The fact that the only person to finish your scenario frequently mentions that he cheated in order to get through the game should have been a HUGE clue to you that you needed to go back and redo some aspects of your design.
I only played through 1.25 of the levels before I quit.
Kudos for making a scenario at all; that's no small feat. Also, I liked your set pieces (such as the stasis pods, or whatever they were) which make it feel more like a "real" space we're playing in. Your terminals also looked really good.
This scenario is not difficult; it is a tedious waste of time. If it was difficult then I'd have to actually put effort into playing it.
Withholding save terminals (I didn't see any) does not make your scenario more difficult.
Starting the player at 1/4 health and withholding rechargers and canisters (I did not see any) does not make your scenario more difficult.
Giving the player an assault rifle but only two extra grenade packs (I didn't see any other ammo) does not make your game more difficult.
Hiding switches and doors that are mandatory to progress through a level does not make your game more difficult.
None of these things makes the game hard, it just makes the game arbitrarily unfair.
I quit after the third time I died (on Normal). Why would I waste time replaying everything from the start again? It's just switch hunting, backtracking, and the little combat that exists isn't fun.
Maybe the later levels are more fun and interesting, but you certainly don't seem to want me to get to them and find out.
This scenario is very hard and . . . well, that's it. There's nothing wrong with a hard scenario, so long as it is fun enough to keep the player interested despite many deaths and re-tries. A dull scenario is tolerable if you can breeze through it quickly. A dull hard scenario, though, is just no good at all.
Depriving the player of save terminals so that they have to redo a tedious switch hunt when they die - hard? Yes. Fun? Heck no. Fighting Devlins with fists or inadequate ammo - hard? Yes. Fun? Heck no. Frequently teleporting in enemies behind the player - hard? Yes. Fun? Heck no, at least in narrow corridors. (Take a look at TI for teleporting enemies behind the player done right - they are used to block escape routes, not as a "Surprise! Ya dead!" thing.) A vacuum level with inadequate air - hard? Heck yes. Fun? Very much heck no.
There is some good architecture here, and some of the combat is fun - hence the rating of two stars rather than one - but you have to wade through a lot of tedium and "do it again stupid" gameplay to get it.
I look forward to the new version. There is a lot of room for improvement here.
First level was too tedious, I wasn't having fun so I stopped playing.
Windbreaker is probably pretty tired of me pointing out tiny imperfections and issues that don't actually matter, but that's because there's nothing actually wrong with this stuff. Captain Confidence is a supremely good map and worth the price of admission on its own, but the rest of the pack is good too. The M1 and M2 maps mixed in are very nice too, and Windbreaker avoids the obvious trap of mixing them together with the Infinity textures, so good job dude. But mostly, the geometry and layouts are very competently done and are lacking in some of the minor annoyances that cropped up throughout Caustic Dystopia, and everyone should just download this pack because it's actually different from the usual stuff you see these days.
These maps maintain the high standard that Ryoko set for himself with his other successful mappacks. But what's more impressive is the fact that these maps all act as a cohesive set and have their own signature feel, different from Paradise Lost or Red Spectrum. And the Power Drive maps fit right in, as well.
My favorites are Gustav Garden, Rocket Rider and Das Jerk. Hollow Void is the standout dueling map here. Good job!
when it says "damager" its mostly referring to emotional damage.
the "Asphodel Meadows" level crashes the game on load for me, giving the following error -
/Users/ghs/aleph/trunk/PBProjects/../Source_Files/GameWorld/map_constructors.cpp:1132: Assertion failed: MapIndexList.size() <UINT16_MAX
I really like this game, and this level being missing disrupts the continuing. Hopefully someone can help!
I'm running on Mac OSX.
Great script for use with Weland But i can't figure out how to switch textures it says use mic button and weapons switch but it just makes it switch texture type.
I like that the very first screenshot has misaligned textures. That should really tell you everything.
Everything that Crater Creator posted previously sums this up perfectly. One thing I need to add is that textures that have solid black backgrounds are meant for transparent sides, not walls.
I don't think I can write a review that will do justice to my appreciation of the effort and care WB has put into this pack. While WB's previous packs have always shown a penchant for extreme detailing, these maps combine that intricacy with a new level creativity and grandness. The open spaces in this pack lend extremely well to net play.
