Day 14

[Playbus]

I'm not sure if any of you heard of Day 13, (it was featured in PC Gamer UK awhile ago) but I've recently been making its sequel. Now it's finished.

It's not a mod, but a series of singleplayer HL2 maps linked together into a scenario. It features custom voice acting, and some fearsome puzzles. Oh yes, and fighting. There's some of that too.

You can find it here

It's a 42mb download.

Here are some screenshots.











Enjoy.

 

[Solver]

What about a link for Day 13 ? I'm a sucker for SP maps.

 

[Playbus]

Unfortunately, due to my limited webspace, I had to take Day 13 down so that I could fit Day 14 in there.

If you want a copy of Day13, send me an email to the address in the download
and I'll email you a copy.

 

[$kelet0r]

hmmm they're starting to fly out of the woodwork
i'll try it - my criticism is usually either brutal or reverent

 

[Solver]

Unfortunately, due to my limited webspace, I had to take Day 13 down so that I could fit Day 14 in there.

If you want a copy of Day13, send me an email to the address in the download
and I'll email you a copy.

Why don't you submit to www.hl2files.com to have them host it for you ?

 

[Playbus]

I've just submitted both maps to hl2files .... it says it could take 3 days to get them up though.

 

[xombine]

Worth it, you'll get it to many more people. I'll give it a go as well.

 

[Edcrab]

Downloading now, sounds intriguing. Not a big fan of puzzles myself, but from all accounts it's very well made.

 

[Louie Giroux]

I am stuck at water hazard pleas help? [email protected]

 

[Playbus]

Water Hazard??

Isn't that part of the original Half Life 2?

And, given that there is no water AT ALL in this scenario......you must be in the wrong thread

 

[Edcrab]

Okay, my review: pretty damn good. Big download for a very brief experience ('course I'm a lucky broadbander myself nowadays) but a very enjoyable hour can be gleaned from this mod/map pack.

Puzzle got me at first: but let's just say I eventually resolved it after some initial confusion with the letter F and the numeral IV (Don't ask, non-players: give it a whirl and you'll see what I'm alluding to).

Architecture was great, and the set-pieces (including, surprisingly enough, the custom voice acting) equally so. The closing combat was very heated- probably a bit too hectic for a mediocre player like me- but the ending was superb (the closing voice actor... ahem... was awesome, of course).

At the very end, the texture disparity (out of focus/outsized) with the building behind the chainlink was a bit out of place- but that's probably the only glaring error I could point out. I did get the fade-in effect whenever I tried to quick-load on the last map- remnant of one of the set-pieces, obviously- but that was hardly crippling.

All in all, a very solid effort, and I'd definitely recommend it!

 

[Darkboy]

Cool beans.

 

[Flyingdebris]

I only wish he had put the damn crowbar in a more easily seen area. Took me 15 minutes of being attacked by antlions and crabs before i accidently ran over the crowbar.

(edit) NM it was on a table, don't know how i missed it. As for the riddle, I decided to google it up. There is no way anybody less than hardcore riddle junkies is going to get this. Plus there was no payoff.

Seriously needs work.

 

[$kelet0r]

i had serious problems with it - the console was a sea of red
this picture sums up my experience

 

[Playbus]

Thanks Edcrab, nice review.

John, the models in that particular pic are CSS models which I extracted to HL2. So the most likely explanation for error signs is that they're not in the right folders for some reason. Try reinstalling it again, making absolutely sure you put the files in the right places. Read the installation instructions. I have so many successful tests and reviews now from different people with different computers that it can't really be a problem with the download.

As for the console being a sea of red, some of that I might be able to explain. Part of it was probably that you had it installed wrong. But also, for example, if you kill the girl, none of the remaining triggers for her will work anymore, and this will produce a console error but not affect the game otherwise.

There are a few things like this, I could've built in more triggers to cancel things out as the player messes around, but as it doesn't really cause any problem except a console error, I decided not to increase the filesize any more with triggers to fix something fairly trivial.

