[slacker1]

Michael_Hunt, on 12 May 2021 - 01:48 AM, said:

Spoiler

You were right with converting them to binary, should have worked. Some notes though:

1- You won't get the unlocked bleep/message until all 3 have been entered correctly. It's a pain, but I couldn't really find a sensible way around that; I did try!

2- Binary reads from right to left so:

128 64 32 16 8 4 2 1

3- 1 = press button and 0 = don't press button

Thanks! So I was on the right path!

Spoiler

The lack of beep on each switch panel made me think the switches were set wrong so instead of setting each one correctly and moving to the next, I tried mashing it before leaving hoping to hear the beep before going back to another panel.

Just finished the map. Took about 40 minutes. I really liked the atmosphere of the level and the story telling through the computer screens.

I sort of wish that...

Spoiler

...you got to fight the boss at the end of the level, at least in a mini-battlelord fashion but I can see how this ending fits the story better and helps lead to the next level.

All in all, really good work like the last two levels!

[Michael_Hunt]

slacker1, on 12 May 2021 - 09:39 PM, said:

Thanks! So I was on the right path!

Spoiler

The lack of beep on each switch panel made me think the switches were set wrong so instead of setting each one correctly and moving to the next, I tried mashing it before leaving hoping to hear the beep before going back to another panel.

Just finished the map. Took about 40 minutes. I really liked the atmosphere of the level and the story telling through the computer screens.

I sort of wish that...

Spoiler

...you got to fight the boss at the end of the level, at least in a mini-battlelord fashion but I can see how this ending fits the story better and helps lead to the next level.

All in all, really good work like the last two levels!

Glad you liked it, thanks for the feedback Getting to work on part 4 this weekend.

[Aleks]

Played the 3rd map and I really liked it - although got confused at the same place like Slacker. I loved the puzzles there, but lack of indication was a bit off-putting and I had to lurk in here to see what I'm missing.

Spoiler

For a workaround, you could try this (if you still have some spare walls):  combinations.rar (1.07K)
Number of downloads: 200 - some basic target logic, I've also added the visual indicators for each combination.

I liked how pretty much the whole base was recreated within the map and looked very consistent. The flooded rooms were a nice touch, also the sounds of fighting between aliens and EDF soldiers were cool (kinda reminded me of my own Freezing Fear level from Back in Business ). It all gave the map a nice touch of being alive. Strong, contrasting shadows are once again a highlight of the map and perhaps the most distinguishable elements of the style you developed. This time the map was much more straightforward IMO (despite there being some paths to choose from here and there and lots of interconnections which worked well) than with more open Penthouse. Also the combat felt a bit too easy, even on Come Get Some I probably didn't even get below 150 HP at all (not sure if the 2 happy meals with atomic healths right at the start were intentional ). Some more design-related nitpicking:

• The view-aligned and floor-aligned sprites on the outside part take their shade from the sky, so they looked fullbright and kinda ruined the overall nice atmosphere on the place. I know you made the map primarily for Megaton, so no idea if "sprite noshade" (N key in 3D mode) is a thing there - in EDuke this allows you to set any given shade value on these kinds of sprites. Another solution would be setting different shade value on the inner parts of the sky - if the parallaxed sector doesn't touch any non-parallaxed sectors or white walls, it will be "invisible", so you could shade the sectors where these sprites are located to a darked value that would work well with sprites.
• I really liked the design of flooded toilet/bathroom, but some of the water tile sprites were randomly left at different heights, which looked a bit clumsy and would have been easy to fix.

Congratulations on another release!

[Michael_Hunt]

Aleks, on 15 May 2021 - 02:05 AM, said:

Played the 3rd map and I really liked it - although got confused at the same place like Slacker. I loved the puzzles there, but lack of indication was a bit off-putting and I had to lurk in here to see what I'm missing.

Spoiler

For a workaround, you could try this (if you still have some spare walls): combinations.rar - some basic target logic, I've also added the visual indicators for each combination.

