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15/04/2013 - "The Abandoned Village" by Sinistral

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User avatar Jigoku
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Subject: 15/04/2013 - "The Abandoned Village" by Sinistral

Post Posted: 15 Apr 2013, 10:59

Map Title: The Abandoned Village
Author: Sinistral
From: Unreal: Forgotten
Filename: Sinistral_Level2.unr
Music Files: Guardian.umx Newmca7.umx Spire.umx




Video Playthrough:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UkNRlNVo44

Synopsis: The player crashes into an abandoned village taken over by the Skaarj.

Discuss!
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redeye
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Subject: Re: 15/04/2013 - "The Abandoned Village" by Sinistral

Post Posted: 15 Apr 2013, 23:41

It was a pretty good beginning to it all.

I liked the whole thing quite a bit, until the last map.
Last edited by redeye on 16 Apr 2013, 20:19, edited 1 time in total.
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User avatar Sinistral
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Subject: Re: 15/04/2013 - "The Abandoned Village" by Sinistral

Post Posted: 16 Apr 2013, 00:16

I received an anonymous tip of from the "version police" that a video of an older version of the abandoned village was uploaded! :)

It's blurry for me now but is this version 1.1? I noticed there is still a HOM on the fireplace in that house and footsteps are still working in this version for some reason they don't work in the latest (had assumed it was problem with the new patch - the last lot of testing on this was version 227f)

Anyhoo... this is an intro map. It's pretty slow pace to settle back into the game, but it has a few difficulty spikes along the way. I noticed you didn't collect the automag at the start - this makes taking on first skaarj and the slith a fair bit easier - although technically you don't need to fight the first Skaarj, he won't attack at all until the player tries to leave and you can be long gone before then. There is also quite a lot of ammo for the Stinger to be found. There are a few little "easter eggs" such as being able to shoot the Stalactites off in the cave and by jumping in the river at the start instead of going through the nail houses you will be taken directly to the underwater tunnels to fight the Slith. Objectives wise for this map was to show that the Skaarj were still "looking" for the player after downing his ship, that's why you see the Skaarj Transport ship appear twice.

This is another outdated version video, but I think it's more current than the one in this version:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv0UErAZZtc

Doublez-Down
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Subject: Re: 15/04/2013 - "The Abandoned Village" by Sinistral

Post Posted: 16 Apr 2013, 14:30

Love the scale in this map, and in the rest of the pack as well.
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Subject: Re: 15/04/2013 - "The Abandoned Village" by Sinistral

Post Posted: 16 Apr 2013, 17:26

A good opening to the pack, I thought. Excellent use of the 227 effects, which are not very often used in Unreal Map packs. Texturing was good, no misalignments or bad usages that I remember.
However the houses in the village did feel a bit repetitive, not really much difference between them. This worked well with the stock unreal Nali huts, but not with these ones.
Some nice little scripted sequences such as the skaarj ships that we get to see for the first time as well, and sub-stories, like the broken bridge and the two brothers at either side.
Gameplay wasn't too difficult either, especially if you got the automag, and like Sinistral says, it does have a couple of difficulty spikes in enclosed areas, but nothing too difficult. I do remember getting lost at the beginning of this map first time round though, but that was mainly to do with me being a bit stupid.
A very large and interesting map, that evokes the Unreal atmosphere very well.
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Subject: Re: 15/04/2013 - "The Abandoned Village" by Sinistral

Post Posted: 16 Apr 2013, 22:03

Sinistral wrote:I received an anonymous tip of from the "version police" that a video of an older version of the abandoned village was uploaded! :)

It's blurry for me now but is this version 1.1?


The level title says it's version 1.2.

A nice intro that provides some gameplay variety and introduces the general visual themes of the pack. Since this is another level where a weapon can be missed easily it makes a good contrast with last weeks MOTW in terms of doing it right; here the enemies stay relatively low on health (no Behemoths to spend ages wearing down or anything) and you can pretty easily avoid encounters in the second half of the map until you do find another weapon.
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Subject: Re: 15/04/2013 - "The Abandoned Village" by Sinistral

Post Posted: 16 Apr 2013, 23:21

I think I liked the map after this one more, but this one's still pretty good. The lighting was great, and the snow setting made it a really memorable first map.
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Subject: Re: 15/04/2013 - "The Abandoned Village" by Sinistral

Post Posted: 16 Apr 2013, 23:41

I remember the scale being kinda annoying but the theme being a massive selling point. This map also lagged my laptop which was a bit of a downer :P
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Subject: Re: 15/04/2013 - "The Abandoned Village" by Sinistral

Post Posted: 22 Apr 2013, 10:59

Quickly before this one's closed.

First version had something wrong with the snow but next patched version sorted that out and the snow was nicely balanced, disturbing your sight just enough to create the right tension. This map has everything a first maps needs: nice introduction, first weapon rapidly available, second weapon has to be found, sufficient enemies, but nothing frustrating or tiring, lots of exploration and need I mention quite a few visual highs.
Expectaions are raised with this map, and they are certainly met with the next maps.


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