I like your avatar, Thunderzak. I'm looking forward to the last episodes (even though I think S3 has been a tad disappointing so far)!
I haven't added the Warhounds in mission 6 yet, but I very much intend to, so remind me to do this later if I forget it. I tried adding them to mission 6, but they absolutely did not work.
I created a thread in the terrain forum for mission 7, where I reached out for help regarding the terrain design. Check it out here.
I am currently hard at work with mission 6. It features a brand new stealth system that features guards with frontal vision and an alert mode (if you're caught). You will also - for the first time in any of my campaigns - be fighting bosses. Yes, plural!
Yeah, it was always supposed to be focused on stealth, but I quickly figured out how to do it in a more realistic way, which changed a lot (without changing the basics).
Okay, why is that? :D I hope I create boss fights that are as intriguing as possible, but as with so much else I create, I have to figure out how to do it while I do it, so I can't promise the world! Boss fights don't typically lend themselves to RTS games, but I think I found some ways to do it (essentially, you'll have to embrace your limitations and turn them into your advantages).
When I usually think boss fights, I like to recall the Archangel (Big Viking) boss fight in the HotS campaign, except it'd be more variated, with timing set right (It was a mess, that one) and without those red markers, except in specific circumstances.
I've finally gotten around to playing some of your campaign, and since I'm not sure where to put my feedback (I played Crimson Moon but there's no thread for that) I'll put it here for now. My observations for missions 1+2:
1. If you're going to make the player play zoomed in, you need to make sure your terrain does two things.
A), It should guide the player along a bit more. A large portion of both map 1 and 2 is spent walking around large corridors/rooms, figuring out the next direction - this severely removes the flow from the map. Additionally, there are several dead ends that lead to nothing but a few additional enemies, which is generally a bad thing as it really encourages a save/load method of playing through the map just to avoid needless confrontations.
B), it needs to look a bit better. The floor textures were giving me headaches. Go into your map, click window>console and type in "texuvset 24 40". You can play around with those numbers a bit until the textures look right.
2. I liked the way the story was presented overall, but there were a few akward moments such as the ending of map 1 (why the hell did Tyrone make me take the long boring land route to the tunnels if he can just send a dropship with reinforcements) and the ending of map 2 (I get that Henderson may be hanging out with that Crimson Moon dude, but why did he choose to do so without sending a message back to his base, while diverting from his patrol and original mission and while making everyone looking for him think he was dead?).
3. There's a couple of doodads that can be walked through, such as the chain link fence near the area where the first set of infested Terrans spawn in map 1.
4. Map two might be slightly off in terms of difficulty. Most of the map was good, but that very first wave of Zerglings caught me off-guard the first time I tried the map and managed to take out a Marine, which pretty much meant that I was fucked and couldn't get any further (cause I wouldn't get reinforcements for a long time and Ryan+1 Marine wasn't gonna beat most Zerg waves in between) and had to restart. Perhaps the first few waves should be a little bit more obvious/forgiving to make sure the player doesn't end up in a spiral where he needs more units to kill Zerg waves but has to kill Zerg waves to reach reinforcements. You also might want to experience with an (obvious) Baneling or two to add a little more dynamic to the map rather than making it Stutterstep Inc.
Overall it was relatively decent. I like your camera motions and such and I think it'll get better. I'd give it a 6/10 so far and it's slightly above most other custom SC2 campaigns I've seen. It has a lot of potential if it's streamlined a bit more, though. I'll post more feedback on Crimson Moon (and eventually Amber Sun if I'm still interested by that point) as I go along.
I've finally gotten around to playing some of your campaign, and since I'm not sure where to put my feedback (I played Crimson Moon but there's no thread for that) I'll put it here for now. My observations for missions 1+2:
1. If you're going to make the player play zoomed in, you need to make sure your terrain does two things.
A), It should guide the player along a bit more. A large portion of both map 1 and 2 is spent walking around large corridors/rooms, figuring out the next direction - this severely removes the flow from the map. Additionally, there are several dead ends that lead to nothing but a few additional enemies, which is generally a bad thing as it really encourages a save/load method of playing through the map just to avoid needless confrontations.
B), it needs to look a bit better. The floor textures were giving me headaches. Go into your map, click window>console and type in "texuvset 24 40". You can play around with those numbers a bit until the textures look right.
A) I think the minimap ping is guide enough. These miners have it rough, man, and I need to convey that even if it means a swift and abrupt death.
B) No, it doesn't. I am happier with the look of the first mission than the second, but I think they both look splendid, and I'm not sure if I could make them look that much better anyway.
