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[released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

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User avatar GTD-Carthage
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Subject: Re: [released][u1][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 21 Feb 2014, 23:39

Apologies for the lack of clarity in what version of Unreal to use. The thread title has been updated to reflect that.

Doublez-Down
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Subject: Re: [released][u1][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 21 Feb 2014, 23:43

No worries. Hmmm, I only have UGold, but it's version 227. Wonder why it's not working there.
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User avatar Frieza
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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 21 Feb 2014, 23:50

Do you have the latest 227i patch?

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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 22 Feb 2014, 00:03

Looks great! I look forward to playing this, and the subsequently planned episodes :D.

(Just a shame AHRG was never continued)

I will give my verdict soon...
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User avatar Semfry
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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 22 Feb 2014, 00:47

Nice map, it looked really good, the gameplay is enjoyable and the story made me intrigued about what's going to happen in the follow-ups. I did feel that, outside the start and aqueduct part there was a bit too much linear corridor shooting, but at least it looked really nice.

I found one odd design flaw at the aqueduct part (linked for potential spoilers): http://i.imgur.com/KcRKhsj.jpg

It seemed a bit deceptive to have a part you can jump to with seemingly no way to get back up. I also didn't feel that enemies dropping equipment worked here; in more arcade style maps it can work, but here I didn't feel it fit the atmosphere (even taking the semi-comedic story into account).
Formerly Mman

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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 22 Feb 2014, 01:12

What a surprise! Keen to give it a run through soon
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Doublez-Down
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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 22 Feb 2014, 16:27

Got it working, thanks Frieza, didn't realize I still had 227g on my UG version.

A fun little romp with a nice ending and some inspiring scale in parts. I love the way Carthage can take a vertex edited cube and make the architecture look much more complicated than it really is. Enemies are hard to spot in some spots, which isn't a bad thing, and nearly made the ancient texture pack look brand new....nearly. Great use of 227's additional features.

Agree with Mman on enemies dropping stuff. Always seems weird when some wildlife drops a bandage or clip or something. Where the heck are they storing it? Just a small thing though, and probably preference-based anyway.
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User avatar Legendslayer222
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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 23 Feb 2014, 00:37

Okay, I downloaded this a couple of days ago and ran into the errors mentioned by others, but I patched to 227i and it works fine now :)
[spoiler]When I started playing this map, I had a video on in the background that I was listening to and consequently shot the chest without even thinking about what I was doing. After that, I completely got the premise of the map. I love things that question your instincts as a gamer. The Nali seemed strangely unfazed though when I broke every other box, barrel and chair in the inn!
A couple of problems: some of the blue messages disappeared too quickly for me to read them, including the first one that vanishes as soon as you pick up the clip. Also a message in the lobby says "new new" which I assume is unintentional.
I liked the design of the temple, some of it was a bit corridory but there was enough cool set pieces I think. It was also very dark in most places, making it impossible to see what I was shooting at, but as the opposition was fairly weak anyway I think this balances it.
The last fight was really cool; I knew something was going to happen, but I was not expecting the first Titan, or the second! On the way out of the room I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting the third pillar to come alive.
The one Skaarj I encountered seemed a bit random considering the messages set me up to believe they weren't around. I was expecting their appearance to have more of an impact after the setup.
Looking forwards to part two, "Your dispersion pistol is not a flashlight, please stop shooting it at every corner of the room". :o[/spoiler]Hey, as this is all OddsOfAppearing based, has anyone here come across some sort of death chamber containing every possible enemy?

User avatar [UDHQ]Jackrabbit
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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 24 Feb 2014, 06:00

Great visuals with a mix of nice casual FPS action with the stinger and automag. The only thing that made my teeth grind was the unnecessary frame drops due to Unreal's shitty Volumetric Fog which apparantly hasn't been touched at all in 227. What a shame :cry:

I hope to see more from this pack. It not super serious and not super goofy at the same time which is a plus for me :tup:

User avatar GTD-Carthage
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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 24 Feb 2014, 06:58

Thanks everyone for taking a look. Let it be known that it's practically the audience here is why I still map. :P I could map for myself but, hey, I could also just make my imagination run wild rather than putting it into UEd.

Just to clarify, I haven't performed any backwards testing so an Unreal 227i is my best candidate for this to run on.

SteadZ wrote:(Just a shame AHRG was never continued)


There are a number of fundamental... 'issues' as to why it wouldn't work having a continuation. :P For the record though, there was a second map for it that was like 30% finished where I was able to experiment a huge number of things off from, mostly on visuals and workflow.

Mman wrote:I found one odd design flaw at the aqueduct part


That part is right under the first wood ramp in the bridge, is it? I hadn't actually intended that area to be a place to go to. :P I can create an additional beam nearby so the player could get out of it safely, just in case.

Mman wrote:I also didn't feel that enemies dropping equipment worked here


I have no excuse for that but I do have a weird justification - that they somehow ended up eating those and spit them out upon death... but yes, it's a weak one. I can probably focus more on simply placing more ammo elsewhere but if there's one thing I like about it, it's that ammo drops are strictly tied towards OddsOfAppearing enemies (basically allowing me to control pickups proportionally to the amount of opposition spawned)

Doublez-Down wrote:Enemies are hard to spot in some spots


I could tweak the lighting next time around to be much brighter... Ancient.utx hasn't been all too friendly in terms of letting itself be lit.

