(Beta) ff_aardvark (beta2 download and beta3 screenshots)

[o_caesium]

Originally Posted by luminous

is the air life meant to be one way?

if so then it needs to be stronger because you can easily run towards it, crouch as your falling and airstrafe into the corridor below

Yep, atm that's intentional, as I think it's suicide to try to take the flag that way at all, as the defence could go down the main ramp and get there before you and if you lost the flag in that water tunnel you are never going to get it back.. (at least that's the intention). If it turns out in playtesting that it IS possible to take the flag out lift and get out via the water way before the defence can get there to stop you then yes, I will change the lift so that you cant get down.

[o_stino]

Originally Posted by Caesium

Yep, atm that's intentional, as I think it's suicide to try to take the flag that way at all, as the defence could go down the main ramp and get there before you and if you lost the flag in that water tunnel you are never going to get it back.. (at least that's the intention). If it turns out in playtesting that it IS possible to take the flag out lift and get out via the water way before the defence can get there to stop you then yes, I will change the lift so that you cant get down.

and how can we try it in playtesting, it took a lot of time for me to get down there, i've had to jump fall, and make sure i'm fast enough to get out of the trigger push before i was forced on my way up.

[o_caesium]

Originally Posted by stino

and how can we try it in playtesting, it took a lot of time for me to get down there, i've had to jump fall, and make sure i'm fast enough to get out of the trigger push before i was forced on my way up.

You can get down the lift quite easily atm once you get the hang of it. Btw I'm currently working on lots of little changes for beta2, so please keep the suggestions coming. There's been some very useful input so far, keep it coming pls

[o_nezumi]

Ok I DL'd and played the map and now I'm impressed.

I spent like an hour getting speed from noclip and bouncing myself up onto the platform outside the spawn. If trimping is even remotely the same as this I'd be one happy camper (or concer...)

So the only things I have to suggest are:
1: Some of the triggers inside the spawn doors are wierd and the door doesn't stay open, but just opens and closes randomly sometimes.
2: The doors make wimpy little click noises. They should sound like big scary servos (imo)
3: The map needs soundscapes.
4: Some of the displacements near where the underwater tunnel lets out are annyoing to get stuck on. If it wouldn't work to change those so you can walk on them, then I might suggest puting a vertical concrete bit there.

And that's all I thought of, besides what I mentioned before.

P.S. What's the deal with the 2fort basement? Seeing that felt really surreal.

[o_caesium]

Originally Posted by Nezumi

Ok I DL'd and played the map and now I'm impressed.

I spent like an hour getting speed from noclip and bouncing myself up onto the platform outside the spawn. If trimping is even remotely the same as this I'd be one happy camper (or concer...)

So the only things I have to suggest are:
1: Some of the triggers inside the spawn doors are wierd and the door doesn't stay open, but just opens and closes randomly sometimes.
2: The doors make wimpy little click noises. They should sound like big scary servos (imo)
3: The map needs soundscapes.
4: Some of the displacements near where the underwater tunnel lets out are annyoing to get stuck on. If it wouldn't work to change those so you can walk on them, then I might suggest puting a vertical concrete bit there.

And that's all I thought of, besides what I mentioned before.

P.S. What's the deal with the 2fort basement? Seeing that felt really surreal.

Glad you like it In response to your suggestions:

1. Yeah, the trigger for the respawn doors aren't done properly yet. I've been playing around with a few different ways of triggering them, but I know they are buggy atm and they will NOT be like that in the end.

2 & 3. I haven't worked on sounds at all yet. I've been having trouble trying to get custom soundscapes to work in game. But again, don't worry, there will be sounds in the final version.

4. Which bit do you mean exactly? The water way is supposed to be very hard to get out via if a defender is trying to stop you, and I'm not aware of any bit you actually get stuck on assuming you stick to the middle of the passage.

Btw the idea behind the 2fort basement is that aardvark has been built on the old site of 2fort Hence the 2fort bit is all old and overgrown, and some parts are blocked up and some walls smashed through. I thought it would be fun to play with people's perceptions of what's real lol. Oh, and it seemed a lot more interesting than just having a boring corridor going from the water exit to the bottom of the lift.

