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Sometimes I just want to come here and say stuff like "hah, how about those biscotti biscuits, eh? Tried for the first time and my mind was blown into a million tiny biscobits. They're pretty good! also, I'm a dad now. anyway, bye" But I feel a new topic would be too strong, and I'm not yet sold on the Discord. I was an avid IRC user in the past (where I met my current wife, btw) but even so discord still doesn't work for me, I don't know. So yeah, I am a dad now! that is actually a thing. He looks like me and is very tiny and I love him. Also, the easiest personality to raise a child I've ever seen! this is baby easy mode, for sure. He barely screams and cries and just generally makes my life happier. The day before he was born I was super insecure and afraid. Would I love him? would I raise him well? as soon as I held him I knew that if anything happened to him I would murder an entire football team with my bare hands and then kill myself. As grim as that sounds this is actually a good thing. Also, a good use for this topic is for all of us to dump our TDM-unrelated game dev projects! I decided to make a game for the SEGA Mega Drive (Genesis for the Americans). It's a grid platformer akin to Flashback, prince of persia, blackthorne and others. I reject the term "cinematic platformer"; I think it's silly. But, brushing aside nostalgia, the only things I like about those games is the animation, obviously, and the grid snapping. There is potential for strategic gameplay in grid-based games and I think those games I mentioned should have focused less on precision platforming and more on semi puzzle gameplay. So I'm making it a stealth game! I don't think Mega Drive has any of those yet. Having some fun with debug logs: I have currently 4 game dev projects, which I cycle through periodically, but this is my main obsession right now.

I want to have some customized messages appear for certain objectives and was curious if there was a way to prevent the hard coded gui messages for objective complete or new objective from appearing. I was able to suppress the objective complete message by inserting a frame delay between the objective being completed and making it visible, but of course this results in the "new objective" message popping up even if the objective had been visible before. I didn't see anything, but anyone aware of a method to "silently" make an objective visible so custom gui messages and sound effects could appear?

If you like to try an alternative set of footstep sounds, you can download the zip file and extract this to your darkmod/sound folder. (if there is no sound folder in your darkmod directory, just create one. There you put in the sfx folder from my zip file). Current Version: 1.16 Download Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8qyRA15i6FhX2ZHellLQ3I1Q0k In the following posts you'll find some (not up to date) videos which were created during the process. I recommend just to download the small file, extract and test ingame by yourself since the videos use some old sounds which were replaced during the years.

