New monsterball lev!

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 5:27 pm

Coming soon... Monsterball Reloaded! This monsterball level will feature a ball affected by gravity, a unique minigolf-like style of play, and some other never-before-seen concepts. Screenshots below:

Top view:

Side view:

Textured:

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 5:37 pm

oooh, looks cool so far...

Xamindar · Post by **Xamindar** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 5:39 pm

Oh yeah, lookin' great! This is going to be so fun!

Sapphire Wolf · Post by **Sapphire Wolf** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 5:44 pm

Good Eye Candy!

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Wed Sep 15, 2004 7:38 pm

A little more progress, a few more pics...

A picture of the tunnel the ball (and possibly players) pass through:

A picture of the center arena, almost complete:

A picture looking out from the sniper base into the center:

The energy room lights:

The sniper room reactor lights:

DarkFlameWolf · Post by **DarkFlameWolf** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 10:44 am

needs more detail. It has potential to be a nice-looking level as well as a good-playing one. The design is great, but work harder now on making it pretty as well.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:28 pm

I've still got a ways to go on the design. Here's another pic of the latest overview:

As for more eyecandy, I might be adding more, but eyecandy takes polys, and polys create lag, and lag is bad for everyone. One of my previous levels failed because I put too much eyecandy in and it made peoples' FPS drop. Basically what I'm trying to say is that the only eyecandy I'll be putting into this level will involve lightsources, but I'll be making those as spectacular as I can.

Sapphire Wolf · Post by **Sapphire Wolf** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:41 pm

What is the current status for this level?
Just kidding.
Keep upp the good work!

ArcherOmega · Post by **ArcherOmega** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 6:41 pm

Nice work

Liquid Fire · Post by **Liquid Fire** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 7:05 pm

Heh. I post a wierd idea for monsterball, and a few days later, look what happens!

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 9:12 pm

BETA GEOMETRY COMPLETE. Here's a couple pics:

I'm hoping to have a playable demo released sometime tomorrow.

DarkFlameWolf · Post by **DarkFlameWolf** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 12:07 am

ah, so that's why most multiplayer levels look like crap. They don't want lag. Well, even a little eyecandy is better than none. I just hate it when somebody slaps together a level with basic texturing and little light editing, plop in a bunch of weapons and call their boxy level a masterpiece. Then have the level go on to be the most played level on the net. I guess Descent 3 doesn't promote pretty levels as it does playable ones.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 1:25 pm

Yea, I've made a few pretty levels, but everyone hated them. I'm trying to make this as pretty as I can, but I'm not going to sacrifice any gameplay to do so. gameplay seems to be greater than graphics to most D3ers.

Vertigo · Post by **Vertigo** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:24 pm

Ya know... most peoples pcs are overkill for D3, hence you can nowadays add quite a bit of eyecandy to a level without people complaining about it.

Besides, you don't need to use a lot of polys to make a level look beautiful. Take a look at Moria/Anotherbox/HellFire for that...

All nice looking levels (imo) without being hard on the polys.

Sapphire Wolf · Post by **Sapphire Wolf** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 9:44 pm

Can't wait for this level!

*gets excited!*

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 1:32 pm

Ok, I've uploaded a flyable beta to my web server at http://www.stryker2.com/MonsterBallReloaded.zip .

Please note that this is a BETA version, I don't have weapons in it yet. Also, I don't have it set up for monsterball, CTF, or any other game modes. Anyone know the keyword for MB? Also, just to make things simple, does anyone know the name of the .gam entry of a monsterball?

Sapphire Wolf · Post by **Sapphire Wolf** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 3:58 pm

I'll wait until the full one is ready

EDIT: I'm going to download the beta for now on.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 9:18 pm

Ok, I'm releasing, including weapons, weighted ball, the works. Get ready to rumble that ball! (Preferably not into the ball return slots.) Should I put music in? I was thinking some D2... Any suggestions for improvement? This is a beta, not a final version, so I won't be releasing it to PD or any other sites yet. I want some feedback first, since this is an entirely new field for me. Thanks guys!

Grab the level from http://www.koolbear.com/Descent/levels/ ... loaded.zip

Xamindar · Post by **Xamindar** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 2:57 am

Oh I love this!! Just played around in it for a little bit by myself. Great job!

One question, there are the team colored holes (one red, one blue) on each side and the two larger holes that lead out into the outside passageway (from the main middle room). Which ones are we supposed to hit the ball through? The two team colored holes are almost impossible by myself and I imagine in a game with people trying to kill me too it WILL be impossible to get the ball in that hole. Can the room be shaped more so that it allows the ball to get in that hole easier? I know it is meant to be hard because it takes the ball right to the goal but a little easier would be nice.

I love the goals! I think they are set up just perfect!

Looks great! You are very talented.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:08 am

Thanks Xaminadar! About getting the balls into the holes, it's meant to be that hard. You should have to go through heck and back to get that ball gift-wrapped and delivered to your base.

I haven't tested it with the weapons, but I did have several successes knocking the ball in with blues, concs, and a good dose of ship-to-ball contact. Sure, it's akin to suicide with vauss and MD flying all over the place, but hey... it's a sacrifice for the team.

Anyhow, I'll keep your comments in mind, and if I get a few more complaints about the difficulty of getting the balls into the holes, I'll reshape the room for the final version. I need to cut it up into parts anyway; in case you haven't noticed the wind tunnels are a little funky there.

As for which tunnel to hit the ball into, get it into the tunnel of your team's color. You notice the colored lights around the rim? That denotes which base the ball will be delivered to. Pop it into your team's color and force it down the tube, then enjoy the jump over the Gap.

Top Gun · Post by **Top Gun** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 11:36 am

I played around in it a little bit. Very nicely done, and great texturing/lighting

. I have the same complaint that Xamindar had; it could be because I haven't played D3 in a while, but I was having a helluva time getting the ball into the tunnels leading into the bases. I'd almost get it, and then the ball would fly upward and back over my head

. I also experienced a problem with the ball getting stuck in the tunnels from the central area to either base, as well as the tunnels at the bottom of the ramp gap leading back to the central area. In the ramp gap opening, simply going through again knocked the ball out, but in the other tunnel, I went through several times without even seeing/hitting the ball. For a while, I thought I lost it

. It was stuck at the curve in that tunnel, and my ship kept going by without impacting it. Eventually, however, it did pop out. It might be something you want to look into. Otherwise, nicely done; the weapons balance was great for Monsterball

.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 11:47 am

Yeah, I haven't figured out quite how to fix that without making the ball perfectly round (a D3ical impossibility). That's 2 saying the openings need widened, I'll probably do it in the final.

Edit: I just put in a request to esa to host the server for a while. Let's hope a server goes up soon! I can only hold 4 on a p2p... and it's not visible via d3.descent.cx or kquery.

Do_Checkor · Post by **Do_Checkor** » Mon Sep 20, 2004 6:45 am

Whow stryker - cool idea. The whole mission +20% width of tunnels would be even cooler

That the ball stucks here and there in the windtunnels (the loss of shield when you have to follow it) hope it's gonna be fixed...

IMHO from the centerroom the team-tunnel-holes should be a little more like funnels. It took me some time to get the ball in, even if I didn't have any opponents...

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Mon Sep 20, 2004 8:42 am

Ok, I've had 3 requests for larger ball openings, and 2 for larger tunnels. The larger ball openings are going in; the larger tunnels might be a bit harder to implement, but I'll still probably do it, if people don't mind the tunnels being somewhat 4D.

Xamindar · Post by **Xamindar** » Mon Sep 20, 2004 11:42 pm

Larger tunnels sounds like a good idea. For the outside tunnels at least. There needs to be enouph room for your opponent to be able to pass the ball and get behind it so he can push it back towards his base (and against you).

Just another thought.

Do_Checkor · Post by **Do_Checkor** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 5:35 am

The size of the tunnels shouldn't be a problem, but the ball should get through the tunnel alone, not that I HAVE to follow... (IMHO)

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Tue Sep 21, 2004 8:24 am

Yeah, that bug's been driving me crazy. I think the solution will be to add a small amount of "up" wind, just enough to nudge the ball away from the floor where it's getting stuck. Fairly easy fix; and I don't have to redesign those tunnels (except for the entrances).

For those outside tunnels, I was considering making them larger overall. I think I will; it's not that big a deal really. Quite easy to do. I'll probably have it narrow down before the turn to the base, though; redesigning that turn would be a whole lot harder than moving a few verts sideways to expand the side tunnels.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Wed Sep 22, 2004 4:34 pm

I just noticed a new bug now that esa's hosting my level for me. I had put my nick into the level name, but I think I put it in the wrong section.

At any rate, my name now shows up in the D3.descent.cx tracker. That will be fixed in the final.

Do_Checkor · Post by **Do_Checkor** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 11:12 am

I started a thread at the www.Descentforum.de. A few people was really interested in testing / playing your level. So it'd be nice to know if there is already any update aviable...

Oh and: I am willing to host a server too ofcourse.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Thu Sep 23, 2004 11:39 am

Thanks checkor! No, there isn't any updates yet. I've done a bit of work (dividing up rooms to allow for better winds, widening a couple holes) but I still have a ways to go (several texture incongruities, mostly; but I also have to slightly redo the wind tunnels).

Also, I'm on a robotics team that's eating up pretty much every minute that isn't spent on school.

Hopefully I'll get enough time this weekend to finish this thing off.

Xamindar · Post by **Xamindar** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 1:12 am

Apparently the level has changed on the server, beta version? Can you link it here? Or at least put a link that works in the level info.

Do_Checkor · Post by **Do_Checkor** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:31 pm

Stryker wrote:Ok, I've uploaded a flyable beta to my web server at http://www.stryker2.com/MonsterBallReloaded.zip .

Isn't this working anymore?

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 12:32 pm

It's the same level I linked to before, from http://www.koolbear.com/Descent/levels/ ... loaded.zip . However, the link to the stryker2.com site references an old file. Use the koolbear.com link.

Xamindar · Post by **Xamindar** » Sat Sep 25, 2004 7:59 pm

ok, thanks. I got it now. The in-game downloader wouldn't work when I tried to connect, that's why I asked.

I also couldn't get to the D3 levels section on koolbears site. The Descent 3 levels link brought me to a screen for uploading a level where I had to sign in with a username and password.

EDIT: In fact, every link under the "levels" section takes me to the upload page. Koolbear needs to fix this

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 4:44 pm

Ok, I've fixed the bugs, some texture incongruities, and some other stuff. The ball goes through the tunnels WITHOUT STICKING, it has a little bouncier feel (decreased gravity from 45 to 43), and the side tunnels are wider, narrowing to the same size as before before the turn tunnels. I'm in the final stages of beta testing now: I'm testing the final version up the wazoo so I don't have to release a 1.1 version because A. the loadscreen is upside down, B. I forgot to retexture that one dang face, and C. there are now two blue-colored ball tunnels instead of a red tunnel and a blue tunnel.

The final will be released sometime this weekend. Prepare to rumble!!!

Liquid Fire · Post by **Liquid Fire** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 8:58 pm

This level is going to rule

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 9:20 pm

Can we see some textured screenies?

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Thu Sep 30, 2004 9:28 pm

I'll try and get some up this weeked... I'm shy on time right now (read: 1 hour a day doing computer stuff, and no game-flying time then), but I'll have some free time this weekend.

Stryker · Post by **Stryker** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 8:22 pm

Final Beta Testing is in progress tonight. This level will be on the market tomorrow!

Liquid Fire · Post by **Liquid Fire** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 8:27 pm

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