Ns_lazarus
Infinitum
Anime Encyclopedia Join Date: 2002-08-08 Member: 1111Members, Constellation
Anime Encyclopedia Join Date: 2002-08-08 Member: 1111Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">Tentative title. marine objective</div>Oh yes, I have decided to get off my arse after many many years of procrastination and learn WC (Or Hammer, old habits die slow) to make a map from start to finish.
So far I don't have much to offer you, that is to say I am in the process of drawing up a prelimenary floor plan and it proceeds fairly steedily.
However I can give you the setting and talk about what I plan to do.
Lets start off by giving the Marine's backstory/mission:
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->Roughly about 57hrs ago a distress beacon was activated on the remote mining facility on the Lazarus moon orbiting above Nospheratus. All contact with the miners has since been severed, it appears the power has been cut and the mine is running on emergency power.
Recon couldn't pick up anything on a flyby either, but infra-red imaging picked up large masses of various sized entities. None of them are human. HQ is assuming the worst, and the general hypothesis from the eggheads is that the miners breached a hachery of sorts and awoke a whole bunch of xenomorphs. I assume you can guess what happens next.
The news just keeps getting better and better, as it appears the mine is connected via a railway to a dome city about 40km away where the miners family and various other civilans are located. So rather than attacking the mine from above and working to the lower levels, which is impossible anyway cause there's no power to open the top landing bay, HQ has commandeered us a passenger train and we are to breach the mine from the middle levels. The train also contains a load of military grade nano-tech for us to flush the system with once you arrive.
A map of the mine indicates that the generators are located on the top level of the map and since elevators will be offline until power is restored, the only viable route is through access stairwells. Remember people, activation of the generators will restore lighting, bring the elevators back online and at the same time lock down ALL doors slowing down advancement of an hostiles. Though it is not a necessity as advancment is still possible through the access stairwells, power ensures us faster movement through the mine and gives us the extra ability to close doors and weld them shut.
So in summary gentlemen,
- Breach the mine from the middle level and flush the system with nano-tech
- Activate the generators to restore lighting, elevators and close the doors.
- Police the mine and clear out any and ALL hostiles
Remember people, if we fail it will cost the lives of countless innocents back at the dome city. Failure is NOT an option.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sound intriguing so far? I hope so.
Don't worry about level over level stuff, I have read the faqs and submission guidelines, so the map works a little differently. Basically the mine is on a slope. The top levels, the middle levels and the bottom levels.
Top level: Power generator, main gate, vehicle bay, pc rooms, and the flight pad. Think of it like the administration block of the mine
Middle level: Train station (Marine start), labs, pipe rooms, mess hall and various storage rooms and whatnot.
Bottom level (Where I'm having a hard time): Mine, refinery and I don't know... I'm really open to suggestions at this point. Something to do with a cave/mine facility would be nice. Suggestions?
Finally I better describe the atmosphere I'd like to create. Powers been cut, so the mines down to emergency lighting at the start of the round and it'll be red flashing lights ahoy. The mine also saw an earthquake so a lot of passageways have been blocked off and a lot of pipes now have steam coming out of them. Hoepfully if I don't reach my entity limit I'll add stuff like leaking pipes and whatnot.
Once power is activated (IF it gets activated) power comes back on and the level becomes less moody for the marines.
I'm making this map raise the atmosphere bar a little and to try and scare the crap out of one or two people who play this.
So in summation, this map is going to take a while to make because I don't have a lot of expereince with WC and because I'd like to make it as unique as possible (IE see what's been done in the first release and take some tips from it) Rest assured I am REALLY going to see this map from start to finish and if you see me start to waver from this task I urge you to push me on towards this goal.
-Inf
PS I'll post an overview as soon as I can, but I need suggestions for the bottom area!
So far I don't have much to offer you, that is to say I am in the process of drawing up a prelimenary floor plan and it proceeds fairly steedily.
However I can give you the setting and talk about what I plan to do.
Lets start off by giving the Marine's backstory/mission:
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"><!--QuoteEBegin-->Roughly about 57hrs ago a distress beacon was activated on the remote mining facility on the Lazarus moon orbiting above Nospheratus. All contact with the miners has since been severed, it appears the power has been cut and the mine is running on emergency power.
Recon couldn't pick up anything on a flyby either, but infra-red imaging picked up large masses of various sized entities. None of them are human. HQ is assuming the worst, and the general hypothesis from the eggheads is that the miners breached a hachery of sorts and awoke a whole bunch of xenomorphs. I assume you can guess what happens next.