2. I liked the way the story was presented overall, but there were a few akward moments such as the ending of map 1 (why the hell did Tyrone make me take the long boring land route to the tunnels if he can just send a dropship with reinforcements) and the ending of map 2 (I get that Henderson may be hanging out with that Crimson Moon dude, but why did he choose to do so without sending a message back to his base, while diverting from his patrol and original mission and while making everyone looking for him think he was dead?).
You had to clear the way for the dropship.
They state in the intro of map 1 that they lost contact with Henderson, presumably because of trouble with the Zerg. In general, though, Henderson often deviates from the actions of his comrades.
3. There's a couple of doodads that can be walked through, such as the chain link fence near the area where the first set of infested Terrans spawn in map 1.
4. Map two might be slightly off in terms of difficulty. Most of the map was good, but that very first wave of Zerglings caught me off-guard the first time I tried the map and managed to take out a Marine, which pretty much meant that I was fucked and couldn't get any further (cause I wouldn't get reinforcements for a long time and Ryan+1 Marine wasn't gonna beat most Zerg waves in between) and had to restart. Perhaps the first few waves should be a little bit more obvious/forgiving to make sure the player doesn't end up in a spiral where he needs more units to kill Zerg waves but has to kill Zerg waves to reach reinforcements. You also might want to experience with an (obvious) Baneling or two to add a little more dynamic to the map rather than making it Stutterstep Inc.
There's a group of lost soldiers in the beginning of the map. Finding them greatly helps.
As for the gameplay itself: it's not particularly interesting, I know. It was what it was back then. I do think the atmosphere makes up for it, though.
Overall it was relatively decent. I like your camera motions and such and I think it'll get better. I'd give it a 6/10 so far and it's slightly above most other custom SC2 campaigns I've seen. It has a lot of potential if it's streamlined a bit more, though. I'll post more feedback on Crimson Moon (and eventually Amber Sun if I'm still interested by that point) as I go along.
Thank you for playing. I hope you play it all, though you might have trouble with mission 8. :D
B) No, it doesn't. I am happier with the look of the first mission than the second, but I think they both look splendid, and I'm not sure if I could make them look that much better anyway.
I'm not unhappy with the way you terrained everything overall, I'm unhappy that I feel like I'm playing Minecraft when I'm actually playing StarCraft 2. Simply upping the resolution of the floor textures would instantly solve this problem.
They state in the intro of map 1 that they lost contact with Henderson, presumably because of trouble with the Zerg. In general, though, Henderson often deviates from the actions of his comrades.
While that may be true, it doesn't really show in the first two maps, leaving me wondering what the hell is up.
There's a group of lost soldiers in the beginning of the map. Finding them greatly helps.
I found the lost soldiers, but I'm talking about way before that - literally the first group of Zerglings you encounter. My issue is that that battle kind of determines whether you win or lose the map, which isn't what a first battle should be. 3 Burrowed Zerglings that you could take out by a-moving would be hard enough, I reckon.
I like your avatar, Thunderzak. I'm looking forward to the last episodes (even though I think S3 has been a tad disappointing so far)!
Thank you buddy ;). I'm re-watching the last episode of season 2 which is one of the best in my opinion (with the one just before featuring the battle of nera).
I haven't added the Warhounds in mission 6 yet, but I very much intend to, so remind me to do this later if I forget it. I tried adding them to mission 6, but they absolutely did not work.
Maybe you should include it in another mission ? Where the gameplay suits the best. One awesome thing would be if we could use some of 'em :)
They really fit in mission 5. I need to buff the APC with ground support anyway, so I suppose I can fit them in there. I guess I can let the player use them in M7.
I don't have that problem with the textures. Maybe it is on your end?
It is not on my end, and I'm pretty confident you have the same problem. It's a natural result of making the player play with a zoomed-in camera, regardless of what his graphical settings are at. It doesn't take Einstein to notice the difference between this and this.
It's three zerglings. If you can't handle that even with medics, then I don't know.
It's four, and they kill a Marine if you don't micro. At which point you're pretty much fucked for the upcoming couple of waves. I'm not saying they're impossible to beat, I'm saying the first wave shouldn't be a game-changing one.
Stop trying to downplay or avoid my points. If you don't want to do anything about my issues because the maps are old, you don't care, or what-have-you, all the power to you - it's your campaign. Just don't make it look like I'm saying stupid stuff. I'm not.
I'm sorry if I made you feel stupid. Part of that may have been that it has been a stressful day. I have had a lot to think about today and I maay have taken it out on you. I usually respond well to criticism, but today it was filtered through other emotions. Though I try to listen to what people say about my work, I guess at the wrong time I just want to scream, "It's just a hobby, leave me alone".
