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80% done. Jacked Oblivion's soundtrack. Final weather, particles(lighting/fire/electricity etc.) and layer settings, 6000+ brushes manually covered with ice and lots of customization from the regular map here and there. Oh, and a new font to change it off.
I still need to find a job. Perhaps I can buy a Life at Wal-Mart...
Well, the Crysis MP Map is coming along fine. I will save you guys the trouble of looking through 47 screenshots I've made, and just create another video of how it's lookin' now, and when it's done. The map's around 80% done, I've got almost all the brushes set up all over the map, and there's currently over 4 miles of road on a map the size of Call of Duty 4's MP Map "Countdown".
Current Stats:
- 6079 brushes.
- 1020 which of are breakable/destructable.
- 228 vehicles.
- 4.2MI of road.
- Eight warehouses.
- 13 fully decorated buildings
And the best for last.
- ... One gun.
What remains is creating the last corner of the map, fully. I've got the five basic buildings standing already(lots of layer work, as Crytek didn't deliver the buildings as a whole). Then it's the roadwork, and trying to find something to fill the area with(Like making it a loading bay, or something along those lines).
And when I've got the corner done, it's putting down over 500 decals. On roads, buildings, objects, brushes, etc. Then I have to put in the weapons, which I'm gonna place as if it's an old school map, with guns hidden in decent places, making the player go out and explore.
And when that's done... I'll have to make the map Multiplayer ready. Which involes Photoshopping a minimap, creating invisible-walls that keep the players from leaving the map and placing the tactical PowerStruggle objects.
But here's why the topic title is so negative...
The game's really starting to fall back on me. It's being a serious pain in the ass. The map is very small, but packed. Causing my QuadCore/Nvidia 8800GT to cough up blood and hangs around the 22FPS(18 min./32 max.). And that's not just it... The custom settings I've made keep resetting:
My layers keep pressing down as one, which is the stock green(all grass/stones/dirt is gone then), the roads are enabled with a fade-out at the end, stock. I disabled that option from the beginning, the damn game keeps enabling it when I disable it.
But here's the biggest reason why the game is such a pain: Remember that frost level I made? Well, turns out the Import/Export settings Crytek delivered are crapping out on me. All custom weather settings, brushes and particle effects I created will have to be remade, and best of all - I'll have to toggle EVERY SINGLE BRUSH to be frozen.
... 6000+ layer transformations, here I come. 29 hours of my life, I'll see you later. Expect a video in the weekend, featuring both normal and frosty weather settings.
"Say hello to the map that is Vigilantes... Well, almost. It's still a wall of letters."
The respective awnser: Developers aren't limited in options. They're either dealing with having an attention span of a squirrel, or sitting on stings so they can't preform a decent job once in a while. Short awnser; Lazyness.
Anyway, todays so-called "What...?" kind of questions... Why do gamers think that options in video games are limited? It's almost as obvious as it can be. Options are endless. Only people always seem to refer to something they'd like as "If it was possible with...".
Like me... They try to sound smart by playing the smartass. For instance, "If it was possible with the Unreal 3.0 engine to create such a thing...". They make it sound as if it's really impossible to create something you'd want with that engine. My mission with most blogs is to counterargument an argument that's counterargumenting an counterargument which arguments an argument.
Did I lost you? Short: CAATCACWAAA. Cat-kak-waaaahhhh.
It's almost a taboo. People want specific stuff in a game. And spill the beans about it. But in some way, they make it sound near-impossible-to-create, to sound convincing. Want a list? No? Good, I'll get a list. Since I'm trying to banish myths and taboo's in this industry as if The Mythbusters we're helpin' me. Why not getting some people's comments to random blogs, and give them the old fasioned "WAKEY WAKEY! IT'S SOMETHING THAT MIGHT WOOOORRRKKKK!"...
And since GameSpot never fixed the Unordered List in their HTML/WYM-too-many-letters thing, I'll dot it off with an "*".
