New blockout map coming "end of November-ish"... apparently.

(Violator) #41

[QUOTE=Anti;511928]People can make geometry in UDK now and it could be imported to the game, but that’s the extent of it. The following would still need to be resolved for each map:

[ul]
[li]Applying Dirty Bomb game rules[/li][li]Applying Dirty Bomb spawn system[/li][li]UI support[/li][li]Loading screens[/li][li]Legal/ownership issues of player content being added to the game[/li][li]Making sure the block-out supports our modular level art process[/li][li]Ensuring the map is built to the game’s scale (Raste’s Marble Arch map was quite close here, Highway was not)[/li][li]Primary and Secondary objective gamecode/scripting support[/li][li]Several hundred other things…[/li][/ul]

We’ve not added these maps to the game because of any sort of ‘creative control’ issues, they’re not in because there are a host of production, process and legal issues around them and they’d take a lot of effort to resolve, effort that is better spent elsewhere right now.

If we had an SDK that was ready to go for map making this would be less of an issue as more tools and instruction would be available for map makers and the process from block-out to playable map would be much quicker and easier, but SDKs are huge complex pieces of work that take many months to produce and we don’t have one right now.

We like custom mapping, it’s a good thing, but it’s not going to happen right now and that is for very practical (not conspiratorial) reasons :)[/QUOTE]

My big concern is this is what we’ve been hearing this argument since day one and we don’t have any faith that its ever going to happen :(. Other games don’t seem to have these issues? (availability of SDK aside). When Nexon ‘took over’ it seemed to kill any hopes of custom content stone dead, my guess being to do with interference with their hosted server / ftp model?

(Sun_Sheng) #42

[QUOTE=montheponies;511856]The maps feel smaller than they are as SD chop them up into small serial objectives - Beach on RTCW isnt massive, but it never felt claustrophobic, mainly because the entire map got played from start to finish (grab the forward spawn flag back and the offense started from the beginning again).

Again, Obj style serial progression in a SW sized map isnt going to win any design prizes.[/QUOTE]

+1

And on the subject of mines, I just can’t understand why they are visible at all. It almost completely negates the point of them. In terms of game play with the current mines anyway, I don’t even look for them. Where I expect them to be around an objective, one nade before I go in for a plant or defuse wipes them out and clears the objective, and where I don’t expect them, they do so little damage i just run straight past, take the minimal hit, and carry on.

As for Dome, it’s 3 weeks since I’ve played it and unless there have been changes in that time, in a competitive match with comms and decent teamwork I’d still expect it to be a full hold every time.

(Glottis-3D) #43

isnt there a way to do some of the listed issues without SDK?

i mean

-scale is totaly can be adjusted by the mapper, if you provide some kind of standart template “box/widow/door/longjump length etc”
-simple familiar objects can be done schematically like a “hack this box for 40secs and Red door opens”
-same goes for spawn system

(PixelTwitch) #44

[QUOTE=Glottis-3D;511935]isnt there a way to do some of the listed issues without SDK?

i mean

-scale is totaly can be adjusted by the mapper, if you provide some kind of standart template “box/widow/door/longjump length etc”
-simple familiar objects can be done schematically like a “hack this box for 40secs and Red door opens”
-same goes for spawn system[/QUOTE]

its all possible but you would require all assets, classes and more. So… basically an SDK >.<

(tokamak) #45

SD has already provided scales and I believe even reference textures.

(tokamak) #46

I wonder how Epic is doing that with their new Unreal Tournament project.

That said, all the other stuff mentioned is great. I’m glad this quality assurance is in place.

Decentralised material is great but it has to be centrally distributed to prevent garbage and countless different versions and whatnot from entering the map circulation.

(onYn) #47

Honestly I like dome the most, and it was the first map I really enjoyed yet - and I am in this alpha/beta for a while now. The different and to some extent “open” routes, the mix of wide and middle to close range really make the difference for me. Obviously there are specific things that need to be fixed overall. But I honestly prefer maps that are made like this - since I think that they really benefit from DB´s general gameplay over maps that just cut everything out just to have an easier life balancing mercs. I am looking forward to any new map, and hope that they keep improving in the direction Dome did. But that´s obviously just my opinion from a perspective of this game being focused arround FPS, rather then some MOBA´ish FPS.