I'm not sure if this is doable, but, I have some stairs that I want to use patches on for the carpet. I tried individual patches and bending them for each stair, but getting the textures to line up is impossible. So making a single large patch and manually placing the verts works, but is slow and tedious. Is there a way to increment the patch programatically? For example, here's the patch: // primitive 70 { patchDef3 { "textures/darkmod/carpet/runners/geometric02_red_HD" ( 57 3 6 4 0 0 0 ) ( ( ( -347 -72 169 0 0 ) ( -347 0 169 0 0.5 ) ( -347 72 169 0 1 ) ) ( ( -342 -72 169 0.1428571492433548 0 ) ( -342 0 169 0.1428571492433548 0.5 ) ( -342 72 169 0.1428571492433548 1 ) ) ( ( -340 -72 169 0.2857142984867096 0 ) ( -340 0 169 0.2857142984867096 0.5 ) ( -340 72 169 0.2857142984867096 1 ) ) ( ( -338 -72 169 0.4285714626312256 0 ) ( -338 0 169 0.4285714626312256 0.5 ) ( -338 72 169 0.4285714626312256 1 ) ) ( ( -338 -72 167 0.5714285969734192 0 ) ( -338 0 167 0.5714285969734192 0.5 ) ( -338 72 167 0.5714285969734192 1 ) ) ( ( -338 -72 165 0.7142857313156128 0 ) ( -338 0 165 0.7142857313156128 0.5 ) ( -338 72 165 0.7142857313156128 1 ) ) ( ( -338 -72 163 0.8571428656578064 0 ) ( -338 0 163 0.8571428656578064 0.5 ) ( -338 72 163 0.8571428656578064 1 ) ) ( ( -338 -72 161 1 0 ) ( -338 0 161 1 0.5 ) ( -338 72 161 1 1 ) ) ( ( -336 -72 161 1.142857193946838 0 ) ( -336 0 161 1.142857193946838 0.5 ) ( -336 72 161 1.142857193946838 1 ) ) ( ( -326 -72 161 1.285714387893677 0 ) ( -326 0 161 1.285714387893677 0.5 ) ( -326 72 161 1.285714387893677 1 ) ) ( ( -324 -72 161 1.428571581840515 0 ) ( -324 0 161 1.428571581840515 0.5 ) ( -324 72 161 1.428571581840515 1 ) ) ( ( -322 -72 161 1.571428775787354 0 ) ( -322 0 161 1.571428775787354 0.5 ) ( -322 72 161 1.571428775787354 1 ) ) ( ( -322 -72 159 1.714285969734192 0 ) ( -322 0 159 1.714285969734192 0.5 ) ( -322 72 159 1.714285969734192 1 ) ) ( ( -322 -72 157 1.85714316368103 0 ) ( -322 0 157 1.85714316368103 0.5 ) ( -322 72 157 1.85714316368103 1 ) ) ( ( -322 -72 155 2.000000238418579 0 ) ( -322 0 155 2.000000238418579 0.5 ) ( -322 72 155 2.000000238418579 1 ) ) ( ( -322 -72 153 2.142857313156128 0 ) ( -322 0 153 2.142857313156128 0.5 ) ( -322 72 153 2.142857313156128 1 ) ) ( ( -320 -72 153 2.285714387893677 0 ) ( -320 0 153 2.285714387893677 0.5 ) ( -320 72 153 2.285714387893677 1 ) ) ( ( -315 -72 153 2.428571462631226 0 ) ( -315 0 153 2.428571462631226 0.5 ) ( -315 72 153 2.428571462631226 1 ) ) ( ( -308 -72 153 2.571428537368774 0 ) ( -308 0 153 2.571428537368774 0.5 ) ( -308 72 153 2.571428537368774 1 ) ) ( ( -306 -72 153 2.714285612106323 0 ) ( -306 0 153 2.714285612106323 0.5 ) ( -306 72 153 2.714285612106323 1 ) ) ( ( -306 -72 151 2.857142686843872 0 ) ( -306 0 151 2.857142686843872 0.5 ) ( -306 72 151 2.857142686843872 1 ) ) ( ( -306 -72 149 2.999999761581421 0 ) ( -306 0 149 2.999999761581421 0.5 ) ( -306 72 149 2.999999761581421 1 ) ) ( ( -306 -72 147 3.14285683631897 0 ) ( -306 0 147 3.14285683631897 0.5 ) ( -306 72 147 3.14285683631897 1 ) ) ( ( -306 -72 145 3.285713911056519 0 ) ( -306 0 145 3.285713911056519 0.5 ) ( -306 72 145 3.285713911056519 1 ) ) ( ( -304 -72 145 3.428570985794067 0 ) ( -304 0 145 3.428570985794067 0.5 ) ( -304 72 145 3.428570985794067 1 ) ) ( ( -299 -72 145 3.571428060531616 0 ) ( -299 0 145 3.571428060531616 0.5 ) ( -299 72 145 3.571428060531616 1 ) ) ( ( -292 -72 145 3.714285135269165 0 ) ( -292 0 145 3.714285135269165 0.5 ) ( -292 72 145 3.714285135269165 1 ) ) ( ( -290 -72 145 3.857142210006714 0 ) ( -290 0 145 3.857142210006714 0.5 ) ( -290 72 145 3.857142210006714 1 ) ) ( ( -290 -72 143 3.999999284744263 0 ) ( -290 