Obsttorte

they also increased the brightness, for the dynamic shadows, yeah it's possible that this is the reason but I've also read that they put in some new graphic effects, for example motion blur (why ever ), so maybe the overall performance after this wasn't all too good (at least on the consoles) and so they just threw away the dynamic shadows, who knows I never understood why someone would buy a re-release of a ten years old game anyway

as it shouldn't

maybe they removed the shadows so they can't distract the players from the plot

as I've read most of the stuff like those instinct bullshit (allowing you to see enemies in the whole area or this multikill stuff) can be turned of so probably it isn't that worse but IMO it will be much easier than ye old games, as this seems to be in somehow I've played Hitman 2 and 4 (silent assassin and blood money) and I think 4 was much easier than 2, which was quite a challenge under the highest difficulty level (I always play under the highest difficulty setting except RPG's as they tend to get frustrating then) It seems to me that publishers just don't have the guts to release games that are difficult and challenging nowadays And although there is all this kickstarter stuff right now, it is also just the same stuff released under the flag of independence (or AAA independence, hah, if I want independence I want a good game, not an AAA game which weren't good in the last couple of years) so to sum this up... :unsure: :unsure: :unsure: :unsure: :unsure: :unsure:

what I didn't get is what makes this game so special to me it seems like a normal space shooter, and although the shark monsters are a pretty creative touch, I think I've seen such games a hundred times before (don't wanna sound too negative, just a question )

the creative objective suggestion made by springheel could be extended to a creativity contest: the authors would have to make a mission that differs obviously from the "standard" FM gameplay this can be some unusual Objectives, but also some different gameplay or even the level design itself to give some examples: - objectives: as mentioned by Springheel what you've had in his map "A score to settle" / the assassination idea by Sotha - gameplay: "reap as you saw" by Fieldmedic would be a good example - level design: "the sword" of the original Thief release would go in that direction these examples are just given so you know what I mean, and this kind of contest would also include some of the other mentioned ideas (and could also be a manor heist if there is something special about it )

I don't know how it's about the others, but as far as I know most people have their problems with 3D (for example headache, nausea ... I'm one of those ) so I'm not sure it would be worth the effort if only a few people would benefit from this

sounds also nice, especially as the new hitman seems to go with the "making games easier to avoid challenging the player" flow the missions could than be rated by the creativity of possible execution methods (I'm thinking about poison or disguising the murder as an accident) @flood: you may add this to your list (and also my creative gameplay suggestion )

what's its name

The Handwalkers Contest. Achieve your objects while walking on your hands all the time. Well. As I've seen now most of the people here seem to have a more negative point of view about this topic (the use of a modular building technique, not a procedural one) Anyway. Maybe in the future, if there are some maps out there built in such a manner we could give this idea another try. But by now it seems to me that due to the negative expectations of the people posting here (counting it as representive?!) such a contest doesn't make much sense. I like the idea Springheel mentioned. But it may be expanded in the way that one has to make also other things different. So for example the mentioned objectives, or some other aspects of game mechanism or even the map design itself (remember The Sword)

are you aware of the fact that guards are wearing armor, I know it's a game but ... the only thing that would be nice would be if light armored guards would be able to climb ladders I don't see any good about wall-walking spiders, especially as most FM's don't use them (what I appreciate)

I can see what you are meaning. But wouldn't such a contest then not be the perfect way how limited in reference to creativity and non-repetivity this approach really is. By now most if not all of the released missions were build up the "traditional" way. So everybody knows that this approach leads to good results. But there are no maps that are almost completely build up from modules. It's hard to make well-founded decision if you only know one of the sites. So if some maps would be made this way, and everything that comes out is just crap, than you can say that modular building is a dead end and we should stay with the old ways. It's more like "I've always browsed on this field, so why should I leave!". IMO we should just give it a try.

