lighting

I recently discovered linear attenuation + fading and some better sunlight shaders :D 

Great stuff, looks faithful to the '98 era. 

I'm relieved to finally have the lighting figured out for the most part... 

Good work, best retro modern shooter to date? 

reserve your judgement until after you play it :D 

Spiffy lighting in that one. 

It's really coming together! GG 

thanks ;) 

Hi guys!

Would anybody be interested in beta testing a small/medium base map? It's called the Subterrestrial Hangar picture, and is planned to be the first map in a series of maybe four maps.

The idea in all of the maps is that in the beginning you choose a path each with its own playstyle. In this picture you can see that this map has three paths: one involving Quad running, the middle one a "vanilla" path with no powerups and the last path about navigating a slime maze (probably a path everyone's gonna hate, but hey, if you don't like mazes, don't play that path!). ;)

So what I'd like you to do is give feedback on the gameplay: difficulty, balance, and above all, whether it's fun. :) I'd be interested in hearing any suggestions on how to improve the experience. A particular combat encounter of interest for me would be this slipgate room.

I'd like you to test each of the paths on all difficulty levels from easy to nightmare.

The vanilla and quad paths each contain three secrets, the third of which I anticipate is going to be quite tough to crack. Can YOU figure them out? ;) Should I provide more hints for the elusive third secret?

I've tested the map mostly on Quakespasm, but a little bit on Mark V GLQuake and WinQuake modes, too. The map is a mod (due to some custom decorative models), so unpack the zip onto the root of your Quake folder. It will unpack a mod folder called sthangar, so start the mod by typing "game sthangar" on your console and then type "map sthangar" to test the map. (Just giving detailed instructions like these in case of the unlikely scenario of a person with less experience with custom content happening to stumble upon this post.) 

Quite a bit of work you've managed to pull off! You've made those monsters yourself from scratch? They remind me quite a bit of Doom2's revenants. Where'd you get the textures? 

Nice shots man, not sure when I'd find time for testing but I like the nice bright lighting especially in the 2nd. The multiple path choice does sound interesting as well! 

Thanks, I drew the textures ;) 

You've certainly got quite the knack for art, I give you that! *o*

Got enough material on your hands already that you could showcase your game on a Kickstarter campaign, or something? ;) 

We have to help him make cool maps first :D 

Hey Esreal,

I uploaded a zip with some demos and a txt with my thoughts and ruminations.

Neat little base map. Cheers.
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/demos/sthangar_reddemos.zip 

Screenshot

Zoomed in

Still got to implement save/load routines for these. 

That's simply beautiful. Looking forward to your release one day. 

What size is your texture? 

The texture in those shots and in the video is 8 times larger (128 * 8). But I've also tested with a 2x texture, and it looks good enough in full HD, even when zoomed in.

I'll upload that texture later, but it's basically the original texture with 2x Gaussian blur and a 2x sharpening filter, done in the GIMP. 

I'd like to give a huge thank you to Redfield, who provided me with valuable feedback on the first beta version of my map.

Based on his feedback, I've made some changes and uploaded another version for you guys to playtest, if you like!

http://www.quaketastic.com/files/single_player/sthangar_beta02.zip 

If you are interested, i've recorded a playthrough of the beta 2 here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-FyLN6_gbs

I played the first beta, so i already knew what to do and where to go :P

What i still think it's strange (in middle route) is that you can completely miss a whole area of the map if you don't come back to that closed door at the stairs. Maybe if you put a key there to open the door to the slipgate you give the player a reason to search the map and explore that area ;) 

Of course I'm interested; clicked the link pretty much immediately once I saw it.

Hmm, the more I think about your idea, the more appealing it becomes. Perhaps I will add a keycard to that area in the final version. Thanks for the good idea!

There's one thing I've been wondering based on your playthrough and Redfield's feedback. When playing the Quad damage route, did either of you notice the message popup informing that the quad damage has been respawned? Because when I watched your video, you didn't go back to the beginning to get a new Quad damage. Maybe you hadn't noticed the message or since you were already killing grunts and enforcers you were too busy to go back to the beginning?

Redfield had also told me on his feedback that the quad route is kind of brutal, so he suggested that I add another weapon early in the Quad damage path. So I was thinking that if I were to add a weapon to the path, maybe I could add an NG to the slipgate room storage shelf. Redfield, when you tested the 2nd beta, did you notice the message of the quad damage respawning? Because with that you could easily crush the opposition pouring down from the barracks room. Do you still think the path should get another early weapon even with the respawning quad damage?

If you guys didn't notice the quad damage respawn message, should I add more reminders to the player about the event? 

To be honest i only saw that message when i was editing the video to post on youtube XD
When i was playing i didn't see it, maybe because i was running around, shooting enemies and trying to stay alive =D

But i don't think a "respawning quad" is necessary here. only one is enough for me. but would be cool if you give me a double-shotgun before i enter the slipgate room. quad + double-shotgun = too much fun! =D