Comments - dys-termi

or eating all the other smaller garage doors
"You are so small, it's funny to me!"

what ted was getting at in his post, is that our iterative prototyping technique wasnt just about getting new features in, tested, and tweaked on the fly (as rapid prototyping dictates) but it was also done at a speedy rate, in a sense... rapid rapid prototyping ;)

Notice how the other two features, interaction between players in the physical world (or meatspace as it is known) and cyberspace and cyberspace itself, have been left out. Both features are heavily dependent on the map and can't realistically be implemented without a large amount of effort and content creation – and thus time. The rapid prototyping system has its limitations and it is important to recognise them.

This limitation is a prime reason that this article is flawed. Any game at all that is complex as far as player interaction with the world, will hit this world, Dystopias' Cyberspace development as well as its initial map (vaccine) development was done side-by-side with the rest of the initial rapid prototyping, and was basically used as a testbed for the new features as they were implemented. It was built and changed as the code changed. Cyberspace on its own was prototyped so many times we lost count, to get it feeling 'right' close and constant collaboration was required between Coder and Level dev to ensure a 'fit' between code and world.

Gameplay, Implant and weapons code also needs close attention from the mapper, take our leg boosters as an example for implants, if we dont know the maximum jump height, how do we know how high walls must be ? If we dont know if we are keeping ledge grabbing or not, how do we know that we dont need ladders. these 2 features alone change the way a game plays, we can funnel classes using just 2 gameplay dynamics, heavies cant ledge grab, so put a ledge in, and they are forced to go another way, put a higher ledge again in, and only lights with leg boosters can get there. these situations are endless.

Same situation occurs with weapons, accuracy, spread over distance, and many other factors all dictate hall distances, ceiling heights, the amount of cover that needs to be provided.

The whole world in which players play is dictated by the toys they get to play with inside that world, and the toys they require are also dictated by the world itself, so you have a back and forth communication that is required during the whole playing out of development.

"dub : (summary)they tested it, so what ?"
there we go, a man with a clue.

to kooper re: (all arguements ever in this thread)

omgwtfbbq its a huge consipracy, quick stop the presses, omg guyz we beenz busted CHEESE IT

how the **** is giving a team of developers an award biased because they let you have a chance to play it ?

lets be honest here, testing is essentially playing the game.

'the mod will be quite good but its forceing other mods out of the recognition they diserve which is casting a shadow over the whole community. '
-kooper

oh noes, we are casting shadows, my god dude, you could have been a doomsayer in medieval times, if mods are getting left in the shadows, they should step up, not cower away, see it as a challenge not cry about it.

the textures arent _that_ special in cyberspace when making them i made a conscious decision not to go to overboard with bells and whistles in cyberspace, as the bloom is what really makes it shine (pun)

teddy is responsible for that wonderful view-switching in cyberspace, as well as the bloom effect, which is a little more advanced than any of the other mods i have seen that use it.