0 143 3.999999284744263 0.5 ) ( -290 72 143 3.999999284744263 1 ) ) ( ( -290 -72 141 4.142856597900391 0 ) ( -290 0 141 4.142856597900391 0.5 ) ( -290 72 141 4.142856597900391 1 ) ) ( ( -290 -72 139 4.285713672637939 0 ) ( -290 0 139 4.285713672637939 0.5 ) ( -290 72 139 4.285713672637939 1 ) ) ( ( -290 -72 137 4.428570747375488 0 ) ( -290 0 137 4.428570747375488 0.5 ) ( -290 72 137 4.428570747375488 1 ) ) ( ( -288 -72 137 4.571427822113037 0 ) ( -288 0 137 4.571427822113037 0.5 ) ( -288 72 137 4.571427822113037 1 ) ) ( ( -283 -72 137 4.714284896850586 0 ) ( -283 0 137 4.714284896850586 0.5 ) ( -283 72 137 4.714284896850586 1 ) ) ( ( -276 -72 137 4.857141971588135 0 ) ( -276 0 137 4.857141971588135 0.5 ) ( -276 72 137 4.857141971588135 1 ) ) ( ( -274 -72 137 4.999999046325684 0 ) ( -274 0 137 4.999999046325684 0.5 ) ( -274 72 137 4.999999046325684 1 ) ) ( ( -274 -72 135 5.142856121063232 0 ) ( -274 0 135 5.142856121063232 0.5 ) ( -274 72 135 5.142856121063232 1 ) ) ( ( -274 -72 133 5.285713195800781 0 ) ( -274 0 133 5.285713195800781 0.5 ) ( -274 72 133 5.285713195800781 1 ) ) ( ( -274 -72 131 5.42857027053833 0 ) ( -274 0 131 5.42857027053833 0.5 ) ( -274 72 131 5.42857027053833 1 ) ) ( ( -274 -72 129 5.571427345275879 0 ) ( -274 0 129 5.571427345275879 0.5 ) ( -274 72 129 5.571427345275879 1 ) ) ( ( -272 -72 129 5.714284420013428 0 ) ( -272 0 129 5.714284420013428 0.5 ) ( -272 72 129 5.714284420013428 1 ) ) ( ( -267 -72 129 5.857141494750977 0 ) ( -267 0 129 5.857141494750977 0.5 ) ( -267 72 129 5.857141494750977 1 ) ) ( ( -260 -72 129 5.999998569488525 0 ) ( -260 0 129 5.999998569488525 0.5 ) ( -260 72 129 5.999998569488525 1 ) ) ( ( -258 -72 129 6.142855644226074 0 ) ( -258 0 129 6.142855644226074 0.5 ) ( -258 72 129 6.142855644226074 1 ) ) ( ( -258 -72 127 6.285712718963623 0 ) ( -258 0 127 6.285712718963623 0.5 ) ( -258 72 127 6.285712718963623 1 ) ) ( ( -258 -72 125 6.428569793701172 0 ) ( -258 0 125 6.428569793701172 0.5 ) ( -258 72 125 6.428569793701172 1 ) ) ( ( -258 -72 123 6.571426868438721 0 ) ( -258 0 123 6.571426868438721 0.5 ) ( -258 72 123 6.571426868438721 1 ) ) ( ( -258 -72 121 6.71428394317627 0 ) ( -258 0 121 6.71428394317627 0.5 ) ( -258 72 121 6.71428394317627 1 ) ) ( ( -256 -72 121 6.857141017913818 0 ) ( -256 0 121 6.857141017913818 0.5 ) ( -256 72 121 6.857141017913818 1 ) ) ( ( -251 -72 121 6.999998092651367 0 ) ( -251 0 121 6.999998092651367 0.5 ) ( -251 72 121 6.999998092651367 1 ) ) ( ( -244 -72 121 7.142855167388916 0 ) ( -244 0 121 7.142855167388916 0.5 ) ( -244 72 121 7.142855167388916 1 ) ) ( ( -242 -72 121 7.285712242126465 0 ) ( -242 0 121 7.285712242126465 0.5 ) ( -242 72 121 7.285712242126465 1 ) ) ( ( -242 -72 119 7.428569316864014 0 ) ( -242 0 119 7.428569316864014 0.5 ) ( -242 72 119 7.428569316864014 1 ) ) ( ( -242 -72 117 7.571426391601562 0 ) ( -242 0 117 7.571426391601562 0.5 ) ( -242 72 117 7.571426391601562 1 ) ) ( ( -242 -72 115 7.714283466339111 0 ) ( -242 0 115 7.714283466339111 0.5 ) ( -242 72 115 7.714283466339111 1 ) ) ( ( -242 -72 113 7.85714054107666 0 ) ( -242 0 113 7.85714054107666 0.5 ) ( -242 72 113 7.85714054107666 1 ) ) ( ( -240 -72 113 7.999997615814209 0 ) ( -240 0 113 7.999997615814209 0.5 ) ( -240 72 113 7.999997615814209 1 ) ) ) } } } This is what it looks in the editor: So I use the Append 2 columns to the end, and then do that again. This give me 4 more columns to use to go down the next step. So step 1 would be to append 2 columns to the end: Then do it again: Then move the last 3 to form the curve: Then rinse and repeat for the down slope then back again. Is there a way to tell patch creation to follow brushes?