* - "With most openended games, it almost feels scripted. Sure, there's tons of AI walking the streets. But they don't do anything interesting. I'd love to see them preform a bank job, or carjack a vehicle, rob a hotdog stand. The deal."
This one was pulled of someone's GS Soapbox Editoral which I completely forgot about and can't be assed to credit fully. The guy also commented on it never being done before, so feeling that it was impossible. But it's like this;
Like I said: It's lazyness. Think of a city block, six lane streets in the middle. One bank sitting in the middle. The interior of the bank is accessable. Just try to imagine the working scene for a random bank robbery. With most current day editors, it's Proximity Triggers that adapt normal AI-scripts into something that's only triggered randomly.
For instance, think of 50 AI characters walking on the sidewalk. And you're on the other side of the road, a proximity trigger would be triggered if you're nearby. Now here comes the difficult part: The game would pick five of any pedestrians, and adapt their script to a preset script, containing agressive-versus-AI, agressive-versus-player and agressive-versus-police parameters. The game would adapt their weapon-pack, from the simple fight-back-if-hit parameters to being armed.
Then, since it's still scripted. The game would direct the cluster of five hostile AI onto a nearby AI-path, leading into the bank. A simple line, which basicly sets a path that would direct the adapted AI into the bank without walking into walls or getting run over/killed before hand.
If the AI aren't killed by the player before hand, they then walk into a so called "Bubble Grid". A grid where the AI will not walk off before the task is done. How does the game make sure the Bubble Grid does unlock after the deed is done? Certain FormID's will list in the console, creating the random scene, the agressive AI would point their guns at a clerk(still scripted), and the clerk will set off the alarm, causing the AI to get the police notorioty the player would get if he did such a thing ingame.
A simple timer will be set as soon as the AI aim guns, lasting five seconds before the agressive AI would be unlocked of the Bubble Grid. This is how simple it is for the AI to become loose from the Bubble Grid, and become hostile to anything that lives. A duffelbag would spawn on their back(simple bag-brush with physics), and the five AI characters will scatter and shoot at anything that holds a gun(Friendly fire would be disabled, since the five AI are considered a Cluster, an parameter in a FormID can enable/disable friendly fire).
How would you make it random then? The ProximityTrigger can be scripted to anything; A certain time period(for instance, it would happen every now and then on the ingame clock, only if the player is in the vicinity), after a number of times the player crosses a Trigger(a line that's street-wide you can't see while ingame). Anything.
That still doesn't make it random, for instance if you'd make the ProximityTrigger share it's disable-enable-parameters with a Trigger, you can set up an Number-Imput Randomizer. So, if you've visited that street twenty times, a bank robbery would take place. Then after fourty more visits, another will be enabled. You'd simply type a list, that the engine would see as an number-of-total-visits. Say, type 20/40/15/92/35/10/56/2/9/10. And enable Loop.
It would take 20 visits for an Bank Robbery to take place. If you visit the same street for another 40 times, another will trigger. Then 15 times later, another will trigger. Etc. Making an nicely randomized trigger-season.
The same things can be set up for example carjackings, small-time robberies. Etc. And if I can explain it with full blown detail like this in a blog, it's not that much harder in a 5-year development period.
Next time(sometime, I really don't feel like creating series again. I like to keep variety) - Another question with no credit, since I either can't find the comment back, or the lack of giving a damn is keeping me from getting it: "Rebuilding entire destroyed sections of an open ended game, without either leaving it destroyed, giving up preformance or making it instantly rebuild."
(Side note, there's some feedback in a comment on the last blog 'o mine in this blogs comment box. If you had some problems reading it, or making some sense out of it...)
Alright, another day. Another day of being a smartass in a world of dumbasses. With that I mean, I know the developer scene from the inside out. Basicly, I never have been employed for one of these companies but I have been all over the place. Nevertheless, almost being one myself. All in all, to skip the introduction yapping - The gaming market is becoming a walking Monopoly, and now there's less than ten actual developers that can consider their projects "Passion Projects". To name three, Konami's "Metal Gear Solid", Bethesda's "The Elder Scrolls" and Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft Auto".
