Im going to refrain from reading the posts after mine untill I post my email.
I recorded demos of my playing your maps which you can access using *THIS LINK <http://dl.dropbox.com/u/29552676/yama_mota_demo_files.rar>*. The name follows the next order. campaignname_myname_#map_#try My thoughts on the first map is that it is bloody impressive. Texturing, models, ambience, aesthetics, lighting. Everything is perfect from a mapping point of view. The location is different and unique. The first two maps are very long, which initially is fine. But on the long run it becomes a bit stressfull. I think I have a problem with some of my maps that are too long, but I am fixing it after expiriencing long maps from this side of view. Now, it could be that when people play it more, it becomes shorter. Ie, maybe you think the length is okay, because you know how to speed past it. The end to the first level is weird. It took a minute for me to realise that was a safehous and I should get in. You need to make the van bigger beacuse it felt too crowded. When I transition I was very puzzled because the truck is gone, so what happened? Where is the truck? How much time has passed? If you plan to make a map inbetween explaining that stuff okay. But if not, then put the truck in the room at the begginig, at least to let us know we just came out of there or something. The transition between the 2nd and 3rd level was weird. I was confused at first and then realized the generators where powered. You need to tell me this before hand. When the tramway stops, tell me I need to power them. So I need I need to go back eventually. Maps are too dark to my liking. Did you compile in -final? There seems to be too many shadows and its very claustrophobic and stressing. Maybe that is the way you want the players to feel while they play and if it is great. But otherwise, it makes me unease. I dont mind some areas that are very dark, but for me a 70% dark map is bad in my opinion. Also, most of the time I was not sure of what I needed to do. Where was i going? How did I get there? Most of the time I didnt get lost, I just follow your "path", so great design there, but I didn't know what my objective was other than survive. So I recomend some voice acting. Add some english text please. I know its japan (I think), but I didnt know where I was. Was that a shed? A mantainence room? Add more english text overall. Specially in the tramway and operation rooms. I think this is it for now. If you have any questions let me know. I will read other posts and write if I agree or disagree so you can obtain more data. I want to finish by sying this is some *BLOODY GOOD WORK*! Hats off! Great mapping there and I know you must have dedicated so much time here, it definetly pays off! I think I am going to retake my campaing in a couple of hours, try to get it out for you guys as soon as possible. Its just thatI am back to uni this monday and I probably wont have as much time as on vacations... I bet everyones wish is to be hired by Valve so we can work full time on our maps. Imagine what can get done with 8 hours 5 days a week working on hammer! On Sat, Jan 7, 2012 at 12:53 PM, Alexis H <[email protected]> wrote: > Allright. > > First off, THIS SUCKS. Why are the Survivors in Japan in the first place? > OMG U SUX > > > > Just kidding ye. > I am really impressed. The level of detail is astonishing and the custom > textures and models make it really wonderful to see. To be honest, I don't > easily say this, but I wouldn't find many cons. If I have to come up with > some, I'll say this: > > - The loading screen poster would be better if it spanned the whole screen > - The starting area's walls look a bit too clean IMO. It would help if you > added a couple of decals on those. > - The alarm car's windows near the area where the plane crashes into the > building are not aligned with the car itself properly. Check it out in > Hammer, you'll see what I mean > - Yes, map1 and 2 seem to be too long. > > For the rest, this is really impressive. It's amazing and you really get > the feeling that you're in Japan. Well done. I'll be following this from up > close. If you want us to test more, let us know. You're right: it helps a > lot when other people test your map a few times. I ran Haunted Forest so > much myself that I totally missed some really blatant bugs and it also > helped me tweak the lighting correctly when getting feedback from other > people. > > How did you get those badass models anyway? You made them all yourselves? > > -Alexis > > On Sat, Jan 7, 2012 at 7:41 PM, Mark Edwards > <[email protected]>wrote: > > > Thanks for the feedback Kev. A lot of people have said map 2 is too long > > and it will be split up into two (just before the little shopping > district > > area). I thought map 1 was pretty short though, at least if you run > > straight from A to B without exploring/getting lost, but I'll probably > > delete the elevator event and just have the ladder going up which should > > cut it down slightly. The ambulance you can actually see further back > from > > the house in map 2, the idea is that it got stuck at a roadblock so they > > have to go on on foot. I had no other way of both giving a reason for > them > > to abandon it, and also block off the way it had already come from. I'm > > going to try and put a moving camera in that pans from the ambulance and > > over to the house to clear that up. > > > > The 'too many vertex format changes' error is apparently to do with brush > > faces, from what I've read. As long as that error is scrolling through > the > > console, random brush faces flicker on and off to stay under the limit, > but > > I converted enough stuff to props that it's not really noticeable at > all. I > > don't know how I could even get rid of any more brush faces but I'll do > > some more testing to see if that's causing the particle errors. > > > > As for the obstacles, those came up in testing too but I couldn't think > of > > a more realistic way of doing it in some places. I didn't want to put > > barricade fences everywhere and zombies need to be able to get over > easily, > > but I'll try to at least make it more obvious which routes are blocked > off. > > I actually played map 3 for the first ever time with other people a few > > days