ok...
First off props on mod G.. Its really cool and not the norm for dos gcs games or level design. I really like it. Was bummed out when I found the enjoy the garden graphic.... ha ha funny
just a tip... As I remember with dos gcs engine and games... Go.bat = run game... Go s1 = run with sound.. I cant remember all the command prompts go.bat would launch with... it was detailed in the manual as well i think help me.exe in the final project dir would have dialog explaining this as well had joy stick config ect.. i tried testing using dos box but help me = dos box help no matter what directory you are in... hmm Long story short there was a command for run with music run with sound run with joystick run with mouse ect.. as well you could enable them all from the go command in dos before game launches. this is the way the game worked before release of gcs menu. please understand im prob a mile off with my guess of command here all i remember is s1..
example "go s1 m1 j1" = run with sound music and joy stick control.
I ran it with sound on ahhh nostalgia
please take any thing i say here as constructive or a personal perspective.
Trucks were cool, nice job.. Please put platforms on top with e=z of graphic, they are square enough it will work. i was jumping around that level trying to explore and landed in one was a little shook up and surprised. like ugh.. still better than 90% of dos gcs games i have played...
my personal #1 rule... set default attributes or a reminder in your mind "don't draw back side". it cuts your used world space in half. in the case that you need a wall that shows both sided its easy to select that one or ten items and un click the box.
as well example in my experience yes polygon glitch, not as much when they are touching something that dose not show its backside. they still glitch but not as bad. like the engine is trying to render things that are behind them and when player moves it looses its perspective focus, put a wall right behind it and the struggle becomes real... engine is more or less rendering and crunching numbers 90% with 2d top down perspective.. the players perspective is never top down .. if it were the poloygons would would work as good as the 90*verticle walls... polygons are always at some other angle witch is fun for the engine to compute. like can we just set "ftc" on the polygons
I like this window. I always went over board on polygon and platform placement to frame in window frames ect, this looks great the way you did it, and at a low cost to objects in the level.
pulled it off righteous... had there not been a warp to point on the other side could guards shoot through it, could i shoot the guards through it, would a rocket explode when it hits the void...
Loved the look and feel of this level, good use of do not draw back side on the house for roof and exterior siding on the 45* i explored the inside of the houses, looking at the structure as i read about it in your tutorial.
considerations...
symetrical trees... make taller and select"can not bump" ouch squeezing by them.. but on the other hand squeezing around the houses was great.
as well i was getting hung up on large green leaf object, where as in final level aka the garden same graphic i was walking right through.
landscaping type things like this, "can not bump" and "dose not show up on radar".. other wise makes it difficult for guards to move and shoot as well for player, rockets and grenades.
On fire animations... set not to fade with distance.
if they are far away and the nearest wall is so far away it has already faded to black you will still see the flame although there is a wall between you and it.. black=0... So its a good idea to use "ftc" on attribute for such wall or even all perimeter walls that do not have something above and behind the player must see. good use of "ftc" helps engine and game play smooth some calculations as well a graphical glitches with objects that dont fade in background and fade to black objects in foreground.
as well wish each house was able to bee entered. for example..
im sure i played 7 levels, if there were 8 the small shack with the hole was counted as one. thats not a level... thats a map.. make use of the map.. that map lets call it map 7, is only four walls and a warp to point more or less... ok... lots of world space on map 7.. make as many of these small interior houses as are visible on map 6,... they have a warp in and a warp out. you can have traps or items for the player in them. perhaps one has big bad boss dude and a key behind him..... and with such small wall count, map 7 could even be used for other short parts between other levels....
for example in one of my projects i have a map that was very small, so on it un accessible to the player i put other rooms an example super long hall way from one edge of the map to the other that the player accesses from other points in the game via warp to points. So if you ever have a small map, feel free to use that space up to add depth to game. only consideration... the midi music will be the same on the map no matter what point you landed in, so just make sure the music matches the theme of the environment. or perhaps put that small area on a different map that has a better midi for the feel..
fyi i forget the number of levels we can make i think 40, cant find anything in the manual to confirm that, but nothing that says max, just remember when you make a new level the universe number is always at 40 before you set it to the desired number. I may be wrong but I believe we can make as many warp to point as we want. in the book it say "you can put as many warp to points in a level as you like"... i think that means there is no maximum number for the game.
first off loved,.. loved loved this level.. good work. I am about to make a similar level for my project, and this inspired me.. I really like the wall bracing... I always go over kill... i would have used 8 walls and a platform to create this. then copied them all over the level.. gobbling up my world space... so props on the windowed wall it did what it needed to, and looked good doing it.
on the other hand.. this is the entrance to the level, level starts and your looking at guard who is pretty much facing you, dose not see you.. you shoot and it dose not hit him or alert him....
fix... other than attribute "can not bump in to wall",... you must select "will not show up on radar"
even if you can walk through it,... many aspects of the gave have 2d top down vision... "will not show up on radar" opens that window of sight..
for example if i have 400x400 wall 400 void hight and a 400x400 wall e=800 with a platform at 400 it looks like a window.. even with guard on platform at e=400 he will not see you.. now the wall above and below, set "will not show up on radar"... he will see you and if orented correct he will walk out the window and drop to e=0.. its ok if wall above and below can be bumped in to. he will not be able to walk through it once he is at e=0
even if you dont want him to walk through.. and have him set as "stand and shoot only" he will not shoot unless walls between you and him are set "will not show up on radar"
same thing applies to grenades, and rockets.. as i recall.. if you want to shoot a rocket out that "400x400 void" it will explode when it detects the wall above and below it even with no wall in front. and if i remember right a grenade will bounce off the void as well.
another part... staircases... unless they are "do not show up on radar" guards touch the first step and walk away with out climbing.. i use a lot of stairs, so at times guards follow me up or down stairs.. or perhaps on random patrol, you enter an area and see guard coming down stairs.. it makes for cool effects.
guards and weapons have 2d top down vision controlled by what is visible on radar.
if you want player to see guard and have a chance before guard is aware of player in that long narrow hall... set guard alertness down.
there were two zombie guards on pause.. hmm... i swear with dos gcs i experienced that in the past, not during test but after make final.. forget what made it happen, if it was a dead zone on map do to level design that traps guard or what its bazaar. but delete him and replace a little from the spot. should work fine.
dose not look it, but these guys had no idea i was there.. ha ha funny. "will not show up on radar" fix
Loved this, was like what! are you joking...even if this is the temporary end, its the right thing to do let the player know..
but i did not trust you
yes i played through game... correctly with out cheating.. had to use continuous pressing of "R" button to find path to shotgun before i picked up radar pack.
k=explore levels see level from distance under stand how guards are moving when player has not alerted them during test... for example you want to get a guard walking a direction and bounce off a wall that gets him through a door way and back or something so when the player finds him guard could meet him at ether point along his natural path. but you must set wall "do not show backside" to test and watch you experimental placement.. I have done some experiments watching guards, like have two facing each other walk in to each other and see what direction they go, then try with 3 or 4.. and you get about 3 different game play results. so the guards are not always in the same place.