What are passion projects? These games are made with two sole thoughts; "We're putting our love into this, because we love what we do. And we love what we make.", and two is "Money, time, rewards... For us it's the experience and the fact that we cater the buyer with a great product that counts.". The games are made from beginning to end, without a sweat drop falling. Why? They love to make what they're making, and there shouldn't be a date until it's done. It shouldn't have to become that mass advertised item. If you put passion into what you create, the date will eventually create itself, and the game will become famous with the matter of time.
These series can be compared to the Automotive Business. Take four brands. Chevrolet, Bentley, Mercedes Benz and Toyota. Chevrolet creates a sub-par vehicle, produced into millions, for a cheap price, mass advertised. Toyota creates a somewhat cheap design, but has reliable parts, for a medium price, specifically build for that region. Mercedes on the other hand delivers quality that can be afforded by still a large number of people. Bentley on the other hand creates one-time-only vehicles, with superb quality and parts. They never advertise, yet it's one of the most famous brands out there, it just comes at a price.
In gaming talk that would be the following four brands, just like above a random selection; Electronic Arts, Eidos, Ubisoft and Bethesda. EA's out to dominate, and hold the money. Like GM tried in the 60's and 70's. The quest for money and the current saving of money leads to lacking quality, and oftenly repeated junk for the full price. Eidos tries to preform better by mass advertising all products, but in the end that fails often. Ubisoft creates and publishes great games, at their own budget('round 3mill per game/license deal). Bethesda manages to put years, millions, and best of all work into their games, and keeping the advertising at a minimum, and not being halted by a date on a calender. They worked their asses off for quality goods, year after year. No quality loss.
What the hell am I trying to say?
Caps Lock On spammage: GREED. GREED. GREEEEEEDDDDDDDD. GOD-FORSAKEN-GOD-DAMNED-GREED!
Say what you will. Say what you want. Stand behind the corporate ****s that are ruining the only market where imagination is an required tool. Run back to the greedy stock-eating companies that are ruining our gaming business. Agree. Disagree. Be a know-it-all. Be a marketing-snob. Be a caring gamer. Be a random moron who doesn't even know what he's angry about.
The point is final, you can't disagree or agree with it. You can only look, and think. Imagination is exhausted by greed. Sequel spamming is an trend. And new series are just as original as Saints Row was compared to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Where is originalty? It's just like imagination, exhausted by abuse. But these are two different cases. At a point, ideas run out and wether the creators of what you basicly clone like it or not, you'll have to set SOME originality out there. That's why I phraise Volition Inc. for doing so.
Back to imagination. You'd say, you can't buy visions of something you wanna make. Wrong. And you're a fool if remain thinking you simply can't. A large number of publishers/developers are sucking the imagination of their staff dry, and it's almost close to slavery. Whatfor? Cash. And if your guys happen to run dry... No worries, go to the sequel-spamming trend. Same game, every year. With few additions.
And you know whats the worst result we could've gotten? That people are punished if they want to bring a new, original game on the market. How? Thanks to the greed of many companies, who want more by the day. It now costs five times more to create a new game, rather than just slamming a sequel onto the market of another series that's already running. Truth is that it always costed atleast twice. But some developers ask certain requirements in technology, tools and staff.
Simple enough, the publishers who now run 80% of the market say "No." to that.
Remember how it used to be? Every time, a sequel would appear. The true meaning of sequel in gaming-sense would come above; Improve on the last, add new content and be original. Nearly all great names used to be these "Passion Developers". That was, until some started to realise that it was a sack of gold waitin' to be exploited. It used to be simple. While you were creating your last hit, the developers of the developer tools(e.g Unreal/Crytek/Havok) had created new software, that could set better graphics and animations(for instance). Developers buy the new and improved kits, and start creating the formula of their last hit from the bottom up again. New world, new story, new characters, and raising the bar on all of them.
