Yeah I've been following this for a while and it's really nice. He did a really good job blending those rock models into the displacement floors and the lighting is awful nice. If only the Episode 2 caves looked like this!
If it's faithful to the original Dear Esther, yeah that pretty much describes it adam.
It's this weird kind of artsy game where you just explore an empty island, with a voice-over of your characters thoughts. It's not exactly action-packed, but it was interesting enough that I played (more like walked) through it without getting bored.
Stunning work anyways, I kind of wish it was a L4D2 campaign as well myself.
I think it's a tad shameful that the caves seem to take on epic dimensions; Dear Esther takes place in Scotland (or in someone's mind!), not Middle Earth... buuuuut you can't argue with the prettiness of those screens.
Lot's of great images that tell me nothing about the mod.
Is it a cave exploring mod?
That's because the audio makes 90% of the mod. There's no actual gameplay to it.
Give Dear Esther a try, the current version is ugly compared to Half-life 2 and especially to this overhaul, but it's one of the most intriguing game experiences ever.
Someone explain it to me before I download the original. I have a holiday coming up and I'd be more than willing to try it out but so far it sounds like I'm going to be walking through caves with a person going, 'Oh thats interest stalactite!' :P
Theres no combat in the game, basically you just explore the environment and listen to sound cues that tells the story of a dying man stranded on the island.
It's fairly unique and quite intriguing, apart from the odd sound overlap.
The narration is a combination of traumatic events in the narrator's life, the history of the island and crazy metaphors. The narrator is very unreliable, however, so it's a bit of a puzzle to discern fact from fiction and who is who.
It also randomly picks from a couple of options, so as to make it even more confusing; but that's the intriguing part. Here's a possible first blurb, to give you an idea of the writing:
Dear Esther. I have lost track of how long I have been here, and how many visits I
have made overall. Certainly, the landmarks are now so familiar to me that I have to
remind myself to actually see the forms and shapes in front of me. I could stumble
blind across these rocks, the edges of these precipices, without fear of missing my
step and plummeting down to sea. Besides, I have always considered that if one is to
fall, it is critical to keep ones eyes firmly open.
It's less than an hour long, so that ought not be an impediment either. Just remember not to expect any gameplay; I had no idea what it was about the first time and expected a game, and didn't like it much in that mindset. The day after I took it for what it was and enjoyed it a lot.
it's just an interesting little story uniquely told through a fairly (extremely when the new one comes out) interesting environment. the whole expierience shouldn't take more than an hour from start to finish. - including the download
Pfft, Adam's too much of a barbarian to enjoy Dear Esther. He'd be sitting there going 'NEedz Moar Gunzz' with a little string of dribble hanging off his chin.
Did anyone actually enjoy Korsakovia, the next mod by the creators of Dear Esther? I got stuck at one point, and ran into quite a lot of bugs, so I never finished it, and I'm curious whether I missed anything.
But as mentioned before: Lots of static props, displacements with texture blends, reflection water, and a handful of teal/orange balance sprinkled on the top top make the normalmaps pop extra much.
It's not rocket science, but it looks extremely good.
its the art anyway not the engine.. you could do that in another engine. But it sure is good usage of source! Whats sweet about source is all the dynamic cubemap stuff.
Replies
Stellar work. Love it all.
Is it a cave exploring mod?
It's this weird kind of artsy game where you just explore an empty island, with a voice-over of your characters thoughts. It's not exactly action-packed, but it was interesting enough that I played (more like walked) through it without getting bored.
Stunning work anyways, I kind of wish it was a L4D2 campaign as well myself.
-edit, actually play the mod before you go through the blog, it'll be a bit like the very first time you saw HL2.
That's because the audio makes 90% of the mod. There's no actual gameplay to it.
Give Dear Esther a try, the current version is ugly compared to Half-life 2 and especially to this overhaul, but it's one of the most intriguing game experiences ever.
Someone explain it to me before I download the original. I have a holiday coming up and I'd be more than willing to try it out but so far it sounds like I'm going to be walking through caves with a person going, 'Oh thats interest stalactite!' :P
It's fairly unique and quite intriguing, apart from the odd sound overlap.
It also randomly picks from a couple of options, so as to make it even more confusing; but that's the intriguing part. Here's a possible first blurb, to give you an idea of the writing:
Dear Esther. I have lost track of how long I have been here, and how many visits I
have made overall. Certainly, the landmarks are now so familiar to me that I have to
remind myself to actually see the forms and shapes in front of me. I could stumble
blind across these rocks, the edges of these precipices, without fear of missing my
step and plummeting down to sea. Besides, I have always considered that if one is to
fall, it is critical to keep ones eyes firmly open.
It's less than an hour long, so that ought not be an impediment either. Just remember not to expect any gameplay; I had no idea what it was about the first time and expected a game, and didn't like it much in that mindset. The day after I took it for what it was and enjoyed it a lot.
Displacements, normal maps and static meshes for the stalactites and stalagmites.
Nothing too crazy.
Did anyone actually enjoy Korsakovia, the next mod by the creators of Dear Esther? I got stuck at one point, and ran into quite a lot of bugs, so I never finished it, and I'm curious whether I missed anything.
its more than just a game. its a masterpiece. my fav mod by far. i've went through it like 3 times.
you guys got me all exciteds
Seen the stupidly gorgeous Portal 2 yet? :P
Dear Esther was really very good. This is a beautiful upgrade...
That mod looks very nice, kinda like ice cream with sprinkles, and caramel.
And then this happened:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGIsj46BnQU[/ame]
But as mentioned before: Lots of static props, displacements with texture blends, reflection water, and a handful of teal/orange balance sprinkled on the top top make the normalmaps pop extra much.
It's not rocket science, but it looks extremely good.
I wouldnt' agree with that, Portal 2 is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Also I was a little bored playing the original. Still, good effort.
Source is overrated actually! :P