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19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Each week a single map is discussed here in detail.

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Subject: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 19 May 2015, 09:48

Map Title: The Genome Warriors
Author: Sjoerd "Hourences" De Jong
From: Xidia Gold
Filename: XidiaES-Map5-GenomeWarriors.unr
Music Files: Unreal4.umx, QueenSong.umx




Video Playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaRiXzITnaE

Synopsis: In this frozen experimental facility, Skaarj are creating Cyborgs and artificial Skaarj soldiers for battle purposes.

Discuss!

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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 19 May 2015, 14:56

M-M-M-M-Masterpiece!
Piece...
Piece...
Piece...

The Genome Warriors is the best looking map I've played in the whole of Unreal/UT so far. It could actually be on the same level as Derelict Surface and WipeOut, but here the theme is more original.

Really, it's the kind of build that makes you think you're playing on a better engine than Unreal Tournament build 436.

The gameplay isn't the best, but it's still great by any normal standard. The Cyborgs came as a nasty surprise the first time round! (The Redeemer blast resulting from the first Cyborg I killed was totally unexpected and naturally gibbed me!) I also like the fact that we are introduced to the Skaarj Hybrids, which constitute the actual Genome Warriors (a translator message refers to genetic research). These hybrids become really problematic later on, in Beacon.
A few ambushes throughout manage to maintain the tension, and of course the atmosphere of the level owes a lot to the build.

"Your Minigun's trigger mechanism froze, gun is useless now." -> nice touch!

A short (I savoured this for about half an hour on my first playthrough), but quite hard level (I had to reload a couple of times).

Among the main maps of the pack, this one is actually one of the easier ones.

Unsurprisingly, The Genome Warriors is one of my two favourite levels in Xidia Gold :D (the other being Black Widow - still the best Queen-based boss fight I've encountered) - and in truth, there's currently only one map in the whole of Unreal/UT that I prefer to this (it'll come up on MOTW at one point I'm sure).

I'd only be nitpicking on one aspect: the snowfall (see last pic in the OP) only looks great from the side - step into the precipitating snow and you'll see that a true generator would have been much better!
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Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

User avatar Semfry
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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 19 May 2015, 21:55

It looks ridiculously good and is probably the stand-out map of The Escape for me for the atmosphere, but it's also quite short and linear (though it's quite challenging, but the bots are rare enough to not get too obnoxious) and I'm guessing that the sheer amount of detail played a big part in that. In that regard, while it works as a stand-out I can't fully endorse the idea of this being some sort of standard for Skaarj maps; in terms of icy Skaarj levels some Zephon maps probably have a better balance between detail and layout (actually I just took a look in the editor and I'm kind of shocked that Zephon map 4 has less nodes than this map). The foreshadowing of the Skaarj Hybrids is nice and the nuke gimmick on the bots is okay, though it could probably be developed more as a mechanic rather than essentially being a one-off trap.

Edit: To go into that more, while it's not his fault at all, and hardly the first example either (do I even need to mention the endless copying of DavidM conventions even when they aren't really appropriate?) I think the-mostly unspoken-lionization of Hourence's Xidia high-poly Skaarj base style as the Way Things Must Be has harmed design diversity to a degree; most people seem to go for that style even when they can't necessarily pull it off (or, at the top levels, focus on topping it over exploring other designs). In contrast modern Temple and Terrain maps see a greater mix of styles, with varying levels of fidelity. While it's part of the theme to a certain degree (high-tech bases are harder to pull off in lower poly styles) I think it's as much people just accepting it as the only way to make tech maps without considering exploring other ways.
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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 20 May 2015, 07:56

Hourie made this in 2001-2002, either during or immediately after his contributions to ONP (don't remember which). I do know that the ice Skaarj idea was new, however. Nobody was doing levels like this, let alone Skaarj levels. DavidM industrialized the Skaarj theme in ONP, but I think it's fair to say that Hourences and his work with Xidia preserved the whole alien marvel factor and inspired people to do more creative things with it than they would have if the ONP style had as much of a lasting impression. Zephon came out years later and was built by a group of really talented people who took inspiration from this (and other Hourences Xidia stuff) and made the theme the centerpiece of a campaign. Other notable uses of the set that I have seen is a deathmatch level made by Bot40 called DM-Deck40. Unreleased, Darthweasel and myself have used the set for a short series of levels intended for Residual Decay that harken more directly to how Hourences intended, albeit with a stronger focus on layout and gameplay.

