[Andrew Hunt]

TIBERIUS BETA V.2

http://www.mediafire.com/?e04tzjyhqtn

BETA MAP

This is a beta map of my newest work. This map is complete in level design. There are a few bugs, explained in the enclosed .txt file.

After a month I finally got most of it done.

There is custom music. Some may recognize this as Passport.mid

If anyone has suggestions for what more I can make, or anything I need to fix/modify of whats there, comment below!

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Well, I always wanted a place to post my maps and stuff. I am not much of a programmer, but I like to make maps.

So I'll do them here.

Ragnarok V.2 Released! Leaked Screenshots of Tiberius below!

Currently in progress:

-Working on new level idea, totally space station themed, "Tiberus"

Screenshot1
Screenshot2
Screenshot3
Too damn lazy to crop.

Where you start out in, gunna make it like Duke is out for a bite to eat and then, BOOM! Aliens attack the ship and yeah. I don't know where I am going with this, but the way I roll is just going with the flow.

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Currently released maps

[MF] Ragnarok.map -- 407kb Final Release

Ragnarok SS 1
Ragnarok SS 2
Ragnarok SS 3
Ragnarok SS 4
Ragnarok SS 5
Ragnarok SS 6

[MF] LA.map -- 311kb

No Screenshots, this is the first map I have ever made, I was about 10 years old then. Man did I suck bad back in the day! 11 years later, and I know I have gotten better. (And yes, I was making duke maps when I was 10, no shitting around)

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[Micky C]

I thought there was a good level of detail as well as weapon to alien ratio. I was running a bit low on health by the end, but that was probably just me. If you're going to work on it a bit more, it would be super handy to have a pair of boots near the start, the puddles left by the slimers were everywhere and causing a truckload of damage, especially in tight corridors.
Some of the transitions such as flying up as shaft into a new area were a bit sudden, it damages the realism when there's a black ceiling then suddenly you're surrounded by a detailed area, it also doesn't occur as easily that you have to fly up the area.
This has nothing to do with your map, but I played it with the default dethtoll music, which is slow paced and uninteresting. lol yeah that's not a critism since it's the default but perhaps you might like to look for an epic soundtrack to include? the music can make alot of difference.

Overall, it looked like you put alot of effort into it and it paid off. Well done

[Danukem]

Micky C, on Jan 11 2010, 05:20 PM, said:

If you're going to work on it a bit more, it would be super handy to have a pair of boots near the start, the puddles left by the slimers were everywhere and causing a truckload of damage, especially in tight corridors.

I'm pretty sure that slimer eggs are not supposed to leave damaging bloodpools, and what you are describing is a bug with the latest unofficial DukePlus code (because I changed the slimer blood to pal 6).

[Andrew Hunt]

Thanks for the play there Micky, I'll make note of those changes. I am still trying to poke around with SE-49 and 50 lighting, but it doesn't want to work for me.

So I'll do the following changes ASAP and re-upload the level for anyone else to test or re-test.

-Make hole transitions smoother
-Add more obvious health instead of hiding them like I normally do.
-Attempt to learn and figure out how to change default map music. Personally I like the "Alienz" tune ;P

Another note; Slimer eggs do leave damaging green bloodpools, from prior knowledge of the game. I think that is what he meant, Alien blood =)

[Danukem]

Andrew Hunt, on Jan 12 2010, 01:04 PM, said:

Another note; Slimer eggs do leave damaging green bloodpools, from prior knowledge of the game. I think that is what he meant, Alien blood =)

Yes, I realize that now, but there was still a DP bug that I fixed due to his post. In my jib system, each individual jib spawns its own blood pool after landing on the ground. If all of these are damaging, then one egg's blood becomes extremely dangerous, which is not the way it should be. I fixed it so that only one blood pool spawned by the egg itself can cause damage (and likewise for alien drones).

[Andrew Hunt]

Oh crap, that WOULD cause some issues, and I had alot of those slimers in the dungeons and the Alien Waste Treatment plant.

[Micky C]

Andrew Hunt, on Jan 13 2010, 07:34 AM, said:

-Add more obvious health instead of hiding them like I normally do.

I played through it again, and I took the liberty of using dnitems to get some boots and I found out that without the mega damaging blood pools, I had more than enough health by the end. Also, I'm even more ashamed in that it turns out I had enhanced AI turned on the first time I played it, which also subtracted quite a bit from my heath total. Having that in mind, the health placement is great! and I loved the hidden areas. If you're going to change anything about that, add more

optionally you can also make those areas official secrets by giving the sectors a lotag of 32767 (I hope that's right)

[Mikko]

What am I supposed to in that castle area after exiting some cave with a jetpack?

