Exodus

[Cysticcraze]

I am working on a map that will have a very small story line. I intend to add some custom sound files, you will probably recieve information over a radio. My intent is to have you defend a small country house from the combine that leave C17 in the end of Episode One. As They move towards white forest citizens fled the city through underground tunnels. These tunnels dubbed the "Underground Railroad," exit the city directly under this country house and have been secretly functioning for a great deal of time. However with the combine departure the exit location stands directly in the center of their path. With the rebels fleeing the city the location becomes a key point for the massive Exodus of citizens who were directed into the tunnels. Now you and a few squad members are the last line of defense, the combines will attack from tunnels, mountain paths, vantage points and even the sky.

However with a beautiful map to work with my ability to work with entities is limited. NPC control and scene sequences are a complication for me. However here are the images of my map.

[Cysticcraze]

Thanks, I am still looking into a full blown book on AI, both theories and creativity. I also want to compile a list of AI for hammer tutorials. Hopefully I can do everything I want.

[Zecrah]

Your cliffs are amazing, except it looks slightly out of place on pic 3. Possibly just lighting though. Thumbs up ^^

[Cysticcraze]

Pic three has some static props for a ceiling to the caves until a better solution presents itself.

[Major Banter]

I suppose the lighting needs heavy work; it's got an art style for sure, but it feels in early stages. Can't wait to see you round out those displacements; it might be worth getting a texture artist on board - and hitting up the Ep2 content with the Orange Box.

[Fedora]

yeah, I think some interesting lighting and some detail sprites would add a lot to the looks.

[Cysticcraze]

Moved over to episode two, I have an abundance of textures to work with that I personally made. I really want to get to work on the cinematic and gameplay aspects of the map before begining some beautification to the map. Simply because I planned on modelling some high poly trees and possibly exporting the cliffs and using them as models also, to allow for a higher poly count. However this AI incompetance I have is bothering me.

[Cysticcraze]

Update:

The official name of my mod will be "Intrepid Four."
Hoping a friend of mine will throw the mod files together, but I have yet to ask. I want to modify the SMG because it will be the primary weapon, going to change it up so that its more accurate and holds 65 rounds and 400 extra rounds.

Still working with AI a lot of experimenting.
I want so badly to understand how to create spawn locations for combine instead of having dropships drop every unit. Any suggestions?

[PhoeniX1992]

Update:

The official name of my mod will be "Intrepid Four."
Hoping a friend of mine will throw the mod files together, but I have yet to ask. I want to modify the SMG because it will be the primary weapon, going to change it up so that its more accurate and holds 65 rounds and 400 extra rounds.

Still working with AI a lot of experimenting.
I want so badly to understand how to create spawn locations for combine instead of having dropships drop every unit. Any suggestions?

There is a npc entity maker, it's used a lot in the Ravenholm maps, look at them in Hammer. Practically you'll have to set up an npc_combine_s as a template, then use the npc maker to use this dude as a reference for all the little combines to spawn.
It has settings for how frequently and how much may be spawned. Optionally you could also do this with a trigger of some sort. I don't recall a tutorial of it being posted here at lopers, but you might still want to go through these. If not, I would be happy to write something up

[Kremator]

Your displacements look good but I think they are a little bit drab at the moment, need more interesting textures and some jagged edges. Most natural rock formations are not that perfectly smooth.

[Cysticcraze]

Once again, I know the rocks arent perfect, they still need a lot of work. However I look at HL2 maps and quickly realize they have a great game without any crazy architecture. I would like to have a fully functioning map before I lose my steam. Then I can work on beautification.

PhoeniX1992 thanks for the compliments, I'm going to tear open HL2 and look at some of the maps they have as you suggested. Im also looking into finding a voice actor for my mod. I may be able to play both parts but we will see. I had a friend last night help me modify the SMG to be more accurate and carry more rounds. For the sake of the mod I want to try and keep the player from finding ammo everywhere, I want them to work with what they have.

Ill post a few updated images later tonight when I get home, still working on sequences.

[Cysticcraze]

Update Two:

Added combine crossing bridge on their crusade through WhiteForest. There advance is the reason you are discovered.

Planned on playing the voice of the main character, but frankly my voice sounds far to young once I record it. So if there are any voice actors out there that wanna give it a shot, I would be enthralled to have you play a male voice. Need two voice actors I might ask someone who lives near me to do it but that still means I need one, so we will see.

Heres the images:
Note the combine foot soldiers have been removed from the bridge because they were eating up resources.

[city14]

Man! That is some pretty good stuff! I got to hand it to ya, I was impressed from the first release!

In picture 6, the second one from the bottom, you can see the lighting screwing up across the displacements... Looks a little funny.

[Cysticcraze]

Yes the lighting outside of the house currently only consists of an env_light. I will have to work on it in the future. For now I am still studying how AI works in the source engine, a lot of things that I need to learn. I want to focus directly on a functional map then break down to the details. I have considered redoing much of the map to reduce polly counts, we will see what the future holds.

[PhoeniX1992]

How about a voice actor with a Dutch accent?