Since DR has so many little features that might be less known than they are useful, I felt like opening a thread to collect some suggestions from the mapping folks. I'd like to have some short one or two-liners that can be cycled through if one wants to read more, maybe after clicking on some small "bulb" icon in the top right of the toolbar. It definitely shouldn't end up as obnoxious as I've seen such tips in other programs, where the popup usually just gets in my way when I just want to do something else, so it should be something that is optional, users can try their luck by clicking on it or not. As an example: "You can increase/decrease the camera movement speed by pressing +/- on your numpad" I'm sure that mappers have some of those to share, and if I can collect enough of these I'd like to integrate them in DarkRadiant.

I've recently started working on making some small quality-of-life improvements to DarkRadiant, and I think this one will be of interest of anyone who tends to make a lot of custom models or materials. Instead of manually going to "Reload Models", "Reload Materials", or "Reload Skins", DarkRadiant will automatically monitor your models, materials, and skins folders inside your FM for changes. Whenever a file gets added, removed, or modified, the appropriate reload command will happen automatically. To try this out, I've pre-built a Windows version available here. If you're on Linux or would prefer to build it yourself, grab the feature branch here. All feedback is welcome, but I'm specifically looking for the following: This is my first time building DR for Windows. Let me know if you try the pre-built version and it doesn't work for you! I seriously doubt this will eat your map, but definitely let me know if it does. Always keep good backups, doubly so when beta testing... I've started with reloading of Models, Materials, and Skins because they seemed the most useful to me, and as far as I have seen they can already handle getting updated at any moment (such as when you've got the "Choose Model" dialog open). What other reloads would be useful? I'm leaning towards skipping Readables and Particles since they have GUI editors. I imagine mappers don't hand-edit those as often, and the GUI editors would likely have to be changed in order to deal with external changes getting reloaded while they were open. That leaves "Reload Defs" currently unimplemented. I could see this being valuable to have, if it's helpful to others I'd be more willing to do the work for the cases where things like the "Create Entity" dialog need to deal with unexpected reloads. The auto-reload feature is currently always enabled. I'm already planning to add an option in the Preferences dialog to enable or disable the feature. Should this feature be on or off by default? Should auto-reload of each type (Models, Materials, Skins, etc) be enabled/disabled individually, or one checkbox for all of them? Currently this only watches your FM folder for changes. Is there any value in watching the TDM install folder as well? If we watch too many folders at a time, it's possible to run into performance problems or maybe hit a limit on the maximum number of watchers. If this would be useful for development of core assets, I would look into whether the above causes any problems. Otherwise I'll stick with just watching the FM folder. Windows does sneaky things behind your back. I primarily run Linux, and watching files for changes works just the way you'd expect it to. When testing this on Windows, sometimes files would get seen as modified the first time you accessed them, and then not again afterwards. For example, loading a map would cause one model to say it was being modified, triggering the reload models. Afterwards, loading the map again would not do this. I'm guessing maybe the virus scanner is meddling with things here. If you experience a lot of spurious reloading that you don't expect, to the point of it being disruptive, let me know and I can try to find a workaround. Apparently DarkRadiant runs on Mac? If anyone's using it there, please let me know so we can at least try to make sure this runs OK there. Currently this only auto-updates DarkRadiant, not a running instance of TDM. With the new game connection, we could probably have DR trigger the reloading of these items in-game whenever they are reloaded in DR (both from auto-reload and manual reload). I believe there was a proof-of-concept of something similar using an external script. In this case it could happen directly through DR instead. Would this be worth pursuing? Is there anything else I've overlooked? While I've dabbled with mapping for a couple years now, I haven't (yet) developed an FM to completion.

