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[Source] Mod Megathread
- Thread starter Sibylus
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... just released its second map showcase, for nmo_cabin. The interview mentions that the old version was released for Zombie Panic Source, and I do recall playing a map with a cabin and a barn as the focal point. Was a pretty fun map, hopefully the new version is even better!
http://www.moddb.com/mods/no-more-room-in-hell/news/map-spotlight-2-cabin
http://www.moddb.com/mods/no-more-room-in-hell/news/map-spotlight-2-cabin
hbkajshdvfbkjhvgkahsgdfka
Member
Luminous Forts, a re-imagining and re-launch of Source Forts is now out and is open source! I've contributed to this mod along with some old SF team members and a friend of mine and it's finally going into beta.
Since it's open source, there is a lot of emphasis on community so the game has a bunch of community features (Forums, video tutorials, etc.) from within the game. There's still a lot of work to be done, but the game is at a playable state with more to come.
I'll update this post with screenshots and stuff at a later date.
Website: http://luminousforts.appspot.com/ or http://luminousforts.com/
Downloads: http://luminousforts.appspot.com/download/index (Server and client files and access to the repository)
Since it's open source, there is a lot of emphasis on community so the game has a bunch of community features (Forums, video tutorials, etc.) from within the game. There's still a lot of work to be done, but the game is at a playable state with more to come.
I'll update this post with screenshots and stuff at a later date.
Website: http://luminousforts.appspot.com/ or http://luminousforts.com/
Downloads: http://luminousforts.appspot.com/download/index (Server and client files and access to the repository)
GoldandBlue
Member
http://www.moddb.com/mods/dear-esther/news/dear-esther-remake-to-get-commercial-release
Dear Esther is going to be released on Steam this Summer.
Dear Esther is going to be released on Steam this Summer.
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
GoldandBlue said:
Deserves its own thread in my opinion.
GoldandBlue
Member
Yeah, sounds like a good idea.EatChildren said:
Stallion Free
Cock Encumbered
Now why the fuck doesn't Valve give Adam what's his name (he got hired by Valve) a couple people and have them update Minerve to the latest Source revision and put it up on Steam too. I would buy that in a heart beat as well.
TouchMyBox
Member
GoldandBlue said:
Can't wait. What they've released so far makes it look to be one of the better looking games graphically this year.
BlazeHedgehog
Member
Peugh, the Dear Esther Remake is going commercial? Teasing so many screenshots and videos under the guise of a free-to-play mod and then announcing in the 11th hour that you'll have to pay for it is a real jerk move, regardless of whether or not it's worth the money.
The mod has been in such a state of uncertainty and flux throughout its development that it's neither much of a surprise nor much of a hoodwink. They were seriously contemplating an entire engine switch at one point. And it isn't exactly the 11th hour. The release has been pushed back to the summer.Sega1991 said:
BlazeHedgehog
Member
Botolf said:
If it was almost done (by the standards of a free-to-play mod) before it was pushed back, that would still be the 11th Hour, technically
Being pushed back could be a tiny bit of extra polish + setting up distribution deals.
As for the uncertainty and flux, that was something I was never really aware of. For me it was just, "Everybody is raving about Dear Esther, the remake looks shit hot, I will wait until that is done."
Guess that's out of the picture!
The first three single player mods on the list are good choices:Acid08 said:
Minerva Metastasis is very polished and probably the most popular single player mod. It's more difficult than HL2.
Mission Improbable is another great single player experience. I don't remember much from when I played it besides enjoying it quite a bit.
Research and Development is probably my favorite of these three, but that's because it has a focus on puzzle solving instead of shooting. In fact, I don't think you get a gun at all. There's definitely action though. Play this if you are looking for something a bit different.
Sega1991 said:If it was almost done (by the standards of a free-to-play mod) before it was pushed back, that would still be the 11th Hour, technically
Being pushed back could be a tiny bit of extra polish + setting up distribution deals.
As for the uncertainty and flux, that was something I was never really aware of. For me it was just, "Everybody is raving about Dear Esther, the remake looks shit hot, I will wait until that is done."
Guess that's out of the picture!
In one of the previous updates, the designer asked for feedback on what people would think if it did go commercial. I don't expect anyone to remember this. Ever since I read that I sort of had an expectation of the mod going commercial. It still surprised me that they are going forward with selling it, though I can't imagine the game costing very much. I at least hope they include extensive commentary along with it.