Now it's a mission to gain more, while spending less. As if you're talking to the creators of the S**tsink. And while I can digg deeper into this, how the gaming industries used to be a typical "You've got the stuff to set the imagination in motion, and they have the money. Go, and make history."... And how it's currently a leeching race, with EA leading bigtime.
I can talk all day long about how it's going down the crapper. I just want to finish it with these words, which I hope every gamer reads and shoves it in their minds.
Indie-developing is a myth. Something that was once a great start, is now impossible. Imagination is a money-bag that's waiting to be exploited.
And want to know who's responsible for turning this market a stinking s**thole as it is now, and allowing it to pull the most ****ed up marketing tricks on us? For making it into the biggest money exploiting business on the planet? Creating a handfull of monsters?
Us.
Well, it seems as if Capcom directly CTRL+C'd the movie's main theme and setting into a somewhat alternated version able of being played on a game console. It wasn't just that obvious, both are set in a mall. Both share a sense of morbid/black-humor. Both feature zombies. Both set survival into "Whack-a-Zomb". Both are created by Zombie-masterminds(Romero & Capcom).
... It just took the current license holder of George A. Romero's masterfilm, Richard Rubinstein, nearly one year and eight months to realise that DEAD RISING is practically a game-port-of-a-movie.
The fact that it's a direct copy for me didn't really made the game less enjoyable. I'm not a zombie-fan, but I did see the movie Dawn of the Dead. Good movie, enjoyed it. Overall, I liked the movie. And since the game is so alike, I dugg DEAD RISING aswell. Played it for well over 40 hours in total. I bought the game in November '06. That's around a year and a few months ago, and there was something that caught my eye... "This game is not related to George A. Romero's movie Dawn of the Dead in any way."
... Okay, I didn't gave a damn. But Sir. "What? It's 2008 Already?" didn't really move his ass when Capcom released a perfect copy of Dawn of the Dead.
GameSpot asks the direct question, is a dude caught in a mall with tons of zombies he can slay copyright infringement? In my opinion - Yes. But don't forget the atmosphere, the characters, the story, etc. All seem to be either completely similiar to Dawn of the Dead, or atleast in a direction.
Usually, I wouldn't agree with any of the money seeking jackwhipes of today trying to squeeze a penny out of a company because something looks similiar. But Mr. Richard 'Snailspeed' Rubinstein has a fair point. DEAD RISING is too similiar on too many points, and has too little originality to back itself up from the case.
Why did I make such an obvious blog? Cause this is the first time in a year, that a lawsuit on some dude-versus-a-game-company actually is in favor of the dude who points the finger. And it's the first time in six years, that there's no fair point in disagreeing with the finger-pointer-who-comes-out-of-nowhere-with-a-lack-of-reaction-speed-when-defending-his-property.
(P.S, did you know that according to Capcom, DEAD RISING should be typed with all caps?)
...Is the day we'll be snow scooping in the pits of Hell.
Today, Electronic Arts was trying to advance on the playboard of Monopoly they had standing open since '01. The so called "Not So Strategic Edition". After years of buyouts, and it's most recent 860 million buyout of both BioWare and Pandmedic, along with the firing of both Sir. "Timing" and Mrs. "We-Give-A-Damn". It was time for another earthquake in the gaming sector, a true dis-ass-ter.
As usual, the EA board looked at the calender and asked "What the hell is that thing with the squares n' numbers?". A disgruntled money-carrier of EA moved a few pages and shown April on the calender, with a huge red circle around the 29th and a comment reading "HAXXORZ DAY!".
The first thing the board purposed was "We're gonna buy TakeTwo. NAO!". The second thing was "We might need to switch our bank account to something in Austria, cause our numbers are gonna get so big that it's nearly not to be trusted.".
