Some updates from my end. I know the final release for Off Limits has been taking forever. As I mentioned in the past working on a mod with only 2 people is quite a haul. After the beta release I looked at what could be fixed on the levels and their design to make them work better in terms of game play and design. I finally fixed and finished those issues on all 3 of my levels. Here are some changes I made:
- In Russia where people got lost I made all paths go directly into the next spawn point area by removing the side paths. So basically you now walk into a spawn point area automatically (this was already the case in the other levels).
- Redesigned Undersiege 100%. The level had large open ended stretches where people would only travel to the next spawn point without seeing much action. So I reduced the distance of all spawn points causing quicker encounters and thus more action packed gameplay. I also re-designed the levels layout to work better for vehicles to drive without hitting any weird out of sight corners.
- I quick fixed this early after the beta release. For Styx I added a pathway up to the spawn point from underneath the underpass leading up to the train station platforms. As people seemed to get lost there looking for the spawn point above.
I am very proud of the work I did on these levels and I think they will work well for our game play. And I want to thank all those who took the time to help playtest them and to make them better.
As for Off Limits. Maarten is going to be fixing the remaining issues that are important to gameplay next month. As soon as those are ready (hopefully before December) we will release a first final version of the mod to keep you warm during winter!
A quick video I composed of the final Undersiege level showing the key areas within the level
Some final screenshots of Undersiege
The top-down minimap of Undersiege
I also updated the Guide with a final keyboard layout. As some complained they were layed out weird I now used the TF2 layout as a base for ours. Hopefully people will find them more intuitive this time around. These are the default binding and can be changed ingame. Click image to view the guide.
Hopefully this time next month we'll meet on our servers!
Awesome work.
real artwork
An impressively vast piece of level design, great work! :)
Fantastic mapping. You should work with Interwave again as mappers.
Impressive work.
can't wait to see that in game !
Great work as always. Nice music on the vid, too. =P
Thanks, it's from the album Chill Carrier - Orbital Nights (2011) - 05 - Welcome Explorers fyi. Good chill music.
That harbor level looks quite nice, indeed. Did you go to actual harbor locations for references or is that the work of google picture search? There is lots of detail in there, impressive work.
Does the map also come with a fitting soundscape? Aside from the noise nature provides, like birds, wind or waves gushing against the quay wall I could imagine there is also lots of machinery that could be still operating and making noises, even if the location is deserted (at least by its regular operating personnel). Automated gates, fuel pumps or the like...
I didn't. I grew up in and around huge milling factories and also been in quite a few harbors as well. I live in a great area for all of this. My dad has his own construction company so I pretty much bring all the stuff I've seen as I grew up into my levels. I used simple soundscapes, inside/oudeside. I had the error already MAX_CHANNELS so I needed to simplify them. I think they are well enough and won't play a huge role once people are playing them. Focus lies on game play and having a fun time playing the mod. The vents and oil pumps still have their own unique sounds and some electrical cabins as well.
Hey Wesley glad to hear a news from off limits. I really like the ship being traversable now
let's just hope it gets played...
That's up to the 1500 visits we got in 1 day ... ;) It's funny how we get 1500 visits and yet the servers are hard to fill.. Hopefully this new release will have a better release and also hopefully people won't give up after a night of playing it. You can't expect a mod to have full servers from the start, people need to go on one and have some patience for it to fill. We're not TF2 or CS :/
Character models still are the weakest part of this mod.
level design is absolutely beatiful.