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During the Week I started working on a Mod for the Source Engine. Deus Ex: Source. I'm thinking of releasing it episodically. It's very early on obviously. Not much work needs to be done in terms of level planning, since it's all there, same for artwork. Basically, it's a big face lift. Deus Ex is 10 years old now, but it still holds up pretty well. I've started out mapping the Pier you start on, and I'm working my way through the level. I've not gone into detail texturing yet, I'm just orange mapping it with dev textures so I can work on getting the layout and game play done before I go into detail.
Apart from the basic level design, I'm putting in a few little extras, nothing game changing, just little areas here and there. Really open up the world. Something I noticed in Deus Ex is that theres alot of trickery going on. for instance, the level with the Bar in it, the outside of the Bar is smaller than the Inside, but it's really well masked, so unless like me, you're looking for things like this, you wouldn't notice it. Same thing with the SuperTanker. The Source engine is less limited for size, so I can really go into detail, and make everything the size it should be.
The place I fall down with this is Coding, Textures, and Modeling. I can model basic stuff, but I can't UV map it, I can't model organic stuff like characters either. I can make basic textures, but nothing too professional looking. As far as coding goes, I kind of understand the theory behind it, but I cant actually program anything. I need an Inventory System. Also, since Deus Ex was an RPG as well as an FPS, I also need a leveling and experience system. Plus, if I'm thinking of releasing episodically, I need a way of it keep the stats between chapters.
I'm sure I can find someone, so for now, how some screenshots.
Well. The LAN party went smoothly, we played Crysis on LAN for 8 hours straight, then had some Counter Strike source fun. Ended our main gaming spree at 6 in the morning. Got about 3 hours sleep, then got up a cracked on with some more Crysis, followed by some Company of Heroes. It was good fun.
My graphics card didn't go as smoothly though...
It didn't come on Wednesday, as was planned, but arrived at the depot on Wednesday instead. They then put it up for 3Day delivery, to arrive on Friday. So, I was waiting on the Friday for it to arrive, at about 4 o'clock, I phoned up and asked them where it was, and they said that I should've been told that the card was out of stock. It was flagged for delivery on Friday, I was told it was coming on Friday, but it was actually going to come on Monday. I asked them if they could change it to another day, since I'd be at college until 5 on Monday, but they said, no, because I'd left it too late to change the date.
Sorry, what? They cocked it up, and then try to blame it on me when I ask them to change the delivery date. Christ, I could understand if I'd just rung them up and asked them out of the blue, but no, they were the ones which buggered it all up, by sending me a duff card in the first place, then wrongly telling me it was coming on Friday, and not telling me it was out of stock.
They tried to deliver it on Monday, but obviously no-one was there. So I phoned them, and asked them to deliver it on Wednesday. Which, to my surprise, they managed without fault. I then fitted the card in my machine, and found out that my motherboard wasn't going to play nice with the new one. Old card back in, online, for some unknown reason, I went back to eBuyer, despite them not being able to provide me with a decent service, and ordered an Asus P5N-E SLi Motherboard. Arrived next day with no trouble at all, replaced my old board, new card back in, and finally, it worked.
I think the original cock up was just a one off. So I'll keep going back there. They have very cheap prices, and free shipping on orders over £45. Which is good, since all my orders tend to be over £50 at least.
Anyway, with that over, I've been having some very good gaming sessions. I've been playing World in Conflict alot, which has some very impressive visuals. Also, I played through Portal again, and booted up Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Now I'd already played HL2 EP2, but I thought I'd whack it up to full, now I can. To everyone who says that graphics don't matter in games, they can shut the hell up, and go back to playing their point and click ASCII games or whatever it is they got that notion from. Playing through EP2 with the settings maxed really adds a whole new level to the game. The real-time shadows, the motion blur, the new particle system. All these new little extras, they really add to the experience, and the atmosphere. When your walking through a dark, area, which is a little spooky, and you turn on your flash light to illuminate the area, it illuminates some things, but it casts shadows on other things, so theres always going to be something hidden. It's not what you can see which is scary, it's what you can't. Which is why the new shadows are a nice little touch. The new particle system is very nice too. When you shoot an Antlion, and it explodes, rather than getting a very false looking 2d sprite, you get a nice big, gooey splat. Which although it's not much, the added realism really adds to the feeling that you're there, fighting that Antlion, rather than just telling some imaginary character what to do.