PS offy going water can use the old 2fort flagroom to their advantage if they want to try not to be seen on the camera system (ie a spy), but of course the trade-off is that that's slower that just going straight to the lift...

[o_kam]

converted the original 2fort textures over yet caes ?

[o_caesium]

Originally Posted by kam

converted the original 2fort textures over yet caes ?

Wasn't going to, as they'll just be low detail and they don't look old and ruined. We're currently working on some new custom textures for other bits though

[o_nezumi]

http://www.superjer.com/nezumi/aardvark.jpg

It's wierd trying to climb out of the water over the displacements to the left of the crosshair. You don't get stuck exactly but it'll probably be annoying trying to decide exactly where along this part you can have to be to get out. Maybe if you put a block over part of it like this, so people won't sit around in the water humping the wall.

Kindof a small thing but it's in a high traffic area so I dunno...

Also, the boats in the middle should either respawn or be unbreakable (assuming prop_physics_respawnables will be in FF)

And give me a pm if need help with soundscapes. I'm pretty sure I've got them all sorted out.

[o_valk]

looks good, havnt run around on it yet, might wait till next beta
alot of the mappers could learn from how this map is being handled though ;o

[o_kam]

lol how is that a high traffic area, it's not that hard to land your concs on that huge ramp...

[o_caesium]

Originally Posted by Nezumi

http://www.superjer.com/nezumi/aardvark.jpg

It's wierd trying to climb out of the water over the displacements to the left of the crosshair. You don't get stuck exactly but it'll probably be annoying trying to decide exactly where along this part you can have to be to get out. Maybe if you put a block over part of it like this, so people won't sit around in the water humping the wall.

Kindof a small thing but it's in a high traffic area so I dunno...

Also, the boats in the middle should either respawn or be unbreakable (assuming prop_physics_respawnables will be in FF)

And give me a pm if need help with soundscapes. I'm pretty sure I've got them all sorted out.

Yeah that bit in the picture is actually cause by the displacement fields there not being sewed for some reason. I saw it a few days ago and it's fixed now, but thanks for pointing it out anyway.

As for the boats, there will be the message "Red Battleship Has Been Defeated!" when said ship is sunk :E

I might just take you up on that soundscape offer once I've finished this mega texturing phase we're going through atm. We've got a really nice and distinctive, expensive look for beta2

Originally Posted by kam

lol how is that a high traffic area, it's not that hard to land your concs on that huge ramp...

I assume you've realised the idea is to conc fast, then water skim to the little semi-submerged ramp, which will then send you flying up the main ramp really fast like a dingo on crack..

[o_nezumi]

Originally Posted by Caesium

Red Battleship Has Been Defeated!

Rofl.

And Kam, you can't go into or out of a base without going by that spot. High traffic, duh.

[o_wlvy]

Looking good caes. Can only tell from screens as I'm on tech desk at work! . Will have a run around later! From the screens it looks like one of the first maps to be in a beta stages that will actually play to FF's stregnths (movements and so on), other than HL2's aesthetics! Fairplay mate!

[o_darksoul]

a request:

dido - hunter when the map loads plz!

[o_kam]

get out.

[o_darksoul]

you get out!

[o_sh4x]

Map is pretty cool. It's really big too.

I think the texturing needs alot of work tho.

Keep it up!

[o_caesium]

Originally Posted by Sh4x

Map is pretty cool. It's really big too.

I think the texturing needs alot of work tho.

Keep it up!

Thanks. And yes, we've been working hard on the texturing this last week. I think we've got a really cool look developing now for beta2

[o_luminous]

rough eta for beta 2?

[o_caesium]

Originally Posted by luminous

rough eta for beta 2?

Depends on if I can get custom soundscapes working at all or not. I've done most the changes to the map that I want to do (except for the sounds), so if I can't get custom soundscapes to work I might release beta2 in a week or so. However, I'm hoping I can get sounds to work, in which case I'll play with them for another week probably before I release.

PS: Does anyone please know if it's possible to make custom soundscapes work in standard HL2? I've got them working fine in HL2DM, but when I try exactly the same in HL2 it doesn't work.. Any suggestions please? If not we might just compile it for HL2DM instead..