[Spiker]

Ok, so I played your map and here are some comments.

When I saw the map has been developed for 2 years I was actually expecting something more. The map is long which is good, but the gamplay and the level of detail is pretty average. The progress is quite linear, although there are some good and unexpected moments. You over-used the blocking walls instead of thinking of some other way of making player stay in certain areas. Some areas look very raw with poor shading or no shading at all. The texture choice wasn't perfect too, some textures are over-used and some other don't fit. But overall the maps was enjoyable and it has some interesting ideas. Waiting for more maps and thanks for your effort. My score is 6/10.

[Andrew Hunt]

Mikko:

There should be a hole to the right of the doors, drop down into it.

Spiker:

Thanks for the critique. It hasn't been a 2 years solid work, hell I started working on this idea 6-7 years ago. I was constantly switching between building for redneck and building for Duke, and Duke is missing alot of those detailed textures that Redneck has.

So yeah, I started that map when I was 14 xD

I agree, textures are overused, but I cannot find a fit variety for some of those areas.

And alot isn't shaded because I hit my wall maximum for standard Build Engine standards.

I don't want to make it too exquisite by editing/adding con files and doing all this elaborate crap that the average user has to change their whole duke3d folder in order to play. I'll review my map some more and see if I can change textures and maybe knock out a few areas to lower my wall/sector counts to pay attention to more details.

Mickey:

I currently have fixed your problems by adding boots in the starting area, and I have fixed the transition of the flying up into the castle field part by adding fake sectors around it to add the trees/polymer lighting before you even reach the sectoreffector.

And yes, secret areas are 32767. Also you will notice that there are 2 secret areas and you can only find one, I am still trying to figure out where the hell the other tag is, because I cannot even find it.

[Spiker]

Remember that when you create a secret area (or any other tagged sector) then dividing it or creating another sector inside will result in this new sector also having this tag. So check if your secret area does not consists of two tagged sectors.

[Andrew Hunt]

Yeah that was the first thing I checked for. I think an overlapping sector somewhere has it tagged, but the map is so freaking huge that I cannot even find anything wrong. When I migrated it from Build to Mapster, many things kinda went.... goofy. Since I had most of the level packed into Duke's old gridsize where Mapster gives this really generous build grid. Took days to sort that out.

And even my masterswitch boxes are fine... hmm...

[Andrew Hunt]

Ragnarok Final released. I don't really want to work on it anymore, anymore and its overkill.

New map idea and screenshots are posted on my first post of the thread. Keep checking that and the topic title for more updates!

Edit: And another note, 20 downloads on Ragnarok! Thanks to those who have played!

[Andrew Hunt]

Tiberius beta released! Check out the first post to download it and comment!

[Micky C]

I tried it, but about 5 minutes in some kind of bug happened which made the enemies invisible, and that kind of adds a touch of difficulty to it (it was probably a dukeplus advanced AI bug)

From what I did play of it, my favourite part was that mobile crushing thing in the hallway you have to walk across, I like traps like that (unless I forget to save for a while before being caught in one)

Just 2 minor things, the medkit in the first area is off by 90 degrees, and your cameras point straight ahead. A negative shade should angle it down.

I also liked the triggered explosions, you can never have enough triggered explosions is this your third map then?

[Danukem]

I tried it. Overall it's a pretty good effort. There is quite bit of detail and decent construction with reasonable texture choices, proportions, etc. I did not have any problem with monsters disappearing, but I didn't get to the end of the map.

Some problems:

-The triggered explosion that opens the door near the beginning of the map requires stepping in a certain sector that the player might miss. I was stuck in the room for a minute before triggering the explosion.

-Sometimes the explosion kills the pigcops outside, sometimes not. Maybe they could be timed so they arrive when the explosion is done?

-When you get out of that room and walk down the hallway, there's another big explosion which hits you right in the face and will kill you without warning if you are going forward at full speed. I would suggest making a little quake or something before it goes off so the player knows to watch out.

-The elevators don't make sounds, and neither do some of the doors. For the sliding glass doors this is ok.

-Security screens should not be used as buttons to open doors with. This is confusing to anyone who has played a lot of Duke maps and doesn't make sense. Also, if a door opens by one method on one side, it should open by the same method on the other side (there may be some exceptions to the rule but I don't think your map contains any). You have at least one door that opens via button on one side and opens by the player walking up to it on the other side.

