master_thomas Posted March 22, 2003 Share Posted March 22, 2003 I'm making a series of levels. I've talked about it alot and decided to make a showcase thread. To save space, I'm putting everything on one thread. Storyline: Several months after the battle between the republic with the jedi and the imperial remnant with their reborn troops, Jan has disappeared. Kyle, seeking help from Luke, rushed to Yavin IV. He finds Luke behind a forcefield and there are several reborn behind him..... Pictures will be posted in a moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 22, 2003 Author Share Posted March 22, 2003 Can't get the picture to load here. Try my site Check the screenshots, which will be updated over time. The ones at Yavin are number one, which is in beta(available for download there). The ones at Bespin are number 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 22, 2003 Author Share Posted March 22, 2003 As usual, post any comments according to the pictures here. Testers, use the beta testing thread in the beta testing forum. I'm much more proud of #2 than #1, but they're both good in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 23, 2003 Author Share Posted March 23, 2003 Since no one's posting yet, I'll go into extra features that will be implemented for the whole series. I made the bryar shots green and made the muzzle flash white. I don't remember any orange shots in any of the movie. Other than red, green was most common.(Not including Clone Trooper Rifle's blue shots, but this is forty years later, where I haven't seen a blue blast at all. Correct me if I'm wrong please.) The sabers were slightly tweaked. I core now has a faint, consistent, color and the glow has more color, but is thinner. This was taken from actual pictures of episode 2. The force push and pull affects were removed. This was done in weapons upgrade v.2 I think, but I think it makes more sense, so I did it. Not Plagiarism. I have a custom menu, working objectives, and custom credits. I wanted to make my first mod big and unique. There it is. On my website, I'll post new pics of the saber and bryar shots. The force push is simple. No gray effect and so I won't be posting those pictures because I want to conserve upload storage (My site's on moonfruit). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boinga1 Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 uh...yah...i'm trying this and i'm stuck on the room with all the jedi...there's two broken elevators, a busted door, and the elevaTOR i came down on...??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 23, 2003 Author Share Posted March 23, 2003 The floor is breakable in a small square to the right of the middle elevator when facing the wall. I think there is a slight crack in it. It takes a LOT of hits though. If there is no visible change, I'll change the texture slightly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDKnite188 Posted March 23, 2003 Share Posted March 23, 2003 The architecture is far too basic. From what I saw the level was a series of huge connected boxes. In one screenshot there was a room full of turrets in a formation on the floor? IMO that is poor enemy placement. Who would put that many turrets in one room? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 23, 2003 Author Share Posted March 23, 2003 I'm upgrading those screenshots as I complete stages of architecture. The extra enemies are to make up for the fact that I haven't strengthened them in the NPCS.cfg, like I did for number one. I'm also still building the basic architecture. I'm starting with eight rooms. I just added the entities. I'm just getting to the details. Like the door frames, I have these buttress-like things in the corners of each room. I'm going to replace the first shots as I add, but it is currently under construction. I removed most of the turrets. Now there are just four turrets on the ceiling, shadowtroopers behind the large boxes, and I made force crystals fly out of some of the boxes(that is why they are being guarded). All those blasters and the chunks from the breakables caused the game to crash anyway. Most the turrets are gone now and the remaining are on the ceiling, there are now half as many boxes, and it stopped crashing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 23, 2003 Author Share Posted March 23, 2003 New screenshots. The storage room is now kind of a cellar. There is a water heater and furnace, which has pipes with flames in the back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kengo Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 Hey man, some sites like geocities and I guess yours don't let you have pictures on them put up somewhere else. On http://massassi.net/ the Editors Corner is one good place to put screen shots, just an idea. Sounds like yu've got a lot of creative ideas, and are gonna try to put plot elements so they affect the actual levels, rather than just having a stroyline in the readme and then the level having no relation to the story at all, as many levels do. One thing I'd like to suggest: don't try to do too much. I'm not saying don't be creative, innovative and cover new ground if you can, just don't try to do too much. Don't aim for a 5 level mod complete with a 10 page script, because for your first SP level (I think it is right? correct me if I'm wrong) you will probabaly never get that done. A fairly small but well formed level is a lot better than a super ambitious project that is never finished, like so many before. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 24, 2003 Author Share Posted March 24, 2003 Thanks Kengo. Yup, It's my first level, though I've actually been experimenting since September. That's why I'm being so ambitious. I just wish I could find the thread on dynamic light for gun shots so I can give that person credit like I did you and Rich. The problem with pictures on moonfruit is that every page has the same URL so I don't know how I would list the addresses of my pictures. Never thought of the editor's corner. Thanks for that too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 24, 2003 Author Share Posted March 24, 2003 Put it on the editor's corner. Same storage room, but now a boiler room! Now is it a bunch of huge connected blocks? I got hooked on bending patches . Any suggestions to improve this room? As stated in my website, every crate (the furnace is NOT a crate) is breakable and some contain items. More pics to come, but this is my most detailed room so far. This is Bespin. Should this be accesed by stairs, or an elevator? I'm using stairs and to me, it just feels right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boinga1 Posted March 24, 2003 Share Posted March 24, 2003 the beta map is not so great.the first part felt like a ladder, but there just wasn't enough to it. The storyline isn't too great, and the level's too shortfor anything to really happen. the hole in the floor had way too much HP-I stood there hacking with heavy syance for several minutes just to take out one block. I couldn't tell where the hole really was anyway....it was in the black area around the elevator. suggestions-more cutscenes, maybe a fight to reach the top, then a fight back down. and the 2 stromies at the end-get real! I mean, 15 reborn and shadowtroopers and []i2[/i] stormies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 25, 2003 Author Share Posted March 25, 2003 I agree with all of those, but there really wasn't any way to increase the size. I'll halfen the hp of the breakable and retexture it. Just thought, maybe make you open the hanger door, but I can't think of much else to do. As for cutscenes, maybe I can have Kyle, the jedi that you start with for #2, and Luke run to the Raven's Claw. Then an action cutscene of Luke and a shadow trooper fighting. As for the odd ratio of stormies to reborn, the last battle of JK2 proved to the imperial remnant the effectiveness of reborn. They actually killed jedi successfully so they increased production of reborn, but I'll add stormies. Cutscenes are hard because I don't have a microphone for the computer, but I could have Kyle use the "it's locked. There must be another way in" sound for him breaking the first tile. The reason it's so strong is that your cutting through solid floor. It's damaged, but still in okay shape. I'll make the elevator breakable instead of a random piece of flooring and make the drop a cutscene. Kyle can jump up and out and fire the last few shots. A thin prush on top, which, when broken will activate that. Then jump down. How can I make NPC immune to falling? Like a cushion brush(doesn't effect NPCs). I tried no impact(a scripting command), but that just makes them fall like Kyle when he dies from a fall(stands normal while falling and dies as soon as he hits the ground). Since Luke's invincible, I can make it so he jumps down into the hangar and fights a shadow trooper, which will be invincible during the fight so you don't kill it. At one point it will die. The 2 jedi will be in the side room. Thank's for the feedback. I'll get right on it, but remember. It's in beta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kengo Posted March 25, 2003 Share Posted March 25, 2003 Some of the architecture in that shot is pretty nice, but the texturing in places, for example the roof needs some work, too repetitive. One very common mistake I've noted in many first time SP levels is the difficult level say WAAAY too high, and generally too many enemies with poor placement. Try to remember that making something so hard that its almost impossible to beat doesn't make it fun, it just makes it frustrating. Also, enemies should be placed as realistically as possible....eg would you really have an army of reborn guarding a room of no obvious significance? Do they travel in groups of 30? Shadowtroopers are super elite, would 10 be in one place at the same time? I'm not leveling these criticisms specifically at your level, I'm just saying these are the kind of extremes I've seen in some first time SP maps, and they are a pain! Try to keep everything realistic and in reasonable amounts. Don't forget also that too many enemies at once will cause serious slowdown, and that drops the fun another couple of notches. One last thing - sounds like you're including puzzles. Be VERY careful with these. They can be great, but they can be so hard to work out that they go beyong frustrating and onto another level of annoyance. Seriously, some people's minds work like a rubics cube, but not everyones! These are just general points which may relate to your level, I don't claim to be an expert level editor (much....) but I have played a lot of awful SP levels for JK2 which all displayed these same flaws, all by first time level editors, if you avoid them then you're onto a good thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 25, 2003 Author Share Posted March 25, 2003 Yeah, Kengo. That's one of the reasons I'm moving the breakable to the lift. I'm taking some enemies and moving them into the new rooms instead of making new ones. I'm also going to set some for different difficulties like some of the bacta and shields and enemies. Boinga1, thanks for the comments, but please use the beta testing thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 25, 2003 Author Share Posted March 25, 2003 Just a comment