While the pre-release testing of the upcoming DR 2.11 is finishing, I'd like to discuss a possible Material Editor feature. Just to get a picture of whether you guys think this is worth the effort, what it should be able to do at a bare minimum, what the UI could look like, etc. I know this request has been brought forward at least twice in the past, so maybe this feature is worth pursuing.

Some time ago I started investigation for a better differential update algorithm. The first attempt was known as time-travelling tdmupdate (also "tdmsync"). The second attempt has been much more cumbersome, but I think it has reached some usable state. Here is the new tdm_installer: Windows (32-bit) Linux 64-bit Linux 32-bit Note that it is not a finished application yet: it has some important features missing, probably bugs also. If your TDM installation is important to you, better copy it before running the installer on it. Please read the comments below to know how to workaround some issues. If you select "Get custom version" check, then you will be able to choose which version to install. Notice that it includes the very first dev build of TDM (with manbeast changes and the new experimental rendering backend). Needless to say, development builds of TDM come unsupported: they are very likely to contain bugs. They are not intended for normal playing. We would be happy if you report bugs for recent dev builds of course, but won't mind if you wait until next beta phase. Obviously, old versions of TDM won't get any fixes Some known tdm_installer problems: 1) Installs/updates cannot be canceled/interrupted properly yet. If you click on "START" button, there is no turning back except for killing the process in task manager. 2) It is strongly recommended to always enable "Force scan" check on the first page. It will spend some time, but will save you from error at the end of installation procedure. Normally, you don't need to scan if you did not modify your installation after previous install. But it's better to be safe yet. 3) The installer does not unpack zips yet. So after install you will have to unpack everything from tdm_shared_stuff.zip manually. 4) As of now, the installer downloads data from the main TDM server. It is rather slow, so think twice before running it in empty directory. Instead of clean install, better copy all tdm_****.pk4 files from any existing installation into a new directory and run updater there. Note that you can see how much data is going to be downloaded on the page with "START" button.

UPDATE: LIGHTING FIXED IN SECOND VIDEO: I've uploaded test 2 , which was made on the same night I made test 1. This is all the footage from that day, so this saturday I'll film more footage. I hope to make a good one. Hi, I'm leaving this video, I modified TDM a little so it can use the data from a cell phone accelerometer. I don't have to explain in this post how "the user experience is enormously expanded", just look at the video and see for yourself. Before testing this myself, I didn't think it would be so gratifying using it. It just feels so natural... Right now only works with Side Lean (left / right). But it WORKS VERY WELL and the movement is really smooth, no glitches or bad data. (This is just the first test video, SORRY FOR THE LACK OF LIGHTING, I have so many more things to do to improve the videos, I have more thoughts to make better videos ... this is just the "proof of concept" video that I so eagerly needed to post ... and forum users needed to see ) I'm new to this forum, THANKS TO TDM DEVELOPERS, WITHOUT THE MOD AND THE CODE THIS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE. The engine is really a good Thief adaptation and the Fan Missions (lots of them) are very good, I must have tested 20 missions and 3 or 4 FMs amazed me by the architecture, the design, the textures, the 2D intro videos, the voice acting ... It really displays A LOT of work and many committed people to this project. -------------

I've tried to update to 2.10 from 2.09 with the TDM updater v0.76 but fails to update saying my installation is up to date, in the log entries 'Didn't find executable name tdm_update.exe in download queue.' I downloaded the new installer v1.10 to install a new copy and fails every time at the same place while trying to install tdm_textures_nature01.pk4 with the error message 'missing end chunk...' etc. Also the link to install TDM using Freyk’s Unofficial Installer doesn't seem to be working Any help or workaround most appreciated. Thanks.