I see a lot of as-of-yet untapped potential with the M2 and (especially) M1 texture sets, but this is far beyond an adequate proof of concept. Perhaps my only complaint is that in Captain Confidence, there were a few spots (narrow ledges or awkward details) where I felt as though the architecture could have been better tailored to the texture set chosen. Perhaps that was only a matter of personal taste, though.
gj dude
I played this the whole way through, and I would have to say beginning mapmakers should not study this as a good example. - -- You get stuck behind BoBs in narrow hallways all the time. - -- Monsters spawn on random polygons, including ones where they don't fit, instead of in thoughtfully crafted encounters. - -- Monster types are selected carelessly. Don't just throw in tiny BoBs because you think they're cool. - -- Height plays no role in gameplay. - -- Platform parameters are set poorly such that you have to wait for them. - ++ Mission parameters are functionally working, and are made clear in terminals. - ++ All green BoBs are assimilated, so at least I didn't have to get the BoBs mad at me. - -- Item placement is hit or miss. I get 2 shotguns but no shotgun ammo in the whole map. 4 invincibility powerups in a room is unnecessary. - -- Overuse of mission parameters. Not every level should require exploration. - -- Textures are misaligned, mismatched, or even missing. - -- The overall simplicity makes every level feel the same. How about a staircase? How about a high ceiling? How about a pillar to duck behind? How about a ledge? How about a window? - ++ Each level does have a story. There's a reason for your missions, and it's enough that I wanted to read what happened next. - -- Winning the game is impossible since the levels loop back on themselves. The player expects and deserves a resolution.
I always liked your map "Red Sauce on Pasta" and am glad that your other maps are seeing the light of day again. This is a strong set of maps, especially considering they were made eight or so years ago.
I particularly like "Battlemoose" and "The Foolish Biscuit"; both have a fast pace and plenty of ammo to keep the action going. "Battlemoose" takes a fairly straightforward, square design and makes it pretty unique through the use of tasteful architecture. If you ever decide to modify these, the only thing I'd say is to add more ammo to the last two maps. Other than that, great job eight years ago!
coming from a completely unbiased point of view, these are probably the best physics ever made. great for hours of multiplayer entertainment at your next 90's style LAN party.
I didn't need this until recently, but it worked great. You could use this to work on a level in multiple sections. I use it to duplicate a level's geometry within the same level, for some experimental lua scripting.
I've often brainstormed a Marathon scenario where the Pfhor win and you as the player have to survive in a Pfhor dominated galaxy.
Scratch that idea, I could never top this. This scenario is a NIGHTMARE.
The textures, the imagery, the sounds, the story its all just a nightmare.
Its actually more bizarre than Pfhojeur, another nightmarish scenario. I wanted it to end so badly.
On a positive note, it is beatable. The scenario reminded me of those miscellaneous scenarios you would find on fileball that you couldn't beat because of convoluted map objectives. Not the case of this scenario, its beatable.
But that's it, playing this scenario is unpleasant.
As the title states, this is a solid pack of multiplayer maps that also sees a lot of action online. It's nice to see someone still producing new content for the community; especially of this quality. The layouts here are pretty complex (especially in newer maps), but you've done a great job I think in making them easy to navigate at the same time; I haven't noticed any big potential gameplay issues. Great job! Make more maps!
This intuitive plugin is almost BETTER than Forge Visual Mode. I really appreciate that the player stops falling if they are in the middle of aligning a texture!
I'm using this to build a new TC and it is a pleasure, possibly the least buggy of the entire suite of tools.
I really like the old school, 'tricks and traps' mischievious feel of this map, and how you put so much effort into a single level, there's so much detail! 5 stars for architecture.
Some of the texture alignment jobs are a little weird but overall the map has a great atmosphere and continually rewards careful searching for new areas and secrets. The carnage level is perfect.
As the other reviewer said, the terminal picts are missing. This is a familiar problem to me; evidently you moved the map file to a computer with another kind of file system in which the resource fork of the file was not recognized, and it was automatically deleted from the file.
I like the idea behind the final puzzle, but I couldn't solve it. I wandered the map for 45+ minutes looking for a switch to lower that window gate. This part wasn't as fun. So, I wasn't able to complete the map, but I got through what seems like 95% of it, and I'm glad I played it.
I grow weary of levels which the creators have made 'hard' just by souping up the enemy's abilities until they do absurd amounts of damage, and constantly ambushing the player with enemies teleporting in from random locations.
The architecture is absolutely gorgeous but I think this scenario is likely impossible on total carnage. This one I'd actually enjoy more on a difficult lower than normal, and I usually play on Major Damage.
I can't believe what is possible with the Marathon engine.
This plays like a good quality RPG and gives me a feeling I haven't had in years. Amazing artwork, storyline and new battle physics. Very interesting with so many melee weapons!
It could be longer but I understand the insane amount of detail required in the part that is here.