Let's talk turkey

Too many games to play right now. No mapping. No blogging. Must be time for another playlist!

Left 4 Dead 2

My experience with the demo was just the tip of the iceberg. L4D2 takes away all of the 'cheapness' of the first game (corner/closet camping) and forces players to experience L4D the way it was meant to be played. The new infected and crescendo events are game changing. You better get your head right, because what works in L4D will get you killed fast in this game. A whole new approach is required to be successful.

Valve didn't just 'fix' the basic gameplay and call it a day. The new levels set a higher standard in level design. Of course the visuals look stunning, but the atmosphere is like nothing you have experienced before: The constant bombings by the military in The Parish. The interactive games in the Dark Carnival. Opening the elevator doors to discover the whole floor is engulfed in an inferno, an inferno that you must traverse to safety in Dead Center's first level. Coming out of the safe house in Hard Rain to discover the rain has turned into a full-on thunderstorm. Then when you're out in the open the real storm hits.

After decapitating an infected with a fire axe you may never want to pick up a pistol again.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Infinity Ward has mastered the single player FPS experience. Great gameplay, interesting storyline, and stunning visuals abound. Too bad it's over in 5 hrs.

Dragon Age

I really liked this game from the word go. A few hours into it and I'm starting to get antsy. My party wipes nearly every battle, and the frustration is starting to catch up and overwhelm my enjoyment of the game. Only through carefully planning my battles am I able to make it through unscathed. By "carefully planning" I mean hitting the pause button every 2 seconds of play to issue commands. It's getting old fast and I worry that the party members and skills I chose are the reason for my joy being held prisoner. I'm not so far into the game that a restart isn't out of the question, but my fear is that I'll not want to play the game again after doing so.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and I hope to have some mapping updates for you after the holiday!

V out.

Tour de force

Work has progressed at a good pace on my Left 4 Dead campaign project. The first level is fully blocked in now and merely awaits a few fixes - some major and others minor - and should be on deck for some real testing soon.

I started my first WIP (work in progress) thread on a public forum this week. I've exposed my work before, but baring my work to the critical eye of a much larger electorate than what I enjoy at this url is another beast altogether. Fortunately, my skill tree has many points invested in the moderator proficiency at the heretofore linked site and am not against annointing someone's captious brow with a healthy does of ban should the situation require it.

Kidding aside, if you are at all interested in the virtuous hobby of level design as it pertains to L4D, I strongly encourage you to register at the site linked above. Knowledgeable chaps, good feedback, and a strong desire by most to help out new recruits to our venerable field a good mapping website makes.

I've come to realize over the past few days my mind has subconsciously boycotted any further play of Borderlands. The continued lack of PC support after the consoles were patched within a week is annoying at best, infuriating at worst. The announcement of DLC for the console owners (in the form of zombies! no less) with nary a word whispered for the PC is equally egregious. There are other games more worthy of my time investment at this time of the year.

In stark comparison Dragon Age was obviously designed for the PC and is a tour de force of solid story and excellent gameplay. If only for the reason it lets me say things like 'tour de force' - and mean it- does Dragon Age deserve my love and commitment. If you even remotely like RPGs, give it a look.

My playlist

I gave myself this week off from mapping and blogging. Between new game releases, pumpkin carving, and my 5th wedding anniversary creative endeavors weren't something I wanted to make time for. Since I don't have anything to update on the campaign, I'll give you some details on the games I'm playing instead.

Left 4 Dead

As anyone who reads this blog knows I'm a huge fan of anything Valve does. Nearly a year after it's release and I still can't get enough L4D. With a good group of team players, even losing becomes fun. The game still has it's share of griefers, but if you haven't made some decent friends while playing this game you're doing it wrong.

The new Crash Course campaign hit very recently and I'm really digging it. Releasing it with only 2 levels vs. the customary 5 will lead the haters to believe it's something quickly slapped together. No doubt they'll sermonize it's to keep us from crying wolf regarding L4D's supposed lack of support in the face of L4D2's imminent emergence. While playable in co-op, the strength of Crash Course rests in versus mode. One of the biggest gripes about versus previously was the length of time it takes to complete: no less than 2 hours in most cases. CC solves that issue making the game more accessible for folks without enough free time.

I'm 25 hours away from hitting 500 hours of total play time in L4D. Over a year, that averages out to around 45 min/per day spent killing infected. I've spent a little over a dime a day for this particular piece of entertainment. Money well spent.

Borderlands

I pre-ordered this a while back completely on a whim. Already being a fan of Fallout, Diablo 2, and FPS games in general made it easy to say 'yes' to Borderlands. I can honestly say I wouldn't have pre-ordered were it not for Steam. Making impulse buying decisions from my office chair is something I'm going to have to resist in the future, but I'm very pleased with this one. After all, $33.75 (bought in a 4-pack with some clan mates) is a great price for a brand-new release.

I won't talk up this game quite as much as L4D or L4D2. There are some glaring problems the developer should address immediately. Allow me to just hit the highlights:

• In co-op, voice chat is always on. No option to toggle off. Playing with heavy breathers is not recommended.
• The menus are extremely clunky and unintuitive. PageUp and PageDown?!? Are you serious? Good luck equipping the weapon you want on the first try.
• Loot drops are free-for-all. Better play this with friends.
• Steam is not integrated. You don't use your friend list, no invites, no 'join game' options. In it's place? Gamespy.
• No trade system in place. You have to just drop your shit on the ground. Again, play this with friends.
• Items you can't pick up (ammo/health when you are already at max) still glow like you could.