I liked how pretty much the whole base was recreated within the map and looked very consistent. The flooded rooms were a nice touch, also the sounds of fighting between aliens and EDF soldiers were cool (kinda reminded me of my own Freezing Fear level from Back in Business ). It all gave the map a nice touch of being alive. Strong, contrasting shadows are once again a highlight of the map and perhaps the most distinguishable elements of the style you developed. This time the map was much more straightforward IMO (despite there being some paths to choose from here and there and lots of interconnections which worked well) than with more open Penthouse. Also the combat felt a bit too easy, even on Come Get Some I probably didn't even get below 150 HP at all (not sure if the 2 happy meals with atomic healths right at the start were intentional ). Some more design-related nitpicking:

• The view-aligned and floor-aligned sprites on the outside part take their shade from the sky, so they looked fullbright and kinda ruined the overall nice atmosphere on the place. I know you made the map primarily for Megaton, so no idea if "sprite noshade" (N key in 3D mode) is a thing there - in EDuke this allows you to set any given shade value on these kinds of sprites. Another solution would be setting different shade value on the inner parts of the sky - if the parallaxed sector doesn't touch any non-parallaxed sectors or white walls, it will be "invisible", so you could shade the sectors where these sprites are located to a darked value that would work well with sprites.
• I really liked the design of flooded toilet/bathroom, but some of the water tile sprites were randomly left at different heights, which looked a bit clumsy and would have been easy to fix.

Congratulations on another release!

The two at the beginning weren't intentional and a major whoopsie on my part; I totally forgot those things spawn atomic healths until I was replaying Bank Job the other evening and by then it was already done!

Thanks for the tips though, If I'm doing another one of those multi-combinations I'll give it a go, although I'm trying to keep the same style throughout but not recycle ideas too much if that makes sense. I'll definitely by trying the N key trick though, I never even knew that was a thing! Would've helped a little in Penthouse where I had the sprite shadowing in the second station. Although I'm doing everything within the Megaton edition, I'm actually using Mapster32. The Build editor that came with the game was completely broken, but copying the Mapster exe into the appropriate Steam folder and renaming it Build.exe worked a treat.

[Michael_Hunt]

Ok, I give up Anyone know of a way I can make a force field come on via a touchplate? I've tried setting up a shooter hoping it would activate a switch, but no joy.

[Mister Sinister]

This is a small black magic gate logic exercise, but it can be set up.

Here's what I got.
Place a touchplate at the beginning of the level that sets off an SE36 shooting at a target with a lotag of desired field and hitag 1. Place the target behind the door. The door should close right after target gets hit by a shrinkray shooter. This little set up will DEACTIVATE the forcefield you want unbeknownst to player. Set up the next touchplate in the desired area where you want the field to come up. This touchplate shoud open the SAME door and activate ANOTHER SE36, which will shoot at the SAME target, which will in turn ACTIVATE the forcefiled.
All touchplates should be set to hitag 1.

An example map:

Attached File(s)

•  FIELD-TEST.zip (1.13K)
  Number of downloads: 167

[Aleks]

Should work with SE36 shooting at target instead of switch, try it out:

Oh, Mister Sinister already beat me to it Although the method is slightly different, don't need extra door in the case here.

Attached File(s)

•  forcefield.zip (628bytes)
  Number of downloads: 171

[Mister Sinister]

What the hell, I don't even know which one is more backwards. Build engine hit boxes be damned.
If you want to use Aleks method, which is slightly less resource hungry, you should set up two touchplates and make them 1-time only via hitag 1 value.

[Michael_Hunt]

Wow, that took some serious teeth grinding, but finally think I've found a setup that works! This engine can be such a chore sometimes, lol! Thanks for the help, didn't think of using those target sprites instead of switches, but good to know it works.

[duke3d.exe]

Cool maps, but I had to look up which buttons to press on the third one.

[Aleks]

Seems Mikko didn't find the binary button puzzle too amusing https://msdn.duke4.n...acredground.php

[Michael_Hunt]

Sorry it's taken a while, but part 4 is now up on my Steam workshop:

https://steamcommuni.../?id=2528311462

It's taken a while to get this one to a level where I'm happy releasing it, but hopefully it'll live up to the previous ones.

