29/06/2024 - "Flopper's Crevice" by ebd

[Sat42]

Map Title: Flopper's Crevice
Author: ebd
From: The Descent
Filename: TD-01-Ebd.unr




Video Playthroughs:




Synopsis: As a highly esteemed mercenary on a rescue mission, you've been looking for a way to break into "The Forbidden Caves", and after trying and failing to gain access through the most obvious options, you've now put two and two together and figured Flopper Street must be adjacent to Flopper's Crevice, "The Authentic Nali Mine Experience!" according to some billboards. Well, the Flopper Business Center is closed and you've wasted enough time already, so you break into some private property and it may just be that this storage unit houses more than just crates and supplies...

Discuss!

[Semfry]

A good first non-intro map for the collab; not too intense in terms of combat or exploration, but with enough unique aspects like new weapons to show off that that aspect will continue throughout. I do remember the first fight actually needed quite a bit of tweaking because it got pretty brutal; now the AI just ignore you for a bit, but given how nasty it could initially be that works out more fair. It also continues from the intro map (even if it's technically the other way around) in hinting at a bigger world while still near the surface, before you enter the deeper sections that are isolated enough to be stand-alone.

[Aspide]

A very small but interesting level, this map is the first map with actual fighting (unless you count stomping mercenaries in the head in the previous level fighting ) and this level has plenty of fighting considering how small the map is. This map uses plenty of Descent's new actors like the new pathnodes, destroyer, collider, statemachine and of course the actors used at the end of the map which becomes Descent's trademark. Also this map has a new version of the Automag, don't see to much of a difference compared to the original, the changes are soo subtle to the point where I wonder why the original weapon wasn't used. Level geometry is ok, the indoors have simple geometry however the lighting and meshes hide the simplicity of the brushes, however the outdoors (caves) are very impressive.

The music is decent but it was well executed, action section in fights and ambient section when you are exploring. I wonder who made the music since the song is an actual tracker song instead of being an MP3 conversion. Sound effects were used effectively but nothing stood out. Meshes are everywhere and I like how this map uses the Squid Mesh, very clever.

I have some issues with the map: first of all some of the translator messages use triggers to activate, I find it redundant since the messages already work without the need of a trigger. Also the destroyer actor kills actors that normally shouldn't be destroyed, it isn't a big issue but it would have been a better idea to create new subclasses to destroy them properly or remove their collision. Another problem is that in the second room after the fighting begins there is an ambush when you drop to the bottom floor, however sometimes the Skaarj don't drop meaning that you could potentially get soft-blocked. Probably the biggest issue with this map is that in higher difficulties you can die when you fall off the map, however monsters will survive the fall, a very common issue in custom maps .

Shame that this is the only level in Descent that uses the Quadshot...., Quadshot ftw

[Semfry]

Another problem is that in the second room after the fighting begins there is an ambush when you drop to the bottom floor, however sometimes the Skaarj don't drop meaning that you could potentially get soft-blocked.

At least in 1.1 this isn't an issue as the way forward opens by itself if you spend too long in that room.

[ebd]

The custom automag does additional damage for balance reasons. In testing, some players did actually use the automag over the quadshot and found encounters balanced around quadshot's ludicrous damage to be very difficult. The music is a kinda basic sample & hold drone, and the "action" variation has it pitched up one octave with some drums added. I actually still have the original sample.

Semfry is correct: failsafes were added to prevent a softlock when the AI gets stuck, though lobbing flak shells up into their hidey-hole usually does the trick as well. A lot of the map was made very very quickly and I don't actually think it turned out that great. The level has rifle ammo but no rifle.

[Mister_Prophet]

Just wanna get my shots in before this turns over.

EBD's levels always make me slow myself down. I mean that in the sense that I have to completely forget that I'm playing Unreal for a minute and just take my time. I'm always looking for little details. The maps he makes always seem occupied, always have affairs at play and businesses to be run. I dare not shoot something unless I'm sure it ought to be shot. And I'm always walking about with a grin on my face. His approach to Unreal level design is so "on a 1 to 1" that I have to take every encounter for what it is. I'm never guns blazing, though I will say Flopper's Crevice does have a lot of conventional combat. I'm always afraid I've missed something even though I'm thorough. And sure enough on replays it turns out I did!

And I'm always up for some good Quadshot action!

[Sat42]

As the campaign's first map with actual gunplay I'd say this one certainly works well and as noted by others there's some good amount of detail and the trademark kitbash by ebd (squid mesh FTW!).
I really like the music, it has this rather dark vibe to it and the atmosphere gave me pause. I was sort of expecting this to go into horror territory and it at least does that at one point with the visuals (as seen in the top-right screenshot). We do get to see the subterranean crevice (very cool with the beautiful crystals) and there's that brief foray into the business center which connects nicely with what we saw in the previous map. Also this is where we get the first mention of "Morgan".

I do however agree with ebd that this isn't a great one: it's doesn't fully commit one way or the other (comedic or serious?), and it's definitely constrained by its limited scope (and it's easy). Still very good overall, "short and sweet".

And yeah, the end of the map was like "wow" the first time round: all hail the "leet" transition checkpoint!