Despite these annoyances, the game is fantastic. If you like any combination of the games I mentioned 2 paragraphs above, you owe it to yourself to give this game a look. It's hard to put a point on any one thing that makes the game so good. The loot-hunting addiction I had with Diablo 2 is here in full force: weapons, grenades, shields can come with unique traits and stats. Finding a new unique item is always a thrill. The environments are great to look at, the art design is executed well. The core FPS gameplay is solid too. I guess if I had to point at one thing, it would be the co-op. Single player is good, but playing with friends is great. On par with L4D's co-op campaign experience which is high praise coming from a Valve boy like myself.

Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth

This is an older game I finally got time to try. I keep putting it down out of frustrations brought on by some very poor design choices: cut-scenes are not skippable, no save anywhere function, vague puzzles. I keep coming back to it because of one superior design choice: incredible atmosphere. The game is very scary and that's enough to make me muddle through. I shouldn't have to download a developer's save file to get past a game-breaking bug. I shouldn't...but I did anyway. Too bad this game didn't have more time spent on it in development. I can't recommend it for everyone.

Left 4 Dead 2 demo

Take everything I love about Left 4 Dead and double it. It doesn't do much to change the tried and true formula: kill zombies on your way to the next safe-room (versus mode is not available in the demo). What it does change is how the game is played. Even on normal it doesn't allow survivors to hole up in a corner and take on the hordes. With the new special infected and new panic events, the game forces you out in the open and makes teamwork even more crucial than before.

I won't say much more about it - the demo is very short - but L4D2 is something you have to experience in order to fully appreciate what Valve has done to build on L4D.

Torchlight demo

Take everything you liked about Diablo 2. Mix in beautiful graphics that can be viewed at a reasonable resoltion. Finally, add a dog companion who can take your extra loot back to town and sell it for you. Instant awesome.

I should mention my wife got me Dragon Age: Origins for an anniversary gift. It releases next week. God willing, I'll be able to put it down long enough to get some level design work accomplished and update this blog.

Making the transition

My apologies for not getting a blog entry up Wednesday. Truth be told, there wasn't much to report on the progress of my level. I spent far more of my free time checking out custom maps to see what other authors have done as opposed to building my own. Gotta scout the competition every now and again, right?

Got back on track Thursday. The decision I mentioned Monday to decrease the campaign into 2 maps necessitated the need for some changes to the level design. First, I needed to make the map a bit lengthier. Second, I didn't want to use the design from our 5 level campaign. I had been using it this entire time, but - truth be told - I had deviated enough from the orginal layout so that this is not as big a deal as it could have been (would not have cared much for rebuilding what I had already done).

Here are a few updated images of my progress:

1.) Updated image of the view from spawn area. Notice the small bus yard building is now visible from here as opposed to the open area previously occupied by a house.
2.) Added a light by the service entrance and changed the door model up. Keep needing to remind myself most areas would have boarded up their homes, businesses, etc...
3.) Closer view of the bus yard (rear-view). Changed the fence texture to chain-link. New route goes over the dumpster instead of through the fence as before. This area may be too open. Need to make sure infected players have decent attack areas. Trying to keep this in mind as I build. Balancing the infected's needs with the survivor's is key to making this level fun.
4.) This is just over the dumpster, still behind the bus yard. This route leads to a backyard and transitions to a residential area.
5.) We transition back to a commerical area here. Look at the fence and you can see this area goes uphill. Ignore the humvees tire clipping the sidewalk. Path leads through covered alleyway. Probably need another light or two in this area.
6.) Wanted to get a good screen of the area behind the spawn. I want to link this map with the end of Crash Course and the start of Death Toll. I have some cool ideas on how to link the finale to Death Toll. Can't wait to share them with you in a future update.
7.) This is as far as I've gotten. The area on the other side of the fence is where the covered alley from pic 5 leads to. Yes, you will be climbing that fire escape. :)

Hope this update was worth the wait. Keep in mind: Borderlands AND the Left 4 Dead 2 demo hits next week. Can't promise I'll have anything to report. :3

No mistake.

The child is my son.

A small blog.

No updates or screenshots today. It was a busy weekend that, unfortunately, didn't afford much time to get any mapping done. I have put a lot of thought into how best to handle the line between commercial and residential structures. I've come up with a few ideas on how best to blur the line between these two areas and feel like I'm getting a better grasp on how to present a place as a real place. Also, I've decided to make this a 2 map campaign in the same vein as Valve's recent Crash Course. It will take place between the end of Crash Course and the start of Death Toll.

Should have more for you on Wednesday.

V out.

Building buildings

Unfortunately no in-game shots today. I took Thursday off from mapping, but got quite a bit accomplished today. I replaced all of the copy and paste houses from Valve's map with placeholder buildings of my own. Also got a couple of buildings placed. You may notice the open field is no longer present next to the apartments. I decided there was a great deal visible in this space and came up with a bus yard to keep the engine from rendering too much. This area is obviously a dividing line between commercial and residential zones and I'm trying to make it fit without seeming to be too jarring of a transition.