The news just keeps getting better and better, as it appears the mine is connected via a railway to a dome city about 40km away where the miners family and various other civilans are located. So rather than attacking the mine from above and working to the lower levels, which is impossible anyway cause there's no power to open the top landing bay, HQ has commandeered us a passenger train and we are to breach the mine from the middle levels. The train also contains a load of military grade nano-tech for us to flush the system with once you arrive.
A map of the mine indicates that the generators are located on the top level of the map and since elevators will be offline until power is restored, the only viable route is through access stairwells. Remember people, activation of the generators will restore lighting, bring the elevators back online and at the same time lock down ALL doors slowing down advancement of an hostiles. Though it is not a necessity as advancment is still possible through the access stairwells, power ensures us faster movement through the mine and gives us the extra ability to close doors and weld them shut.
So in summary gentlemen,
- Breach the mine from the middle level and flush the system with nano-tech
- Activate the generators to restore lighting, elevators and close the doors.
- Police the mine and clear out any and ALL hostiles
Remember people, if we fail it will cost the lives of countless innocents back at the dome city. Failure is NOT an option.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sound intriguing so far? I hope so.
Don't worry about level over level stuff, I have read the faqs and submission guidelines, so the map works a little differently. Basically the mine is on a slope. The top levels, the middle levels and the bottom levels.
Top level: Power generator, main gate, vehicle bay, pc rooms, and the flight pad. Think of it like the administration block of the mine
Middle level: Train station (Marine start), labs, pipe rooms, mess hall and various storage rooms and whatnot.
Bottom level (Where I'm having a hard time): Mine, refinery and I don't know... I'm really open to suggestions at this point. Something to do with a cave/mine facility would be nice. Suggestions?
Finally I better describe the atmosphere I'd like to create. Powers been cut, so the mines down to emergency lighting at the start of the round and it'll be red flashing lights ahoy. The mine also saw an earthquake so a lot of passageways have been blocked off and a lot of pipes now have steam coming out of them. Hoepfully if I don't reach my entity limit I'll add stuff like leaking pipes and whatnot.
Once power is activated (IF it gets activated) power comes back on and the level becomes less moody for the marines.
I'm making this map raise the atmosphere bar a little and to try and scare the crap out of one or two people who play this.
So in summation, this map is going to take a while to make because I don't have a lot of expereince with WC and because I'd like to make it as unique as possible (IE see what's been done in the first release and take some tips from it) Rest assured I am REALLY going to see this map from start to finish and if you see me start to waver from this task I urge you to push me on towards this goal.
-Inf
PS I'll post an overview as soon as I can, but I need suggestions for the bottom area!
Comments
The interaction with the level (power turnon) will be very unique, and I cant wait to see it in action!
The Mine thing will also be very cool. I hope when I play your map for the first time, i get a chill in my spine <!--emo&:p--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'><!--endemo-->
Anyway: i have a question or 2
1) Where is the alien start
2) Where are the hives going to be?
The alien start is located randomly on one of the 3 positions.
Marines on one side of the map, xenomorphs on the other. I'll try to find a way to not 'pen' either side in too much.
What this means is that height changes can't be *too* drastic in your map, or it will be unplayable from the commander's perspective. That said, I like this idea, and I hope you can make it work! (:
I'm thinking it'll either just stack the same as a normal building would (One floor above the other) and no huge 10m in betweens.
So
= Level 1
= Level 2
= Level 3
and not
= Level 1
= Level 2
= Level 3
heheh I just love giving text examples =p
Perhaps in future releases we'll see commander views that can slide along a slope, but one must make do with what is at hand and because of that realism is sacrifised for game play considerations.
LEVEL1
LEVEL2
LEVEL3
Still getting used to these forums nauces.
It's a mine that runs on a slope so no level is above the other, but they keep going down
Sounds cool. Have fun. Hard as hell.
It could be mineral processing, with conveyors running around the place, rock crushers and goods trains for moving around the ore. This is just a suggestion, and if you want your map completely unique then don’t use it because I’m making a whole map on a mineral processing station <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo-->
And I gotta think of good positions to put the air shafts that link up the levels. Maybe a few tunnels and whatnot.
urgh, it's just really hard thinking of a good layout for the bottom level that links up properly.
A very good suggestion.
Maybe one that rides up from the deepest part of the mine (Behind the alien hive) all the way up to the vehicle bay entrance on the ground level.
R_speeds may be the only thing that kills this idea. Hmm the only way I could think to do this is to have a huge moving platform that goes down. Remember in the begining of HL where you flipped a switch and the platform moved down and all these little ####### snarks drop down on you? Like that. ooooh and then you get air ducts all along the sides making for sneak attacks. mwhahahaha the possibilities people!