I saw a video on two "hidden" TrenchBroom features that might also be interesting for Dark Radiant. The two videos below link to the same video with different timestamps, for a quick example of each feature. Feature 1 - The ability to select 2 faces from 2 separate brushes, then using CSG Merge to automatically create a new brush bridging the gap between these two brush faces. This would save time in drawing a new brush and moving edges / vertices for the same result. Video example: Feature 2 - The ability to select a brush face, then when extruding (for example with the resize tool), this will create a new brush instead of extending the existing brush. This is useful for quickly creating trims without having to draw a new brush or use the clipper tool. Video example: I don't know if these features are complex to implement. And obviously these effects can already be achieved in Dark Radiant with the existing tools. These features just make the edits a little faster and more convenient. Are these features interesting enough to include in Dark Radiant?

While I enjoy The Dark Mod quite a bit, I am not really that much of a fan of steampunk. To make it short and sweet - I don't like the idea of steam powered robots, electric lamps, generators, etc... and other "modern" things. I prefer a medieval setting with perhaps the occasional ghost and maybe even a werewolf howling in the distance. E.g. realistic with a slight supernatural tint. So speaking of course only for myself I would really enjoy if the missions was marked somehow to indicate if it was "realistic", "supernatural" or "steampunk".

I know there's a lot of work being done on fixing bugs in DR thus new features are likely not on the table at the moment. I still wanted to suggest a little feature which I think would be very powerful, and hopefully not that difficult to implement either. Maybe we could even see this in 2.9.0 if it's simple enough to code? There already seems to be a preliminary but limited search system. If you open a browser such as the entity browser then start typing a word within its window, you'll be able to use search similarly to searching for words in Notepad; You're taken to the first entry containing that word, can use the next button to select the next one, etc. This is helpful itself to some extent, however I believe filter based searching would be much better and make it easier to find things you need without clutter. A practical example of what I mean: Let's say I'm quickly looking for a table to add to my scene. I open up a model browser. I type the word "table" in a filter field. This causes all models except those containing the word table to be filtered from the entity browser: The directory tree structure remains the same, you still expand folders and subfolders to see and select their contents... it's just that everything else is treated as it doesn't exist in that window, and empty directories (which don't contain contain assets matching the filter or subdirectories with such) are also not shown. This would make it easy to look at all tables available in the asset repository without being hindered by anything else, as if tables are the only models that exist in TDM at that moment.

This came up with in the TDM Mission Beta Testing forum. I'm a mission player, not an author, but I'm posting this on behalf of mission author grayman as well as my fellow play-testers. William Steele 6: Baleford Museum is the mission we are currently beta-testing. My request (which I believe grayman agrees with, since grayman suggested I post here) is: Provide a way for mission authors to have an "less than happy ending" option where at the end of a mission, there's an option to go look at the mission statistics, but without the happy music and the imagery of piles of loot. Side note: Wesp5 noted he has an unofficial patch that provides the ability for players to look at statistics at any time: https://www.moddb.com/members/wesp5/addons/the-dark-mod-unofficial-patch - prjames

UPDATE: Beta testing is now open to anyone interested. --- Hello everyone, I am new to the forum and also to mapping in general. I've spent about 3-4 months learning DarkRadiant and creating a new FM for TDM. Now, I could use some help running the map through it's paces. Mission description: In the northern town of Eaton, Lord Mayor Zelmer is hosting a lavish party at his luxurious estate... Most of Eaton's elite, the Queen and a famous musician will all be partaking in tonight's festivities. I plan on making the map available for testing over on the "TDM Mission Beta Testing" forum as soon as I (hopefully, fingers crossed) have received a couple of replies I've tried my best to make the mission as interesting as possible, but I fear that I may have made the plot a little too convoluted - hopefully not though. During the Beta-phase, I am also hoping to recruit one or two voice actors, but I'm not quite sure if I ought to look into this separately. Any advice on this would also be greatly appreciated. Generally speaking, all the important voice acting is already present, but I would love to replace one poorly acted scene and also to have some non-essential dialogue recorded by someone other than me and my partner (and preferably by a native English speaker). Thank you for your interest and thanks in advance to anyone interested in beta testing. I promise to be as receptive as possible to any feedback I receive.