[slacker1]

I enjoyed part 4! It was a bit more straight forward than part 3 but not in a bad way. I liked they layout of the base with the center "outside" hub section.

The architecture seemed a bit "boxy" but being a space station/space ship I thought it worked well.

Enemy placement was good. Ammo was plentiful. (I played on CGS, not sure if it's different on other difficulty levels)

I really liked...

Spoiler

the part where you're going to use the key to access the one section of the ship and it just blows up and breaks apart floating away into space. That was freaking awesome! The "signal lost" (or something like that) message on the view screens later was a nice touch as well.

Also, I thought I was at the end of the level when I boarded the transport ship. I was pleasantly surprised when it dropped me off at the 2nd part of the level.

There were two potential "bugs" I noticed but both really minor.

Spoiler

I saw a default texture wall floating out in space when looking out one of the windows. Maybe it's an artifact from the blown up section of the ship that floated away? Not sure.


I accidentally hit the nuke button from the view screen side of the wall on my first play through. I thought it was maybe just a non-standard way to end the level at first until I went back and found the button behind the screen. Not sure if that was intentional or just because the wall is so thin.

Again, both really minor bugs.

[Michael_Hunt]

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the feedback

Spoiler

Glad that paid off, getting the forcefield to work properly was a real pain! If you play through again and don't use the card to go in there, you can use it later to access the secret room on the ship.

Bugs:

Spoiler

Thanks for highlighting those. The nuke button wasn't intentional. Although not major, I'll make sure to make the wall a little thicker if I release an update.

That weird texture, not sure. I never saw it play testing so it could well have been caused by the explosion and the sectors clipping through each other (I left that section to just drift out of the map completely as it seemed more realistic). Again, if I get around to an updated version I'll take a look at that.

[Aleks]

Played the map, it was notably shorter than your previous works. I liked all the dynamics in it, also having a gameplay on the ship which you board later on was a nice surprise. The design of that ship was my favourite part, it looked like something strongly inspired by Star Trek (especially the bridge), also the "captain's log" joke cracked me up

The effects worked pretty well, the solution with red key was pretty unusual here! Combat wasn't either too easy or too challenging, maybe at the beginning it was more on the hard side, also the armor was provided only extremely late in the level I think, so the encounters were tougher than usually, especially with hitscanners. The double Battlelord encounter was especially well done.

My nitpicking would only go to somehow generic use of textures and rooms/decorations (i.e. having a lot of empty security rooms, cargo bays, crates and boxes), but all the dynamics of the station, with explosions and moving parts kinda made up for it. Also the station looked a bit flat/boxy, which is too bad given there's been a lot of windows allowing you for a nice space view. The ship was much better in terms of design, especially the drastically sloped windows were cool. Shading was as always top notch.

[Michael_Hunt]

Thanks

The original idea was just the ship, but I couldn't think of enough interesting content to make it fill a whole level, which is where the station came in.

I did spend a while trying to think of ways to make the exterior more interesting, but struggled to come up with anything that didn't just look tacky or unnecessary. I'm definitely more in my element mapping "real world" scenarios than imaginary ones I think. Going to be leaning back into that direction for the finale.

[Michael_Hunt]

Evening all. The fifth and final level is now up on my Steam workshop for anyone that wants to give it a go:

https://steamcommuni.../?id=2569857728

As always, would love to know what everyone thinks

[ck3D]

Radar has made a video of your map already:



Design is looking good - the most original I've seen from you so far I'd say. Extraterrestrial city always is a fascinating theme. Also Tora Bollockov, lol, one of those times where it's the simple things that get me. Congrats on finishing your series, I realize I still haven't directly played any of the maps so far (my Duke time has been limited) and so it's great that I'll be able to experience the whole episode in a row for my first time in each.

[Michael_Hunt]

Been loving his playthrough videos, thanks for the heads up!

Enjoy the series; personally I think Penthouse and Luna are the highlights, but it's been a fun process from start to finish.

