08. April 2016, 13:15:23

#10

voodoo47Quote

well, our standards are high - anything posted will get analyzed, and flaws will be pointed out. and while I do realize you've put a lot of effort into this, that doesn't automatically mean your first attempt is flawless and praiseworthy. being able to make good stuff means you need to have a lot of experience, and you gain experience by making bad stuff first, then revisiting, correcting, and revisiting again, and eventually, after a lot of work and pain, you'll get there. as far as I can tell, the FM is not bad for a first attempt, but don't try to think there isn't room for (a lot of) improvement.

btw, this shouldn't discourage you, it should make you realize "aha! I can do much more". update your tools, dive into the FM for the second time, have a look around the forum or ask people for ideas, implement, recheck, correct, keep the gears spinning.

08. April 2016, 13:24:36

#11

chuckles n chestnutsQuote

Thanks voodoo47 I'll take what you said into consideration, I suppose I didn't realize the standards held here.   I know where I stand skill wise in regards to mapping and I know that I definately have alot of room for improvement that is true and I don't deny it so maybe, what I have can be improved upon, but as it stands I think my FM is ok, I've played it through with 2 different builds and it plays fine, I will agree the keycard implementation is sub-par but functional, and I'll have to look into updating it for the newdark engine which I will look into in the very near future, but as for now this first FM will remain as is for now at least.

08. April 2016, 13:25:11

#12

chuckles n chestnutsQuote

Thank you for your encouragement JDoran, I will stick around.

08. April 2016, 16:33:48

#13

icemannQuote

Dayam. Surprised my FM didn't get the same criticisms as it has similar stuff (no audio logs, no MFD goals). Though mine has music.

I should point out that there are several action + no audio log style FMs out there, so don't go too hard on chuckles n chestnuts.

To chuckles n chestnuts I would suggest taking any comments on board (and not to heart, as no'one is saying it to insult you personally), and perhaps adding some extra stuff here and there where appropriate. That's how releases on the internet go, regardless of the game it's for, and in the end results in improved content.

Essentials to a FM in my opinion:
* Player start (duh) + end
* Music  - Just sit down and listen to the tunes on offer in the game, and pick the one that fits the theme of your FM most.
* Make it look lived in. As in, detail to rooms is good to see.

Beyond that, go with what you feel like. Want to do it 100% stealth? Go for it. I was making a FM like that at one stage ("Alone" which there is a demo of in the engineering section I believe). Want to go for 100% action? Sweet. Feel free. Or go with the traditional style that many have gone for which emulates the main game (eg audio logs and emails, MFD goals etc etc). It's COMPLETELY up to you.

The most important thing is to NOT TAKE OFFENSE when you release something online. It's guaranteed to happen. I worked on my completed FM "Ancient" on and off for 4-5 months, and got a response of "Ancient is mediocre" from one person, and sure I was annoyed, but that's the internet. Just take it on board, and if you have the time + interest for it, then take those comments on board and add improvements, OR implement them in future FMs that you develop.

Forum feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken here, but I think much of criticisms come from the extreme lack of newly created SS2 FM content these days. So when something does get released, it's held up against the best stuff out there (eg Christine's FMs for example). But just take it on board, and go with what you feel you want to do with it. Deleting your account here would be a silly thing to do though + a major overreaction.

Acknowledged by: chuckles n chestnuts

08. April 2016, 17:16:05

#14

ZylonBaneQuote

I haven't played this yet, but I will say this--

Seriously, NewDark. It's just so, so, so much better that you won't know how you ever managed to do anything in the old DromEd. It crashes less, has more informative error messages, doesn't force you to save and reload the mission every time you want to test something, has a texture picker that's about a million times better, built-in monolog window, object hierarchy search, mousewheel zoom, hardware-accelerated rendering in editor mode, better lighting, higher-res textures, higher scene complexity... and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Now as for the critics here, you have to bear in mind that a lot of what goes on here is fixing up the original Thief and SS2 missions. Bugfixing, texture alignment, sound propagation, object positioning, general consistency issues, etc. So, many of us are attuned to looking at these things almost more as testers than as players, and will twitch when things aren't done "right" (the way Looking Glass/Irrational did it). In fact, if you disappeared right now one or more of us would probably seize your mission and polish it up ourselves. We're that obsessive.

So.... welcome aboard the crazy train?

Acknowledged by 2 members: Nameless Voice, chuckles n chestnuts