READ READ READ READ Yea so, it's already upload. its at my site but theres no link for it at the site. so just click download Please give feedback with anything that looks like it should be fixed! THIS IS NOT A FINAL RELEASE. just to get feedback
I used clickteam installer for this. It's actually quite good. I Dont know if it's worth it to buy full version but its a good program. just get full to show support if you feel like it. Feedback and Have fun! not much yet.
Public Testing
Some of the maps here still need to be edited and its not done yet. it will say non public but dont mind that
Posted by vhetutor on
I dunno if its any use posting this, but here goes:
Before I go on a critics spree, I just want it said that this WAS better than what I've seen on youtube and from the screens, but there is still room for much more improvement.
I played the mod through to the point where you meet Gman, and since you can't kill him+theres no visible means of escape+your health slowly disappears, I guess thats where the mod ends right now. I'm gonna pick on some of the smaller issues first and then go to the larger ones.
Minor stuff
1. There were a few annoying things like the first door opening inwards. I have never understood why the doors can't be made to swing both ways, as I know its possible. If it isn't for some reason, at least turn the door the other way so it opens outwards.
2. The words "Ammo" and "Explosives"(? It was hard to read) being painted directly on the wall. Make it a sign or something like that, it looks a lot better.
3. Oversized objects. I know, its been said before, but a door that size is usually put in if vehicles are passing through, and since its an adminstrative foyer of some kind I can't really picture any coming through ^^
Also, There has never been a card-Reader that large in the known world xD
4. The "Stairs" sign next to the generator room is confusing. A sign like that would normally inform the player that there is a larger staircase of some kind leading to another floor. A better sign would be "Generator room" or "Track Power Supply".
5. The hole in the window after you blow the door is too round to be possibly made in glass (unless a portal ball warped it somewhere, which again would be confusing as you haven't seen it done).
6. "Surface or Caves" is one word too many. It would be more than enough to simply label each of the directions with "Surface Access" and "Caves".
To be continued on next post -> Major issues
Major stuff:
1. Story and Direction. What can I say, there is none. There is no red thread pulling you through a story. You wake up in your room after being talked to by gman, walk out into the foyer with the humongous room, get a keycard for the megadoor, which you have to go through for some unknown reason. Suddenly there are marines who don't shoot at you, you find a small arsenal of weapons and power units that charge your labcoat (?). you enable power to the Railway system to blow a door that is really not linked at all...well you get the picture.
All I'm saying is, that it needs some continuety. I don't even know where in the resonance cascade this is, pre or post. And why would the marines shoot one scientist, then not give a **** about another one strolling by?
And a sense of direction would be good. Why are you doing this and that and for what end? Where are you going and why?
2. More enemies. The few xeno you meet before you start banging heads with the marines are too few. I only met one headcrab before the marines.
3. Filling rooms: Try adding more objects or variations to rooms, right now they're all more or less cubes of varying size and displacement, which is boring in the long run (unless you're a genious at placing props).
4. "Destroy the damn thing before it gets any larger"....destroy what exactly? The only enemies you meet after him are marines.
5. Voice acting. I know this is a tricky question, but try to find a voice that resembles the original (which is near impossible, I know), failing that, try to find a voice actor with a voice that sounds old enough to actually be the security guard (an equally difficult feat, I'm aware).
6. The camera bit: it would look much better if you just turned the corner together with the guard and saw him get smashed by the marine in the train. Loosing control like that is better suited if something you can't see is going on somewhere else.
7. If the mod did end when you meet gman and I didn't screw up, please, just let it end. The player isn't interested in waiting until his health goes out just to load over again and wonder if he DID screw up and should've gone somewhere else. Just fade out and end.
Thats about it :) Enjoy :D
I see you're really proud of your work. But to be honest, it really isn't that different from what we've seen. Of course there's some improvement, but nothing that remarkable. And i know it's not finished, so i'm not going to focus on the details, but i expect the basics to be at least somewhat ready at this time. But still i downloaded the demo, and completed it 2 times, and now i'm going to TRY to help you, instead of flaming, as i see you have motivation and will to go on making this mod. You can have a read at it and take my advice, or you can just ingnore it all and say i flamed you if it’ll make yourself feel better. At first, i'm going to emphasize in larger problems, and then the smaller ones.