Legendslayer222 wrote:some of the blue messages disappeared too quickly for me to read them


Unfortunately, I have no way around this since the whole message notification thing is run by the engine... I could remove the ammo pickup or just its message though.

[UDHQ]Jackrabbit wrote:unnecessary frame drops due to Unreal's shitty Volumetric Fog


To be honest, my own PC is actually suffering a bit from occasional frame drops but it doesn't seem to occur to everyone. :/

---

Lastly, the accusations of linearity. Unfortunately, indeed, the map is extremely linear and it hasn't been the best place to demonstrate OddsOfAppearing either. If there's one thing I wanted it to do though, it's to get the player to walk a huge distance before getting to crazier spots. It's like a setup for an escape. :P Compared to what I've done a long ways back though, this map was exceptionally easy to produce and was intended to demonstrate a sort of 'auto-pilot' workflow in me. It's practically an unplanned, impromptu map that just keeps going on and on. (imagine a snake that's lurching forward but doesn't have an idea where to go)

The complete lack of a concept (which has its consequences) grant me a lot of freedom to do whatever next. If I wanted to work on a mine map, a Skaarj facility map, an outdoorsy map, etc. they'd all smoothly transition to whatever I've left prior.

---

Outside of all that, map 2's already underway. :P As usual, I don't have release dates. I might show a shot or two but the whole surprise butts.uax release is definitely what I'm aiming for in this pack. I talk liberally about what I'm doing in IRC though, if anyone wants to check it out.

User avatar IanHead
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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 24 Feb 2014, 12:30

In all honesty, having just finished this map now I found it to be consistently impressive, pretty much all the way through. The opening was really very amusing (I didn't think of the name of the map or anything, I saw the chest and I shot it out of reflex) and I can certainly appreciate when a map is aware enough of our learned instincts as players to be able to toy with them like that.

The writing of the opening scenes pretty amusing and I loved seeing the game react to things I tried like going towards the doors to other guest rooms.

The shift in tone felt slightly jarring as I exited the cellar and entered the caves (especially that music in the opening) but once it was complete you've really nailed that Unreal temple atmosphere. The architecture is beautiful pretty much throughout (dat canyon scene :D) and the flares/fog/emitters there are all really nice touches.

Difficulty is fine - I didn't mind the item drops from enemies particularly, I had no trouble suspending my disbelief with them at all. Unreal itself was never particularly good at justifying its placement of human/technology elements at the best of times (why are there ancient temples ostensibly untouched by humans before your arrival in places, where there are clips of bullets and ASMD ammo stashed in the urns? WHYYYYYY), so I found no difficulty in suspending my disbelief with them.

FWIW, I found it a worthwhile concession for the reward you get, and it makes sure your ammo is consistently low but never empty. Prolonged fights with enemies in some other maps where I'm trying to pin down a gasbag for five minutes while my dispersion pistol is perpetually on one round remaining drive me up the wall.

The flow is good, albeit a bit linear as others have mentioned. I really appreciated the subtle pulsing lights around areas of interest, and the writing in the translator messages and OSD messages is quite good too, which all too often goes under-utilised and badly handled in many maps. Finally, the boss battle was great - it seems difficult to make battles with Titans that feel challenging without being cheap. I anticipated the first just due to the size and design of the room (big, open with lots of cover and no other enemies) but the second showing up really did throw me!

Uh, tldr, really very good, I enjoyed muchly and am looking forward to map #2!

User avatar SteadZ
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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 24 Feb 2014, 17:47

Maybe this map is really just a psychological test, to see how many people would shoot the chest instinctively. Of course, I didn't! Honestly!

No, really I didn't shoot the chest.

[spoiler]Just kidding, I did really :D

Overall, I thought it was an interesting map with plentiful atmosphere and beautiful architecture. Great to see people finally making use of the smashing 227 features too.

Only fault I could find was that I had to play the whole map DP only, until I found the ASMD, so I found the Titan fight at the end pretty hard. Now, I was pretty pissed off by this, and thought "this is a bit unfair, maybe it's all just a big joke and the titans will just get blown up by the lightning of Vandora's nipples". Then I died.

This is what I would have put here, if I hadn't later discovered (through the use of the "viewclass" command) that I had retardedly missed the obvious placement of a stinger and automag- at the very beginning. :B

So I forgive you that, and instead thank you for this little tasty map, which I thoroughly enjoyed, apart for my own stupidity. May your enthusiasm for mapping continue to flourish... etc. etc.

I'm gonna stop now and close these spoiler brackets, cos I'm going on a bit.....[/spoiler]

Good map though! :D

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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 24 Feb 2014, 18:40

SteadZ wrote:This is what I would have put here, if I hadn't later discovered (through the use of the "viewclass" command) that I had retardedly missed the obvious placement of a stinger and automag- at the very beginning. :B

Heh. Considering the dialogue with the Nali even precisely refers to that equipment, yeah, I suppose you didn't even skim over the text! ;)
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User avatar SteadZ
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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 24 Feb 2014, 19:01

This is what I get for playing something like this when I'm tired I suppose... :P

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User avatar Nalisavior
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Subject: Re: [released][227] SP-DontShootTheChest Episode 1

Post Posted: 26 Feb 2014, 21:38

Shoot The chest was a good map/play. I really liked the canyon part. the texture you used for the waterfall looks waaaay better than the one at Nyleve falls.

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