(WIP) HL 2: Ravenholm WM

[Epifire]

So the newly founded Centrifuge team has been working at a steady pace to get things done. So from the map perspective I have been looking for a lot of opinions regarding what people think Ravenholm should look like. Still far from finished here is the base map discussed in this thread... http://www.interlopers.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=35977

So for those screen shots I wished to post. Here they are...

South side exit gate for the cart ride (on the track that can be made out leading into the hill).


Facing East just a few feet outside of the survivor base.


North side loading gate ladder.


Back behind the survivor base. Debated detail room atm, due to performance issues.


Leading to the West side loading gate.


Facing North to the north tunnel (the one with that room with the ladder).


Suggestions are indeed appreciation, but please bare in mind I still got a lot of work to do.

[Stormy]

Definitely needs a lot of detail passes, but I'm sure you'll get to that once you have the gameplay all sorted. How does it play? Also the FOV on some of those shots is atrocious, have you cut them out of parts of the screenshots you have taken? Can you put up normal screens instead? It's very distracting.

[Epifire]

Well on the part of the long view distances I am in the process of sealing the bottom half off with skyboxes/buildings. I am using a lot of area portals and occluder brushes (only a few occluders though). It will be accessible in a ending sequence for the cart ride, so I am keeping it in this main map until I can make a identical map that is optimized for the cart scene. On another note the screen was zoomed in so that I could avoid the weapon model. Forgot the command to take it out, so I improvised. Sorry if it is distracting.

I opened up the view because I can. What really gets me about mods a lot of the time is they show just how confined you can be in Source. This is designed to do the latter. I am sorting out lagy areas, and optimizing brushwork as well as adding more. I will not be detailing to much until later since game play will really decide what goes where. I still have east and west to finish, but I am some what worried about my current amount of brush faces. Plan on having the map ready for testers when I get the environment done. NPC scripted scenes will come after the levels are done, with what I hope to be little adaptations in the actual level itself.

Really looking forward to getting more content out. It is a little soon to show some of this off other wise I would show more.

[ErikKiller]

I trust you've gone over this: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Ravenholm ?

[Epifire]

I have read up a lot on the combine over wiki about it, which is roughly the same information. I can't really rely on it entirely though since Valve's version is sort of an aftermath where mine is not. Big plans for an ending though as some of this has been evolving, as to merge with Valve's first level for the escape to the last safe resort being Eli's lab.

Note: one important thing about allies, is that they hold at the starting point/base and stay there so you can go retrieve things and ultimately cover the retreat with the radio message telling the rebels at Eli's lab, that you and your allies are going there to retreat to safety. Scripted scenes are going to be the hardest part, not the level. Rather convincing voice overs, and maybe even some new faces.

[Ark11]

The lighting is too weak, theres alot of completely dark areas. You're obviously trying to create the Ravenholm atmosphere but that kind of low lighting just doesn't work well. You can still have a creepy Ravenholm atmosphere with decent lighting, try not to have many completely dark areas unless, just think whether the player will have trouble seeing. You could and give the lights some colour and variety in colour. You could improve the outdoor lighting by adding some moonlight. Make some lights blue, some yellow, some orange, etc. Just don't make any pure white, they're ugly and just don't occur in real life. Hope these tips help.

Also, very rarely have the players flashlight be the only light source.

[Epifire]

Planned on sticking with the use of sky box lighting and use of sun spread. Gonna throw in a higher light intensity from the sky box, but you gotta have some dark areas, as it is realistic to have some darker corners. There is going to be some challenge in electric light sources vs fire, mainly because the lights will turn on when the generators are reactivated. Think of Thief: The Dark Project, in the haunted section of the city. If you have played thief, the electric lights on a switch would make a lot of sense.

Thanks for all the pointers guys, I will be using this as reference as for what to change and add in. Wanting to get this out as a test bsp when I get this presentable.

[Epifire]

So here is the updated version of the map, and with a lot more detail added in. I just used a bsp packer to make sure it all went through, so sorry to those with a slower internet connection 42.8mbs is the best I can do right now. There will not be any of our custom code since this is not the full mod. So your not getting the HL 2 beta rifle, or any of our custom hud features.

It is designed for the EP 2 engine, but I was able to run it on HL 2 as well.

Things in this version...

More lighting, and although I did increase it as much as I could, where I could, there are dark corners because there are supposed to be.

There has been a added 3D skybox among other optimization to to improve in-game performance.

And lastly there is a infinite zombie spawner that you are not forced to activate, but it is just there for people who wanted to see how well they navigate. There is also text (English only) that points out different areas and where they will lead in latter versions. The playtest content is obvious, such as developer textures, along with the trigger text.

So here it is, test it as you will, and post about what ever the problems are that you find in it...
http://www.mediafire.com/?d9qjs42r4z9d7dj

For those of us who may not want to download something that they can see no previews on, the rest of this post of for you...

[Epifire]

Hey here is just some more of the ongoing content of our mod! We already got a Moddb page now but since you guys are my community that I started in Source with I thought I would post a fair share of the updates here.

Of course here is our Moddb page for the ongoing content... http://www.moddb.com/mods/hl-2-ravenholm-world

Now for the models MrBlackspoon and I have been hard at work with...

[HoliestCows]

This sounds really interesting, I like the module upgrading you can do in this.

[Epifire]

If we pull it off correctly it should be really fun to play. We have been just transforming things into models so that the level retains more detail and feels less brush based. While we are not a big development team, we have been going at a steady pace, improving things along the way.

Should be fresh, fun, and provide an interesting view when it is all said and done.

[Epifire]

Alright so we got some more updating stuff going out here. I am just gonna copy and paste with our update from Moddb as it is going currently...

Things to note so far...

-Working Hud goal system (that will be key bound to view).
-The HL2 Beta rifle to be stashed for you to find.
-Fixed Rebel allies from calling the player, "Freeman" since you don't actually play as him in this story.
-General engine modifications as well.

The Video below shows off the new hud features, as well as the added rifle in a little test mission...

Things to expect in the coming updates are...

-More news on NPC adaptations.
-More pieces to the current story line.
-More shots related to new levels and model assets.
-Media on the compass we are gonna try and implement.
-Readable notes that will be seeing in-game usage, for our back story.

Thanks for following us, we hope to be showing a lot more soon here! -Centrifuge Team

[stoopdapoop]

please please pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee get rid of that awful headbob.

[fishshapedfish]

There will be an option turn it off like in BM:S if you really can't stand it

[Epifire]

There will be an option turn it off like in BM:S if you really can't stand it

Yeah some people do not do so well and get motion sickness so that is where I see that understandable. If I get into coding I still wouldn't mind trying to implement that partial crouch so as to actually move the view up and down instead of rocking the view. I find it the most accurate without attaching the camera to a character model that had it's animations copied of a guy in a sausage suit.