An TakeTwo CEO gets a random call, with the message "We, Electronic Arts want you to become Us. We are God, you are profit. We have two billion in briefcases standing outside of your office, you guys pack.". TakeTwo kindly responded with "... Get in line. And who the hell do you think we are? The Moron Bunch? Our profits can fill the World Trade Center with just dollar bills, and with Grand Theft Auto IV comin', I'd say you guys are just after our precious". EA realised, they were busted... So they played along. "Uhh... Yeah, we love GTA. It's the game that makes it's so popular. And not the controversy. End of script. Written by Jill from 4th Grade. Ohh I shouldn't have read that? Uhh, what I ment was - We love the games you guys make, so we want it all. ALL!!".
After brutally hanging up on EA, and trying to accept the mind boggling fact that it wasn't Paris Hilton prank-calling and blabbering how much of a bunch of self sentric egoistical pr*cks EA are, they walked outside and trew a rock against one of the so-well-undercover-hidden-press' van's, and gave the following statement after EA yelled "WE OFFERED 2 BILLION, AND THOSE BASTARDS DECLINED!" to every newspaper and press staff in the Mid-west:
"We believe EA's unsolicited offer is highly opportunistic and is attempting to take advantage of our upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto IV, one of the most valuable and durable franchises in the industry.".
Mr Timing and Mrs. We-give-a-damn got a warm-welcome from the TakeTwo Staff after they got booted from every Electronic Arts-vicitimized company.
The moral of this slightly poetic and little bit hatefull-versus-EA story is: EA just won't loose the horrible game of Monopoly they're playing, against theirselfs. But atleast, they've got slapped by the most influential game company in North America.
This is a day we should value, cause it was nearly the day we lost all hope in the gaming industries as EA's-going-Microsoft on everything. "Okay... Just stick a pin on the USA map. *stings* Okay, hmmm... Looks like you've nailed Volition Inc! Let's grab a bag of cash, and haul ass before that person loaded with cash called 'No Opposition' is gonna beat us to the punch!".
Like the mighty Richard Kind once said in a good episode of Spin City; "ACCESS DENIED! Hehe."
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Moving images. Epic quality. Two versions. 30% done. I really need to find a new job...
A small update on the "A few days as a Level Editor"; One thing is that Part two is uploaded here beforehand. Photobucket decided to crap out on me as I was uploading the bigger versions of the images. Another delay right there.
Two is, I'm 1/4 through creating the map. I've got Day 3 lying ready to be uploaded. But, there's a small problem lying up ahead...
I managed to upload this one, tough. If I do one-by-one, it works. But there's no way in hell I'm uploading 30 images one-by-one. Expect part two and three very soon. Within this week, I hope. With part 3 I'm gonna ask for some friendly imput. Weather settings, etc...
MY PERSONAL BLOG AT BLOGGER-something-with-less-G's or whatever the hell it was.
"The so called Hop-On-Bandwagons, I tend to wreck 'em. Well, whenever there's no censorship I'm driving 'em."
What can I say...? This place is slowly dying. I created a secundary spot to blog at should Gamespot fall in a decline. Wait, lemme rephrase that: I created a second blog-location, incase GameSpot would nail the dust like nearly five of it's most beloved employee's did.
Honestly; I won't leave. Ever. In my goddamned live. They'll have to untie me from the sacred wall of Gaming Holyness to get me outta here. Why? Cause GameSpot is the only place where the community goes first, and good numbers second. While that is costing Gamespot it's life... Jeff Gerstmann wouldn't be bribed, and was honest. He gave his job for the reputation of Gamespot.
Like I say now, said before and will remain stuck to - GameSpot.com is the only place where games get the truth slapped in the face. Where the reviewers aren't geeky-types that sit behind their PC's with a microphone blabbing a review together with the impression of "Lets get it over with". All news is considered news. It's got a great contact with the community. And their Live shows/coverages are the best outthere.
Basicly, I need the lack of censorship. And the love-hate relationship of running something yourself. Now all that remains is a logo, and a custom URL that doesn't costs 50 bucks a year. thebraindeadone.com? 50 bucks a year? Stuff the originality up the warmspot, mydomain.com.
So all in all, if you're looking for the version of no censorship and full blown truth: It's this one. If you're looking for the good ol' BDR - It's here and the same, but with less cusswords.
