[Micky C]

After 6 months of work, here is Community Build Project 8: Metropolitan Starlight, a huge space-city themed map (file size is 1.1 mb) that will take you anywhere between 30-50 minutes to complete. 25 for Mikko. There was a long beta testing period where a lot of cross-polishing was done where content was added/polished/slightly changed to aim for a more consistent look throughout, while still maintaining the variety that comes with having multiple mappers. So we hope it is worth the wait. There is an original music track by Norvak.

Description:
Duke comes out of the rest room to find his beloved domed city in orbit around the Earth has been overrun by aliens. You must explore the city and find a way to unlock the central spire which contains a nuke button that causes the city to self-destruct, as it's the only way to guarantee wiping out all the alien scum before they make it to Earth.

The map makes some use of TROR, nothing fancy, just practical, and as a result has been designed for polymer with lights disabled to improve performance, and so things like atomic healths don't spoil secrets. However, if you can't run polymer for whatever reason, the classic renderer is about 97% glitch free (mostly minor sprite clipping issues). HRP is NOT supported. If you use it, there will be models facing the wrong way and clipping through surfaces they shouldn't be. It's up to you.

Installation: IMPORTANT! Due to eduke32's disgusting lack of per-map customizing options (we tried a lot of things which didn't work, no offence eduke developers), for those who don't want to mess around with console commands to disable lights, we've had to include 3 different extra files.
Extract the map and music to your Duke Nukem Atomic edition directory, then do ONE of the following to disable lights:
(1) Open up the console in-game with the "`" (tilde) key, then type "r_pr_lighting 0" without quotation marks and hit enter. To re-enable lights afterwards, so the same as above, but type "r_pr_lighting 1".
(2) Simply extract autoexec.cb8, autoexec.cfg (overwrite any old file) and CB8.bat to your eduke32 directory, and run CB8.bat. It will start the map without lights, and when it's done, the next time you start eduke32 with polymer, lights should be on again.

Here is the list of mappers in order of appearance. It's a spoiler in case you'd rather play the map first and try to match names to styles.

Spoiler

Micky C
Norvak
Mister Sinister
Maarten van Oostrum
Merlijn van Oostrum
High Treason
Captain Awesome
Forge
Quakis (with a William Gee/Merlijn piece in the middle)
Micky C (finale)

Download below. Enjoy!

Attached File(s)

•  CBP8.zip (3.4MB)
  Number of downloads: 870

[CruX]

I don't have time to play through all of this right now, but to offer some instantaneous gratification, I'm really liking what I see so far. The main hub area of the map is just beautiful, and the spritework in a lot of places is really creative (like that monitor/switch terminal). Since it's a CBP however, there seems to be a lack of consistency in design, and some things aren't on-par with other things, even when they're in the same room (the bed and sofa on those revolving sectors are a good example of this, as they seem to be pretty lazily designed, despite the rest of the room being fairly decent). It also doesn't always seem to be obvious where you should go or what you should do. The door to the security room that has the four-button puzzle just kinda opened while I was walking around, and I'm still not sure what I did to cause that. Currently stuck at the tram area looking for the eighth button. Hopefully I'll have it all done by tomorrow evening or so.

[zykov eddy]

Just played this.

Eh...

Wow... That was fuckin' epic.

I'm not a fan of big action packed maps, but this one was really awesome. The amount of a new ideas is shocking. Also, this is gotta be one of the most futuristic looking maps I've ever played.
My favorite part was the city at the end. Those robotic creatures were cool! The ending is also impressive. The music track makes this CBP even better.
The easter eggs were cool as well.

I only found one secret, sadly. I also found a hidden big, enormous shit pile in the metro area. Does it count as a secret?

[Micky C]

Hell, even I can't find one of the secrets. FYI, one of the secrets actually has two secret tags, so there's one less secret than the end of level secret says. Also, the place the photo is taken from is also a secret. I don't consider that a spoiler because I'm not telling you how to get to it

I think I can speak for the team when I say I'm glad you like it.

How was the framerate out of interest? (if using polymer that is)

[zykov eddy]

I'm currently playing on my netbook and can't use polymer. The framerate was great.

Gotta find all secrets now!

[Lunick]

You already have my opinions on the map Micky but I'll say again that it is awesome

[Micky C]

(Edit:) @Lunick: Have you played the release version? A lot of stuff was added since the first beta, and I think some of it was added/changed after you last played it (even the music).

Late edit: After Mikko or someone (not Forge, he lost my respect after that section he built) at Scent-88 writes a review, I'll submit a news article to the Duke4.net front page.

[Forge]

Micky C, on 27 July 2012 - 03:54 AM, said:

Late edit: After Mikko or someone (not Forge, he lost my respect after that section he built) at Scent-88 writes a review, I'll submit a news article to the Duke4.net front page.

i had someone's respect?

[Micky C]

Your wife's pretty good in bed but that only gets you so many points.

[Forge]

Micky C, on 27 July 2012 - 04:59 AM, said:

Your wife's pretty good in bed

now i know you're lying

[Lunick]

Micky C, on 27 July 2012 - 03:54 AM, said:

(Edit:) @Lunick: Have you played the release version? A lot of stuff was added since the first beta, and I think some of it was added/changed after you last played it (even the music).

