Re: Eternally Bored


	/-/S'pht-Translator-Active/-/

Re: Eternally Bored

Posted By: Forrest of B.org Date: 8/8/04 4:24 p.m.
In Response To: Eternally Bored (Steve Levinson)

I read your post this morning and am going to just post the thoughts that I've been mulling on today, and after reading other people's responses.
First off, I want to comment a bit on what the "Marks" of Eternal are. On one level they're "chapters" because each Mark includes a new chapter, but it also includes all the previous chapters. On another level they're "versions" because each adds new features and improves on the old ones. And they're also "betas" because they all acknowledge that they are not the end product, there *will* be planned and unplanned improvements, and they are here for testing purposes as well. So keep in mind that they are all of these things - but since they aren't exclusively any of them, I needed to use another name. Hence "marks".
Then, in respect to rushedness and release dates, as I've said before, I spent four years (eight, counting the last four I didn't really do much) trying to make it "perfect" and believing in the "ship it when it's done" philosophy, and nothing ever shipped. Someone last winter told me "done is a state you declare, not a state you attain", meaning that you will never be fully satisfied, you have to say "it's good enough" and just ship something or else you'll never ship anything. To that extent, I'm doing the segmented release, to make sure that I ship SOMETHING, which at least has a few good parts even if it sucks as a whole, to prove that I haven't wasted all these years of my life producing nothing. Each release will improve on the previous content as well as adding more, and I'm not going to release Eternal X until Mark V has been Volunteered, to make sure I have all the feedback I'll need on it. Eternal X will have a "when it's done" release date, most likely.
Now to address the map quality: I agree, the maps suck. I've been screaming about this the entire time and people keep telling me "I'm sure they're fine" but NOBODY WOULD PLAYTEST THE GODDAMNED THING to give me any actual feedback, and the tiny amount of prerelease feedback I got was all positive, making me think I was just overly self-critical. I honestly didn't want to use most of the maps I used. I initially expected to see most of the preexisting maps (Deja Vu, Boiler Room, Stark Raven Mad, G3 Moontanning, and Can't TOZT This) replaced by newer, better maps, but in the end I was lucky to get two all-new maps (Duff Man.'s "Inti Omega" and Adam's "I Can't Believe..."), one last-minute repurposed map (Bill Wilkinson's "Un-Wired"), and throw together two more ones myself, both in about a night each ("Core Done Blew" and "Where Giants Have Fallen").
Just so everybody knows where all the maps came from, here's the breakdown:
Level 1, "Deja Vu…" - Made by me ages ago, retextured and refined a bit recently.
Level 2, "Boiler Room" - Made by me fewer ages ago, retextured and refined a bit by D-M.A.
Level 3, "Stark Raven Mad" - Made by me ages ago, refined a few years ago, retextured recently.
Level 4, "G3 Moontanning" - Made by me ages ago, retextured and refined a bit recently.
Level 5, "Un-Wired" - Made by Bill Wilkinson a long time ago, hurriedly repurposed for Eternal.
Level 6, "Core Done Blew" - Made by me in one night very recently.
Level 7, "Inti Omega" - Made by Duff Man recently.
Level 8, "I Can't Believe" - Made by Adam Ashwell recently.
Level 9, "Can't TOZT This" - Made by me ages ago, recently refined and retextured.
I bitched a lot about the random platform activation polys doing random things on Un-Wired, and Bill was supposed to have created an entirely new map for that level (and also to have made Level 6, Core Done Blew, which is his title still), but he was struck with personal crisis and I had to make due with letting him repurpose an old map and then creating Core Done Blew myself. While there is a little bit of that elsewhere, I try to keep it to a minimum, and where it has some logical design and isn't just "Durandal malfunctioning", I usually explain what does what in a terminal somewhere.
Now, as for the textures, first I want to ask what resolution are you playing with? I honestly can't tell a real aesthetic difference between the different resolutions (I might be filling in detail subconciously), but Adam tells me that the lores look really sucky because I designed them all at 512x512. So that might make some difference. If you mean they are bland in the sense of muted colors, as I recall the Marathon had a lot of very muted colors itself, dull browns, greys and greens. Eternal's actually got more color in the Marathon set, with the blues and magentas as well.
Also, keep in mind that each chapter uses predominantly one of the five texture sets, although each chapter uses 2, 3, and 5 to some extent. Certainly the Pfhor textures (like on level 3) you don't consider muted? Most of Chapter 2 uses those textures. Here, the door textures for each set are a good illustration of the differences in style between the sets:

This also addresses the "it doesn't look exactly like Marathon" comments - Eternal doesn't take place entirely on Marathon. In fact, once you're done with Ch1, you'll never see Marathon again. So while Ch1 was designed to at least somewhat resemble Marathon, since that's where it's supposed to be, the whole focus of the scenario is not on replicating M1. Aside from that, I've taken a lot of creative license in general, running more off the "themes" of each setting rather than trying to copy identically the little nuances of everything. I've gotten enough positive feedback about Ch1 resembling Marathon, most of it very unexpectedly, that I feel confident in what we have accomplished. I just aimed to allow players suspension of disbelief when the terminals tell them "you're on Marathon", but several people have told me "wow, this really feels like I'm back on Marathon!", so I feel good about that.
Lets see, what else... difficulty! Yeah, it's hard. For my levels at least, I designed the difficulty around the idea that I haven't played in forever, therefore I must suck, so I'll make it a little tiny bit challenging for me on Kindergarten and that should be about a normal difficulty level. I think I underestimated my own skill level and made it way too hard (although Adam and Bill's levels feel even harder, to me at least), so in Mk II I've given the Plasma Pistol not only more ammo, but more powerful shots, which means that you start the game off with a good arsenel that, depending on how you conserve your ammo, should last you most of the way through the chapter. It also means, as you requested, that you get to use Human weapons more. In the same vein, Chapter 2 introduces more, higher-tech Human fusion weapons to the game. (Welcome to the 29th century, Mr. Woo). Later on you'll get to play with S'pht and even Jjaro weapons, too...
Lastly (I think), to address the comments about areas needing more dead bodies, the lack of Bobs, and lack of variety in monsters: a lot of monster that were supposed to be in there didn't make it in. In Chapter 1 alone, there were supposed to be unarmed Bobs being slaughtered everywhere, Wasps and Lookers (Boiler Room especially, lookers all around those cramped outer corridors), and Hulks too. Due to time constraints those didn't make it into Mk I but they will be in in a later release. Also, the later chapters feature more monsters as per the story setting: S'pht Defenders, fire-weilding Enforcers, Cyborg Tanks, and the Pfhor Controller Cyborgs in Chapter 2; Ticks, F'lick'ta and native S'pht (as seen in terminal pics) in Chapter 3; Drinniol (Hulks) abound in Chapter 4; and Chapter 5 will have all-new monsters. That's gonna be the real deadline-killer unless Ian can actually pull through with his promise...

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

Eternally Bored Steve Levinson 8/8/04 7:57 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Simon of team Sigma 8/8/04 9:24 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored deathmonger 8/8/04 12:01 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Adam Ashwell 8/8/04 12:10 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Mr. Cactus 8/8/04 12:26 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored blake37 8/8/04 1:11 p.m.

RE: Eternally Bored Blayne 8/8/04 3:45 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored D-M.A. 8/8/04 7:31 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Forrest of B.org 8/8/04 4:24 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Steve Levinson 8/8/04 5:39 p.m.

Oh, and yes, I'm using the 512 high-res textures *NM* Steve Levinson 8/8/04 6:55 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Forrest of B.org 8/8/04 6:59 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Steve Levinson 8/8/04 8:46 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Steve Levinson 8/8/04 9:10 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Forrest of B.org 8/8/04 10:00 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Steve Levinson 8/9/04 3:25 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged goran 8/9/04 4:06 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 6:19 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged goran 8/9/04 7:34 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 7:43 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged goran 8/9/04 7:50 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 8:08 a.m.

Burning in the light of the moon Forrest of B.org 8/9/04 11:32 p.m.

Re: Burning in the light of the moon Adam Ashwell 8/10/04 5:02 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Lunair 8/9/04 9:59 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Blayne 8/9/04 2:16 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged goran 8/9/04 3:18 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 6:26 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 6:57 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Steve Levinson 8/10/04 4:41 p.m.

Don't let this go to your head Steve Levinson 8/11/04 9:00 a.m.

Re: Don't let this go to your head Adam Ashwell 8/11/04 9:21 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 10:30 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged Steve Levinson 8/9/04 5:23 p.m.

Anyone notice that Enforcers can't kill you? *NM* a disreputable source 8/8/04 8:20 p.m.

Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your fault? *NM* Steve Levinson 8/8/04 8:48 p.m.

Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul Forrest of B.org 8/8/04 10:02 p.m.

Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul Ori 8/8/04 11:10 p.m.

Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul goran 8/9/04 12:58 a.m.

Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 5:57 a.m.

Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul blake37 8/9/04 6:03 a.m.

Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 6:03 a.m.

Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul Yossarian 8/9/04 6:55 a.m.

Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 7:03 a.m.

Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs Blayne 8/9/04 3:40 p.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 5:40 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 5:41 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored goran 8/9/04 7:44 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Johannes Gunnar 8/9/04 8:04 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 8:06 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Forrest of B.org 8/9/04 9:04 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 9:16 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Forrest of B.org 8/9/04 9:25 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 9:41 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 9:45 a.m.

I hate this title Forrest of B.org 8/9/04 2:09 p.m.

Re: I hate this title Forrest of B.org 8/9/04 2:27 p.m.

Re: I hate this title Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 2:49 p.m.

Re: I hate this title Forrest of B.org 8/9/04 3:00 p.m.

Re: I hate this title Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 3:05 p.m.

Re: I hate this title Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 3:13 p.m.

Re: I hate this title goran 8/9/04 4:07 p.m.

Re: I hate this title Adam Ashwell 8/9/04 4:12 p.m.

Re: I hate this title blake37 8/9/04 3:50 p.m.

Re: I hate this title deathmonger 8/9/04 5:11 p.m.

I'd hate to see you *really* fly off the handle Steve Levinson 8/9/04 6:03 p.m.

A lesson for us all Plague Bearer aka Nick 8/9/04 8:09 p.m.

Re: A lesson for us all D-M.A. 8/10/04 8:34 a.m.

Re: A lesson for us all blake37 8/10/04 8:44 a.m.

Trojan infected PC = porn spam bot *NM* D-M.A. 8/10/04 9:33 a.m.

fun, i'll send your comp a get well card blake37 8/10/04 11:06 a.m.

Re: Trojan infected PC = porn spam bot deathmonger 8/10/04 12:17 p.m.

Re: I hate this title Jacke 8/10/04 5:16 a.m.

Re: I hate this title D-M.A. 8/10/04 8:26 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored blake37 8/9/04 6:02 a.m.

On TC, everything attacks from the start *NM* Steve Levinson 8/9/04 5:42 p.m.

ok, then im just a wuss ;-) *NM* blake37 8/10/04 4:17 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored Forrest of B.org 8/10/04 8:10 a.m.

Re: Eternally Bored blake37 8/10/04 8:34 a.m.

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Pre-2004 Posts

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: I read your post this morning and am going to just post the thoughts that : I've been mulling on today, and after reading other people's responses. : First off, I want to comment a bit on what the "Marks" of Eternal : are. On one level they're "chapters" because each Mark includes : a new chapter, but it also includes all the previous chapters. On another : level they're "versions" because each adds new features and : improves on the old ones. And they're also "betas" because they : all acknowledge that they are not the end product, there *will* be planned : and unplanned improvements, and they are here for testing purposes as : well. So keep in mind that they are all of these things - but since they : aren't exclusively any of them, I needed to use another name. Hence : "marks". : Then, in respect to rushedness and release dates, as I've said before, I : spent four years (eight, counting the last four I didn't really do much) : trying to make it "perfect" and believing in the "ship it : when it's done" philosophy, and nothing ever shipped. Someone last : winter told me "done is a state you declare, not a state you : attain", meaning that you will never be fully satisfied, you have to : say "it's good enough" and just ship something or else you'll : never ship anything. To that extent, I'm doing the segmented release, to : make sure that I ship SOMETHING, which at least has a few good parts even : if it sucks as a whole, to prove that I haven't wasted all these years of : my life producing nothing. Each release will improve on the previous : content as well as adding more, and I'm not going to release Eternal X : until Mark V has been Volunteered, to make sure I have all the feedback : I'll need on it. Eternal X will have a "when it's done" release : date, most likely. : Now to address the map quality: I agree, the maps suck. I've been screaming : about this the entire time and people keep telling me "I'm sure : they're fine" but NOBODY WOULD PLAYTEST THE GODDAMNED THING to give : me any actual feedback, and the tiny amount of prerelease feedback I got : was all positive, making me think I was just overly self-critical. I : honestly didn't want to use most of the maps I used. I initially expected : to see most of the preexisting maps (Deja Vu, Boiler Room, Stark Raven : Mad, G3 Moontanning, and Can't TOZT This) replaced by newer, better maps, : but in the end I was lucky to get two all-new maps (Duff Man.'s "Inti : Omega" and Adam's "I Can't Believe..."), one last-minute : repurposed map (Bill Wilkinson's "Un-Wired"), and throw together : two more ones myself, both in about a night each ("Core Done : Blew" and "Where Giants Have Fallen"). : Just so everybody knows where all the maps came from, here's the breakdown: : Level 1, "Deja Vu…" - Made by me ages ago, retextured and : refined a bit recently. : Level 2, "Boiler Room" - Made by me fewer ages ago, retextured and : refined a bit by D-M.A. : Level 3, "Stark Raven Mad" - Made by me ages ago, refined a few : years ago, retextured recently. : Level 4, "G3 Moontanning" - Made by me ages ago, retextured and : refined a bit recently. : Level 5, "Un-Wired" - Made by Bill Wilkinson a long time ago, : hurriedly repurposed for Eternal. : Level 6, "Core Done Blew" - Made by me in one night very recently. : Level 7, "Inti Omega" - Made by Duff Man recently. : Level 8, "I Can't Believe" - Made by Adam Ashwell recently. : Level 9, "Can't TOZT This" - Made by me ages ago, recently refined : and retextured. : I bitched a lot about the random platform activation polys doing random : things on Un-Wired, and Bill was supposed to have created an entirely new : map for that level (and also to have made Level 6, Core Done Blew, which : is his title still), but he was struck with personal crisis and I had to : make due with letting him repurpose an old map and then creating Core Done : Blew myself. While there is a little bit of that elsewhere, I try to keep : it to a minimum, and where it has some logical design and isn't just : "Durandal malfunctioning", I usually explain what does what in a : terminal somewhere. : Now, as for the textures, first I want to ask what resolution are you playing : with? I honestly can't tell a real aesthetic difference between the : different resolutions (I might be filling in detail subconciously), but : Adam tells me that the lores look really sucky because I designed them all : at 512x512. So that might make some difference. If you mean they are bland : in the sense of muted colors, as I recall the Marathon had a lot of very : muted colors itself, dull browns, greys and greens. Eternal's actually got : more color in the Marathon set, with the blues and magentas as well. : Also, keep in mind that each chapter uses predominantly one of the five : texture sets, although each chapter uses 2, 3, and 5 to some extent. : Certainly the Pfhor textures (like on level 3) you don't consider muted? : Most of Chapter 2 uses those textures. Here, the door textures for each : set are a good illustration of the differences in style between the sets: : This also addresses the "it doesn't look exactly like Marathon" : comments - Eternal doesn't take place entirely on Marathon. In fact, once : you're done with Ch1, you'll never see Marathon again. So while Ch1 was : designed to at least somewhat resemble Marathon, since that's where it's : supposed to be, the whole focus of the scenario is not on replicating M1. : Aside from that, I've taken a lot of creative license in general, running : more off the "themes" of each setting rather than trying to copy : identically the little nuances of everything. I've gotten enough positive : feedback about Ch1 resembling Marathon, most of it very unexpectedly, that : I feel confident in what we have accomplished. I just aimed to allow : players suspension of disbelief when the terminals tell them "you're : on Marathon", but several people have told me "wow, this really : feels like I'm back on Marathon!", so I feel good about that. : Lets see, what else... difficulty! Yeah, it's hard. For my levels at least, I : designed the difficulty around the idea that I haven't played in forever, : therefore I must suck, so I'll make it a little tiny bit challenging for : me on Kindergarten and that should be about a normal difficulty level. I : think I underestimated my own skill level and made it way too hard : (although Adam and Bill's levels feel even harder, to me at least), so in : Mk II I've given the Plasma Pistol not only more ammo, but more powerful : shots, which means that you start the game off with a good arsenel that, : depending on how you conserve your ammo, should last you most of the way : through the chapter. It also means, as you requested, that you get to use : Human weapons more. In the same vein, Chapter 2 introduces more, : higher-tech Human fusion weapons to the game. (Welcome to the 29th : century, Mr. Woo). Later on you'll get to play with S'pht and even Jjaro : weapons, too... : Lastly (I think), to address the comments about areas needing more dead : bodies, the lack of Bobs, and lack of variety in monsters: a lot of : monster that were supposed to be in there didn't make it in. In Chapter 1 : alone, there were supposed to be unarmed Bobs being slaughtered : everywhere, Wasps and Lookers (Boiler Room especially, lookers all around : those cramped outer corridors), and Hulks too. Due to time constraints : those didn't make it into Mk I but they will be in in a later release. : Also, the later chapters feature more monsters as per the story setting: : S'pht Defenders, fire-weilding Enforcers, Cyborg Tanks, and the Pfhor : Controller Cyborgs in Chapter 2; Ticks, F'lick'ta and native S'pht (as : seen in terminal pics) in Chapter 3; Drinniol (Hulks) abound in Chapter 4; : and Chapter 5 will have all-new monsters. That's gonna be the real : deadline-killer unless Ian can actually pull through with his promise...

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Eternally Bored	Steve Levinson	8/8/04 7:57 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Simon of team Sigma	8/8/04 9:24 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	deathmonger	8/8/04 12:01 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Adam Ashwell	8/8/04 12:10 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Mr. Cactus	8/8/04 12:26 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	blake37	8/8/04 1:11 p.m.
RE: Eternally Bored	Blayne	8/8/04 3:45 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	D-M.A.	8/8/04 7:31 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Forrest of B.org	8/8/04 4:24 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Steve Levinson	8/8/04 5:39 p.m.
Oh, and yes, I'm using the 512 high-res textures NM	Steve Levinson	8/8/04 6:55 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Forrest of B.org	8/8/04 6:59 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Steve Levinson	8/8/04 8:46 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Steve Levinson	8/8/04 9:10 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Forrest of B.org	8/8/04 10:00 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Steve Levinson	8/9/04 3:25 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	goran	8/9/04 4:06 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 6:19 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	goran	8/9/04 7:34 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 7:43 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	goran	8/9/04 7:50 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 8:08 a.m.
Burning in the light of the moon	Forrest of B.org	8/9/04 11:32 p.m.
Re: Burning in the light of the moon	Adam Ashwell	8/10/04 5:02 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Lunair	8/9/04 9:59 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Blayne	8/9/04 2:16 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	goran	8/9/04 3:18 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 6:26 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 6:57 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Steve Levinson	8/10/04 4:41 p.m.
Don't let this go to your head	Steve Levinson	8/11/04 9:00 a.m.
Re: Don't let this go to your head	Adam Ashwell	8/11/04 9:21 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 10:30 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored - and bugged	Steve Levinson	8/9/04 5:23 p.m.
Anyone notice that Enforcers can't kill you? NM	a disreputable source	8/8/04 8:20 p.m.
Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your fault? NM	Steve Levinson	8/8/04 8:48 p.m.
Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul	Forrest of B.org	8/8/04 10:02 p.m.
Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul	Ori	8/8/04 11:10 p.m.
Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul	goran	8/9/04 12:58 a.m.
Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 5:57 a.m.
Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul	blake37	8/9/04 6:03 a.m.
Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 6:03 a.m.
Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul	Yossarian	8/9/04 6:55 a.m.
Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs - Ernie, is this your faul	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 7:03 a.m.
Re: Yes - 1 of the bugs	Blayne	8/9/04 3:40 p.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 5:40 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 5:41 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	goran	8/9/04 7:44 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Johannes Gunnar	8/9/04 8:04 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 8:06 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Forrest of B.org	8/9/04 9:04 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 9:16 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Forrest of B.org	8/9/04 9:25 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 9:41 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 9:45 a.m.
I hate this title	Forrest of B.org	8/9/04 2:09 p.m.
Re: I hate this title	Forrest of B.org	8/9/04 2:27 p.m.
Re: I hate this title	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 2:49 p.m.
Re: I hate this title	Forrest of B.org	8/9/04 3:00 p.m.
Re: I hate this title	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 3:05 p.m.
Re: I hate this title	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 3:13 p.m.
Re: I hate this title	goran	8/9/04 4:07 p.m.
Re: I hate this title	Adam Ashwell	8/9/04 4:12 p.m.
Re: I hate this title	blake37	8/9/04 3:50 p.m.
Re: I hate this title	deathmonger	8/9/04 5:11 p.m.
I'd hate to see you really fly off the handle	Steve Levinson	8/9/04 6:03 p.m.
A lesson for us all	Plague Bearer aka Nick	8/9/04 8:09 p.m.
Re: A lesson for us all	D-M.A.	8/10/04 8:34 a.m.
Re: A lesson for us all	blake37	8/10/04 8:44 a.m.
Trojan infected PC = porn spam bot NM	D-M.A.	8/10/04 9:33 a.m.
fun, i'll send your comp a get well card	blake37	8/10/04 11:06 a.m.
Re: Trojan infected PC = porn spam bot	deathmonger	8/10/04 12:17 p.m.
Re: I hate this title	Jacke	8/10/04 5:16 a.m.
Re: I hate this title	D-M.A.	8/10/04 8:26 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	blake37	8/9/04 6:02 a.m.
On TC, everything attacks from the start NM	Steve Levinson	8/9/04 5:42 p.m.
ok, then im just a wuss ;-) NM	blake37	8/10/04 4:17 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	Forrest of B.org	8/10/04 8:10 a.m.
Re: Eternally Bored	blake37	8/10/04 8:34 a.m.



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	Message: : I read your post this morning and am going to just post the thoughts that : I've been mulling on today, and after reading other people's responses. : First off, I want to comment a bit on what the "Marks" of Eternal : are. On one level they're "chapters" because each Mark includes : a new chapter, but it also includes all the previous chapters. On another : level they're "versions" because each adds new features and : improves on the old ones. And they're also "betas" because they : all acknowledge that they are not the end product, there will be planned : and unplanned improvements, and they are here for testing purposes as : well. So keep in mind that they are all of these things - but since they : aren't exclusively any of them, I needed to use another name. Hence : "marks". : Then, in respect to rushedness and release dates, as I've said before, I : spent four years (eight, counting the last four I didn't really do much) : trying to make it "perfect" and believing in the "ship it : when it's done" philosophy, and nothing ever shipped. Someone last : winter told me "done is a state you declare, not a state you : attain", meaning that you will never be fully satisfied, you have to : say "it's good enough" and just ship something or else you'll : never ship anything. To that extent, I'm doing the segmented release, to : make sure that I ship SOMETHING, which at least has a few good parts even : if it sucks as a whole, to prove that I haven't wasted all these years of : my life producing nothing. Each release will improve on the previous : content as well as adding more, and I'm not going to release Eternal X : until Mark V has been Volunteered, to make sure I have all the feedback : I'll need on it. Eternal X will have a "when it's done" release : date, most likely. : Now to address the map quality: I agree, the maps suck. I've been screaming : about this the entire time and people keep telling me "I'm sure : they're fine" but NOBODY WOULD PLAYTEST THE GODDAMNED THING to give : me any actual feedback, and the tiny amount of prerelease feedback I got : was all positive, making me think I was just overly self-critical. I : honestly didn't want to use most of the maps I used. I initially expected : to see most of the preexisting maps (Deja Vu, Boiler Room, Stark Raven : Mad, G3 Moontanning, and Can't TOZT This) replaced by newer, better maps, : but in the end I was lucky to get two all-new maps (Duff Man.'s "Inti : Omega" and Adam's "I Can't Believe..."), one last-minute : repurposed map (Bill Wilkinson's "Un-Wired"), and throw together : two more ones myself, both in about a night each ("Core Done : Blew" and "Where Giants Have Fallen"). : Just so everybody knows where all the maps came from, here's the breakdown: : Level 1, "Deja Vu…" - Made by me ages ago, retextured and : refined a bit recently. : Level 2, "Boiler Room" - Made by me fewer ages ago, retextured and : refined a bit by D-M.A. : Level 3, "Stark Raven Mad" - Made by me ages ago, refined a few : years ago, retextured recently. : Level 4, "G3 Moontanning" - Made by me ages ago, retextured and : refined a bit recently. : Level 5, "Un-Wired" - Made by Bill Wilkinson a long time ago, : hurriedly repurposed for Eternal. : Level 6, "Core Done Blew" - Made by me in one night very recently. : Level 7, "Inti Omega" - Made by Duff Man recently. : Level 8, "I Can't Believe" - Made by Adam Ashwell recently. : Level 9, "Can't TOZT This" - Made by me ages ago, recently refined : and retextured. : I bitched a lot about the random platform activation polys doing random : things on Un-Wired, and Bill was supposed to have created an entirely new : map for that level (and also to have made Level 6, Core Done Blew, which : is his title still), but he was struck with personal crisis and I had to : make due with letting him repurpose an old map and then creating Core Done : Blew myself. While there is a little bit of that elsewhere, I try to keep : it to a minimum, and where it has some logical design and isn't just : "Durandal malfunctioning", I usually explain what does what in a : terminal somewhere. : Now, as for the textures, first I want to ask what resolution are you playing : with? I honestly can't tell a real aesthetic difference between the : different resolutions (I might be filling in detail subconciously), but : Adam tells me that the lores look really sucky because I designed them all : at 512x512. So that might make some difference. If you mean they are bland : in the sense of muted colors, as I recall the Marathon had a lot of very : muted colors itself, dull browns, greys and greens. Eternal's actually got : more color in the Marathon set, with the blues and magentas as well. : Also, keep in mind that each chapter uses predominantly one of the five : texture sets, although each chapter uses 2, 3, and 5 to some extent. : Certainly the Pfhor textures (like on level 3) you don't consider muted? : Most of Chapter 2 uses those textures. Here, the door textures for each : set are a good illustration of the differences in style between the sets: : This also addresses the "it doesn't look exactly like Marathon" : comments - Eternal doesn't take place entirely on Marathon. In fact, once : you're done with Ch1, you'll never see Marathon again. So while Ch1 was : designed to at least somewhat resemble Marathon, since that's where it's : supposed to be, the whole focus of the scenario is not on replicating M1. : Aside from that, I've taken a lot of creative license in general, running : more off the "themes" of each setting rather than trying to copy : identically the little nuances of everything. I've gotten enough positive : feedback about Ch1 resembling Marathon, most of it very unexpectedly, that : I feel confident in what we have accomplished. I just aimed to allow : players suspension of disbelief when the terminals tell them "you're : on Marathon", but several people have told me "wow, this really : feels like I'm back on Marathon!", so I feel good about that. : Lets see, what else... difficulty! Yeah, it's hard. For my levels at least, I : designed the difficulty around the idea that I haven't played in forever, : therefore I must suck, so I'll make it a little tiny bit challenging for : me on Kindergarten and that should be about a normal difficulty level. I : think I underestimated my own skill level and made it way too hard : (although Adam and Bill's levels feel even harder, to me at least), so in : Mk II I've given the Plasma Pistol not only more ammo, but more powerful : shots, which means that you start the game off with a good arsenel that, : depending on how you conserve your ammo, should last you most of the way : through the chapter. It also means, as you requested, that you get to use : Human weapons more. In the same vein, Chapter 2 introduces more, : higher-tech Human fusion weapons to the game. (Welcome to the 29th : century, Mr. Woo). Later on you'll get to play with S'pht and even Jjaro : weapons, too... : Lastly (I think), to address the comments about areas needing more dead : bodies, the lack of Bobs, and lack of variety in monsters: a lot of : monster that were supposed to be in there didn't make it in. In Chapter 1 : alone, there were supposed to be unarmed Bobs being slaughtered : everywhere, Wasps and Lookers (Boiler Room especially, lookers all around : those cramped outer corridors), and Hulks too. Due to time constraints : those didn't make it into Mk I but they will be in in a later release. : Also, the later chapters feature more monsters as per the story setting: : S'pht Defenders, fire-weilding Enforcers, Cyborg Tanks, and the Pfhor : Controller Cyborgs in Chapter 2; Ticks, F'lick'ta and native S'pht (as : seen in terminal pics) in Chapter 3; Drinniol (Hulks) abound in Chapter 4; : and Chapter 5 will have all-new monsters. That's gonna be the real : deadline-killer unless Ian can actually pull through with his promise...
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