Station 15 Final Release 1

[Kaleo]

I noticed some major no-textures-found stuff... I'm too lazy to take a screenie, but I'll post one a bit later.

[Supertanker]

No textures?! How can that be possible? I tested the map with a clean install with only map-station15-beta3.pk3,vm(s)-1.1.0.pk3 and data.pk3

I'll look into it, althought screenshots and console dumps would be *very* helpful...

[ghostisback]

where can i download beta3 ??

[Kaleo]

I went back to try and take some screenshots, and everything was normal.

[amt111]

Heh. Another way of saying "oops".

[Supertanker]

where can i download beta3 ??

Look on the first page of this topic.

[Supertanker]

Just a minor announcement: Due to issues of a personal nature in my life (Yes, I have a Real Life ^(TM)), Station15 development will be delayed for a while. I am NOT abandoning the project, simply have a crapload of issues bombarding me from all sides and cannot spare time to work on Station15 for a month or so at the least.

But fear not! This map *will* be finished by the end of the summer.

[Supertanker]

Station15-beta4 is under development again.
After a long break, I've started reworking the map with two goals in mind.

1. Making it playable on older hardware, and
2. Finalizing the layout, because I have received some concerns that the map is too large/confusing.

To work towards these ends, I am actually going through the map and redesigning each room, cleaning up the brushes and optimizing it. Some rooms will appear very different, others will look much the same, but each and every room in the map will have been gone over by hand. (Funny, now that I think about it. This is the third time I've gone through this map completely. The first was to retexture the map. The second was to go through and re-set all the brushes that should have been 'detail' back to 'detail'.)

Any comments or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
One comment by Cadynum suggested removing the entire lower section of the map, or at least making it far smaller, and either making the service tunnels far larger or smaller, more air-duct size (And shorter too). I find myself liking the idea of cutting down the map. What do you think?

Screenshots:

http://supertanker.mercenariesguild.net/station15_beta4.jpg
http://supertanker.mercenariesguild.net/hbase_hall2.jpg
http://supertanker.mercenariesguild.net/garden3.jpg
http://supertanker.mercenariesguild.net/cargobay_new.jpg

[Baconizer]

Air ducts are good as far I'm concerned. For me, a tunnel system is a major plus on a map.

Maybe the two elevators that you have should be more separate? Having two, smaller rooms side by side with one elevator in each of them would be nice.

Some parts of the map are a bit too dark, a more blue theme such as the human base would look great.

That's all I can think of right now, I'll take a look at the map by myself and post back here.
 

[Plague Bringer]

From the only kid around who seems to be able to effectively navigate Pulse: Your map is confusing, but all of the mappers know how much of a pain it is to rework the whole layout, or even bits of it, so here's a suggestion. Around the map, place signs directing you to one place or another. Also, place some overhead maps of the facility, with little markers that say "You are here!" or something. I think that both of those (or even just one) would add to the atmosphere, and the playability of the map.

[Supertanker]

Actually, Plague Bringer, at this stage of development, redesigning the entire layout would be *very* easy.

See, what I'm doing is this:

1. Cutting out rough sections of station15 and importing them into a new scratch map.
2. Optimizing as much brushwork as I can, using insane amounts of detail brushes, and generally getting each room down to a structural caulk-box that joins the doorframes or other structural join-points of the room.
3. Saving that map into a 'station15_2' map that will eventually replace the main station15 map when all the rooms are in place and connected.

So right now I'm not even bothering with the small hallways or even many of the large ones (The bland ones connecting the human base and the furnace room come to mind) and so putting new stuff there would be very easy.

I do like the signs idea, but the 'you are here' map also requires me to finish the layout. Which is what I should be working on right now
The elevators idea I also like, assuming I keep the lower areas, which I probably will do. However, the lower area will be vastly redesigned, most likely.
I've always wanted to play around with the elevator shafts...

[Plague Bringer]

An. I've occasionally dabbled in what I like to call "puzzle piece mapping." I create a bunch of sections of hall that all fit together (straight corridors, t sections, 4 way intersections, corners, etc.) and throw them all together. Very basic, but it keeps me entertained for a few hours.

Yeah, the station map would have to be put in for a final build, after play testing the layout.

Can't wait for a release. Station 15 has been one of my favorites for a while.

[Kaleo]

Can we ban this fucking bot already?

[cactusfrog]

no its to funny

[Supertanker]

Actually, technically, there's two gardens now. From now on I'll call one the "waterfall room" and the other the "hanging garden."

Here's the "hanging garden," where absolutely nothing is hanging but for a few vines and curiously placed airducts. Seriously. What kind of moron would place airducts out in the open like that when there's two absolutely gigantic vents already in place? It's like someone just put them there to fill in unused space, to make it look cool. Someone denybuild this guy.





