Although the team behind The Nameless Mod has already detailed some of the ups and downs of their 7 years of development in their post-mortem, (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) they still have a lot more to share! After all, any developer attached to a project for over 7 years will have more than a few stories to share. As a result, TNM developers Jonas, Lawrence and Nick have put together a series of developer commentary videos.
The first covers the 'downtown' hub area.
The second video shows developer commentary on the Air Traffic Control missions.
This third video showcases the booby-trapped maze that is the Old Server Complex.
A word of warning: these videos will contain spoilers.
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I would like to stress that the level designer of this mission, ZeroPresence, is not to blame for most of the more grave design mistakes. The poorly designed traps (such as the fire room) are the result of a team-wide brain storm and my own specifications, so if anything: blame me : )
I really enjoy this mission, excepting the puzzle part, ha!
i found the flying robots part of that map a pain. i noticed the comment about if the player had the emp pistol. then it would have been easier. sounds to me like you assumed all players would use / carry the pistol. however as is the nature of Deus Ex. each player is likely to build their character to their own liking. which means specialising in different weapon use and other skills.
this factor should have been considered when designing the maps and puzzles. i myself had ditched the emp pistol because i decided to go rifles, explosives and computers. not only this quest line but some others did just expect problems to be solved one way and not take into account what players may choose for skills.
I don't think so actually. In this mission you have a couple of options. For hover bots you can use either the EMP pistol ( which most clever players keep around anyways since it's a cheap 1 slot bot killer ) or grenades or assault rifle nades or shotgun special ammo or radar cloak aug or spy drone aug ( to EMP them ) or electric shield aug ( to run past them without much damage ) or pick up the GEP gun at the beginning. In fact there's a lot. And as far as I remember some hover bots don't automatically activate as long as you don't get too near to them or shot them. The turret room in fact had been more of a problem if you did not have the right equipment. The map is more challenging if you don't have the right setup but I don't think it's hard.
And of course that's why we changed it. So uh... yes.
i was also thinking about the lift in the world corp building. where if you didn't have an electronic pick or lock pick( can't remeber which one needed off the top of my head). there was no other way to gain access to the lower computer servers for the goal. unless i missed a key or computer terminal that could also activated it.
There are three ways ( I think 3 ) to get to the secret base. One is the elevator, another is through a hatch ( I won't say where, it's in the vicinity of the SD mission ) and the last one is through the sewers. So you can get into the basement without using any skills or tools ( but a bit of exploring ).
This is my favourite mission in the entire game. ShadowCode may be psychotic but he's so goddamn funny and awesome (in my opinion). I also loved System Shock's SHODAN, she's psychotic in her own right but I think in a different way, rather than the violence ShadowCode enjoys.
ShadowCode and SHODAN... would probably make a good couple if they weren't probably competing on whose either more insane or who can kill them most people or drive the most people insane.
I also thought some of those traps were creepy, the explosion in that first corridor was a pain, the elevators falling on you and the original fire trap (more of a pain than anything). The sound effects and voice acting for ShadowCode really do make a difference though, and definitely make the entire mission far more creepy IMO.
Removed so many of the good/difficult traps though :( Probably a good thing though, don't need people pulling their hair out over some turrets lol.
Overall bloody good mission, and the way ShadowCode actually alters your vision? That was a wicked edition too, dunno how you done it but I love it anyway.
good lord... I really needed to be there for this commentary. I didn't know I needed to defend this map/scenario's honor... O_o
Looking back at all of my PerfectDark MISSION'S, now knowing that the one's I wanted to Show, I can't and are the Future, and are still CLASSIFIED.