ArchPack v2.0 (scmrtf_archpack.wad + Parts pack) [Outdated version]

BlueZero4 said:

Tortured Planet.

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"Sorry, but your Tortured Planet is in another topic!"

Hope we won't start an discussion about it here too. Tortured Planet is taking over all topics of MB, even Mystic Realm. XD

I have more news: I'm *trying* to make ArchPack more OpenGL-friendly, then things like this won't happen so often:



EDIT:

Just a proof:

Interesting, Mill Citadel never had a windmill.

Now it has one...



... it's not the final form. I'm still working on it.

As long as it spins...
Good job anyho.

Metal-Rawr said:

As long as it spins...

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Hey dude, it's SRB2. Try to ask round shapes and slopes for Minecraft to see... :D

I've worked on my level pack and some stuff in OpenGL (as you've seen some posts above). These days, I started to mess with 3D models; and depending on how the things turn out, I'll be creating bitmap sprites from them for software rendering too.



Still not finished, I need to make a decent texture :S.

It's in my plans to make a good sprite replacement for Vulture air-glider and release it. Also, I'm intending to use such a thing of "device" in my level pack.

That's all.

I still remember people on OLDC had complained about this part of MCZ1:



You had to walk under the counterbalances and "eventually" get crushed.

Now:



... you walk over them.

Also, there are other stuff I'm working on. But no screenshot at the moment.

Hmm... I've downloaded this and somehow I haven't played Mill Citadel yet... I should really do so, but maybe I'll wait for the next release. Do you ever plan on adding more single player levels Ezer?

Charybdizs said:

Do you ever plan on adding more single player levels Ezer?

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Okay, people is starting to get tired of the same the same levels. XD

My answer: yes. All I have now are construction sites, say, where I test the gimmicks and sceneries before making the actual levels.

For instance, yesterday I was experiencing a whirl effect for water and aerial levels.

Just make sure that if you make new levels, they're as good as Mill Citadel or better, or else this'll lose the 5 star rating ;)

Beta levels for ArchPack 0.5 is up for public testings

See 1st post in Arch Pack Development Repository. You can download and test the maps. If you find something that needs to be fixed, please bug report here, so I can make the fixes in time for the official release.

New improvements on rooms and obstacles; few changes in paths and minor general fixes. Maps are now more OpenGL friendly (see sample below [and above :3]).





V0.5 is one of last releases for v1.0. This will open the path for new levels.

omigosh, awesome! So how long until you give this its own savedata so we can grind for lives.

So, on the left path at the beginning of act 1, are you SURE you want CEZFLR06 on the floor below those scenery-arch things?

Also in act 1, in the big room where the floor falls out, you really ought to make different crumbling FOFs with different tags so that each section falls out independently.

In act 2, there's this really big, really bland grain-slide which might be better off removed than decorated.

BlueZero4 said:

In act 2, there's this really big, really bland grain-slide which might be better off removed than decorated.

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You mean the one with the death pit all around?

EDIT: I also noticed that you added some rather unnecessary bustable walls, for example right before the third path split in act 2. I really don't see the purpose of those, and they're quite annoying. On the positive side, I love that spike row you added to that one mace section. It suddenly gives the two maces on top of each other so much more purpose. Of course, the new bridge at the beginning of act 2 and the replaced room in act 1 are great too. There might be more stuff that I missed, in that case, I'll come back later.

BlueZero4 said:

omigosh, awesome! So how long until you give this its own savedata so we can grind for lives.

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YAY!

BlueZero4 said:

So, on the left path at the beginning of act 1, are you SURE you want CEZFLR06 on the floor below those scenery-arch things?

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I'm not. CEZFLR06 is, say, the default flat for MCZ thokbarrier. When I opened the "scenery-arch things" in the thokbarrier, I ended up leaving the CEZFLR06. Changed for good.

BlueZero4 said:

Also in act 1, in the big room where the floor falls out, you really ought to make different crumbling FOFs with different tags so that each section falls out independently.

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My fail. SRB2DB has a tool that merges all identical sectors, including control sectors, I used it carelessly. Fixed.

BlueZero4 said:

In act 2, there's this really big, really bland grain-slide which might be better off removed than decorated.

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Care pointing me out the coords or references? (perhaps, it's the one with a big pillar in the middle...)

As of MCZ1: check repository for fixed subversion.

More goodies

Firstly, Mill Citadel has got 2 new textures (not entirely new, but still)...


... the left one is made for bustable blocks, replacing that ugly texture (CASTLEI) that can't hide secret items at all. The right one I'm going to use for "Not-climbable" walls, but I think there's too much moss. Opinions?

An experience with spikes (and with MD2 spikes):



Next version will save gamedata (now you can go wild to record your time attacks):




After finishing MTZ, you're still headed towards Deep Sea Zone 1. Sometimes I consider I should make ArchPack a "stand-alone" level pack (i.e. the SP rotation would end after completing MTZ), I didn't because ArchPack is too small, in my opinion.

That's all for today. :3

Ezer.Arch said:

Care pointing me out the coords or references?

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Actually, you've got two of them, which makes it worse. They dump out around (1000, 2000). You already have enough grainslide action here, so I figure these two may not add anything. They're just jumping over spikes like all of the other slides.

Though on second thought, looking at the overhead layout in Doom Builder, you've packed the second act together so tightly that it looks like you need them just to transport the player. Perhaps this is a necessary evil? Act with wisdom, my friend.

Oh btw, make sure that you're not mismatching the big mine maze rocks with the smaller versions. You have a few rocks in act 1 that have the big version on the sides but the small version on the top of the rock. I don't think that was intentional.

