31_05_2014

I’m starting a review of the level. This forms part of the process of reviewing the whole mod; from gameplay to code to models to story to, as said, the level. Many mods and games go through such a process, or partially so, although not usually 7 years after being started. But, there’s only one of me, and I’m fickle, lazy and not great at this.
Part of the reason for the review is that, after trying a number of gameplay ideas, and either rejecting or failing to implement them, I’ve got to be honest about both what isn’t working, and what wouldn’t work. More importantly than that, I have to be honest about what I can achieve; there’s little point in having a brilliant, ground-breaking, gameplay idea and it either not being possible in Quake, or not possible for me, my skills as there are, to make.
Anyway, to the images:

The car park.
PROBLEM: Dead, dead space. It’s next to the (uncompleted) shop, but serves nothing either aesthetically, environmentally or gameplay wise.
SOLUTION 1: Tear it up and build a row of shops from the garage, down to the railway bridge.
SOLUTION 2: Tear it up, move the garage down along the street, think of other options; shops and misc. buildings (taller ones!), to fill the gap

The damaged warehouse and hole in t’ ground
PROBLEM: It’s ugly and unconvincing, and quite probably framerate killing due to it being a bit crappily implemented
SOLUTION 1: FIll the hole and replace the warehouse with a complete one. Probably (warehouse) better decided upon when the gameplay is ‘rationalised’ ( 😉 )

The long road by the park
PROBLEM: It’s long and framerate killing, plus, well, boring. It shares failings with the park itself, but more on that later.
SOLUTION 1: Break it up. Stretch the houses on the left out, possibly forming a cul-de-sac
SOLUTION 2: Break it up. This will again depend somewhat on decisions made re: gameplay, and what’s happening to the park.

The park
PROBLEM: Big, uninspiring and ugly. Three features, the long, outer wall, the fountain and the back feature, are all of interest, but generally it’s wasted, open, dull space.
SOLUTION: Very gameplay dependent, but it cries out “make me a zoo!”, which is an option as it would fill the space with interesting buildings, but throws up a load of other issues.

The church on the hill
PROBLEM: The hill’s too high for the rest of the map, and effective blocking. Also, it’s fairly appallingly implemented.
SOLUTION: Bring it back down, maybe keep it higher, but more realistically and part of other areas that are higher.
SOLUTION UNPLEASANT: Take the church out! Again, once gameplay is better understood, it may be best to get rid.

Anyway, decisions to be made. First gameplay and story, then a LOT of mapping…

23_01_2014

This is a completely self-explanatory and in no way confusing flowchart I made to help me (can’t pretend it would help anyone else) get my head around the monster ai code, that still needs to be written, obvs. Anyway, I use flowcharts, flowcharts are cool.

22_01_2014 ~ 2

Been tinkering with enemy code. As a starting point I’ve made them always looking for you and able to track you down wherever you are in the map. This is hokey and based on code from these very forums; it’s a starting point, and one I want to build upon, e.g. you being more easily found if running, if the torch is on etc., less easily found if still, walking etc. Even in it’s early stages it’s pretty fun with just one shambler; it can’t get to you in all areas as it can’t fit down all alleys or in all buildings (that’s where other enemies, zombies for instance, come in), but just making a dash between buildings, losing sight of it and then turning a corner and running right into it, is pretty exciting 🙂 (imo!)
It’s success still depends on making it more sophisticated; at the moment the stock code works well in that sometimes it isn’t able to follow you down a path, but will track you parallel to it and catch you at the other end; there’s obviously no complex predictive ai here, it’s just “seeing” the player thru’ the wall, but it’s a good con anyway. Whether that’s something I can improve (or spoil) remains to be seen.
What is great is having this, comparatively, large city map to play in. Although not finished, it’s fun to just play hide and seek in this map that I’ve spent so long working on.. Whether I can turn that into fun gameplay and narrative is also in question.
What would be useful is to find improved models and less jerky code, as at the moment the somewhat slapstick efforts of the shambler somewhat distract from the tension. Also it doesn’t understand that fire = ouchy:

22_01_2014

After a brief hiatus I’m back with the mod. Two major bits of work/problems (mostly) solved. Firstly I’ve replaced all of the old (iteration #3) street lights with the newest (and final) version. They’re a little slimmer and complex (though more efficiently constructed) and quite a bit taller. Much happier with the look and scale. The lighting from them remains a work in progress; it’s too soft and imprecise. How much can be solved within Quake, I’m not sure, especially without compromising frame rate.
The second issue to be addressed was the strange case of the disappearing brushes and entities in Worldcraft. To cut a long story short, the size of the map and number of entities in it, means that not all entities and brushes show up when the whole map is in the editor. The editor in question being Worldcraft 1.6. WC 3.3. shows more, but not all, but saves maps in an incompatible version of .map, which is even more of a problem. Trenchbroom shows everything, but mapping is a very different experience compared to WC, so I only use it for small scale tweaks.
The solution has been to split the map into two, work on each half separately and then join both together and compile. It works, but is hokey and unsatisfying. I clearly need to use a different editor; Radient, Trenchbroom. But I’m so close to finishing the level, and learning a new editor would take me so much time, that I’m loathe to do it now – it’s for the next mod.

Anyway, problems aside, and as I said, the street lights have been replaced, so it’s time for some screenshots. The first few are from the latest build, the final shot shows the original (placeholder) lights, just as an indication of how far things have progressed.

Although the street light prefab is rubbish (it was ‘borrowed’ from my Raptors! mod) I do like the contrast that the lights have. Not perfect, not better, but something I’d like to add to the current ones.

23_10_2013

An 8 minute tour around the streets of earthQuake: Ghosts of Despair. Look out for misaligned textures on rotating doors (#36 on fix list), a ghostly monster, poor player control (I was watching tele!), incomplete areas and what I didn’t show.
The slowdown is part video probs and part framerate. What’s apparent to me is how crap some of the early mapped areas are compared to newer stuff. Oh hum. Yes lighting generally needs fixing too.

20_10_2013 ~ 2

After adding the latest iteration of the flats and the (very, VERY) draft, version 0.1, of the (game changing) puddles, I compiled the main map and had a look round. Now, as the main map, due to its size and items going invisible in the editor, is a pain to amend, I’m not updating and compiling it as regularly as I once was. Consequently when I do, and considering all thoughts of modesty, I am often surprised about how good it looks and how well its coming together, as well as large the play area is going to be.
I must admit, even with my fairly powerful pc, the latest version is showing signs of framerate slowdown, some of which may be fixed by both efficiency improvements and fuller vis-ing. Anyway, the tour I took round the map precipitated some new screenshots. Still room for improvement, brightness-wise, but the global light level will only be finalised and fixed once all the ‘incidental’ lights are finished…

20_10_2013

Evolution of a puddle.

Experimenting with puddle making. Unconvinced if they’re worth the effort or extra brushes, but it’s a fun diversion from trickier and/or more meaningful mapping.

The following 3 shots show the puddle going from quite a rough shape, to a round but uniform one and then finally a round but less symmetrical version. Feedback welcome; I’m not convinced they’re particularly puddle-like, which sort of defeats the purpose 😉