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10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

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Subject: 10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

Post Posted: 10 Nov 2014, 16:38

Map Title: Bounds of Foundry
Author: Cliff Bleszinski
From: Return to Na Pali
Filename: Toxic.unr
Music Files: Boundary.umx




Video Playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFim25bVnzs

Synopsis: Prisoner 849 explores the polluted section of the foundry Tarydium plant, fighting against even more, stronger Skaarj as he gains altitude by descending to the bottom of the complex.

Discuss!

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Subject: Re: 10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

Post Posted: 10 Nov 2014, 22:08

Oh BABY I love this map. Played this numerous times on my server way back when. The foundry is huge, and for the record, I don't like the map before this one...oddly enough.
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Subject: Re: 10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

Post Posted: 10 Nov 2014, 23:11

The music... why, why, why, didn't they fix the missing loop on the music?

Fortunately, RTNP:UE does. Nice map.
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Subject: Re: 10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

Post Posted: 10 Nov 2014, 23:20

Semi-decent map, somehow. Remaking it in G59 really made me realize how massively dumb were some of its original layout decisions, and it looked even better in the beta. I admit I really liked it at first.

That said, this map and Spire Valley were the maps I enjoyed the most in RTNP after Neve.
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Subject: Re: 10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

Post Posted: 11 Nov 2014, 17:15

Good map, just not a lot to say about it.
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Subject: Re: 10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

Post Posted: 12 Nov 2014, 17:46

Definitely more of nostalgic 90s shooter level than what sits among the quality of certain shooters (see Halflife and its kin) at the end of the decade, where levels more sensibly functional above all else. There's more of an effort in this one in some respects, however, to be dutiful with the Mine.utx set and this is probably my favorite of Cliff's levels that use this theme.

You see what I mean though about sensibility in some of the gameplay entanglements. You see it right in the beginning, with the lifted bridge that has a switch the player activates to reveal an ambushing Behemoth...but the switch to raise the bridge is on the player's side of the walkway. Right after that the player is presented with a hallway with glass windows that can be shot to reveal small featureless rooms that seem to have no purpose but to store either items or more Brutes. In other ways general Unreal things like ammo and guns resting right in the middle of the floor or in obvious hidden spots are typical of what the game was and Cliff's preferred style. The appearance of Pupae in general fit these tropes.

What I like about the level are the Skaarj battles and placements and the openess of the layout. A lot of rooms and high points peer into other locations and backtracking is interestingly employed. A lot of seemingly normal rooms are made awe inspiring by how they are constructed for gameplay, with platforms that hide pupae beneath them, Skaarj on top, and in large part how architecture is not just placed but used and touched by the player. A good compliment of enemies can be encountered. There's a lot to do and nothing is wasted. The use of the Toxin Suit allows for some hazardous exploration that Unreal seems to do sparingly. There's also the gameplay benefit of using the suit with the provided Bio Rifle for some more aggressive sludge slinging.

Lastly, the interactivity is high in this map. Windows that can be shot out, either on purpose or (as seen in the video) in the course of shootouts lend to a more dynamic experience. Also, using movers to destroy pieces of the environment was really cool at the time.

EDIT: I forgot to add, this level was a huge influence on me prior to working on my SP levels and many aspects Outpost Phoenix would probably not exist without the direct impression this level made on me. A lot mappers took cues from Cliff when they made SP levels back then. You see it a lot in David M levels mostly, but speaking for myself a lot of it stems from me preferring how his levels used Unreal assets and also because gritty industrial levels in Unreal and RTNP were Cliff Blesinski's domain at a time when a lot of mappers were into that theme.

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Subject: Re: 10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

Post Posted: 13 Nov 2014, 13:49

UBerserker wrote:he gains altitude by descending to the bottom of the complex.


lol the transition to the next level is so badly handled.

Probably my favourite industrial level in Unreal 1, it provides a nice mix of open areas and linearity, has quite a bit of variation between areas despite the theme, and explores stuff like the Toxin Suit as well. It's also got multiple cool small moments like the crane and bridge at the start. It's more of a pure gameplay map than a story/immersion one but I think it's one of the ones that does it very well.
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Subject: Re: 10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

Post Posted: 16 Nov 2014, 07:29

I'm pretty sure Bleszinski kept his grid at 32uu.

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Subject: Re: 10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

Post Posted: 16 Nov 2014, 19:42

Was kinda hoping to see more comments on this one. Oh well.

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Subject: Re: 10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

Post Posted: 16 Nov 2014, 22:22

Mister_Prophet wrote:Was kinda hoping to see more comments on this one. Oh well.


Aww, well I did have the intention to say something so here goes:-

Bounds of Foundry is, in my humble opinion, one of the best maps from RTNP. Yeah, it is this:

Mister_Prophet wrote:Definitely more of a nostalgic 90s shooter level.


and this:

Mman wrote:It's more of a pure gameplay map than a story/immersion one but I think it's one of those that does it very well.


and I agree with Mman about having Bounds of Foundry as a personal favourite industrial level in Unreal/RTNP.
I'm not even that much interested about gameplay flow usually. Immersive worlds and good storylines are typically what keeps me hooked.
But here the level is just cool and fun - and in fact, though the story gets thrown out of the window (but yes, that is a recurrent problem in the second half of RTNP), I find the map itself to be immersive as an environment. And that is helped by the awesome music. I think Mister_Prophet mostly said it all:

Mister_Prophet wrote:What I like about the level are the Skaarj battles and placements and the openess of the layout. A lot of rooms and high points peer into other locations and backtracking is interestingly employed. A lot of seemingly normal rooms are made awe inspiring by how they are constructed for gameplay, with platforms that hide pupae beneath them, Skaarj on top, and in large part how architecture is not just placed but used and touched by the player. A good compliment of enemies can be encountered. There's a lot to do and nothing is wasted. The use of the Toxin Suit allows for some hazardous exploration that Unreal seems to do sparingly. There's also the gameplay benefit of using the suit with the provided Bio Rifle for some more aggressive sludge slinging.

Lastly, the interactivity is high in this map. Windows that can be shot out, either on purpose or (as seen in the video) in the course of shootouts lend to a more dynamic experience. Also, using movers to destroy pieces of the environment was really cool at the time.


I actually found this map to be quite hard back then (I died a few times and had to think a couple of times about how to proceed), and it also managed to give me a few frights (in particular, the build-up to the miniboss and the miniboss itself were scary). The level was also a long play the first time round (over an hour).
The map may seem a bit "normal" and taken for granted after first getting through all the other great official Unreal releases, but it prolongs the fun in a most serviceable way.

EDIT: and about the influence of CliffyB's style on custom maps, I'd add as a specific example that what strikes me most is DavidM's map The Warlock With The Gilded Claw V2.0, the second level of Peril on Mars. Play that and you won't even need to have played Bounds of Foundry more than once to recognise the CliffyB touch!
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Subject: Re: 10/11/2014 - "Bounds of Foundry" by Cliff Bleszinski

Post Posted: 17 Nov 2014, 00:39

Have to say I have always enjoyed this map much more than its preceding section. The mine theme is not my favourite nowadays, however back when I first played Unreal and RTNP I was very into it and even created my own crappy mini series of maps where a ...player... is lost in a mine :shake:

There are lots of funky brutes in this map jumping from all over the place to get in on the action and I always enjoyed the bit where you go into the slimy pipe for some reason. Music is awesome and Frieza's (I think) remix of that track is pretty cool too.

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