Call me a hypocrite if you want. My map, my thread, MY oversized images. Everyone else should still scale them down for my dialup connection though. You know. It's polite.

Also, tO reITerate prEviOUS wARning sTAteMent:

I am looking for betatesters. I want to test the map's gameplay before I release the beta. Depending on how the tests go, I may just release it to the wild, then spend the rest of my time detailing the map. It's under-detailed in two spots that aren't visible in the screenshots.

Also, the changelog:

* The lower floor is gone. Completely.
* Elevator room is gone.
* Service tunnels are gone.
* Blast door is permanently shut.
* The area behind the blast door is now a sort of cargo bay area (unfinished) that would make a good alien base. Hmmmm.
* Alien base redesigned.
* One of the hallways beyond the human base is completely redesigned and made easier for aliens to get in there.
* Garden has a waterfall. Which is cool. All gardens should have waterfalls.
* An airduct leads from the alien base to the garden.
* Lots and lots of nice detail added.
* There is an entire freaking space station floating outside one of the windows. Just for eye-candy. Rule of Cool, go go.
* Doors look cooler. Again, rule of cool.
* Iris doors open faster.

[Firstinaction]

I can be one of those beta testers- pm me..

[Nux]

I'll test YOUR beta.

[Supertanker]

Two victims already? Swell.

By the way, here's the layout. It isn't frozen at the moment. It is much simpler than beta3, which is a good thing. I'm still getting told it's too complex.

[A Spork]

that looks like a pretty decent balance between confusing and boringly simple.
Count me as a tester for sure.

[Volt]

This is my fav. tremulous map, Add as much detail as you like i could careless about file size. Cannot wait to see it completed.

[Demolution]

Looking sexy as ever. Can't wait to explore.

[swamp-cecil]

I'll beta test. And now since the elevator room is gone, it will finally be balanced. Well, thats what we need to test.

[A Spork]

After our little testing round yesterday:
Vent and ramp to alien base need more lights
Needs more location ents.
And it actually feels a bit small, it needs some more big rooms/new base spots i think.
Also, needs less op human base and less fail alien base.

[Supertanker]

Lost in Station15?



No worries. We got you covered.

Beta5 should be ready in a few days. From what I've been hearing from the testers, things are looking EXTREMELY fun!

After beta5 it should be detailing and then...final.

[Supertanker]

Station15 beta5 has been release. See first post in thread for screenshots, credits, etc.

Download: http://supertanker.mercenariesguild.net/map-station15-beta5.pk3

Station15-beta5 is now votable on the official servers. If you guys have the opportunity, try out the map! I haven't been able to test it with a large number of people (>6).

[Demolution]

Map looks very sexy albeit a tad laggy on my low end system (~20-30 fps in garden area). Outside brushwork looks beautifully done, and the alien starting location is oddly comforting with its boxy/vent layout.
I looooove the improved iris door speed! Also the fact that there isn't one of those near the humans.
All in all, loads of great improvements in this version.

P.S. I seem to be getting quite a few "failed to register particle system ..." errors upon loading the map and when attacking, but I think that may be stemming from me.

[Supertanker]

Map looks very sexy albeit a tad laggy on my low end system (~20-30 fps in garden area). Outside brushwork looks beautifully done, and the alien starting location is oddly comforting with its boxy/vent layout.
I looooove the improved iris door speed! Also the fact that there isn't one of those near the humans.
All in all, loads of great improvements in this version.

P.S. I seem to be getting quite a few "failed to register particle system ..." errors upon loading the map and when attacking, but I think that may be stemming from me.

Thank you for the kind feedback!

The lag in the garden is probably the biggest remaining issue with the map, but unfortunately it's not one I can do much about. I did just spend an hour or so trying to optimize. I'm not convinced it made the garden play better, but it made the .BSP smaller, which is a win.

I sped up the iris doors a little MORE for Beta6, so we'll see how that plays.

As for the particle systems, I'm guessing that's something on your system, especially if it's while attacking.

[Supertanker]

Here's one thing I noticed. The Meaningless Pipe Room is a very good Alien base, which I intended. In fact, it's almost too good. Most of the time, the single ramp in beta5 was blocked off by a barricade, making it impossible to get to the OM. So I added this:



Two ramps may not be that much better, but I think it makes things just a little more balanced. If nothing else, humans can use it to get to a position where they can shoot the place players like to build the OM.

Thank you so much to everyone who's been playing Beta5. We've been having some truly amazing games out there.

Beta6 should be ready soonish. Not much changed. I don't see much that needs to change anymore. Almost -final time!

[Supertanker]

Before:





After:







Just upgrading some things. Parts of the map still look a little dated to me. This also prevents humans from accidentally crushing each other if they jump on the elevator while it's moving!

It also moves 50% faster. Yay.

[CreatureofHell]

But no one ever accidentally crushes someone else...It's always done on purpose!