BlueZero4 said:

Actually, you've got two of them, which makes it worse. They dump out around (1000, 2000). You already have enough grainslide action here, so I figure these two may not add anything. They're just jumping over spikes like all of the other slides.

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Just removing them isn't the best solution. They're quite tied to the original concept, so I doubt I'd remove that large piece of map. I'll look into to see what I can do.

If you remember how MCZ2 was before, and how it is now... (see addendum below) ... Hey, miracles exist. But I won't promise anything. XD

BlueZero4 said:

Though on second thought, looking at the overhead layout in Doom Builder, you've packed the second act together so tightly that it looks like you need them just to transport the player. Perhaps this is a necessary evil? Act with wisdom, my friend.

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Because I'm evil.

Just kidding.

MCZ2 was made in 1.09.4 era and running against the deadline, so I was forced "to pack so tightly" (due to blockmap limit) and remove some rooms (most of which were included for v0.2 and v.03).

BlueZero4 said:

Oh btw, make sure that you're not mismatching the big mine maze rocks with the smaller versions. You have a few rocks in act 1 that have the big version on the sides but the small version on the top of the rock. I don't think that was intentional.

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I'll look into.

Addendum

I was playing Mill Citadel Zone 2 in SRB2 1.09.4 (the map as of Jun 2009), just for sake of seeing how the old wall collision worked in my old map (currently I have noticed how the player has got stuck in the walls where it didn't. My maps aren't the only ones that suffer of it. Even official maps do).

I couldn't believe in what I was seeing: a very big, bland, monochromatic and empty map with enormous rooms and obvious "hidden" items. This map did suffer a big renewal since SRB2 2.0 release.

MCZ2 as of Jun 2009 (summited for May June '09 OLDC)


MCZ2 as of Feb 2011 (for ArchPack v0.5)

If I get some spare time, I could make a before-after presentation. :D

EDIT:

Besides, repository updated.

As I stand back and read my words before I post this, I have remembered that who we are is more important than the maps we make. Take my words lightly.

Ezer.Arch said:

Just removing them isn't the best solution. They're quite tied to the original concept, so I doubt I'd remove that large piece of map. I'll look into to see what I can do.

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I'll accept that. Going back and playing the original, I see now how it was part of the original design. If leaving that part in is the best thing for the map, then by all means do so.

Ezer.Arch said:

I couldn't believe in what I was seeing: a very big, bland, monochromatic and empty map with enormous rooms and obvious "hidden" items. This map did suffer a big renewal since SRB2 2.0 release.

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I've said this before, probably also to you specifically, but I don't believe in improving Nuclear Sunset 1 or 2. Maybe it's just because there was something magical about NSZ, because those were four months of solid productivity. That was a magical time for me in my life, and I want to keep those memories. Because in my own maps I see my own self. I literally can't see my maps like anyone else does.

But also, when I played your old Mill Citadel versions, I realized what had happened. When I came back and played your new Mill Citadel, it was like I had been away for a while and I was coming back to the same map. Both acts still have the same soul, even if so much else has been changed. You may not be able to see the map like that because you are its creator, but I do. And maybe that's why I still have Forever Forest 2 under my knife, because I don't think I've worked its soul out properly. But these are my own ramblings.

One last thing for the day: Be careful you don't lose Mill Citadel's soul by adding too much. Too much detail might strangle the level, and the one thing I miss from the original contest versions was that I had room to breathe. There was a clarity to the level, even if its lost simplicity is for the best.

I just want to state my hope for the removal of some Sharps as I find them rather annoying in the stage, you can't try and run through the stage because they always get you from nowhere no matter what!

Maybe replace some Sharps with Crawlas, it's not that I hate the things (well I do hate Sharps) but I can put up with them when they aren't used extensively y'know?

daiches99 said:

I just want to state my hope for the removal of some Sharps as I find them rather annoying in the stage, you can't try and run through the stage because they always get you from nowhere no matter what!

Maybe replace some Sharps with Crawlas, it's not that I hate the things (well I do hate Sharps) but I can put up with them when they aren't used extensively y'know?

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If you can't manage to play MCZ without getting hit by Sharps, you're not being careful. It's not that hard to avoid them. Also, why does everyone think that putting Crawlas into a level is always perfectly acceptable? Just because they're harmless that doesn't mean they have to be everywhere.

BlueZero4 said:

Be careful you don't lose Mill Citadel's soul by adding too much. Too much detail might strangle the level, and the one thing I miss from the original contest versions was that I had room to breathe. There was a clarity to the level, even if its lost simplicity is for the best.

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No worry, Mill Citadel's soul is already fed up. My work now is to make gimmicks worthy to exist, as SpiritCrusher said:

"I love that spike row you added to that one mace section. It suddenly gives the two maces on top of each other so much more purpose"

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... and, to give the rooms some decoration. MCZ2 is being a tiring work and is impeding me from working on something else, nonetheless the results I'm getting are still motivating me to get it done. ^^

daiches99 said:

Maybe replace some Sharps with Crawlas, it's not that I hate the things (well I do hate Sharps) but I can put up with them when they aren't used extensively y'know?

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Funny. That's because you haven't played a build I released (maybe between v0.3 and v04) where I replaced all Red Crawlas with Shaps. MCZ1 had about 100 Sharps. On the other hand, I found it quite amusing being chased by an army of Sharps in every room (I rather prefer Detons XD). I could leave the download here just for lulz.

Back to the business: I decided to make ArchPack a stand-alone level pack. Now, once you finish Miscellaneous Trip Zone, it's over, no more DSZ1 afterwards. I don't want a lazy work for gamedata stuff.