UED Game Of Telephone 2015 (OPEN TO ALL)

[salsaSkaarj]

Well well,
I have to admit, I thought this whole thing waas going to end rather soon and with little content.
But, I stand corrected (even though I never expressed my doubts ) and from what I read the commits are there. So sincere congrats are due for the participants and I'ld also like to express my respect for Sat42 who has proved himself to be a serious motivator and organiser.

► Show Spoiler

Unfortunately I'm making this comment without having seen any of the content yet as I'm still in the process of trying to install UT on my new PC (the only thing which has worked up to now is the backuped 7B install from my old PC but anything not-7B is unplayable due to speedmousing and/or framestandstills + 98% darkness.

[Sat42]

Well well,
I have to admit, I thought this whole thing waas going to end rather soon and with little content.
But, I stand corrected (even though I never expressed my doubts ) and from what I read the commits are there. So sincere congrats are due for the participants and I'ld also like to express my respect for Sat42 who has proved himself to be a serious motivator and organiser.

► Show Spoiler

Unfortunately I'm making this comment without having seen any of the content yet as I'm still in the process of trying to install UT on my new PC (the only thing which has worked up to now is the backuped 7B install from my old PC but anything not-7B is unplayable due to speedmousing and/or framestandstills + 98% darkness.

Thank you for the kind words, salsaSkaarj, comments like these are motivating!

About playing the map, there's two ways to go about it:
- either you play the level in its current unfinished form, but that will mean you'll probably feel compelled to check out its evolution after each new update
- or you decide to resist the temptation and wait until the final version!

It's up to you! depends on whether you're happy to see what's already there or prefer to stay spoiler free until official release!

[Sat42]

SOME AWESOME NEWS EVERYONE!

UB already finished his section and sent it to me, and I tell you, you're in for a treat guys!!

Note: whoever gets to discover this map once it is finished is such a lucky person!

To UB (those of you who don't want to spoil the experience for themselves don't read! the spoiler tag is in there for a reason!):

► Show Spoiler

I like that little reference to G59 heh! I also recall you saying somewhere that we needed more of those tough individuals commonly fought in Xidia and also in the last level of Déjà Vu, and I definitely felt that influence here - and it's great! I first decided to play the map before opening it in the editor (obviously for the surprise factor), and man it was tough - the Queen almost killed me (I was down to 40 HP, no armor) but then - despite having full health again thanks to those items outside the boss chamber - the surprise Skaarj Lords DID kill me! I succeeded the second time round but now I save my progress in this map, just in case
Great ending by the way, opening things up like that!

OP updated!!

[UB_]

Ok some comments.
I had a lot of free time and I was hungry for more mapping because I came out from G59's continuous rampaging work. I improvised a damn lot for this one (including a G59 reference right at the start of the section). I started straight on Sunday midnight and by Monday I had everything up to the post-Source corridor done. Monday was used for the successive big room and Tuesday was used for the last two areas. Yesterday it was fixing and play-testing time, all done fairly quick. Took almost 20 hours.

Felt the liberty of fixing the following stuff:

• To descend in the Demon's Grave, there's some simple platform waiting for you. A nanosecond after you step on it, the gravity platform goes down at lighting speed, ending with a little screen shake. This platform will stand there and you can't use it to return above anymore.
• Added some ambientsounds in SteadZ's two rooms.
• Added Pathnodes in SteadZ's pupae web chamber. Had to do this because the enemies acted absolutely dumb once they entered that area (which inevitably happens in higher difficulties).
• The doorway between SteadZ and my sections had black unlit lights. Decided to change them to green pulsar Unlit textures so at least the doorway looks better now.
• Added all the people who worked on the map in the Author's string.

4500 nodes in, UED2.0 used by rebuilding geometry/lighting/paths only.


For those who are playing on Unreal difficulty (Hard as well but NOT THAT MUCH), prepare for some brute force against the boss fight (on Easy and Medium it's just the boss itself). Make your mind before picking up an Armor item.
Also, don't use the Minigun against the boss. Won't work. Use it against troops instead.

Final room leads to two destinations, each one with a single starting area to set the mood. Red teleport leads to the "experimental/creepy" area - either I'll continue working on that or Proph will do something with it in the future. The Green teleport leads to a classic Nali-themed place, for standard Unreal experience.


EDIT: You need QueenSong.umx, by the way.

[Sat42]

That's all good, UB!

@SteadZ:
your section needs more detail, I hope you'll take another turn!

@UnrealGecko:
your turn starts on Sunday the 5th of April (since UB won't be using that day, having finished earlier!) and finishes on Sunday the 12th at midnight

EDIT: QueenSong.umx now included in project archive. Download link reupdated.

[UnrealGecko]

We could invite people form other forums, not everyone visits unrealsp I think.
Should I write on ut99.org?

I actually did think about this before, but hadn't seen it as being strictly speaking necessary.
It's a good idea - yes please, if you can write on UT99.org and post a link to this thread for me, that would be great UnrealGecko

Good, will do that soon.

I'll soon be ready to start my section.

[UB_]

My personal status when I finished the map on Unreal difficulty. Proper last battle is really fun with the Minigun

► Show Spoiler

[Sat42]

My personal status when I finished the map on Unreal difficulty. Proper last battle is really fun with the Minigun

► Show Spoiler

LOL, still looks easy for you! At least it's fun

I wonder how much harder it can get with the Limbo mutator in action?

Note: for any average player like myself, Medium difficulty already provides a nice challenge!

[ividyon]

When would be my turn, again? I've some planning to do!

[UB_]

When would be my turn, again? I've some planning to do!

12th to 19 April.

[Sat42]

When would be my turn, again? I've some planning to do!

When would be my turn, again? I've some planning to do!

12th to 19 April.

^This! Though it may start only on the 13th (and thus finish on the 20th), as UnrealGecko might upload late on the 12th

[makemeunreal]

Count me in as well!

[Sat42]

Count me in as well!

Hey makemeunreal! Welcome back, you'll be the first to go for a second turn
Your new turn comes after ividyon!


EDIT: list of participants in the OP updated!

[ividyon]

Please decide early when the pack should be split off into Map 2; this will save tears later, in case the map turns too big/buggy and needs to be divided to conserve performance.

Loading times aren't an issue these days, so it's better to do it early than late!

[Sat42]

Please decide early when the pack should be split off into Map 2; this will save tears later, in case the map turns too big/buggy and needs to be divided to conserve performance.

Loading times aren't an issue these days, so it's better to do it early than late!

Hey ividyon!

Aha! you're already thinking of Map 2! hehe, well if there's popular demand for the continuation of this event... (maybe I'll get to contribute a section again that way, because I don't have enough time for mapping up until July now - the Master thesis is obviously my priority)
Concerning the possible "splitting" of the current map: like I said in rule 10, the moment a contribution pushes the entire map's node count to 35000 or more, only one more contribution will be a priori allowed, so that we will stay around the 40000 node count "safe zone"; that's what would bring the end of the map (only polishing/bug quashing would remain). Now, like I said, if it so happened that this "one more contribution" is super small and there is another mapper or two in the waiting list desperate to make an addition, I may consider allowing them to go ahead.

But there's something new in what you're saying: it implies that there would be enough interest in the event to continue with a second map! That would be great, but I won't get ahead of myself for now and I'll just make sure that the current map gets the attention it deserves until we reach those 40000 or so nodes. Of course, if by then people are jumping up and down for this event to continue, then it'll be my pleasure to allow a second map to get started

We'll see! in any case, no worries, the size of the map is being tracked to ensure it's within safety limits!