NovaCor: The Fringe Sci Fi mod

[agent00kevin]

Hi all, I am currently developing a total conversion mod for HL2 entitled NovaCor: The Fringe. I thought that I might go ahead and expand my advertising beyond Moddb now that I have a fair amount of content created and 3 maps all in various stages of development.

In all I am shooting for 2-4 hours of gameplay, which seems reasonable with what I have created so far. The Mod is a blend of FPS action and puzzle solving, not unlike Valves HL2 formula but not a copy of it either. It is backed by storytelling with quite a few plot twists and surprises, but the storytelling is spread out among in-game overlays (when reading emails, notes, etc on DataTabs) the objectives you complete (informative as to whats going on), in-game dialogue with NPCs and a couple cutscenes. I dont want to overdo any particular way of telling the story as some people dont like reading text, some inherently skip cutscenes and some run away while the NPCs are tryng to talk to you. (I guess in the end if you just want to shoot stuff and skip the story you will no matter what)

Heres a trailer I just finished for the Mod, my first attempt at audio/visual editing (beyond some light Cakewalk use)

And here is a link to the Moddb page where you can find all the info, screens and vids of progress.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/novacor

[ad_hominem]

Try not to make the same post in more than one subforum.

[agent00kevin]

Apologies. I didnt know which it truly belonged in so I went with both. Its a Mod, but its sill under construction.

[Ark11]

Looks good so far, just one piece of advice. I'll assume that those enemies are running on the same script and 'npc_combine'. Make sure that you give them custom sounds instead of using the stock combine ones, it'll make your mod seem alot more professional.

[agent00kevin]

Thanks! And yes, the HL2 sounds wont be in there - none of them will. I've replaced a couple sounds already but the level design is taking priority right now, as well as texture creation and modelling. This is a one man operation, so things like that will come much further down the line

[joe_rogers_11155]

this looks like dissolution's older, wiser, more handsome big brother.

your art style is really monochromatic, meaning it mainly has one color in it. the little bits of red don't help me break up the scenery. perhaps some usage of bright dramatic lights coming from the ground, from around corners, or aiming up to the ceiling...can enhance the mood and even provide some mild horror elements. You should take a good look at dead space 1 for inspiration...just dont go with their color schemes and you will be alright.

[agent00kevin]

Lol, thats the second Dissolution comparasin Ive gotten. It was decent, but kinda felt rushed in development or something. I dont see it, but it must be there.

The art style is definitely monochrome...but just for this one level. Its based in the Laboratory sections of the station, hence the whites/grays. The engineering and commons areas I have built so far contrast greatly to the sterile labs. They just arent shown in the video because there really wasnt enough done in them to feature it. I have got a few comments about it, and I am definitely trying to do something to spice it up without breaking the Laboratory feel I want the map to exude. Having that white, sterile look is important to make this level/chapter not blend in with the others. Each chapter has its own look and feel to it, so that each will be memorable and distinct from the others.

But, like I said, I am working on doing something to add a little more variation. Just tonight, I added signs that tell you where different sections are, and made them green with a white lettering so they 'pop' out. I've got a couple ideas so far as to what else to do, but I will save that for the next video.

As I always say on Moddb, I welcome any and all constructive criticsm. I carefully consider all the feedback I get; thats what helps make good mods great

[agent00kevin]

I've made some dramatic changes to the overall art design; as I felt it was too plain and blocky before. Even for the Labs, it was too drab and white. Extra detail, destruction (destruction part still a WIP) and complete overhaul of the structural ribbing in the corridors as well as yet another lighting rework.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/novacor

[joe_rogers_11155]

how do all those flickering light entities affect preformance? I know that my mid-level machine has lots of trouble trying to render even 1 flickering light. You have red and white ones flickering at the same time in the same hallway, so i am just nervous about that...

otherwise this looks pretty good.

[agent00kevin]

how do all those flickering light entities affect preformance? I know that my mid-level machine has lots of trouble trying to render even 1 flickering light. You have red and white ones flickering at the same time in the same hallway, so i am just nervous about that...

otherwise this looks pretty good.

Good question. I run my Mod with everything maxed out, and almost no optimizing done yet aside from a couple areaportals that hide small-medium areas (literally only 2 areaportals) It runs buttery smooth on this:

3.2 ghz Core2Duo
2GB RAM
Nvidia 9800GT 1GB
1200x800 resolution and running dual monitors.

Barely heats up the GPU, CPU runs around 55% +/-. RAM usage with Hammer still open and usually GIMP and VTF edit as well as various other windows runs around 70%.

I do have 3 other configuations to test on after more is complete:

1. Intel 3.2 Ghz P4 with Hyperthread
Nvidia 8600 GTS OC 512MB
4 GB RAM

2. same as above with 9800 GT 1GB (diffeent card, slightly lower clock speeds)

3. Intel 2.0 Ghz Core2Duo
4GB RAM
Nvidia 9300M GS 512MB

These should represent the lower range of gaming rigs nowadays, with the 8600 struggling with most new games with the excepion of L4D, L4D2; basically Source games still run great. Also noteworthy is that I will be testing the lowest config, the single core + 8600 on a 22" monitor, a 32" LCD HDTV and a 42" LCD HDTV. Possibly the 9300M GS + Core2Duo as well. I figure if the 8600 can do it on a big screen, people should be ok

[marks]

congrats on the RPS coverage

[agent00kevin]

congrats on the RPS coverage

WOW

Sadly, I should never have used that video, at least not yet. The construction was still under way, and the structural ribbing in the video was nothing near what I was going to/have ended up with. Much detail in the corridors was missing, and it doesnt show much other than me blasting AI, which makes it appear to be a corridor blaster. (Which its certainly is not!)

Well, I guess some exposure is beter than none! Hopefully the writer will update its status in the future, showing thr drastic changes and improvements that have been made.

Thanks for the heads up! I knew of the site but neve signed up or paid much attention to it, until now