I've been on a bit of a metroidvania kick lately. There have been a bunch of notable 2D releases for the genre this year, and the backlog of excellent titles is nearly inexhaustible. One thing that surprises me though is that there are only a scant hand-full of first person metroidvania games. It's a shame. I've loved that kind of non-linear first person exploration experience ever since I played Metroid Prime on Game Cube; or going back further: to being lost an terrified Down in the Bonehoard, or searching for The Sword in Constantine's madhouse, and scouring the Old Quarter for the Haunted Cathedral and the ruins of the The Lost City. That got me to thinking. Would it be possible to reproduce metroidvania level design and ability gated progression in a TDM FM? First person sneakers have no equal to their ability to convey atmosphere and environmental story telling, however they can be difficult to navigate and can lack for tangible progression to reward exploration (depending on the player's skill, playstyle, and interest in lore and loot). Metroidvanias contrastingly are all about progressively expanding the navigable map area in a very controlled and deliberate way while retaining non-linear exploration. They also provide very consistent and effective exploration based progression-rewards through an expanding toolbox of player-character abilities. However, they fall short of perfection in environmental storytelling because of a certain paradox: it is hard to focus on environmental storytelling when things are trying to kill you, but it is impossible to maintain atmospheric tension when things are not trying to kill you. Stealth games are the only titles I can think of that thread that needle flawlessly. So it seems like a match made in heaven. My questions then are: firstly, are there any TDM FMs that already incorporate metroidvania level design and gameplay? Secondly, what technical challenging would producing such a FM present? Probably the big one would be decontextualizing navigation gating skills as upgrades rather than default or ammo-based abilities. Currently only the lockpicks and maybe the lantern fit in that mold. Could mantling be turned into an upgrade? And if rope or vine arrows (or any elemental arrow type) were to become a key ability that opens gates, the PC might need a way to endlessly regenerate them when expended, or risk becoming trapped in an unwinnable game state. Additionally, genre conventions would just about demand adding a double jump and perhaps a slow-fall as ability upgrades. Come to think of it, the holy symbol astral-projection mechanic from Moonbo's A House of Locked Secrets also fits the bill. The other technical issue I can foresee is how to handle enemy pathing. Depending on how vertical and discontinuous the level design were to become, conventional guards might have trouble reaching the PC. Maybe flying enemies would be called for? Unfortunately, I am not in a position where I can make fan missions for myself. (I've got too many other projects that I must finish first.) But I hope this idea might be interesting to someone else.

When you stop moving in a scene the players head is frozen stiff. e.g. it is not moving much like a camera on a tripod. I suggest making the camera move very slowly (and very little) up/down and a bit sideways as well. This would add to the immersive 3D feel I think. If you have been running it could move a bit more than if you have been creeping / walking around. And just to clarify a bit , I am not talking about massive movement here - only a slight, slow tilt/back/forward/up/down "random" motion. Enough to make the scene move a few pixels here and/there. Of course such a feature should be possible to turn off (and/or adjust the intensity of the effect).

The next 2.08 beta update is going to include a new Bloom effect and the ability to render to a floating-point (HDR) buffer. While that may sound very technical, it gives you new options to represent bright light sources in your maps. As an example, look at this screenshot courtesy of @peter_spy: No particles effects are involved. The lamps have a simple blend add stage with a texture and an 'rgb 20' factor, which means that the color values of the texture are multiplied by 20. They will therefore exceed the normal color range and go into HDR range. And while they will eventually be clamped back down to the standard [0,1] range and thus appear white on the screen, the new Bloom effect collects these values, blurs them and adds them to the final image - that's what gives the lamps that glow and makes them look bright. So, if you'd like to play with that, with the next 2.08 beta you'll be able to enable Bloom in the advanced settings under experimental features and also set the color precision to 64 bits (float). Hope this will give you some new options to accentuate your lights Or if you're impatient, you can try this build: https://ci.appveyor.com/api/buildjobs/at3a0wyvy3kgt0ep/artifacts/TheDarkMod.7z (The downside, of course, is that both Bloom and 64 bit color precision are not going to be on by default in 2.08. If they are off, the lamps will just appear white without glow.) Btw, aside from that nice glow around over-bright light sources, the higher color precision won't really make much of a difference. But it does help with banding artefacts - fog and similar things will look noticably smoother.