Last map you played

Started by Puritan, 02 December 2011, 08:14:26

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Gambini

The map has massive landscapes with clever verticality. It´s not easy to make a map where you can see most of it from one spot yet you need to travel it all down to get to the other side (and it doesnt rely on invisible barriers). Other than that, i think it´s slightly overrated among the rest of Mrline and Maarten´s work.

methy

It's a great map but gameplay is the most predictable. "Hmm, I wonder what type of enemy will spawn right as I will pick it this RPG lying in the middle of the road ?!"
Also, the long range of view allows for boring sniping with the pistol. Imo, every map with such long field of view should start pistol less : it would force players to approach to kill enemies, while avoiding their rockets/lasers, rather than sniping from miles away.
Even if you don't put pistol clips around, as long as you kill liztroops, you'll find enough pistol ammo to snipe your way through most of the stuff.

But it's a really good map really, gameplay is predictable, but it works. It's always worked.
http://thisshitaintscary.blogspot.com/ - The only Blog solely dedicated to Horror video games

Merlijn

Ha, a discussion about Clear the coast. :) IIRC, we deliberately made the gameplay easier and more predictable, because some of our older maps were too confusing to some players. Of course, as a result some players found this one too easy, you can never please everyone.  :P

What I personally liked most about it is the freedom of movement, you can approach each combat scenario from the direction you want. Which was pretty rare back then. The last part (hotel and ending) is probably the best in terms of gameplay.

How far in the map are you, Micky? The map gets more explosive and action packed later on.

methy

You know what, that got me to replay Clear The Coast and I thought gameplay was great.
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Sanek

Quote from: Micky C on  15 February 2014, 11:27:57
Here on CGS the map rates at a 96, and both the release and review were about 6 years ago so idk has gameplay just advanced since then? I can see how it'd be a good coop map with its open areas and abundant enemies but as far as singleplayer gunplay goes it's quite generic. Maybe it gets better later on? Perhaps I missed one of the higher-tier weapons near the start of the map

Quote from: methy on  16 February 2014, 13:03:25
Also, the long range of view allows for boring sniping with the pistol. Imo, every map with such long field of view should start pistol less : it would force players to approach to kill enemies, while avoiding their rockets/lasers, rather than sniping from miles away.
Even if you don't put pistol clips around, as long as you kill liztroops, you'll find enough pistol ammo to snipe your way through most of the stuff.

It's fun that both of you said thet you don't like maps with long field of view while my last map (which you actually like, judging by comments!) is even more opened. :)

Forge

Quote from: Sanek on  16 February 2014, 16:37:58
It's fun that both of you said thet you don't like maps with long field of view while my last map (which you actually like, judging by comments!) is even more opened. :)
bridge between two islands has a ton more action going on and alot of your enemies were spawns which can't be sniped

that being said, i still liked the flow and gameplay in clear the coast

Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Micky C

Well Merlijn I just got past the bit where you blow up the restaurant (which was very cool btw), and put two keycards to deactivate a forcefield. I think the reason why the level feels a bit bland in terms of gameplay so far is the lack of variety. It was mostly just straightforward shooting with the shotgun and chaingun so far, so I expect it will get better when more interesting weapons like the shrinker become available. Not to mention so far it's all been very open, and some tighter spaces would mix things up a bit at this point (for example I think the Beach CBP has a good blend of tight indoor and large outdoor all the way through), but I have a feeling there'll be some of that later on.

In terms of gameplay though it felt like there wasn't a lot else going on, such as puzzles, platforming, basic interactivity like doors and elevators etc, just shooting. I'll finish the map in the next few days and give some more thoughts after that. Like I said before though the layout and level design itself is superb and I'd have a hard time trying to pull off something so extravagant and natural-looking, especially on a scale like that.
Wall whore.

methy

To be honest I thought Clear The Coast had interesting enemy placement. For example, there were quite a lot of commanders shooting rockets at you from very far away while you're busy shooting enemies which are closer, making you have to avoid the rockets for quite some time before being able to get to the commanders. It's a good use of commanders which I sadly don't see enough.