as far as I understood it the difference is: - a hovering creature would basically be a walking one, just placed far enough over the ground so it seems it is flying this means it uses the walk-pathfinding and therefore only could reach areas, "normal" AI can reach - a flying AI would really fly, meaning it could move in all three directions in space therefore it would use a different kind of pathfinding latter would add a much more challenging aspect to the darkmod gameplay, as it woul be much harder for the player to escape/hide from such imagine a inventors guild bicopter steambeast something like that

yup, of course it can, if the mapper isn't to lazy to do that but this is than the fault of the maper, not of the approach btw. yeah, there seem to be a misunderstanding what I've meant in my first post was building maps from modules, so modular, as grayman explained, NOT procedural I'll change that yet another btw.: mappers also use the same set of textures in all their missions (most commonly), instead of creating new ones for every single map so it is more an expansion of an already established way of working, that CAN if rightly used enfasten the workflow without lacking on eye-candy or atmosphere, so the mapper can take the saved time spending it into special sceneries or enriching the before mentioned I've played Halo, too but as mentioned one of the criterias would be the usage of the prefabs, therefore also the way of hiding/avoiding the repetivity EDIT: changed first post, so now we are talking about a MODULAR MAPPING CONTEST

what I may add as it doesn't seem to be perfectly clear hear is, that all I did was to offer a suggestion for a contest, not a doctrine of how to build up missions and I did so because I think it is a good way suitable for attracting new mappers

I never wanted to say that all mission should consist only out of such modules this is a misunderstanding I also don't want to create something like a big prefab library I just experienced that this building style provides some advantages, and that this could be most useful to new/unexperienced mappers so you could see it as a basic for a new beginners contest I also think that such prefabs are a good tool to provide new mappers with useful informations on how to achieve specific effects in a simple manner OLD HABITS was my ... I don't know 16th approach or so, and there were a lot of cons in the whole layout caused by unexperience and bad building technique so instead of starting completely from scratch beginners would have a good starting point it's just the technique that fascinates me , not what comes out in the end the latter is up to the mapper IMO I'll give it a try when I finished my current FM (in a month or so, hopefully )

why?

I will test it tonight by redemapping OLD HABITS if you're right someones get a hamper

if you stay with the module mappers could use them for different building layouts one/two/three floors, L-/T-shaped base and so one

I just had an idea for a contest flushing trough my mind and just want to post it here before I forget I don't know if you like it, we'll see MODULAR MAPPING CONTEST it consists out of two steps STEP I: - some mappers try to create little map modules for mapping, such as hallway parts, little rooms, building facades and so one - to do this there should be a discussion on which sizes to use - they post images of it after a fixed time and upload it as prefabs STEP II(the main contest): - the contestants download the prefabs and have to build a map mainly out of those - creating new parts or non-module sceneries should stay at a minimum but is allowed - retexturing of the modules is of course allowed beneath the evaluation of the map in terms of look-like and gameplay we could also evaluate the usage of the predefined modules there are some good thinks about this IMO: - we will have a couple of prefabs ready - we'll have a discussion about stantarization of such modules, although may not be needed for everyone to me seems to be something good especially for new mappers - as the usage of such module is relatively fast and error-prone, small til medium sized maps could be created in a rather short time, what is also especially good for new mappers, who may not want to spend three months on their first map or who try it and then get bored this is just an idea so feel free to reply/criticise on it I'm looking forward to hear what your thinking about it

as I said it's only about 25-30% finished there are lots of details missing btw.: performance is great right now also I noticed that dmapping is much faster, although I dont know if it's an effect of the procedural building style or if the long dmapping time in my first mission was a result of my terrible building technique there for comparission: - dmapping OLD HABITS took about five minutes in the and - the current map is dmapped within less than 30 seconds, although the brush and patch amount is nearly the same

I've seen that the AI has a movetype spawnarg, but it doesn't seem to affect how the AI is actually moving does anybody know what this spawnarg is for?

indeed, very nice job also noticed a good sync in the scene when you drew a flashbomb for the first time and guitar adds to the music don't noticed it before, it really kickes ass IMO ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

OK, just checked the AI.cpp and corresponding header the AI has a protected member variable idMoveState move (Class and name) for evaluation of path / movement the code checks move.movetype if move.movetype == MOVETYPE_FLY, the fly code is used unfortunately it doesn't seems that this value can be manipulated by spawnargs, but may be overloaded when creating a new class for new AI like the fire elemental what can be set is the spawnarg "animate_z" "1", what should disable gravity will try it used for something else

pssh ...