[NNC]

Attached File(s)
Attached File BankJob.zip (74.87K)
Number of downloads: 96
Attached File Penthouse.zip (203.23K)
Number of downloads: 109
Attached File sacredground.zip (154.45K)
Number of downloads: 74
Attached File archer.zip (106.99K)
Number of downloads: 30
Attached File LunaOne.zip (166.75K)
Number of downloads: 9

Yo dirty peoples.

[slacker1]

Really enjoyed the final map in the series. Loved the lunar city atmosphere you created. I liked that you were able to explore most of the buildings even if they weren't actually necessary to continue along.

Monster and mini boss placements were great. I wasn't hurting for health during the run but I definitely wasn't maxed out ever either. (Actually that's a lie. The 2nd part of the city with the mini bosses knocked me down real low for a bit. )

Really great finale for a great episode.

[Dr.Panico]

Is there any download link of Luna One for those without Megaton?

[Aleks]

Dr.Panico, on 14 August 2021 - 09:06 AM, said:

Is there any download link of Luna One for those without Megaton?

Check Lunick's first post in this thread, he's been editing it and adding all the new levels as they're released.

[Michael_Hunt]

slacker1, on 13 August 2021 - 10:20 PM, said:

Really enjoyed the final map in the series. Loved the lunar city atmosphere you created. I liked that you were able to explore most of the buildings even if they weren't actually necessary to continue along.

Monster and mini boss placements were great. I wasn't hurting for health during the run but I definitely wasn't maxed out ever either. (Actually that's a lie. The 2nd part of the city with the mini bosses knocked me down real low for a bit. )

Really great finale for a great episode.

Thanks for the comments Glad you liked it!

[Aleks]

Played the final level and I really liked it. Along with Penthouse, it was probably my favourite of the episode. Gameplay was a bit spicy and challenging at times, which I liked. Especially the invasive Battlelord encounters - the first one literally broke into my building, so I had to take him out fast, while the next 2 caught me a bit by surprise, as I had little RPG ammo (didn't explore the strip club yet, kinda bummer that shrinker was right there at the entrance haha!) and had to shotgun them down. On the other hand, the boss encounter was a bit disappointing as he didn't pose much of a thread due to limited range and easy cover.

Design-wise, it looked great, very original with all the glass separating the sky. Jokes/sub-story was also very nice touch. The subway felt a bit redundant IMO, it was easy to get lost there and felt a but like length padding. I found all 4 secrets quite naturally, but had one progression slug moment behind red key door (thought the oozcans and entrapped women were a trap, so tried to actually not blow them up). Also the reactor finale felt a bit too much E2L7 - maybe a stadium in space city would be more interesting while.maintaining a nod to original game?

[Michael_Hunt]

Aleks, on 20 August 2021 - 02:15 AM, said:

Played the final level and I really liked it. Along with Penthouse, it was probably my favourite of the episode. Gameplay was a bit spicy and challenging at times, which I liked. Especially the invasive Battlelord encounters - the first one literally broke into my building, so I had to take him out fast, while the next 2 caught me a bit by surprise, as I had little RPG ammo (didn't explore the strip club yet, kinda bummer that shrinker was right there at the entrance haha!) and had to shotgun them down. On the other hand, the boss encounter was a bit disappointing as he didn't pose much of a thread due to limited range and easy cover.

Design-wise, it looked great, very original with all the glass separating the sky. Jokes/sub-story was also very nice touch. The subway felt a bit redundant IMO, it was easy to get lost there and felt a but like length padding. I found all 4 secrets quite naturally, but had one progression slug moment behind red key door (thought the oozcans and entrapped women were a trap, so tried to actually not blow them up). Also the reactor finale felt a bit too much E2L7 - maybe a stadium in space city would be more interesting while.maintaining a nod to original game?

Glad you enjoyed it, thanks for the feedback as always

Fair point about the reactor, the inspiration was a little obvious.