About the puzzle --- yes I know it's hard. It's supposed to be. I explain why I made it so hard in the text files in the download (did ya read them?), and I also mention that I know some people will not like it because of how hard the puzzle is. It's not something I think needs work -- because it's exactly how I wanted it.

Thanks to everyone who tries it.

The large filesize is largely down to all the voice acting.

Plus there was no payoff.

Matter of opinion.

Google gave you the answer? :O

/edit yes, it does damn google! *shakes fist*

 

[Finger]

My only input, thusfar, is that the waves of headcrabs become somewhat annoying as you are trying to figure out the puzzle. It might be nice to let players have the freedom to play around with the scenario, without the unneccessary combat - killing the headcrabs is neither challenging nor satisfying in this context. I could see putting a very light wave of antlions outside the building, but leaving the inside clean after the initial population of headcrabs is killed.

 

[Playbus]

I agree with you Finger, the headcrabs were one thing I considered taking out near the end of making it, I didn't, but now I think I maybe should have.

Live and learn.

One good way of dealing with the crabs though, is to have the woman in there with her shotgun. If you spot where the triggers are which move her around, you can exploit this, and
keep her in there with the headcrabs. She regenerates, so although you can kill her easily, it takes many many headcrabs to take her down, and she keeps the room clear.


Thanks for trying it out!

 

[fitzroy_doll]

Headcrabs are annoying.

Puzzles are annoying.

Being attacked by headcrabs while trying to figure out a puzzle is extremely annoying.

I understand what you mean about games making the player feel as though he's "wrapped in cotton wool" but the gap between being coddled and being challenged is wide, and the point between these two poles each player is happy is slightly different, and personal. Therefore I can't say that these maps were not good, all I can say is that they were meant for someone else.

If you play Doom 3, have a look at Damnatio Memoriae. This is another adventure game with a similar kind of feel. Not as pretty as Day 14, but just as frustrating.

I hate to say it, but afterwards, I gave it a run through with SMOD to see if the maps would be good as an arena for SMOD battles. They're too small to really work, but it was fun.

As a final note: when you include custom textures and sounds in your map please put them in a subdirectory so that they can be kept separate from other custom textures and sounds more easily.

 

[Playbus]

I'm sorry you didn't like it fitzroy, but I'm happy that you can see that it's not a map designed for everyone. Thankyou for trying it out anyway. I do appreciate it.

As for the textures thing, they are in their own folder. It's called "Day 14" and is a subdirectory of the materials folder inside the ZIP. If you've ended up with them in the materials folder itself, then you must not have installed using the method set out in the instructions. But then it wouldn't work properly. So I am officially confused as to what has happened.

Thanks for the Link to Damnatio, it look interesting, I will definately check it out!
But I need to reinstall Doom 3 first.

/edit

oh and I'm really interested by the SMOD thing! What is that??

 

[fitzroy_doll]

I didn't have any problems with the installation, and it all ran fine. What I mean about the subfolders is that the sounds, textures, materials, and so on that came with your maps are not the only ones I have installed. When you made the map you should have made it so that all the extra elements were in subfolders within these directories. So it should have been ..sounds\day14\files ..scenes\day14\files ..materials\models\day14\files and so on. That way uninstallation would be much easier.

SMOD, which I'm sure you have heard of, allows you to use a mapadd file to add any npc, model or prop to almost any single player half life 2 level. To do this, you create your mapadd file or copy a pre-existing one, rename it to the same name as the map you want to modify and put it in the SMOD mapadd folder. Then start SMOD and load that map. All the extra elements will be present and you can start the carnage.

There are SMOD FAQs and guides at this address: http://www.amphibian.fsnet.co.uk/HL2/#smod . Download "Fitzroy_doll's_smodification" for a sample mapadd with instructions from that page.

Have fun!

 

[Playbus]

Ok, sorry fitzroy, I misunderstood what you meant.

Now I understand and will do it better next time. Thanks!

And thanks for the SMod stuff, definately gonna take a look at that!