I got 2 different betas though? I don't think it would have changed that much but I'll look into it.

Edit: 'as it's the only way to guarantee wiping out all the alien scum before they make it Earth.'

Make it TO Earth?

[quakis]

zykov eddy, on 27 July 2012 - 02:19 AM, said:

Those robotic creatures were cool!

Cheers! Though I feel as if I put more effort in those than the rest of my section.

[Mikko]

This was a very cool map. Took me actually nearly 40 minutes although I did keep an eye on the Olympic opening ceremony (not the silly play but the part where all the countries were presented) at the same time. Here's a review: http://msdn.duke4.net/hotcbp8.php

[Micky C]

Nice review Mikko, but I thought you don't give CBPs a rating?

Edit: News article submitted. Hopefully Green or someone can push it through quickly.

[Merlijn]

Nice to see this map released, I played the final version and you guys (especially Micky C) did a great job with polishing! The map turns out to be epic and I'm glad I could contribute to it.

I think Mikko was right for giving it a rating. Some older CBP's were hard to rate because they were basically just a collection of sections that had nothing to do with each other. This one clearly has a central theme, feels consistent and can be seen as a 'normal' map I think. Even though there are some obvious shifts in style (but hey, most cities have more then 1 architect. ).

[Loke]

One of the greatest CBP as of lately, really enjoyed it. Debated if I should've played it in Polymer or classic but the performance was fairly decent overall in Polymer with only the large dome area suffering some frames though it was still very playable. The BGM was excellent and went perfectly into the general theme of the map, sometimes it even felt like some sort of UT99 space themed map with the excellent use of textures.

[Mikko]

Micky C, on 27 July 2012 - 05:19 PM, said:

Nice review Mikko, but I thought you don't give CBPs a rating?

This is when 1) the map looks like a CBP (see Merlijn's post) or 2) I'm a participant.

[Mike Norvak]

I'm glad all you liked the map.

I'm wonder if people can recognize my part

I want to thank Micky C and Forge for all the hard work they made fixing bugs and specially Micky C for the end sequence and polishing.

Here's the the track I made specially for the map:

[Gambini]

Pero si seras menso chavo!

Arriba dice Nova Collide y Abajo dice Nova Collapse!

[LeoD]

Norvak, on 28 July 2012 - 04:53 PM, said:

Here's the the track I made specially for the map

I can has flac?

[Helixhorned]

Wow, easily the best CBP ever! Absolutely to my taste both thematically as well as gameplay-wise.

[Gambini]

Played the finished version. This time It was a more pleasant run maybe because all these comments got me excited.

Stuck again in the same damn part. Clock reads 40 min but I´m sure 10 are only in this room (where the reactor is). I remember your hint Micky C. But it doesn´t help at all.

[Gambini]

Just finished it, took me 53 minutes and killed all(?) 279 enemies. Had to be told about how to get out the reactor room, and knowing the map beforehand helped me on the way.

It wasn´t difficult appart from what I consider a disorienting layout. Enemies were a challenge but fun to fight thank to the amount of weapons. Used maybe half of the medkits, and a 3/4 of the weapons. But that´s okay, i guess, because I´m very very good playing this game

In terms of design the map felt, indeed, as one solid map more than a CBP. Besides Norvak´s awesome tower and Quakis´ robots, It would be hard to pick a hightlight in the design, but as a whole it looked very very well. Got a few chuckles reading the jokes. The ending took me by surprise!

An important thing: Almost saw no glitches, and played in software.

[LeoD]

Gambini, on 29 July 2012 - 08:23 AM, said:

Just finished it, took me 53 minutes and killed all(?) 279 enemies.

282 on my scoreboard. Did you blow up the sharks in the fish tank?

[Gambini]

Poor sharks. Why I´d kill them?

Also, i hate to glitch. Blowing them up would break the phyiscal rules.

[LeoD]

Gambini, on 29 July 2012 - 08:39 AM, said:

Poor sharks. Why I´d kill them?

Also, i hate to glitch. Blowing them up would break the phyiscal rules.

They broke the rules first by biting my ass through the glass while I was admiring the bar.

[Paul B]

LeoD, on 29 July 2012 - 08:57 AM, said:

They broke the rules first by biting my ass through the glass while I was admiring the bar.

It's hard to believe this is a CBP. Took me 2 hours to play from start to finish killed 287 enemies but I only found 2 of the 8 secrets. So much detail on this map it makes my head spin. Great ending to a perfect map. This map was worth the wait! NICE WORK EVERYONE!

[Mike Norvak]

Gambini, on 28 July 2012 - 05:47 PM, said:

Pero si seras menso chavo!

Arriba dice Nova Collide y Abajo dice Nova Collapse!

Ah chinga!! neta... Ya lo corregí

[LeoD]

Off-topic nagging: any 20 Sector Challenge news available?

[Mark]

With MickyC's love of TROR, he will probably make a 20 story building.