Even though you changed some of the rooms, the architectural design and continuity is still nonexistent. It still has oversized and empty rooms, and most important of all, weird and nonsencial room transitions. First there's a cut Gman soundclip from HL2 and you start in a small office-style room for no real explanation. Then you go into a lobby area with doors into ammo and explosive caches. That makes no sense to me. Why would a lobby area have ammo rooms? And that's not the biggest problem. The lobby itself is just a huge-*** hall with some beams in the ceiling, and no real other detailing. Look at lobby halls in real life, or even in Half-Life. They have lots of more stuff than that, ie. computers, benches, announcement speakers, personnel, all that stuff and a lot more. Your lobby is really plain and boring. And too large. And the gigantic door on the left side isn't cool, realistic or well, anything that you should keep there. You should really seek other alternatives for it, such as a smaller double door of some sort. Like the ones in Lambda core area in Half-life, if you see what i mean. A huge door doesn't make ANY sense in there. The other side of the hall is rather plain, with just that one door, but it's somewhat the right size. Like i said, i'm not going to focus on small things such as that, i'm going to look at the whole thing. The area where you get the keycard is also somewhat nonsencial, as it's just on the table, and no one gives it to you or anything like that. I'm sure you can work out a better solution for it.
Now the next area transition. There’s a “Proplab 03 wind tunnel” as the text in the door says, which makes no real sense, since it isn’t a wind tunnel, it’s some sort of a security checkpoint or a lab purification device or what ever you call it, i don’t really know. But the main thing is, it doesn’t make sense for it to be in there, as the next door just leads outside and there’s just no reason there would be a transition like that inbetween a lobby and an outdoor area. Why there are no other doors from the lobby leading anywhere else? It’s just a big room with doors into that outdoor area and the keycard room and the computer lab. There are no routes that are closed to the player, and that can make the game feel really unrealistic and boring. Look at areas in HL and other games as well, all games have them. I hope you consider things like these as you make the mod, since they matter a lot to make the game feel better.
Now for the outdoor area. It’s not that bad, but you might want to make the brick walls a little thicker than 2-4 units. And you might do some varation on the walls. But i’m not gonna speak any more of this area, since it was relatively well done compared to the next one. Down the stairs, there’s this “Processing area 3” as the painted text on the wall says. And it has some tables and health and shield packs. And a room to the left with some weapons. Now, let’s look back a little. you start in an office room, go into a huge lobby, get a keycard and open a huge door, go through a security scanner, go into an outdoor area, and then a room with some weapons and health. What. I thought Kleiner was supposed to be a scientist, with a scientist’s job, not a soldier or a guard. My point is, it makes no sense to get weapons this early, and from an unlocked random room with some tables. My suggestion for this is, that you get rid of the weapons room and make the player collect the weapons on their way, from dead bodies, etc. And maybe from armory rooms, but later in the mod. The idea that you get good weapons, such as the M4 and the shotgun right in the beginning takes all the challenge and suspense and the survival-feeling off. You should only get a crowbar at this point, and then maybe later get better weapons, as there aren’t even any challenging enemies in this part of the game.
The next area. There’s a corridor that goes into a rather decently done tram station(or service access) of sort, altough this area could also have more objects and stuff. Now i’m going to jump into the end, as i don’t have the time or motivation to analyze all rooms in the mod. But i’m still going to say one thing. The texture scaling is sloppy at some points, there are lots of skewed and deformed textures. You might want to look into fixing them. And remember the realistic object placement and scaling.
I’m out for now, and good luck for you in the future. Btw, some things DragonNOR posted were exactly the same as mine, didn’t see those posts before i wrote this. Well, i think you should get the idea, especially if it’s said twice.