Yah, I'm naughty for doing that. I know. But hell, I'll be here. Even when the Titanic-called-Gamespot goes into the deep, I'll stand ontop of the thing and yell "I WOOONNTTT BAAACCKKK DOOOOWWWWNNNNN!".
First of all. This article is which I'm referring to. And I owe some people a Thank You for showing their support and for some reason it almost seemed as if some even cared. Too many to list. Cause there's another one of these "hot topics". Quite frankly, I don't give a damn for Internet Language. But this one just begs for it. As you know me, I have the habbit to attack controversial topics. Well, if you knew me since '07 or even before... You'd know my specific policy towarths criticism to my criticism. Which is if you're unformiliar - "I tend to point fingers, and yell 'MEH OPINION!' like a criminal would scream 'SELF DEFENSE!' next to a dead body while having a gun in his hand."
After nearly 350 blogs, I still need to make that one clear.
Anyway, Brenda Brathwaite. Prenounced "Brat, just wait.", she's on the GDC. And blabbered alot of talk, with basic sum-up. "You nerds are so afraid of the woman body. Show some nipples. Show some full frontal nudity. Show some smokin' action. Boobs. Are. Cool. Okay?".
All in all, I won't deny that there's an akward sense when a virtual lady comes onto you. And here's reason one against full-blown-sex-scenes in games, slapping Brenda Brathwaite in the face like the Anti-Christ slaps Jesus; Most stereotypical nerds are on a dry streak that outlives the Arizona desert. That the oh-so-awesome lead character of a game, who's most certainly not you... Gets laid before you. Full frontal action with the humping and bumping.
Reason two, this one is against hooters. You're just done with one of the biggest battles in the game, saved "The Princess". Well, job done. Happy end. The usual reward would be cash. Brenda would've liked it if Princess yanked off her bra, and gave a big hug to the hero.
Reason three, also against knockers. Big guns, and Big'uns don't collide. There's something really akward to it, let alone that the mascular man you play in the game, who's getting all the full-blown-polygon-D.D's is again, most certainly not real. Just giving you one of those "Dude... Get out some more often, would ya?".
Reason four, bit of marketing related. We all know that Mass Effect sold huge by revealing it's content. Action with Lady Williams or a blue strange alien. Side-boob and bare ass isn't what I call "Having intercourse". But the thought was there as Shepard was being the man. Exploiting marketing tricks, I see. If we'd allow full blown porn in games, EA would be all over it like a horny dog.
Reason five, bit of controversy-related. We're feeding Jack-****ing-Thompson here! How the hell do you wanna prove that he's a senile moron when you're telling he's right? Okay, it's a fact that he's a senile moron. But Y'know...
Reason six, this one heads to the taste... I think we all agree on the fact that one tiny half-a-minute-of-action doesn't do it. If you're giving us virtual pr0n, you better give us Dead or Alive: Xtreme The Uncensored Edition Expansion-Pack: With men. I never bought the game, but hell I'd say the Adult Industries will do damn well then.
Reason seven, who the hell do you think you are? Budd Bundy? Be a man and buy a Playboy. Like Al would. Make him proud. Build a secret stash of Penthouses, Playboy's... The deal. Resorting to virtual boobies is just plain akward when there's the real deal lying rack-full in racks.
Reason eight, some people compared the game business to the movie business. Fair point. But don't forget it's watching two real people doing it, versus the character YOU play as doing it with someone behind a plasmid-screen. Depressive, huh?
All in all. My side of the story would be: Games are for gameplay, and fun. Hooters are for handplay, and fun.
Killcount Special in Spoiler Tag:
[spoiler]
Sexual references to female breasts:
Hooters, knockers, boobies, rack-full, pr0n, side-boob, full-blown-polygon-D.D's, bra + big hug, Big'uns, boobs, nipples, humping and bumping... And then there's the lot of sexual references. This is the day that censorship on CNET phails like the Titanic. It's all allowed :D [/spoiler]
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