This mod originated in a map I created for a mapping challenge for Halloween 2016. The challenge was HalloweenVilleThree hosted by RunThinkShootLive, formerly PlanetPhillip. The challenge lasted for twenty days starting on October 10.
You can download HalloweenVilleThree here: Runthinkshootlive.com
Shadow Walker was a very short map, but I think it was an important lesson for me in time management. It might not be the best looking, but it was one of the first maps I felt proud of because it accomplished what it set out to do within the time constraints.
Here's what I had to say about Shadow Walker back in 2016 -
Shadow Walker was my entry. One of my biggest disappointments was how linear my design was – I really like nonlinear structures and smart backtracking, but Shadow Walker is pretty much a straight shot from the beginning to the end.
I also had some trouble with the monster AI. Let’s just say that the NPC I used wasn’t set up for melee combat so its pathfinding was a little ineffective. I’m also afraid that I stacked that sequence too much in favor of the player by making it take too long for the creature to ‘Shadow Walk’, which actually made it so slow that it never caught up to DolmoTheDouglas in his playthrough and he didn’t see it until the very end of the level!
Finally, I realized right after I submitted that I made a critical error with a change I made very late into the challenge. I replaced doors that swung open with the vertical sliding doors in the last section. The problem is that you can walk through that kind of door as it shuts – which breaks the game by allowing players to lock themselves out of rooms they need to go into. I’m afraid I might have ruined the experience for some players.
In spite of these issues, I’m very proud of Shadow Walker. It shows such a dramatic increase in quality from my first three maps. Looking back, certain aspects of my previous maps make me cringe or feel embarrassed for making them that way, but I feel like I don’t need to be ashamed of this map at all.
Creating unique NPC encounters has always been a goal of my maps. Frustration with using existing AI to accomplish the behaviors I wanted eventually led to my custom NPCs project which culminated in Shadow Walker 2.