ago, and they got lost at the start too. You're meant to restart the > > generators to keep on going up after they cut out, hopefully if I use > some > > instructor hints across the two maps it'll be easier to understand. > > > > Thanks for playing and giving some feedback anyway, I've tested so much > by > > myself with bots that I sometimes miss the more obvious things. I was > going > > to just leave it at this, I'm hoping to get the last 2 maps finished in a > > couple of months. > > > > > > > > On 07/01/2012 15:42, Kev Edwards wrote: > > > >> hi Mark > >> > >> Incredibly impressive with a ton of new content. You've totally nailed > >> the setting. > >> > >> Anyway, you're after feedback, so here goes... > >> > >> I thought the first two levels are far too long. It took me the best > part > >> of half an hour to get through each of them...on Easy. That's longer to > >> play through 2 maps that it originally took me to play through any of > the > >> full Valve campaigns. Versus mode may well be a problem due to the > length > >> of these maps. Map 3 is a much more playable length. I'm not sure what > your > >> plans are for the remaining maps, but I think you could quite easily > divide > >> maps 1 and 2 each into two maps, rejig the current map3 into map5, add > an > >> appropriately lavish finale, and it's done. > >> > >> In map1 when the plane flies overhead I was getting 'too many vertex > >> format changes in frame; whole whole not rendered' spammed. Could do > with > >> visually simplifying that area a bit. You mentioned particle effects > >> occasionally not being displayed - it may well just be that you're just > >> trying to do too much in that area and the engine is running out of > >> available resources. You could quickly test this by temporarily > removing a > >> ton of detailing in that area and retrying the vpk on a server to see if > >> that fixes the particle issue. > >> > >> The AI survivors had a hell of a job getting into the 'saferoom' at the > >> end of map1. It took a few minutes of me messing around opening and > closing > >> the doors. To fix this open the doors into the vehicle then delete any > bits > >> of the navmesh under the doors to ensure they'll navigate around the > doors > >> when opened. Perhaps set the doors as initially open too. > >> > >> I found the transition from map1 to map2 very jarring - from a vehicle > in > >> Tokyo suddenly teleported to a room somewhere in remote Japan - but > maybe > >> that's just me. I guess I've just come to expect continuity and > progression > >> from level to level when playing a Valve game. > >> > >> There are a lot of dead ends that look as though the players can easily > >> get over them, only to find the way is clipped off. Many of these > clipped > >> dead ends use props that players will assume they can jump over, based > upon > >> a few years of endlessly playing the Valve campaigns and other community > >> campaigns. For instance, in map2 there is a chainsaw lodged into a > fallen > >> tree; this fallen tree prop is one I've jumped over a million times, > only > >> to find the area beyond is clipped off. > >> > >> At the end of map2 are a bunch of 'saferoom this way' arrows and such. I > >> think you should remove these. It's pretty obvious anyway, and it's just > >> confusing at the start of map3 when the survivors have to go back up > into > >> the cable car. I actually spent a few minutes wandering around that area > >> trying to follow arrows, thinking I'd missed an opening somewhere. > >> > >> In map3 after getting off the cable car there's a ladder that can't be > >> climbed up. > >> > >> Hope some of that helped. Amazing job so far on the campaign. :) > >> > >> -----Original Message----- From: Mark Edwards > >> Sent: Saturday, January 07, 2012 3:31 AM > >> To: [email protected].**com < > [email protected]> > >> Subject: [L4Dmapper] Yama beta > >> > >> I just released a beta of my L4D2 campaign which includes the first 3 > >> and a half maps. I had a lot of help from this mailing list to get the > >> map to this stage so I wanted to post it here, and get some feedback > >> from other mappers too instead of the general community. > >> > >> Link to download: http://www.scorchingcraniums.**com/yama/< > http://www.scorchingcraniums.com/yama/> > >> > >> Screens: http://www.scorchingcraniums.**com/portfolio/yama.html< > http://www.scorchingcraniums.com/portfolio/yama.html> > >> > >> > >> Also I have a problem I never got to fix before I released - particles > >> (all default L4D2 ones) only load half the time, which is especially > >> annoying with the plane crash sequence. They work every time in a local > >> server but online they keep breaking. The particle rain also cuts out at > >> some points which might be related. Are there certain flags or something > >> you need to use? > >> > >> ______________________________**_________________ > >> L4Dmapper mailing list > >> [email protected].**com <[email protected]> > >> https://list.valvesoftware.**com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/**l4dmapper< > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/l4dmapper> > >> > >> ______________________________**_________________ > >> L4Dmapper mailing list > >> [email protected].**com <[email protected]> > >> https://list.valvesoftware.**com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/**l4dmapper< > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/l4dmapper> > >> > >> > > > > ______________________________**_________________ > > L4Dmapper mailing list > > [email protected].**com <[email protected]> > > https://list.valvesoftware.**com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/**l4dmapper< > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/l4dmapper> > > > _______________________________________________ > L4Dmapper mailing list > [email protected] > https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/l4dmapper > -- Eugenio "Motanum" Roman https://sites.google.com/site/motanumproyect/ [email protected] http://twitter.com/#!/MotanumR http://steamcommunity.com/id/Motanum http://www.youtube.com/user/motanium _______________________________________________ L4Dmapper mailing list [email protected] https://list.valvesoftware.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/l4dmapper
