Critiques for Gears SP levels (Youtubes included)

Thaur

The community for Gears of War PC is very small and I am in need of more feedback. I have provided Youtube playthroughs for the 3 main maps I want feedback on. Higher quality full length versions are also available to download through filefront. (Cuts were made to fit inside Youtube's 10 minute limit). Thank you for your time!

Youtube links:

Descent: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajohh8gjJzA[/ame]

The Knell: (Older version, updated screens below. Improvements made to aesthetics, cover nodes, added a warning from Dom before the last battle so the wretches don't sneak up on you, and other polish. In one area enemies sometimes stand unnaturally, and I investigated the pathing and collision there.) [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76tdeh6Wzck[/ame]

Nergal: (Used modules from the campaign so feedback on gameplay preferred) [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFonm0X4_94[/ame]


Video downloads:

Descent: http://dodownload.filefront.com/10454223//fe42a3e8dfddd82114f2edbd68011df3d6a5ee6b7a70f421e2099df5e1680796123133dc3e7f310f

The Knell: http://dodownload.filefront.com/10454659//fe42a3e8dfddd82114f2edbd68011df3d6a5ee6b7a70f421e2099df5e1680796123133dc3e7f310f

Nergal: http://dodownload.filefront.com/9794266//fe42a3e8dfddd82114f2edbd68011df3d6a5ee6b7a70f421e2099df5e1680796123133dc3e7f310f


Map Downloads

The Knell and Descent: http://dodownload.filefront.com/11587509//fe42a3e8dfddd82114f2edbd68011df3d6a5ee6b7a70f421e2099df5e1680796123133dc3e7f310f

Nergal: http://dodownload.filefront.com/9795056//fe42a3e8dfddd82114f2edbd68011df3d6a5ee6b7a70f421e2099df5e1680796123133dc3e7f310f

Namtar: http://dodownload.filefront.com/9696885//fe42a3e8dfddd82114f2edbd68011df3d6a5ee6b7a70f421e2099df5e1680796123133dc3e7f310f

Locust Park: http://dodownload.filefront.com/9973767//fe42a3e8dfddd82114f2edbd68011df3d6a5ee6b7a70f421e2099df5e1680796123133dc3e7f310f

Kawe

someone likes the sniper rifle. hard to comment on both maps at the same time. lol. I'll break it into two categories.

Visuals:
- First map is very dark in the video and could use some lighting changes. Also a lot of things are VERY blocky and it doesn't look too good.
- Second map looks decent. Snow is difficult cause everything looks crappy when there's white everywhere.. maybe try to make a path in the snow or something.. that isn't fully covered with snow.

Gameplay:
- First map looked pretty fun. Both maps prolly look more fun than they are the first time cause you know the map. Anyhow... you might wanna change around the starting area in this map cause I got very confused when you ran around.. where to go and so on. Didn't notice the exit until you exited the room. But then I wasn't paying full attention either. Even though it god kind of boring with the staircase thing I think it was done pretty well with the encounters.
- Second map got more gameplay issues. Too much sniper rifle.. I like the sniper rifle but some people don't. The thing with GoW was that the weapons were very versatile.. there was almost always 2 guns you could use for any given situation. A very good design decision since running out of ammo doesn't blow the whole game for you but it is still annoying enough to make you want to save ammo. Also on this map it isn't as obvious on where to go.. I'd make a more clear path.

Oh crap I jsut realized there's another map I didn't comment on.. no time though.

Lee3dee

i don't have gow installed, but i'd like to check out your maps

what was the design for these maps? did you draw it out first then lay down bsp. or did you just start placing meshes?

Thaur

Thank you Kawe. I agree with your points. The first map is rather blocky because I made it mostly with BSP and added some meshes mostly for the doorways and decoration. The whole thing was created to test out the stairway idea - having enemies attack from below, which gives you the advantage, having them attack from above, which gives them the advantage, and then having them attack from both. I thought of a way to make at least the main pillars in the stairway more interesting but after I finished the map.

I anticipated it being too dark for some people and actually included a much brighter version in addition in the download file when I released it.


As for the snow map, I also disliked the contrast of the white and the pieces of rubble for example. Just one of the drawbacks of creating your own texture set is that it might not fit well with the meshes. I did think about people running out of ammo however and that is why I gave them the lancer assault rifle in addition to the sniper rifle instead of giving them a shotgun. It is also not necessary to kill all enemies on the rooftops to complete the level.

You are right about me liking the snipe, but the rest of my maps balance it out a bit. In Namtar the primary power weapon is the boomshot. In nergal you use a lot of grenades, shotgun and lancer at the beginning.

The third video is my favorite, check it out if you have time later.

Thaur

Lee3dee wrote: »

what was the design for these maps? did you draw it out first then lay down bsp. or did you just start placing meshes?

That depends on the map Lee3dee. For "Descent" I had a very specific gameplay idea I wanted to try out and I drew the whole thing on paper beforehand.

For "The Knell" I went through several design changes. First I wanted an ancient ruins theme, then I wanted a futuristic theme, and finally I settled on the current theme because of what was available for the meshes. Once I put in some huge buildings I thought it would be cool to have an ambush and a belltower to warn the enemy so I kept playing with the meshes until I was happy. There is no BSP.

For "Nergal" it was a combination. I drew it out on paper quite a bit but also changed things a lot because I used rooms and hallways from the campaign, piecing them together to get the desired results.

NeoProfZ

Definitely a lot to comment on

I can relate to having trouble finding resources and info for any gears feedback (much thanks for the earlier posts on my thread as well)

I'm not sure if you've looked at it yet but this guy:
http://theinterlock-gear.blogspot.com/

has some beautiful scripting in his map, well organized and very readable.

I went ahead and downloaded locust park though I'll admit I haven't had the chance to check out some of your later maps. One thing I noticed is the lack of checkpoints makes it very difficult to make it through some of the more extended combat sequences. This can be a problem if you kill 15 guys and die and have to do it all over again. Admittedly when I played through that map I found myself running out of ammo a lot and simply having to go hand to hand (with predictable results).

Something that was already said but begs repeating is fact that in creating your map, you know where all the ammo is, where the enemies spawn and the best weapon to use in a given situation. Its really hard to unlearn that when playing though a scenario (lord only knows how many times I've forgotten that myself). Providing more cover than you think may be necessary along with more than enough ammo will usually mean your player stumbles across 1 out of 3 ammo caches you place and manages to cling desperately to their 1 favorite pillar while 3 more obvious cover points sit nearby.

Lastly, I noticed that your maps are almost non-stop combat. While this may not necessarily be a bad thing it sort of eliminates the tension and build up created by breaks in the action. In playing the standard single player campaign there were a lot of moments where your team inches through some dilapidated mansion or creepy back-alley while a nice orchestrated piece of music helps you feel the sort of desolation to make the environment itself really come alive for the player.

All in all though the best way to get better is by doing and your certainly building a lot of content. I particularly like the "descent" gameplay idea. Even with relatively minimal meshes and art it looks like a fun environment to shoot guys in. It also looks like you totally nailed your goal of playing around with the idea of having and losing the high ground, which I really like.

In any case, keep up the good work!
(also, ill try to download some more levels and check them out as well, hopefully ill be able to post something new for you to critique in turn)

EarthQuake

Nickey noodle

cholden

You can rough things in with bsp to test, but don't use it to actually build anything (stairs, etc). Static meshes handle all that stuff now, and trying to align textures on bsp is going to kill you.