Also when you arrive in the 'village' with the restaurant to blow up you can approach it in different ways.
http://thisshitaintscary.blogspot.com/ - The only Blog solely dedicated to Horror video games

Merlijn

Quote from: Micky C on  17 February 2014, 05:16:56
Well Merlijn I just got past the bit where you blow up the restaurant (which was very cool btw), and put two keycards to deactivate a forcefield. I think the reason why the level feels a bit bland in terms of gameplay so far is the lack of variety. It was mostly just straightforward shooting with the shotgun and chaingun so far, so I expect it will get better when more interesting weapons like the shrinker become available.

I appreciate the feedback. :) You missed the freezer and the shrinker, but it takes some exploring to find those since they're not on the main path. The shrinker is in a secret place, but it's fairly easy to find. The freezer is near the hotel. It's a template I used a lot back then: regular weapons are picked up on the main path, the more exotic weapons have to be searched for. :)

Forge

since my gameplay m.o. is exploration, i found all those little stashes which provided the means to alternate my combat methods.
Take it down to the beach with a hammer and pound sand up your ass

Micky C

I did find the freezer, but IIRC there wasn't a lot of ammo for it so I had to fall back onto other weapons.
Wall whore.

James

I enjoyed Clear the Coast alot, it was a long map that covered alot of terrain and had some neat looking areas to it. The only sore point I would say is the big plain expanse of land you get after the blue keycard locked forcefield, since the Battlelords can whittle away at you and you don't get much cover.

methy

http://dukerepository.com/maps/Voices_Of_Authority

Never played this one before.

A medium sized spacestation map. You get into the station and have to reactivate it.

In terms of looks and effects, probably one of the best space station maps ever made for Duke3D. Sadly, gameplay is nothing special and it feels a bit short when reaching the end.
Still totally worth it because it's really unique and rather original and design is really slick.
http://thisshitaintscary.blogspot.com/ - The only Blog solely dedicated to Horror video games

Micky C

http://www.scent-88.com/reviews/C/cherenkov/cherenkov.php

Cherenkov Station by Supertanker also has a unique feel and some good design.
Wall whore.

methy

#464
I just realized 'Entrapped' was still in my eduke32 folder even though I never went after the sewer part on my old computer.

With my new computer I completed it, but even with it TROR has too many issues : it still lagged at times and enemies within a TROR distance often couldn't be shot at or wouldn't shoot me.

The map took me 40mins, found pretty much half of the secrets, but I think the map was too complicated for its own good, OR that the mapper didn't think it through enough. I think I went through the map not the way intended in many instances : for example the forcefield requiring a blue key inside the dukeburger, I never deactivated that... When I got the jetpack I went directly to the roof and to many other places (like the dukeburger) through windows... I think that was partly due to how I got the blue key in the locker of the swimming pool by opening the locker myself (in front of it, I saw the polymer button light inside the locker so I kept trying until it opened) but then again at that point I had no idea where to go else.

Also I was left with BARELY any weapon for almost half of the map even though I had full ammo for some of them! I killed several BLords with small weapons and was always on the edge for the ammo of the few weapons I did have... Until I finally found a RPG and then it was RPG blast until the end.

The map looks great (except from a few places which don't look as good like the cinema and the bank) but goddamn it didn't play well for me. I udnerstand what the mapper was trying to do but the map should have been tested more throughly and designed in a way so that you can't hijack the main course like I did apparently several times; while being more clear of the 'normal' path to follow.

This being said I had a lot of fun anyway in this map, I ended up visiting all places even though I didn't do it in order, I enjoyed the scenery a lot, but it feels like a shame because it's broken, and had it been fixed, it would be an amazing map.
But I say TROR to such an extent, isn't worth it with that many gameplay issues, TROR should be used in good small touches imo.
http://thisshitaintscary.blogspot.com/ - The only Blog solely dedicated to Horror video games