GoldandBlue
Member
I remember that blog, so yeah I wasn't surprised by this. In the comments somebody asked if it would be about 15 bucks and they said they're aiming for something lower than that saying "basically no more than your average theatre ticket."Inkwell said:
These would be my top three recommendations as well, though my personal favourite is Minerva. I love the intelligent use of bounce/backtracking and the sheer sprawl of the levels, and the design is just wonderful.Inkwell said:
In the tier below those three, there are mods like Human Error, 1187, Dangerous World, and Riot Act. Not as polished and as acclaimed as the top, but still fun and worth playing.
Spotless Mind
Member
The original Dear Esther mod was such a surreal experience, mostly because of the eerily effective soundtrack. It deserves to be played by more people, so it doesn't bother me to see the remake go commercial.
GoldandBlue
Member
Best part about the music is it's going to get rerecorded with real instruments and with each tune getting different variations that will play depending on the area you're in.Spotless Mind said:
Robert Briscoe responds to the Dear Esther shitstorm: http://www.littlelostpoly.co.uk/devblog/?p=640
EatChildren
Currently polling second in Australia's federal election (first in the Gold Coast), this feral may one day be your Bogan King.
Woah wait what?
There are people who have a problem with Dear Esther going indy?
Why?
There are people who have a problem with Dear Esther going indy?
Why?
Having recently started a replay of Minerva, let me give you a gentle nudge by mentioning how surprisingly evocative it is at times (as well as some badass arena fights).subversus said:
Also recently played through Mission Improbable. That was good fun. Though the final bit in part two destroyed me on hard
(on topic, I'll be buying dear esther, looks rad)
commissar said:Having recently started a replay of Minerva, let me give you a gentle nudge by mentioning how surprisingly evocative it is at times (as well as some badass arena fights).
Also recently played through Mission Improbable. That was good fun. Though the final bit in part two destroyed me on hard
(on topic, I'll be buying dear esther, looks rad)
the problem is that I'm yet to play Ep1 and Ep2. And my backlog is huge. I think I'm not going to buy KZ3.
Has anyone played CALL IN? Feels fairly professional; nice environments and levels design, although the transitions between the various "themes" is a little jarring. I posted a couple of screens in the screenshot thread. Unfortunately, I hit a bug with the AI about an hour and a half in that stopped my progress but, going by the comments on the ModDB page, it seems like a one-off.
I played it this week. It's a nice first outing, but has some issues with constraining and killing the player if he has the audacity of going "off path". At some points, this happens even if you don't stray at all, but try to leave before all enemies are dead, etc. The author should definitely stay away from that in the future.Budr said:
I finished off Dissolution last night. Really enjoyed it. Great vibe and story and it felt like a lot of love had gone into it. The less said about the VA, the better but the main guy (Jared Harris soundalike?) was at least putting in some effort. The audio logs were a nice touch and the little, self-contained narrative arc worked fairly well, considering the constraints.
That's interesting, I didn't have a problem with that at all. Then again, I'm not really an explorer when it comes to playing games; 90% of the time I'll just follow the path laid before me by the designer.
Botolf said:
That's interesting, I didn't have a problem with that at all. Then again, I'm not really an explorer when it comes to playing games; 90% of the time I'll just follow the path laid before me by the designer.
I've had this installed for a few days, been meaning to play it. I've heard the VA is bad, but it's encouraging to hear that the story is better than that implies.Budr said:
It's most noticeable during the last battle, if you try to run out the exit door and ramp before everything's dead. An invisible wall won't let you out. Something similar happens later on after the chopper battle. I missed the lever, so I explored past the gate and was promptly eaten alive by leeches. Like the wall, the leeches magically disappeared once I completed the objective.
Botolf said:
Well, it's not Shakespeare!
The "we've-lost-communication-with-colony-X/spaceship-Y, better-check-it-out, oh-shit-everything-is-fucked-up" thing is hardly original and there's a fairly unnecessary twist, which is essentially forgotten as soon as it's revealed
The point at which I got stuck was just after the chopper battle.
I went through the tunnel and the next map loaded fine but the rebel in the next room refused to speak (although he did go through the motions of walking to the computer and sitting down) and there was an invisible wall by the exit door. The guy eventually got up and opened the door but I still couldn't get through.
â Narayan
Member
I was wondering this earlier as well. Really great experience if you were with people who knew what they were doing. Nice soundtrack, too.ezekial45 said:
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
ezekial45 said:
I play a few days a week. Community is small, but I can give you an EU server and a NA server that people play on.
The devs are busy as fuck but ironically despite that fact and despite the fact that the mod isn't very popular they are working on a big new patch in their spare time.
If any of you care I can post some of the server IPs.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
ezekial45 said:
No clue on patch ETA as it's a spare time thing. People said they've finally fixed the lean glitch though thank god!