on the pictures. The dots on the right wall are valves. I originally tries to make a round one, but I scaled it down until the curves were 4 sided(weird) and it looks great! I'll try to get a closeup. It could go well as a very very small prefab. Please, if you test #1, put your name and some feedback on the beta testing thread for the map. I will include as many as I can in the credits, but once I have 12, I'm taking that beta off my site. It takes up alot of my limited site storage space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 26, 2003 Author Share Posted March 26, 2003 No work done today:(. Too much school work. So many 7th grade projects at once (yes, I'm in seventh grade. I'm 13 and I'm probably one of the youngest people here). Many of my peers have never even heard of JK2 other than from me!!! Poor souls. I went through several trials in my map and script and my camera angle still faces the wrong way. I'm trying to think of how to get this to work. I can't get the side room to look right. My NPC_kyle won't follow orders(won't walk, won't shoot at my command). AAAAAHHHHHH. So, so, frustrating. I'm tired. I need a break from editing and school. 23 days for the latter:) and editing, well, not too stressful. I enjoy it. I'll probably be done with the new version by the middle of April. I'll get a lot done during the "Spring Recess". I'll also be more efficient because I'll be well rested. Hopefully my sister will get off of work(she works for visions long island. She lives twenty miles away (big age gap. So big, sibling rivalry never built between us. Maybe for two years, but that's it.) and her office is half a mile from our house, so she works out of my parents/my house) and I'll have the computer to myself:). ____________________________________________________ Anyway, away from my complaining, I chose stairs. It is easier, then, to show the pipes going into other rooms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 27, 2003 Author Share Posted March 27, 2003 Yesterday I got the room to look right. I modified the cutscene after the breakable. There is a thin breakable panel outside the brush. When you blow it up and stand there, the cutscene starts. You stand there for a few seconds and an explosion breaks it and you fall into the hangar and see the battle. I also made the side room more similar o the original. I do have a problem with opening the hangar door. The skybox outside that I put makes it look like it's floating in the sky. I'll need to make a small area with an invisible wall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kengo Posted March 27, 2003 Share Posted March 27, 2003 Hey the cutscene sounds v nice. Editing sure can be frustrating sometimes, especially when it degenerates into total trial and error, mostly with scripting stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 28, 2003 Author Share Posted March 28, 2003 I have a good battle cutscene between Luke and a powerful shadow trooper. It looks pretty cool, but I need to figure out two things. How to use the camera follow command and if I can enable and disable cutscenes in different scripts. I'll post these questions in the mapping forum and give a daily update post. Almost finished . I just need to adjust a counter, fix a weird door problem, and finish the two cutscenes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 28, 2003 Author Share Posted March 28, 2003 The final cutscene looks similar to the one against desann, but better because it is longer and they aren't on a catwalk Aand slowly turn to the end amd jump off. Pure combat. I switched luke to invincible with the script and the shadowtrooper killed him . Maybe I put the set command in the wrong affect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kengo Posted March 28, 2003 Share Posted March 28, 2003 Then beta testing? I'd be happy to be one of the testers if you want Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 29, 2003 Author Share Posted March 29, 2003 Kengo, did you dl the first beta? I'm keeping the whole series in open beta to get more testers and my e-mail is terrible(only 2mb or less attachments) The original, which has improve a lot only has one cutscene and too many reborn and not enough stormies, but the new version I'm working on adds two cutscenes including Luke's battle, homogenizes the enemies more, adds a room, and makes you open the hangar door. I need a new sky shader. As I stated before, the current one makes it look like the base floats 20 feet above the ground. I cannot make textures/shaders at all. If anyone knows of a skybox that matches what I need, please post it here with a link. You'll be shortening construction time and improving #1. ____________________________________________________ By the way, Kengo. You were right. A showcase thread is a great source of posts. I was at battle droid rank for three days. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
master_thomas Posted March 29, 2003 Author Share Posted March 29, 2003 See, this is what I want to fix. Kengo, what about the sky Leslie made/ is making for you for Occupance:Ground Assault? Kengo, one thing. If you want to be mentioned in the credits (you already are for your tutorials, but not as a tester) Post your name and any feedback in the beta testing thread I started. No one has posted there yet. About the feedback, please be specific in your posts(all of you). "I didn't like it" or "it was great" are not enough. I want to know what you liked and disliked so I can improve for the next version and implement things into the sequel(s). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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