-The sector that moves back and forth with the spaceman on it is glitchy. Sometimes it doesn't move back to its original position and you can't pass it.

-Right after you grab the yellow keycard, a bunch of monsters spawn all clustered together outside of a door that you need to open. Open door, throw pipebomb, close door, all monsters = dead. I suggest putting the monsters in different places.

I got stuck. I reached the room with the captain's chair facing the earth pic with the pulsing light. I pressed the button on the chair, but there was no indication of what the button did. I walked around the map for about 5 minutes trying to find out, and then gave up.

[Andrew Hunt]

Sweet. Alright, so taking all the suggestions into consideration, I happened to make some fixes and I have a few explanations.

Thanks for the playtesting guys.

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-The triggered explosion that opens the door near the beginning of the map requires stepping in a certain sector that the player might miss. I was stuck in the room for a minute before triggering the explosion.

Quake is a decent idea.

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-Sometimes the explosion kills the pigcops outside, sometimes not. Maybe they could be timed so they arrive when the explosion is done?

That would be respawn positioning fail. I'll fix that.

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-The elevators don't make sounds, and neither do some of the doors. For the sliding glass doors this is ok.

I don't do sounds and ambience until the construction is done.

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-Security screens should not be used as buttons to open doors with. This is confusing to anyone who has played a lot of Duke maps and doesn't make sense. Also, if a door opens by one method on one side, it should open by the same method on the other side (there may be some exceptions to the rule but I don't think your map contains any). You have at least one door that opens via button on one side and opens by the player walking up to it on the other side.

So I should either stick with touchplate automatic doors or switch doors respectively?

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-The sector that moves back and forth with the spaceman on it is glitchy. Sometimes it doesn't move back to its original position and you can't pass it.

I played with this, and well although its timings are off, it still serves its purpose. Its a wall that moves backwards to reveal the 2 passages, one blocked for now, and when you come through, it will move back into its original place, and then when you pass through again, it will move back to the spiked side wall so if you don't move fast enough across the hall, you get caught and squished. I'll investigate your problem more.

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-Right after you grab the yellow keycard, a bunch of monsters spawn all clustered together outside of a door that you need to open. Open door, throw pipebomb, close door, all monsters = dead. I suggest putting the monsters in different places.

I noticed that myself and right after, used respawns with stayput badguys (because the badguys were actually respawning in the warehouse part but clustered to the door as you got there)

Also removed pipebombs and added rocket ammo instead for when you get the RPG later.

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I got stuck. I reached the room with the captain's chair facing the earth pic with the pulsing light. I pressed the button on the chair, but there was no indication of what the button did. I walked around the map for about 5 minutes trying to find out, and then gave up.

Strange, that captains chair thing in the alien ship triggers an explosion outside the alien ship, which I added a reactor room on the other side. Check the security screen to see what I mean before you hit the switch and after.

EDIT: The entire map wasn't complete. After the explosion, there isn't anything in there yet, I wasn't done. Just needed a test and more ideas at the time.

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Just 2 minor things, the medkit in the first area is off by 90 degrees, and your cameras point straight ahead. A negative shade should angle it down.

I learn something new everyday. Didn't know that the shading of the cameras angles it. Thanks!

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I also liked the triggered explosions, you can never have enough triggered explosions biggrin.gif is this your third map then?

Actually I have a shitload of unfinished maps. Tiberius was from scratch because I didn't feel like fixing my other ones due to skill improvement.

Big thanks to those who downloaded and played. 11 downloads.

Special thanks to DeeperThought and Mickey for commenting!



Also since this release, I added a reactor core, and a network room, which I really like (MORE TRIGGERED EXPLOSIONS ).

Its coming close to structure completion, but I know I'll go detail crazy afterwards.

[Mikko]

Is this a polymer map?

[Danukem]

Mikko_Sandt, on Feb 6 2010, 08:44 AM, said:

Is this a polymer map?

It has normal sector based shading and I played it in Polymost.

[Spiker]

This map is slightly better than your previous one. I had the same problems that DT mentioned. Definately you the potential.

[Andrew Hunt]

I have fixed most of the problems DeeperThought mentioned.

Now to make this a true polymer map, I need to use SE 49 and SE 50. I have played this in a test map, also using XYZ velocities to change the hue and the tag for the brightness, but I had nothing but problems with it. Well, it just plain doesn't work.

I keep doing what the post said, but I cannot get it for the life of me, so I stick with the old methods.

