing note was a bad decision, in my opinion.
I’m sorry, but it’s bad. I see the effort, but overall I didn’t enjoyed the map. Front door ate my flashlight. Blinking lamp was getting on my nerves. Bathroom sequence was too short to be scary. Hanged man was a nice touch. Ending was just cheap… effective spook, but still cheap… but still effective.
Great atmosphere, broken lights in the corridor and some nice looking guy as a main source of horror and tension. At first i thought that you and the guy must run from unknown entity in the dark, was really surprised that the guy was the enemy. About “don’t look back” moment, I looked, and it’s was the highlight of the map. Really, that guy just staring at you down the hallway is very creepy. Missed the ending because I was walking backwards after that moment…
Well, it’s great. I really liked atmosphere, maps layout, shadow figures, enemies and overall experience. Just a little nitpicking – enemies did too little damage to take them seriously, and amount of jupmscares was a little too much. Liked the sense of lost in the woods, but still managing to go the right way.
I had a lot of problems with this one, but I’ll keep it simple. It’s a bad walking simulator.
Usage of space and world brushes: 6/10
I’ll give the creator some credit. I was kinda impressed. There is some great brushwork here, but that’s where things start to go bad. That’s all there is. A single island with grass and cliff displacement brushes that have been subdivided.
Visuals 0/10
I hate that filter. It was unnecessary. There are better rain sounds that could’ve been used. At least now there is. Not sure about back in 2011.
Gameplay: 0/10
It’s a walking simulator. You die at the end.
Final Score: 6/30 – 20%
Final Comments: Took me about 8.5 minutes. Don’t even bother playing this one.
I think this should’ve been a close winner and here is why. I love asylums. I love the story behind them. I didn’t get lost in this map at all, I actually escaped my nightmare, or whatever it was AND the lighting was damn impressive for 2011.
Usage of space and world brushes: 9/10
I really felt like this creator studied their references on asylums. The brushwork was top tier and it was all custom. I didn’t recognize anything from HL2 or it’s episodes.
Visuals 9/10
After rebuilding cubemaps, since it’s an easy fix, I realized how amazing this map could’ve been. I will score this based on what I saw after I rebuilt them which took a fraction of a second. The visuals were stunning. Particles everywhere. Damp rusty metal, dust and smoke, haunted (but not annoying) lighting. It’s all so amazing.
Gameplay: 9/10
I started at a doorway leading outside, which makes sense. I ended by going into the light, which means I either escaped or I died in the asylum and I was a victim. The layout meant I was not gonna get lost. It’s simple, yet effective. I think this should’ve been the winner.
Final Score: 27/30 – 90%
Final Comments: It took me only about 5 minutes to complete it. It’s well worth playing it. I expect more from Greenman to be of this quality and I look forward to playing them.
Sorry Leslie Aerts, but it’s pretty bad in my opinion. I really saw a wasted potential and it doesn’t technically end.
Usage of space and world brushes: 1/10
It’s a Day 1 gmod style map. It’s very blocky and hard to navigate.
Visuals 0/10
I can’t see a thing and the flashlight doesn’t help. I avoided the lamp as flashing lights give me a migraine.
Gameplay: 3/10
The gameplay was… confusing. Where am I going? What am I doing here? Why are there zombies here. Where is the end?!
Final Score: 4/30 – 13%
Final Comments: This took me only about 6 minutes to complete and there is no ending. Death does not equal ending.
It’s a running simulator.. without the suit.
Usage of space and world brushes: 2/10
The player is just running down a hallway being chased.
Visuals 2/10
At least there was fire. I couldn’t see a thing otherwise.
Gameplay: 0/10
You can’t run very fast without the suit. Don’t die.
Final Score: 4/30 – 13%
Usage of space and world brushes: 8/10
This feels like a map valve would’ve made if Half-Life 2 was a horror thriller instead of just an FPS. Great work on the displacement cliffs.
Visuals 9/10
Strong visuals on the demons corpses and hell’s pit. I loved every aspect of this along with all the Easter eggs!
Gameplay: 5/10
Here is where the scores start to drop dramatically. I got lost. Very lost. I ended up restarting the run and trying again. I restarted my recording as well since I wanted to be fair to the rest of the maps when it comes to completion time. My second time around I didn’t get as lost, but thankfully the shadows were there to guide me…. until they weren’t. I loved the direction this map was going in, but I really wish that there was some kind of combat involved. This wasn’t my favorite because of how lost I was once I got to the graveyard. I ended up accidentally backtracking all the way to the exit of the cave again.
Final Score: 22/30 – 73%
Probably the longest map yet, clocking in at 12 minutes and 37 seconds of gameplay. If you really want to play them all. Play this one and Asylum first.
Manually
Medium
34 Minutes
HalloweenVille is a collection of 5 short horror maps, each bringing something to scare the player. For the first entry in the HalloweenVille series, it is… short. Yet still, some of the submissions did a real good job at scaring me.
Playtime: 10 minutes
I personally found this one funny. The map quality and design choices obviously indicate that this person might be new to mapping, but there were some pretty funny things added just out of randomness. The ending is pretty abrupt and kinda a letdown, but I really enjoyed the more open-level concept where you get to explore the world as opposed to a set of linear corridors with scripted scares to walk down. The looping cave ambience no matter where you were got real annoying after a bit, too. Overall, it’s no masterpiece, but I found it pretty funny.
Playtime: 12 minutes
This one was pretty good. This one came with some gameplay/puzzles to do too, which were also pretty neat. It had a nice atmosphere set up, but for some reason, everything looked super shiny, but if you could ignore that, the level is pretty well made. It had a nice length to it, I felt it was more complete by the end. I only had two troubles; I couldn’t find the keypad to get past the gate section (its very small and blends in with the wall). There is also a short parkour section with a pretty unforgiving jump near the end (i did it first try cus im a gamer). Other than that, I really liked this experience!
Playtime: 9 minutes
Idk if the name is purposefully supposed to be spelled fevr, but I found it funny when looking at it on the map list lol. Anyways, this map wasn’t too much. I liked the beginning with the setup and dialogue text. The lights were a cool idea, but the flashlight was pretty janky to use. The ending seemed pretty rushed, to the point that I didn’t even know it had ended and I was just walking around in the dark trying to figure out what to do.
Playtime: 6 minutes
A short horror map with some silly scares throughout it. I really liked the use of lighting and atmosphere in this map, it was really well done. I think it’s major downside is it’s length, I wish it were a bit longer. But for a silly/scary horror entry with surprisingly good atmosphere, it’s a short and fun experience.
Playtime: 12 minutes
This is the longes of the 5 maps, and I think it did a pretty solid job at scaring me. For a competition submission, I found it pretty impressive. The environment is very nice, although some parts were very foggy making it pretty easy to get lost. It had some short gameplay sections with enemies, too, and some loud but somehow actually frigtening jumpscares. The devs used Source’s ragdoll physics in some very creative ways as well. My only issue with it is the story, I liked the setup and premise, but I feel that with more time, it could’ve been developed on more. Other than that, I really enjoyed this submission.
HalloweenVille brings a short collection of maps to play, some of which are pretty scary. Taking under an hour to play all of them, it’s a quick session to do them. If short on time or just wanting to play the best of the bunch, I recommend Asylum and Missing Person. I’m giving the mappack a Maybe rating because some of the maps do feel a bit unpolished/short imo but thats probably because this is the First HalloweenVille. Now to play the rest of them!
Manually
Medium
1 Hour