I started work today on the third version of the villa map. I haven't worked on this project in nearly a month, but in that time I've been directed to a couple of sites (fpsbanana and HL2DM University) to promote the map, and both have been immensely helpful. I wanted to get feedback from outside sources and sure enough, there were at least a dozen pretty important issues that most likely never would have thought of fixing.
The biggest issue has to do with overall performance. FPS were pretty volatile on a lot of machines, and it was enough jumpy for me when I played on a server in Japan. I'm going to do a bit of reading but I know there are some ways to boost performance without hurting the looks of the map or the gameplay. For now I'm going to increase the lightmaps (reducing the shading quality)and compile the map in LDR to make it easier to download and install.
Monday, March 02, 2009
version three of the beta
Sunday, February 22, 2009
trouble in paradise, part 1
I've made a comic to spread some interest in my current project, the villa. It follows the misadventures of two friends as they seek refuge from the combine. Enjoy!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
vacation time is over... sort of
Since the completion of the second beta release of my map, I decided that I needed a break. Well, now I need a break from my break, but I want to work on something other than my map until I can get some feedback on it. I don't know what I'm going to work on in the meantime, but whatever it is, I will be posting pictures of it soon. God knows you can never have too many pictures!
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
the second beta is HERE
The second beta version of the map is ready for download!
You can find it right here.
To install, simply download the .rar and unpack it wherever. I've included a readme with instructions inside.
If you have any questions or comments you can email me at klyemar@gmail.com or you can leave a comment here.
Thanks for reading, and happy playing.
i think i might have finished the second beta
I feel like I have spent far too much time working on this second version of the level. The work involved with adding the extra content has been fine, and for the most part it's been fun. I'm talking about the process of wrapping up loose ends that comes after the addition of said content. I must have spent hours just adjusting the lighting to make sure the shadows were cast right, or fixing two hours worth of mistakes with three hours of work... and I am still loving this. That's something else.
Here's the latest batch of updates for your hungry, hungry eyeballs.
i've added (or subtracted) the bricks from this new bathroom
the bathroom from above through a hole in the floor
you can enter here through the basement cave
the cave takes you into a small room above one of the hallways
the ladder takes you up to the bathroom
Friday, January 30, 2009
video update
I've finally made a video demo of the villa. I'm going to try to make a higher quality video later when I have a chance to play test the newest edition. Enjoy!
what i do when i'm not at my computer
I thought I would post some pics of what else I've been working on. In my spare time I like to paint plastic figures for one of my games that's sitting in my closet. I've been working on them with the ever-so-lovely RachelKiah, and we've already finished four of them in just a couple of weeks.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
cave pictures
The results of an all-night, all-day, all-night session. I need to get faster at this...
The scenic villa...
A trap door...
No point in wasting time, let's bash it apart!
Probably should've looked before leaping...
A whole new area to explore...
I added the cliffs because I was bored...
I can't say why, but I just love this look...
only one more update to go
I have some new pics of the progress I've made. I made one big change and one small change. I'm trying to fix the scenery around my map, so I added surrounding cliffs to make the villa really feel nestled in the mountainside. I added some hills behind the town in the distance to make it look less flat (I'm from western Washington, so I'm used to seeing hills on every side of me).
The change I'm most excited about is the addition of a larger room with a lake in the basement caves. I'm hoping that with the addition of a few more tunnels, this will be a centralized hub below the map. The sweeten the deal, I threw an RPG in the lake. The reason that I added it here was to give the player a feeling of danger, since no place is more vulnerable than the water, especially deeper water. I threw a trap door in the living room to allow the player to jump from the upper level to the lower level very quickly.
I just finished playing with my roommate, and I'm already noticing areas where I wish a passageway existed. I only need to add a couple passages to the basement and I think I will finally be able to upload the second beta version of the map.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
lofty goals
There was a little interest in a downloadable version of my second beta so my hope for my two days off will be to have a fully playable and somewhat decent looking version up and running; I'm hoping it'll be ready by Thursday night.
*fingers crossed*
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