Those could also be called this level's weaknesses, though I'm not sure I like that word. Hourences wanted to make a "Wow" level for The Escape and it remains his only contribution outside of helping me with the ending and with testing. You have to remember that that this was a time when capturing the Unreal bug was becoming harder and harder. I look at this map like I look at some of the shorter, awe-inspiring Unreal levels that players may move through quickly enough, yet they leave a lasting impression.

I remember for my part doing a lot of testing in this one, working with UsAaR33 to make the robotic and hybrid enemies, the former of which appear here for some mixed player reactions. I don't remember if I added the translator messages or if Hour copied them from a word document I had prepared.

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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 20 May 2015, 20:59

I noticed that the best looking stuff I mentioned only comprise one theme: alien futurism. Aside from the fact that I sure as hell haven't played through everything yet, what I said is arguably only true from a purely technical standpoint - with this engine, it is probably harder to achieve the same level of detail in other settings such as natural landscapes, nonetheless there obviously exist some maps that achieve visual excellence using other themes than futuristic bases and depending on one's preference those could be seen as the most visually pleasing.
Just look at some of the best ancient ruins-themed maps in ONP or EXU2 - Batshit Insane: Hellcastle.

Semfry wrote:Edit: To go into that more, while it's not his fault at all, and hardly the first example either (do I even need to mention the endless copying of DavidM conventions even when they aren't really appropriate?) I think the-mostly unspoken-lionization of Hourence's Xidia high-poly Skaarj base style as the Way Things Must Be has harmed design diversity to a degree; most people seem to go for that style even when they can't necessarily pull it off (or, at the top levels, focus on topping it over exploring other designs). In contrast modern Temple and Terrain maps see a greater mix of styles, with varying levels of fidelity. While it's part of the theme to a certain degree (high-tech bases are harder to pull off in lower poly styles) I think it's as much people just accepting it as the only way to make tech maps without considering exploring other ways.


Interesting point, and it's along the lines of what you mentioned in your commentary for the "game of telephone" in UED: while I understand this view, I also think that this design style is encouraged by the simple fact that nowadays one can cram in more details into a scene than was feasible in the early days of Unreal mapping due to technical limitations.
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Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 20 May 2015, 23:00

Actually I may as well post the commentary here:

MAP5-Genome warriors

Mr.Prophet-

" The concept was mine, originally, to do an ice map for the skaarj. My original concept of the map was different then what Hourences ended up producing, although not by much. I originally planned to make the map a abandoned base which was empty for the first half and very frozen, then leading to a active section and then a teleporter escape. I wanted most of the map to be dark and empty, with the player doing alot of tiptoeing and searching, the end part the active area and smaller. I even had a drawing of the entrance, which was to have two large vents spewing forth ice cold myst into a frozen cave, the door between them. That entrance drawing ended up being the exit to my map, the 4rth map, and lead into Hourences part."
" When Hourences told me he wanted to do the Ice map, I was glad he wanted to get back into the Skaarj theme, although I was a little worried since I had a particular vision of what the map was going to look like. In the end, was the map what I envisioned? No, it was not, but I didn't care since the map Hourences ended up making was much better than I expected, easily owning his previous Derelict map. He made the map in the basic way I described, only the majority was active ambience with only one real room dark and sealed, and not even very dark at all. But in anycase, the map probably turned out better, since the map offers alot to stand in awe at. It shows the Skaarj from a different angle, a refreshing look at their Alien race and also a purely original map concept, it's never been done till we attempted it. This will probably be the last stunning Skaarj environment on the UT engine."


Hourences-

"After my the derelict map in wich i learned true architecture, I wanted to do the same here, but without the mistakes that I made in derelict. When I started the map I never wanted to make it such high poly, but after 2 days of work on the first corridor I suddenly had this 1337 800 poly corridor, and decieded that the rest of the map should be as good as that 1 corridor. At the end it turned about a bit the same as the original Derelict, but even with higher polycounts and better architecture, and less action and enemies due to the playabilty 'cause of the high polycounts. At the end I think the map worked out well. The graphics are really good for such a old engine and I had people asking me if I made it with a UT2 leak :)


Sat42 wrote:Interesting point, and it's along the lines of what you mentioned in your commentary for the "game of telephone" in UED: while I understand this view, I also think that this design style is encouraged by the simple fact that nowadays one can cram in more details into a scene than was feasible in the early days of Unreal mapping due to technical limitations.