EU: Agiel's Neotokyo Server - 95.80.55.179:27015
NA: IU-NT - 74.119.219.121:27015
Neither is always going, but they are normally going at the main time people play. I know the NA server was 16/16 earlier, but it seems to have ended. They usually get going around 8 or so at night and it's the server I normally play on. Sometimes I'll play on the EU server, but my ping is usually craptastic.
hbkajshdvfbkjhvgkahsgdfka
Member
NeoTokyo could have been a great mod if they spent more effort/time on the game instead of the art, textures and music. That stuff was AAA level though and I hope those guys get jobs doing that.
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
dygiT said:
A big problem they ran into was it was started on the original source engine. A lot of gameplay quirks actually would have been eliminated if it was on OB, but that was gonna take a ton of work and time which they just didn't have since this was a side project for them.
BlazeHedgehog
Member
Dissolution is pretty okay. Getting kind of a Bioshock vibe from it. I've almost finished it. Definitely a bit janky, though. The game has a bad habit of sending like 6+ guys after you. Thankfully none of them have tons of health and once you get the shotgun later it basically becomes one shot one kill. There are other enemies later, though, that while conceptually creative are not very fun to fight at all, though again, they don't have very much health (not that it matters, if you can't see where they are...)
I feel the mod could have used an extra layer of visual polish. It feels like they tried to create a unique visual identity out of the mod without venturing too deeply in to creating too many custom assets. Having 90% of the game be this very generic sort of metal/stone texture from HL2 makes everything look... weird. I would prefer another art pass with perhaps some genuinely experienced artists. There's good ideas here, they just need to be made prettier to look at.
Voice acting is definitely a bit of a weird point. Writing is perhaps a little too verbose for my tastes. The game treads a thin line between being intelligently written and the author being in love with his own prose a little too much. It's trying to be a bit high concept but a lot of the impact gets muddled along the way. The opening shot where you're just staring at space for like 3 minutes and almost nothing of importance is happening is kind of weird.
So far a very 7/10 experience.
I feel the mod could have used an extra layer of visual polish. It feels like they tried to create a unique visual identity out of the mod without venturing too deeply in to creating too many custom assets. Having 90% of the game be this very generic sort of metal/stone texture from HL2 makes everything look... weird. I would prefer another art pass with perhaps some genuinely experienced artists. There's good ideas here, they just need to be made prettier to look at.
Voice acting is definitely a bit of a weird point. Writing is perhaps a little too verbose for my tastes. The game treads a thin line between being intelligently written and the author being in love with his own prose a little too much. It's trying to be a bit high concept but a lot of the impact gets muddled along the way. The opening shot where you're just staring at space for like 3 minutes and almost nothing of importance is happening is kind of weird.
So far a very 7/10 experience.
I played through Dissolution today, I agree with you. 7/10 is about the feeling of things, there are a lot of rough edges mixed in with average design, with little sparks of a bigger and better game shining through.Sega1991 said:
Gameplay: I agree, the mobs got a little annoying, what with their high damage and implausible accuracy.
The psychokinetic crows were an interesting idea, but the great buildup went flat and the actual enemy was underwhelming. They don't fly, they just sit and fuck with your vision while you try desperately to shoot at wherever they're perched. This could have been a lot better with not much effort.
Design: The game definitely takes a lot of inspiration from Bioshock and System Shock, you can see it in everything. The world design is segmented by airlocks into named districts, and little touches like protest signs and discarded audio diaries are taken straight out of the Rapture playbook. However, the level design is a pretty significant step back. One is looking for keycards and buttons constantly, and unlike Bioshock's fetch quests, there are no gameplay twists and innovations as a result.
Characters like Sander Cohen, Andrew Ryan, and Atlas are traced into the surroundings here with minor alterations. In the psychotic artist feuding with his actors, you clearly see Sander Cohen. In the station's tyrant/chief philosopher/head architect, you clearly see Andrew Ryan. In the disembodied and friendly guiding voice, who is at war with the tyant and hides his true nature from the player, you clearly see Atlas. Shadows of Rapture's various rebels and the mad inventor Suchong can be seen here and there.
The problem, of course, is that Dissolution never rises above or improves upon its inspirations in any way. It borrows, but it fails to better.
Writing: In places it did seem overwrought, in others it seemed really unpolished, and yet in others it seemed perfectly suitable. Problem with consistency here, not helped with the hit-or-miss voice acting. It definitely got caught up in telling and not showing a few times, especially in the beginning, "reveal" scene, and end. Tying the player in place and pitching a monologue is not the way to properly hold his attention.
Verdict: This really needed more time in the oven, more custom assets, more iteration/refinement, and much more bettering of the concepts borrowed. The creator probably should have taken on an extra helping hand or two and aimed higher. Aside from that, I'd like to see more risky and experimental mods like this released.