Return to City 17

[DaMaN]

thanks for the info here no more faked accent now I sound like a redneck
http://files.filefront.com/v2zip/;86026 ... einfo.html

Hehe, yea, you certainly sound like a redneck. Also, your voice kinda goes up and down and up and down in a bit of a pattern, kinda like this: "~~" (not to scale). Regardless, it's a big improvement

haha....red states.


Anyway, I'd love to do some voice acting for you. I have a deep voice and can display EMOTION.

Also, you have the houndeyes and others teleporting in as a result of the portal storms, the same happened for Alien Grunts in the original HL. I'm assuming the portals indicate them coming from Xen, and for all we know Alien Grunts are still being manufactured there. They are really tough and fun to fight.

Again, no faceposer yet, but I might be able to rig it so that it looks like faceposer's working... sorta... i dunno, i'll have to screw around with it a bit more. I might be onto something, i might not. In any case, did you have a character to voice-act in mind?

I was considering portalling in Alien Grunts, but i figured with the Nihilanth gone, most industry probably would have ceased. I'm trying to go for more of a "xenian wildlife" habitat anyways. But don't worry, there will be plenty of fun things to fight later on

Sorry it took me so long, I will have a play though and see what else I can find, for now of the top of my head:

Skybox areas... (all in map 02)

At spawn you can climb back up through hole, up the re-enforcing rods to sky box.
At first house you can go down to beach and swimm left to skybox.
At secrect bay/port on the far side you can go in a small canyon, and If you use a crate you can also get to sky box.

In tunnel at spawn there is a white glitch at the brush joins where the tunnel changes shape (mid way through).

Ah... I missed those... thanks fug! (I wasn't aware you could swim all the way to the skybox... hafta fix those)

I got the cristal put in the train then they left me!

Hahaha, yea, that happened to me too. I'll certainly put a bit of a delay on it, or maybe move the trigger back a bit

The driveable boat is Uber.

Thanks!

========

Bit of a teensy-tiny update here:

I've finally settled on a layout for the next map (I think ) and depending on how piecing it together goes I might have the next one figured out as well. I'm just in the process of copying a large section of map, which is taking hammer a long time to crunch through. Depending on what this next map turns out like, I might leave it at that, split it into two (short) maps, or add another little map. Regardless, I've also decided on a layout for another section, so right now it's just piecing it all together...

Stay tuned!

[Hell-met]

O and don't take any offense about the "frak this"

I was stuck somewhere and I just realized a new spawn was activated

[DaMaN]

O and don't take any offense about the "frak this"

I was stuck somewhere and I just realized a new spawn was activated

Haha, awesome pic!

And yea, I'll often suicide to get to the next spawn

[DaMaN]

Well, I haven't updated this thread for around three months, so I figure I'd better bump it up a bit. Lately I've got past my mapper's block on oc_return_c17_04, and I've been mapping it out over the past few weeks. It's coming along really well and is about 3/4 done. I've also started on oc_return_c17_05, which is about 1/4 done.

I've also decided that I'd like to get oc_return_c17_06 done, and then release 04-06 as another set of three. I'll also get around to updating 01-03 to fix all the bugs before i release the next three (I'm really bad at fixing my bugs...).

Speaking of which, I'm sure I'll get around to re-releasing antlion_attack, and polishing off waking_dead too (I'm planning to have those done in a week - hopefully less).

But yea. As to the content of the next three maps in the series, well, you're just going to have to wait. But expect more story, more fighting, and more omfg.

[fug4life]

omfg!!!

What happened to the beta's what map numbers are they? feels like they are becoming more illusive?

[DaMaN]

omfg!!!

What happened to the beta's what map numbers are they? feels like they are becoming more illusive?

You mean "ellusive"?

The beta's I released oh so long ago, they are currently destined to be oc_return_c17_07 and oc_return_c17_08 respectively. Which means that as soon as I get 04-06 done, 07-09 will fall into place very rapidly. (That's right, I've also done most of 09).


I freely admit that this is all very confusing to have the maps closest to the end released first, and if I had to do it again I probably wouldn't have released them at all. (Although, I'm not sure if I would have gone further with return to city 17 if I hadn't got the terrific feedback I did, so I guess it's all good). But yea, soon it will all become clear.

oc_return_c17_04 and oc_return_c17_05 have been especially challenging, and I'll explain a bit more about that after they're released (no spoilers!). Essentially what it comes down to is story-lining. I've got the basics of the story in my head, but the actual implementation of it is quite a headache. Most of this map series I came up with because of the story, and I really want the story to shine through, but allow enough other elements to make re-playing the story enjoyable as well. It's a very tough balance, and even tougher in multiplayer co-operative games.

I've played (and made) plenty of shoot-t3h-enemies co-op, a bit of puzzle co-op, but aside from HL2/Ep1 single player levels, there's a bit of a lack of story-based maps. (IMO anyways). (Not to say that they are non-existent, there's a few good story co-ops out there). But yea. I think I'm rambling.


My plans also currently include an oc_return_c17_10, which will likely be the final one in the story-arc. (I've also done a bit of work on it, so hopefully the last half of the story-arc won't take as long as the first half did;))

[fug4life]

I originally typed ellusive and quickly scrubbed it out thinking i was wrong, doh!

Sounds like its all coming together, Obsidian got some really diverse maps and I think you are filling the story void very well. I got doors in my mapselect reserved for your future maps

[DaMaN]

I originally typed ellusive and quickly scrubbed it out thinking i was wrong, doh!

Sounds like its all coming together, Obsidian got some really diverse maps and I think you are filling the story void very well. I got doors in my mapselect reserved for your future maps

Yay!

[Lark]

did you ever get face poser working?

[DaMaN]

did you ever get face poser working?

(BTW that means no.)

[Tono-Tako]

CUSTOM VCD'S ON FACEPOSER NOW WORKS.

[DaMaN]

CUSTOM VCD'S ON FACEPOSER NOW WORKS.

NO fraking WAY.

[Hell-met]

OH YES

[Vasili]

OH YES

WHY ARE WE TALKING LIKE THE???

[DaMaN]

OH YES

WHY ARE WE TALKING LIKE THE???

BECAUSE FACEPOSER WORKS

Ok, well, time for another little update. I've been kind of killing myself to map out 04 - 06 before they slip my mind. Currently I've done as follows:

oc_return_c17_04 - 80%
oc_return_c17_05 - 60%

Geometry of both maps is done, entwork of 04 is done, and lighting still needs to be done on both. 06 won't take very long - I've already decided to split 06 up into 06a and 06b (the two sections are too distinct to have in one map, so I split it up. Both maps will be much shorter, but should each be fun on their own too.) I've got both of those planned out as well. 06b has ~40% done already, and I'll be re-using some stuff for 06a. After that it's just re-working 07 to 09, and polishing up 10.

omfgepic is coming!!

I must say, faceposer in these maps would make it so kickass. I'll see what I can get done, but if I don't get it done for the first version don't be too dissapointed .