I misunderstood your terrain comment, thinking you were talking about the general perspective when you were being specific. I looked at that number thingy, and took a swing at it (no, not literally), though it turned out quite odd for me, with the perspective suddenly going all weird. I agree there is a difference between the pictures, though. I had noticed it way before, but I figured it was an inevitable consequence of using the zoomed camera. The mission I'm doing also utilizes that camera, though I can't say it looks as bad (I guess both the editor and I have come a long way).
The choice to not fix old maps is partly economical, partly artistic. Economical in the sense that what time I spend on map-making, I spend on Amber Sun, and artistic in the sense that I don't want to fix old things as they're, well... done (that obviously excludes bugs and stuff like what you mentioned). Works of art, and yes, this is what I aspire to (if not necessarily reach), are products of time and place, and I like to preserve the states of the old maps as a remainder of where I begun. That doesn't mean fences shouldn't have pathing blockers (which I added), or that general bugs shouldn't be fixed, but at a certain point, you just have to stop and say, "enough".
Okay, it's four zerglings, and I'm sorry your marine died, but I'm not gonna nerf that fight. Period. I checked it myself (and this is probably the 700th test run of that map), and Ryan can solo them. If you want to use groups, just a-move to the left and whatever damage received will be healed by the medics.
I'm meeting you halfway here! It's two seconds into the map, and if I react with ridicule, it is because your comment feels sort of odd. There are so many suggestions about balance here and there, and when I get told to nerf a zergling fight and add some banelings I don't know what to say. Again, wait 'till you play mission 8 and die when there's 5 minutes left, or you hunt overlords against an OP Goliath in Amber Sun's first mission. You'll be forgetting about those zerglings in a heartbeat.
That's quite alright. The thing is: I personally don't care what you do or don't change. It's your work - if you want to replace every level in your campaign with a rickroll video, be my guest. I don't mind if I come up with a point and the author makes a good counterpoint either. The only thing that annoys me is when I take the time to type out my feedback to help an editor out, and he replies to my points with messages along the line of "you're wrong it's bullshit". That's just spitting in my face when I'm trying to help you - the least you can do is aknowledge that. If you decide not to do anything with my comments, that's past me. You'll need to do a lot worse than that regardless to warrant a ban though. Plus, this is a private matter, you can ignore my mod status in regards to it.
In regards to the actual points: I had some issues with texuvset in your maps as well. It's kind of akward - for pretty much any map a setting of 24 24 is normal, and setting it to, say, 36 36 or 42 42 gives an improved look when zoomed in. In all of your maps however, equal numbers seem to actually stretch out the textures completely, meaning you have to compensate by doing something along the lines of 30 42. I have no idea what's causing this. If not for that issue, it'd be an easy fix.
In regards to my point about map two - your point about Ryan seems valid; I think I simply walked in at an unlucky angle, then. To clarify my comment: I'm not saying the map is too hard or too easy or what-have-you, my point was that the very first wave was very game-changing. The Banelings comment is aside from that; that was aimed at the slightly stale gameplay throughout that could be more interesting if it forced the player to do some occasional kiting/focus firing over a-moving in and pressing S as soon as any Zerg unburrow.
My only issue is that a weird bug popped up in map 3: my entire UI seems to be hidden? I can still see buttons (like 'Build SCV' or such), but the grids and such surrounding them are gone, making it really annoying to play the game. Is this something common?
Now that I can do. Nice suggestion.
Pay attention, I think they can only attack ground units.
I like your avatar, Thunderzak. I'm looking forward to the last episodes (even though I think S3 has been a tad disappointing so far)!
I haven't added the Warhounds in mission 6 yet, but I very much intend to, so remind me to do this later if I forget it. I tried adding them to mission 6, but they absolutely did not work.
I created a thread in the terrain forum for mission 7, where I reached out for help regarding the terrain design. Check it out here.
I am currently hard at work with mission 6. It features a brand new stealth system that features guards with frontal vision and an alert mode (if you're caught). You will also - for the first time in any of my campaigns - be fighting bosses. Yes, plural!
@EivindL: Go
So it's a Commandos style mission? Interesting...
Also, when I review your bosses, I'll be incredibly frank and honest, may you like the opinion or not. Just warning.
Yeah, it was always supposed to be focused on stealth, but I quickly figured out how to do it in a more realistic way, which changed a lot (without changing the basics).