*gives yesukai a cewkie*
*door on right closes*
*pitch black*
*activasion sound*
*lights start flying upward*
*lights slow*
*lights stop in place*
*lights go out*
*door on left opens*
Obviously it's a very basic schematic, but it leaves a wealth of possibilities open. Most interesting, IMO, would be a catwalk or bridge on the upper or middle level, spanning a pit on the middle or lower level. There are a lot of other possibilities that could stem from this idea... for instance, rather than a linear, diagonal descent, make a spiral descent. With that idea, there might be an area of the upper level that looks out over the lowest level... a cave opening out over a chasm, or (as I said before) a walkway of some sort.
Anyway, here's the drawing. Remember, if you *do* do level-over-level design, it should be *minimal!!!!* The Commander cannot see the lower level of any overlap, which will be frustrating if that area is one that will see heavy combat and/or base expansion.
<span style='font-size:17pt;line-height:100%'><b>!</b></span>
A metal beam falls down 5 feet infront of you, comes down with a load of debris sprinkling over your head, AND makes one hell of a *bang*! sound. <!--emo&:D--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':D'><!--endemo--> shortly there after much of the corridor is in ruins and is flooded with mud that goes to the ankles. <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
i would think acouple of these corridors could scare, oh, say... about 3-5 marines. maybe crush a alien or two as well...
imagine:
---***----
<!--emo&:bob:--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/bob.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':bob:'><!--endemo-->
=======
then after:
-- ---
-***-
=======
heh. lets just hope a marine doesn't try to rush to the end of the corridor though... *splat* = player(s) mad. after all, it IS a mine, basic parts of a story: man vs himself, man vs the elements, (nature/natural forces) or man vs man [or man vs alien, in this case.]. this map has the second and fourth story lines.
/me likes lots!
/me prays he finishes it and makes it look nice)
Legend is provided, everything except height is withheld (It'd get to confusing), but I will mention what is on each level.
Ground level: Generator, PCR (PC Room), Front Gate, Equipment Bay, V.B. (Vehicle Bay) x2, Alien Start (Landing pad), Mine Tram Top Level
Middle level: Marine start (Train station), Reception, Labs x2, Alien Start (Mess Hall), Mine Tram Middle Level
Bottom level: Storage (You'll see <!--emo&:p--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'><!--endemo-->) Alien Spawn (Deep in the mine), Mines, Mine Tram Bottom Level
Each level is divided by the elevators and access stairwells (So you can see the different floors if you have a proper imagination)
The tram is a huge shaft that intersects all 3 levels and will have to be minimal structure wise if it's gonna work (Curses R_speeds)
Note lack of ventilation system for aliens, it's all planned out in my head and would be WAY to complex to put on paper.
Already I've made some very minor altercations to this design. Hurrah for progress
So yeah, enjoy. Feedback welcome =p
The "alien starts" as you have called them should really be named hives. Anyway, is there any chance of color coding the main paths based on their height. It would make it a lot easier to understand <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
Give me 5 minutes. 'Alien starts' are errors cause I did the ol copy+paste routine =p
Level One = Teal
Level Two = Light Green
Level Three = Green
Mine Tram = Multicoloured to show direction from top to bottom <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
The spread of resource nodes looks unabalanced too. You should move some over to the far right of the map to give the plays a reason to go over there.
And move the top hive from the landing bay up into the top vehicle bay (V.B.)
Perhaps if you would be so kind to edit my layout Chrome and give me some suggestions of better positioning of RN's and hive's, etc.
I'll pm you a copy in black and white gif format.
I've hacked it around a bit and came up with this (see attached).
The only problem remaining is the tram tunnel between the top level and middle level hives. I would have prefered to move the tram into the middle of the map, but it would cause too many R_speed issues.
Infinitum, It's looking really good, It's nice to see a professional process from start to finish. With this organisation I expect to see a finished map, and a good one at that <!--emo&:)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'><!--endemo-->
I'm still relatively new to the whole mapping process as I've yet to see a project through fully, which I'm hoping to rectify. I WILL see this project through, no matter how much it pains me, or what goes wrong, you will see NS_Lazarus one day.
Batt: Keeping the shaft very simple, with one giant moving platform and very basic sides and drop offs.
Chrome: Good god man... @_0 I like your positioning of nodes though, I'm taking some notes about them <!--emo&;)--><img src="http://www.natural-selection.org/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'><!--endemo-->
I'm just experimenting with some hallways and whatnot, but Zoner's is being a POS and not liking any of the settings I put in.
Would someone be kind enough to post their compile.bat or what it contains so I can have a look at a proper one with the hullfile and example.rad included? Cheers
I like the layout
Any alien only corridoors planned?
Door closes
Indor walls of elevator move DOWN (it seems elevator go up)
Opposite door opens.
Last and not least what program have you use for the layout?, Do you think an 2D-Layout Editor will be useful?