Lots of maps, but many of them procedurally generated... Delve into the world of WolfMaker interspersed by real maps.
We now move on to Tim's Wolf Maps, which deserves a more extensive examination, not just because it's the most impressive release of today's post in terms of sheer numbers, but also because we finally get a chance to discuss something that used to be a part of the PC modding scene too: procedurally generated maps. First though, let's note that this mod is divided into six smaller scenarios, each of them a pure mapset but with its own, neat episode thumbnail. To briefly introduce them:
* Brute Force - 7 maps
* DeJaVu - 4 maps
* Ice Man - 8 maps
* Kill Happy - 5 maps
* Murder Morgue - 8 maps
* Nukin' Nazis - 6 maps
For a grand total of 38 maps, all for the Third Encounter. As far as I can tell, DeJaVu is the only one with any actual gimmick behind it (the notion of deja vu is well explored in PC modding, but it's employed here is a somewhat different way), everything else can be summed up as "kill everything". And I was going to write up brief summaries for each of these scenarios, or at least try, but then I noticed something... You see, the author mentions a program called WolfMaker 2.0 in one of his brief readmes. Now I know WolfMaker is the Mac answer to Creator - it generates maps based on underlying algorithms and a few adjustable parameters - but I was never able to use it correctly. HOWEVER, a query in various mod docs turned up one mod also made with WolfMaker: Etude 2 by Clubey. Although Clubey says he modified the generated maps afterwards, a comparison clearly shows many similarities between Etude 2 and some of Tim's sets.
What can I deduce about WolfMaker on this basis? First of all, the program fills out the entire map with brown brick tiles. It then begins filling it out with rooms, the number of which you provide before the map is generated, starting in the upper right corner where the player almost always starts. There seem to be three kinds of room shapes: rectangular, hallway with a single turn, or a three-way hall (think of a cross without one arm), but they try to make up the simplicity of shapes with variety of wall textures (a large map will be very colorful indeed). Enemies are positioned more or less randomly around these areas and for some reason First Encounter enemies appear to be far more common than officers or mutants. Treasure and resources are likewise strewn around rather haphazardly. There's more rhyme and reason to decorative object placement, achieved by the simple idea of putting items in 1-2 corners of a given room. It can be more or less anything - flag, armor, well, you name it. Ceiling lights and chandeliers are also placed in logical, aesthetically pleasing locations. The same can't be said for wall decorations, often asymmetrical, out of place or even placed as to be completely invisible. Some areas have steel walls as decoration, which I guess makes a small degree of sense, but visually it's a total mismatch. I guess I can also mention secret rooms and pushwalls, which are actually set properly and work fine. But despite some bright points, a WolfMaker map is always going to be just a bunch of simple rooms with random guards, stitched together into something vaguely playable, with no true creative thought behind it. Truth is both WolfMaker and Creator suck, but in different ways, and unless you can work miracles, using generated maps as a base for your stuff just isn't that great of an idea.
But don't get me wrong, not everything in here is WolfMaker spam and you'll find some original, creative designs in the short romps of Ice Man, the gimmicky DeJaVu and the overarching symmetry of Murder Morgue maps. This is well worth a try, both for these sets and to gain some insight into the workings of the map generator.
===CREDITS===
T-t-tim