Of course. Really a lot of this is in hindsight as attitudes towards designing back when these sets came out are almost unrecognisable from today (which I guess that commentary attests to), but I notice that the best regarded Skaarj tech maps since Xidia all tend to be relatively derivative of the Derelict/Genome Warriors style (which doesn't take away from them being individually great), whereas other themes have a greater mixture of styles. Then again in essence I guess the problem ends up being that these maps were too good :P .
Formerly Mman

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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 21 May 2015, 00:21

Oh yeah, just went through the whole commentary again and found it hilarious how some comments hold up in hindsight, like Mister_Prophet saying he won't be mapping for UT again and Hourences telling us that after Unreal 2 comes out nobody will care about UT! :P

EDIT: I guess it made a lot of sense for Hourences to move on, as he turned pro - I take it Prophet just didn't find the same appeal in the following games, like a lot in this community!
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Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 21 May 2015, 05:42

The use of Queen End fits this level's atmosphere perfectly, with Spencer, a miner with a desire to escape from Xidia, having to traverse through a snowy section of the derelict ship.

The Cyborgs and Skaarj Hybrids were a nice touch, which is why this is one of my favorite maps in Xidia Gold as a whole. It's a shame they didn't appear in 7 Bullets, despite all the information we can read about them in this map.

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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 23 May 2015, 10:15

Read the old commentary. Wonder if I still have some of those old sketches lying around somewhere. One thing I like about this map is that we barely used any Spencer lines. The map ages better for it.

As for not using the robots and hybrids in Seven Bullets, they were more in tune for something "new" for The Escape and in the spirit of ONP's Nali enemies which was released around the same time (I think the original timeline was Xidia came out first, then ONP released, then we got UsAaR33 back for Xidia Gold. All of this like...within a year, unless I'm off by a couple of months. Some people know the story of what happened to our failed plans for Xidia 2 and how I recycled a lot of that to forge Seven Bullets with a new team. I guess, in a way, the human "bots" replaced those guys. Anyways, outside of those packs I don't think most players are jazzed to fight those kinds of enemies in SP.

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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 23 May 2015, 12:03

Mister_Prophet wrote:Spencer lines


What are these? :?
Image

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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 23 May 2015, 13:57

Rarsonic wrote:
Mister_Prophet wrote:Spencer lines


What are these? :?


"I do NOT get paid enough for this shit..."
Nali: Magic or Telekinesis
Waffnuffly wrote:It's tarydium-doped smoothies. Drunk by the player, I mean. The player is tripping balls. The whole game actually takes place in a large city and the player thinks he's on an alien world.

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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 23 May 2015, 20:32

Ah, the player character! :lol: I thought Proph was talking about something architecture or texturing related.
Image

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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 24 May 2015, 21:41

Mister_Prophet wrote:Read the old commentary. Wonder if I still have some of those old sketches lying around somewhere. One thing I like about this map is that we barely used any Spencer lines. The map ages better for it.

As for not using the robots and hybrids in Seven Bullets, they were more in tune for something "new" for The Escape and in the spirit of ONP's Nali enemies which was released around the same time (I think the original timeline was Xidia came out first, then ONP released, then we got UsAaR33 back for Xidia Gold. All of this like...within a year, unless I'm off by a couple of months. Some people know the story of what happened to our failed plans for Xidia 2 and how I recycled a lot of that to forge Seven Bullets with a new team. I guess, in a way, the human "bots" replaced those guys. Anyways, outside of those packs I don't think most players are jazzed to fight those kinds of enemies in SP.
I at least wanted to see some Brutes though.

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Subject: Re: 19/05/2015 - "The Genome Warriors" by Hourences

Post Posted: 24 May 2015, 23:46

Pretty sure in the Jones saga the Skaarj were actively replacing Brutes with the "Genome" warriors and cyborgs. It's actually mentioned in this map.

Just played this map today. It still looks fucking cool; I think some of the ice textures are low-res and sometimes they look real bad like those stretched out locked doors.
Lighting is something of incredible and the music works. Gameplay-wise not hard, the only tough parts are the two Ice Skaarj ambushing you in the narrow corridor and the group of Cyborgs behind the door that opens up after you get the keycard.

For being such a really known custom map, it's actually short and linear. You just get out of the cave, find the keycard, beat down some enemies and go directly to the portal chamber.
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