Okay, why is that? :D I hope I create boss fights that are as intriguing as possible, but as with so much else I create, I have to figure out how to do it while I do it, so I can't promise the world! Boss fights don't typically lend themselves to RTS games, but I think I found some ways to do it (essentially, you'll have to embrace your limitations and turn them into your advantages).
@EivindL: Go
When I usually think boss fights, I like to recall the Archangel (Big Viking) boss fight in the HotS campaign, except it'd be more variated, with timing set right (It was a mess, that one) and without those red markers, except in specific circumstances.
It's going to be... a bit different than that. I found the Archangel to be fairly easy, even on Brutal. I also like to add some twists to mine.
For the first one, I can give only one hint: myopia. For the second... oh, I've said so much.
I've finally gotten around to playing some of your campaign, and since I'm not sure where to put my feedback (I played Crimson Moon but there's no thread for that) I'll put it here for now. My observations for missions 1+2:
1. If you're going to make the player play zoomed in, you need to make sure your terrain does two things.
A), It should guide the player along a bit more. A large portion of both map 1 and 2 is spent walking around large corridors/rooms, figuring out the next direction - this severely removes the flow from the map. Additionally, there are several dead ends that lead to nothing but a few additional enemies, which is generally a bad thing as it really encourages a save/load method of playing through the map just to avoid needless confrontations.
B), it needs to look a bit better. The floor textures were giving me headaches. Go into your map, click window>console and type in "texuvset 24 40". You can play around with those numbers a bit until the textures look right.
2. I liked the way the story was presented overall, but there were a few akward moments such as the ending of map 1 (why the hell did Tyrone make me take the long boring land route to the tunnels if he can just send a dropship with reinforcements) and the ending of map 2 (I get that Henderson may be hanging out with that Crimson Moon dude, but why did he choose to do so without sending a message back to his base, while diverting from his patrol and original mission and while making everyone looking for him think he was dead?).
3. There's a couple of doodads that can be walked through, such as the chain link fence near the area where the first set of infested Terrans spawn in map 1.
4. Map two might be slightly off in terms of difficulty. Most of the map was good, but that very first wave of Zerglings caught me off-guard the first time I tried the map and managed to take out a Marine, which pretty much meant that I was fucked and couldn't get any further (cause I wouldn't get reinforcements for a long time and Ryan+1 Marine wasn't gonna beat most Zerg waves in between) and had to restart. Perhaps the first few waves should be a little bit more obvious/forgiving to make sure the player doesn't end up in a spiral where he needs more units to kill Zerg waves but has to kill Zerg waves to reach reinforcements. You also might want to experience with an (obvious) Baneling or two to add a little more dynamic to the map rather than making it Stutterstep Inc.
Overall it was relatively decent. I like your camera motions and such and I think it'll get better. I'd give it a 6/10 so far and it's slightly above most other custom SC2 campaigns I've seen. It has a lot of potential if it's streamlined a bit more, though. I'll post more feedback on Crimson Moon (and eventually Amber Sun if I'm still interested by that point) as I go along.
There is a thread here. You even commented in it.
God, those first maps. :D I made them so long ago. Well, last year, but still.
You had to clear the way for the dropship.
They state in the intro of map 1 that they lost contact with Henderson, presumably because of trouble with the Zerg. In general, though, Henderson often deviates from the actions of his comrades.
Opps. Fixed that.
There's a group of lost soldiers in the beginning of the map. Finding them greatly helps.
As for the gameplay itself: it's not particularly interesting, I know. It was what it was back then. I do think the atmosphere makes up for it, though.
Thank you for playing. I hope you play it all, though you might have trouble with mission 8. :D
Well yeah, but that one has been quiet for quite a bit I figured it might not be worthwhile to necro it.
I'm not unhappy with the way you terrained everything overall, I'm unhappy that I feel like I'm playing Minecraft when I'm actually playing StarCraft 2. Simply upping the resolution of the floor textures would instantly solve this problem.
While that may be true, it doesn't really show in the first two maps, leaving me wondering what the hell is up.
I found the lost soldiers, but I'm talking about way before that - literally the first group of Zerglings you encounter. My issue is that that battle kind of determines whether you win or lose the map, which isn't what a first battle should be. 3 Burrowed Zerglings that you could take out by a-moving would be hard enough, I reckon.
I don't have that problem with the textures. Maybe it is on your end?
It's three zerglings. If you can't handle that even with medics, then I don't know.
Thank you buddy ;). I'm re-watching the last episode of season 2 which is one of the best in my opinion (with the one just before featuring the battle of nera).