I agree about the final boss completely. I tried a ton of tweaks to the size and layout of those rooms but no matter what I did he seemed stuck in place and wouldn't move, meaning he could be fairly easily beaten by strafing from side to side. I was hoping that being in an enclosed space would have solved the same strafe-cheese from the original game. Bit of an anticlimax, but hopefully the explosions and Octos helped a little

[Aleks]

Michael_Hunt, on 20 August 2021 - 10:25 AM, said:

I agree about the final boss completely. I tried a ton of tweaks to the size and layout of those rooms but no matter what I did he seemed stuck in place and wouldn't move, meaning he could be fairly easily beaten by strafing from side to side. I was hoping that being in an enclosed space would have solved the same strafe-cheese from the original game. Bit of an anticlimax, but hopefully the explosions and Octos helped a little

You have to give a sector lotag 3 if you want Cycloid to move around in that sector, otherwise he will just stay in one place. This might seem as a bit of inconvenience, but is great for actually controlling its movement abilities.

Also, neat little trick with that 1-way mirror at the beginning of the map. And of course the shadows - top-notch as usual (really dig that swimming pool area in particular)!

[Michael_Hunt]

Aleks, on 20 August 2021 - 11:20 AM, said:

You have to give a sector lotag 3 if you want Cycloid to move around in that sector, otherwise he will just stay in one place. This might seem as a bit of inconvenience, but is great for actually controlling its movement abilities.

Also, neat little trick with that 1-way mirror at the beginning of the map. And of course the shadows - top-notch as usual (really dig that swimming pool area in particular)!

Ah, I wondered if I was missing something daft like that, thanks! Not sure when yet, but I'm probably going to go through all the maps again and make some changes and updates based on feedback, so that's definitely going to be high up on the list

[ck3D]

MSDN review of Luna One by Mikko: https://msdn.duke4.net/hotlunaone.php

[Merlijn]

Finally got around playing the 3 remaining maps in this episode.

Sacred Ground

I love how this one starts, with the helicopter crashing into the mountain. The invisible walls in the opening area a bit annoying, but since there are no enemies in this area it's only a minor complaint.
The base itself looked very good, the shadows and lights are very well done. I also liked the underwater theme, and cool details like water breaking through the ceiling and doors. Also the vista's to the underwater surroundings are a nice touch (especially liked the one in the mess hall). I don't agree with Mikko and felt that this theme was quite well established. Also, the base does feel lived in and actually under alien attack thanks to well timed sounds and explosions.
I also didn't solve the binary puzzle on my own, perhaps having 3 separate panels with quite a bit of distance between them was a bit too much.

Archer

I always love space maps, something about the skybox just immediately immerses me. It helps that you made a somewhat believable space station, where every room is well defined and has a clear purpose.
As others have mentioned the first half is a bit boxy, but then there's that effect in the red keycard hallway.. WOW! That was a great surprise. Reading this topic I realise it took quite a bit of trickery to get it working, but it was well worth it!
Like the last map, you really get the sense the place is under alien attack (there's also the later scene where the crew quarters of the archer get blown up by the alien bastards). The Archer was the highlight in terms of design, with those cool diagonal windows and a nice layout that opens up little by little.
The fight with the 2 battlelords in the storage room was pretty nerve wrecking in a good way, they almost managed to pin me down but I took 1 of them out just time.

Luna One

I must say the quality of the episode feels very consistent, again you're doing a great job with clean design and strong shadows. The streets with the glass ceilings were definitely my favorite thing in terms of visuals. Also loved the hotel section, especially the pool with the view of the moon in the background. Such a cool setting. The most memorable fight was again against 2 battlelords. They spawned while I was at the police station but I didn't immediately go outside to confront them. For some reason they walked into the strip club and went idle in a far corner behind the bar! I don't know how they ended up there, but it created a lot of tension and when they saw me and started roaring it nearly gave me a heart attack lol. Only slight downside is the lunar reactor at the end, which felt a bit too similar to the original version.
I could also say the final fight was easy, but the same can be said about the original episodes. Duke's bosses are a bit of a pushover, sadly enough.

Overall, a very nice set of maps! They look good, play well and feel consistent quality wise.