Since this release, I added the reactor, the network/computer room, and completed the circle with a barracks and a few offices.

I am keeping this level non-linear, and I find it quite fun. I will release the next beta once I make a path to the Nukebutton and add sounds.

[Headless_Horseman]

Altough is not finished, Tiberius is a very nice map. Doing a space-themed map in the right way is very difficuly (they all seems the same and I wonder why there are so few "alien planet" map and so many "space station" map), but I admit I quite loved yours. Apart from the other things DP and Micky mentiond, just one more thing bugs me : I'm among the ones that didn't like Pigcops in space maps at all.

[Andrew Hunt]

Well, my Ragnarok map was just chock-full of liz-troops.

But if I start adding things other than pigcops, then it might be too hard. Lizmans can eat through you in groups, the newbeast is overpowered, and there really aren't too many more foot aliens left.

But I'll take that into consideration as I finish this thing up. Maybe more multicolored liz-troops or something. (Damn teleporting bastards)

Alien Planet seems very limited. I incorporated a segment of that into Ragnarok, and I don't really like working with the very few textures available for a facility without making it look so repetitive. Duke's texture base is made for space and cities so its tricky to make anything else work correctly without a bit of creativity.

[Andrew Hunt]

Bumpeage.

Finally finished Tiberius for the most part.

This is the final beta. So any comments and suggestions made after playing this, will be for the final release.

[Spiker]

There are still some bugs like when you can get out of the base through the vent at the begining or being crashed in another one. I have no clue where to go after the command center, I return to the begining of the map.

[Andrew Hunt]

Hmm looks like backtracking is an issue.

In the network room, after you flipped the switch at the command center thing, there is a door as you jump back out the "window" to your immediate left there is a sliding glass double doors that DOES bring you back to the beginning of the map up an elevator, but there is a new door open across the hall and to the right of it that is a smaller room with an elevator on the floor. Flip the switch, find the secret (look for the mismatched wall) then go down the elevator.

Now you're in that lab room again, but across the room another swing door opened revealing another closet with a liztroop and a switch. Flip the switch, kill the new things and backtrack back up the elevator and out into the hall. Now another room on the left should've opened up past the old diner to a barracks. There is a vent there, a secret in the locker, and another switch to the right of the locker. Explore then hit the switch and another door opens down the hall.

Pretty self explanatory from there, since you're close to the end of the map at that point.

[Micky C]

I gave it another try and got stuck after the room with the 3 energy bolts and pulsating light with the green alien tendrils everywhere, next to the crusher-spaceman. Not sure what to call it. But what I played up to that was good stuff. I don't know if it was the music you included or the subtle changes/improvements you've made since your beta but I found this much more enjoyable than the first time.

It seems really buggy in polymer for some reason. Weird... Anyway it plays perfectly fine in polymost. Keep up the good mapping

[Andrew Hunt]

Looks like I need to create a walkthrough. Are you sure you didn't find my old beta? That is where the level stopped. At the point your are at, you can go around the front of the alien ship and find a secret, and you can go IN the ship. Battle your way to the bridge of the small transport craft and flip a switch on the side of the captains chair, and that will blow the wall in front of the ship away, to reveal the station's reactor.

From there, go underwater, then find your way to a small room with an elevator, go up that elevator, then kill the liztroop in the reactor control room that overlooks the reactor. There is a vent next to the screen's desk, also the wall surrounding the screen is messed up. Then go down the hallway there will be some lizmans shooting at you, kill them, take the atomic health then backtrack slightly to the door.

Another automatic door, step through, and you will see a totally pitch black room, flip the switch (which if you're in polymost you will not see) that overlooks the network room and the entire room lights up. Go down the stairs to the right, don't run so fast, the quake will warn you.

Kill the Lizman, then avoid the explosion between hubs 4 and 5. If you spotted it, back in the lab where you got the freezethrower, there was a "network Room Code" so flip the switches on the hubs that coordinate to those numbers (2,5,6) to open up the main door on the far wall that goes into the network control room. Kill the 2 lizmans in the center computer console and flip the switch. There is also a secret in one of the vertical light fixtures on the wall

After flipping that switch, see the above walkthrough bit once more.

[Headless_Horseman]

A very nice space map, with some great ideas (the dark room and the final passage), but with an overall sense of "crampedness". Some rooms are no bigger than a doggy box !

[Andrew Hunt]

Realistically speaking, most space stations aren't. If it was a ground base, I would.

I need an idea for another map to start making. If anyone can suggest any, I would most appreciate it!