Maybe you should include it in another mission ? Where the gameplay suits the best. One awesome thing would be if we could use some of 'em :)
They really fit in mission 5. I need to buff the APC with ground support anyway, so I suppose I can fit them in there. I guess I can let the player use them in M7.
<3
It is not on my end, and I'm pretty confident you have the same problem. It's a natural result of making the player play with a zoomed-in camera, regardless of what his graphical settings are at. It doesn't take Einstein to notice the difference between this and this.
It's four, and they kill a Marine if you don't micro. At which point you're pretty much fucked for the upcoming couple of waves. I'm not saying they're impossible to beat, I'm saying the first wave shouldn't be a game-changing one.
Stop trying to downplay or avoid my points. If you don't want to do anything about my issues because the maps are old, you don't care, or what-have-you, all the power to you - it's your campaign. Just don't make it look like I'm saying stupid stuff. I'm not.
I'm sorry if I made you feel stupid. Part of that may have been that it has been a stressful day. I have had a lot to think about today and I maay have taken it out on you. I usually respond well to criticism, but today it was filtered through other emotions. Though I try to listen to what people say about my work, I guess at the wrong time I just want to scream, "It's just a hobby, leave me alone".
I misunderstood your terrain comment, thinking you were talking about the general perspective when you were being specific. I looked at that number thingy, and took a swing at it (no, not literally), though it turned out quite odd for me, with the perspective suddenly going all weird. I agree there is a difference between the pictures, though. I had noticed it way before, but I figured it was an inevitable consequence of using the zoomed camera. The mission I'm doing also utilizes that camera, though I can't say it looks as bad (I guess both the editor and I have come a long way).
The choice to not fix old maps is partly economical, partly artistic. Economical in the sense that what time I spend on map-making, I spend on Amber Sun, and artistic in the sense that I don't want to fix old things as they're, well... done (that obviously excludes bugs and stuff like what you mentioned). Works of art, and yes, this is what I aspire to (if not necessarily reach), are products of time and place, and I like to preserve the states of the old maps as a remainder of where I begun. That doesn't mean fences shouldn't have pathing blockers (which I added), or that general bugs shouldn't be fixed, but at a certain point, you just have to stop and say, "enough".
Okay, it's four zerglings, and I'm sorry your marine died, but I'm not gonna nerf that fight. Period. I checked it myself (and this is probably the 700th test run of that map), and Ryan can solo them. If you want to use groups, just a-move to the left and whatever damage received will be healed by the medics.
I'm meeting you halfway here! It's two seconds into the map, and if I react with ridicule, it is because your comment feels sort of odd. There are so many suggestions about balance here and there, and when I get told to nerf a zergling fight and add some banelings I don't know what to say. Again, wait 'till you play mission 8 and die when there's 5 minutes left, or you hunt overlords against an OP Goliath in Amber Sun's first mission. You'll be forgetting about those zerglings in a heartbeat.
Please don't ban me.
@EivindL: Go
That's quite alright. The thing is: I personally don't care what you do or don't change. It's your work - if you want to replace every level in your campaign with a rickroll video, be my guest. I don't mind if I come up with a point and the author makes a good counterpoint either. The only thing that annoys me is when I take the time to type out my feedback to help an editor out, and he replies to my points with messages along the line of "you're wrong it's bullshit". That's just spitting in my face when I'm trying to help you - the least you can do is aknowledge that. If you decide not to do anything with my comments, that's past me. You'll need to do a lot worse than that regardless to warrant a ban though. Plus, this is a private matter, you can ignore my mod status in regards to it.
In regards to the actual points: I had some issues with texuvset in your maps as well. It's kind of akward - for pretty much any map a setting of 24 24 is normal, and setting it to, say, 36 36 or 42 42 gives an improved look when zoomed in. In all of your maps however, equal numbers seem to actually stretch out the textures completely, meaning you have to compensate by doing something along the lines of 30 42. I have no idea what's causing this. If not for that issue, it'd be an easy fix.
In regards to my point about map two - your point about Ryan seems valid; I think I simply walked in at an unlucky angle, then. To clarify my comment: I'm not saying the map is too hard or too easy or what-have-you, my point was that the very first wave was very game-changing. The Banelings comment is aside from that; that was aimed at the slightly stale gameplay throughout that could be more interesting if it forced the player to do some occasional kiting/focus firing over a-moving in and pressing S as soon as any Zerg unburrow.
My only issue is that a weird bug popped up in map 3: my entire UI seems to be hidden? I can still see buttons (like 'Build SCV' or such), but the grids and such surrounding them are gone, making it really annoying to play the game. Is this something common?
That's the first I've heard of that. Try restarting.
Mission 6 gets heated: