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

	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1
	Posted By: Steve Levinson	Date: 8/16/04 5:28 p.m.
	In Response To: RED 1.1 beta 1 (Mark Levin) : The first release of RED 1.1, incorporating all the changes discussed on the : forum. I just finished beta testing RED 1.1b1. For the sake of brevity, I’ll only list the levels and issues where I found remaining or unaddressed problems. Here’s what I’ve found: : Needs more duct tape: : • Lighting in reactor control room redone to remove glitches (yes, I know I : said no aesthetic changes, but under scrutiny it looked pretty dumb and I : don't think Ian would mind). Agreed - a definite improvement. : • Chip switch in reactor control room now opens level exit as well as : revealing Joshua. For some reason, I saw Joshua when I first entered the control room, before ever going after the chip, let alone inserting it. I suspect that somehow he must be visible from the start, so something isn’t working quite right. : Why did it stop? : • Switch added to side of elevator shaft to lower second platform if the : player falls off. Hmm, somehow I missed this. Where is it? I deliberately jumped off, but never did find the switch. I suppose it’s pretty obvious - I just didn’t see it. : • Pattern buffer moved to before beetle ambush. This is a major improvement. It makes all the difference in the world, and it is nicely placed. : G3 Sunbathing at 300Mhz : : • Oxygen canister next to 1x health canister on second level. Hooray! : • Pattern buffer on third level moved to right before teleporter to fourth : level. Perfect - this is exactly where it is needed. One issue that remains that we never really did figure out. At least in AO, the flame thrower works in vacuum, which it really shouldn’t I’d like to fix this if we can figure out why. : Floating in Agony: : • Teleporter now places player in back of cargo bay (and not facing wall). Interestingly, this at first totally screwed up my usual strategy. I had this level worked out perfectly before, but now found I had to dramatically change my strategy. For most I suspect that this is easier, but for me it meant wasting more ammo than before, when a single ejection of my gas gun could take out all but the golden raptor. : Metatron of the Void: : • Pattern buffer behind front desk in plant entrance. This one addition makes all the difference in the world. : Removed infinitely regenerating head bots. Again, this makes the level much easier, but perhaps easier than Ian had intended it. Don’t get me wrong - I don’t miss those head bots in the least - but it changes the feel of the level somewhat negatively. Perhaps slowing the regeneration rate rather than eliminating it would be preferred? Anyone else have feelings about this? : • Adjusted rubble near annoying door. : • Annoying door delay increased. Indeed, this does make it possible - just possible to take out enough of the metalloids to make it playable. : Last Minute Shopping: Excellent job - this level is now perfect. : Jagermeister's Nightmare: One thing that’s not on the list is a rather annoying bouncy poly problem at the entrance to the room with the PB. The player must come into that alcove at an angle and I find that the entrance is sudden and abrupt - it seems to be unavoidable for me. Mark, could you take a look at this and make the entrance more realistic? : Mmm... Tastes Like Evil: : • Infinitely regenerating beetles removed. : • Two-stage ambush added to bridge area (some beetles when you first arrive, : and more once the bridge is raised). : • Pattern buffer added right before blood run. OK, I have a lot to say about this level. Although I like the changes all around, I think that we’ve inadvertently made some things too easy while at the same time creating one huge problem. Although I do love having that new PB, at least in the original version the player could never become trapped because they lacked the necessary shield strength, or rather armor, to make the blood run. Although the blood run is much safer with the blood lowered in the first area, the player needs more than 1X shields to make it through what’s left. Now imagine the novice player coming through here for the first time, not knowing what’s ahead and having a devil of a time dealing with all the monsters faced up to now. They finally reach that PB and gratefully save their game, thankful that they are still alive and not aware that their half-shield strength isn’t enough to play it through. They probably missed getting the fusion mace or the omega cannon, so they really have no alternatives around this. My suggestion would be to add a 2X recharger (repolymerizer) next to the new PB. That creates its own set of issues, but I have a plan for this. Regardless of the addition of a shield recharger, the addition of the PB makes the remainder of the first portion of the level a bit too easy IMO. The player can always come back to save their game after each successful defeat of another monster grouping - there's no reason not to - and they undoubtedly will. I suppose the PB could be inactivated by the same switch that raises the bridge, but I think that would be a bit too cruel. What I would like to do is to reintroduce the regenerating beetles, but in a selective way so that they don’t take up too many active monster slots. By reintroducing regeneration but by keeping the regeneration number and rate low, you can avoid the freeze problem and still insure that the player who retreats to recharge and save their game will be greeted by beetles both times they try to cross the bridge. In other words, going back will involve moderate risk. One question I have is that one has to go through the blood run to raise the bridge - it's not the switch that does it. Was it this way before, or did you change it in response to my report of successfully using the omega cannon to blast my way out and avoid the blood run altogether? Since I also previously blasted my way up to the room with the 2X shield recharger, I’m not sure if there was a change or not. If this was the original scheme, I would like to request that the bridge be tied to the switch instead. If the player is resourceful enough to find the omega cannon and to use it here, shouldn’t they be allowed to skip the blood run if they so choose? : Can we say mosh pit: : • Add mechanism to detect if Ian has been killed and alter final terminal : accordingly. Nope – didn’t work, at least not for me. Could this be from using AO? Since some people will use AO and there is an MML script for doing so, we need to be consistent if this is indeed the problem. : To the Liver: : • Duplicated two-stage beetle ambush from Tastes Like Evil. : • The reaver fusion mace second trigger now has 100 shots; this is worth about : 5000 health. I did *not* convert every following level to Rebellion, so : this 100 shots will cover the rest of the game. Same comments as in Tastes Like Evil. The fusion mace doesn’t work as billed, as John has already e-mailed you. I can verify that the player only gets 25 uses of the secondary trigger, and another 25 when picking up a new one on Chaos, Inc. This just isn’t enough for the average player to finish the game - I found it would have taken me about 50 uses outside of the heroics I used the last time I played, when I had no shields left by the time I reached End Game. To make matters worse, when running out of fusion recharges, the weapon becomes completely inactive - even the primary trigger doesn’t work. Not only that, but the player is then unable to cycle back through their weapons arsenal in the forward sequence. Add to that that I have mixed feelings about the mace recharge function, and I’d like to rethink the strategy once more. We want the game to be playable and the secondary reaver fusion mace function is still IMO a secret. What I would like to propose is that we place a few shield rechargers in strategic locations throughout the scenario - one additional in Liver as discussed in Tastes Like Evil, a few 1X power-ups in the re- levels, and one in End Game. A limited fusion mace recharger would then be a bonus - a little something extra for the secret-finding player. In addition to limiting the number of uses, then, you might also want to consider providing a bit less of a recharge per use - perhaps half as much. : How big's your Can: : • Added "antechamber" with pattern buffer and teleporter to main : room. For some reason, the PB in that antechamber didn’t work for me. It doesn’t seem to work when vidding it either. Perhaps this is another AO issue, but it needs to be checked out. Also, it is definitely possible to jump down into the depths of the ante chamber - I'm not sure exactly how I did this but I did it twice. It’s really weird down there, thanks to the fact that most walls are not textured, but the player can take advantage of this by walking into one and then floating back up. I would suggest fixing it so the player absolutely can’t go down there. Also, I would like to see the exit teleporter be a bit larger - not much - just enough to make it a little less hard to get into. Oh, and Mark, this room looks really cool. : Up from the Depths... 30 Stories Hight: : • Wrote terminal to fill empty space, linked it back to Chaos, Inc. Mark, you are to modest. That terminal should be a true credits terminal to acknowledge your significant contribution to the effort. Although Ian deserves the majority of the credit for the scenario, your contribution will have a lasting impact on it being playable. And you certainly deserve at least as much credit as all the friends that Ian cited in his credits terminal. But if you try to drag the rest of us into it, which I’m certainly not asking for, please ask me for a picture rather than grabbing one from the net - at least I’ll have only myself to blame for something I may later regret. One more thing - after the player returns to the regular story, there is a very high probability that they will die before reaching another PB, forcing them to repeat Up from the Depths over and over again. I would suggest adding a PB on a side wall of Ian’s alcove. All-in-all, Mark, this is a great job! I’m looking forward to RED 1.1b2!

[ Post a Reply | Message Index | Read Prev Msg | Read Next Msg ] Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

	RED 1.1 beta 1	Mark Levin	8/6/04 11:21 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Blayne	8/6/04 11:32 a.m.
	The link was broken? Good it's fixed then. *NM*	Blayne	8/7/04 4:54 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Mark Levin	8/6/04 4:30 p.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Andrew Nagy	8/7/04 7:48 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Mark Levin	8/7/04 9:13 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Steve Levinson	8/16/04 5:28 p.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Dr. John Sumner	8/17/04 3:47 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Mark Levin	8/17/04 5:28 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Dr. John Sumner	8/17/04 5:39 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Steve Levinson	8/17/04 6:30 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Dr. John Sumner	8/17/04 6:59 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Steve Levinson	8/17/04 6:23 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Dr. John Sumner	8/17/04 7:17 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Steve Levinson	8/17/04 8:52 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Dr. John Sumner	8/17/04 9:55 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Dr. John Sumner	8/17/04 10:24 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Mark Levin	8/17/04 11:55 a.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Dr. John Sumner	8/17/04 12:25 p.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Mark Levin	8/17/04 12:12 p.m.
	Re: RED 1.1 beta 1	Document	9/21/07 3:09 p.m.

[ Post a Reply | Message Index | Read Prev Msg | Read Next Msg ] Pre-2004 Posts