Progress Update #2

It has been a long time since I last posted on here. In any case, I've been working hard on the second map, The Canals, and currently I'm trying to follow the rough sketch I made in order to make the first "part" of the map.

It's going to be 3 "parts", and then an infinite panic event in the end. Each "part" will consist of additional two halves: in the canal, the short & dangerous route, or a detour, a longer but less dangerous route. There is an issue however, the engine limits. I keep wondering if such a long map would be possible, never mind with all the scripted events and alternate paths. Worst case scenario, it will be 2 "parts" with alternate paths, and the last one will be a single path(maybe with some smaller alt. paths), leading up to the final event in the map.

I don't want to make it too long, but I want to make it longer than the average L4D map lenght, and the longest in this campaign.

Right now I'm working on the long but safe detour path for the first "part", and there is also a small military encampment part before that, in which I plan to put a little conversation between military officials and the survivors.

Anyway, here are a few screenshots of work in progress:

Trailer!

Finally finished the trailer for the campaign. Enjoy!


Watch on the YouTube page here.

Progress Update #1

(Calling these entries "Progress!" is getting redundant so I'm going to number them from now on).

In the recent days I fixed more bugs and I've arrived at another job I've completely forgotten about: The 3D skybox. Unless you want to play trough a map floating on a rectangular card, I have to implement one.

Having fixed most of the bugs, I find myself cloudlessly playing trough the map over and over again, and I always feel like I forgot to note something. But since there are no bugs apparent(there is only one, not-so-game-breaking bug that occours sometimes, but it probably won't ruin the game in co-op), and I've kinda done the 3D skybox(it's not final at all, I will adjust it as I go), I think the time has come to start working on the second map, even though the first one is complete, but not perfect.

Before I do that though, I will pretty up the map and I'm going to start work on a little teaser trailer for the campaign.

Even more patchwork...

Fixing things. That is what I hate the most about level design. You have fun creating your awesome level and then you are hoarded with the bugs that your map generates. So you gotta fix them, and when you fix the largest gaping holes there are even more bugs. Smaller, but still they just about make normal gameplay impossible.

There are indeed many little bugs in the first map of the campaign and I really really don't feel like fixing them all. however, I know I never will be in the mood, so I will just get over with it so I can start work on the second map.

Making progress...

In my last entry i've celebrated finally fixing the broken flow, but there is still a long path ahead. Anyway, i've been working hard on prefecting the nav mesh, and i've managed to fix a lot of minor issues, and one major issue.

List of changes:

• Fixed bots trying to go trough the hole in the ground when it was closed, instead of trying other paths
• Major issue: fixed the bots teleporting to the lower level part even when the random pathing disabled it. In fact, i made it so the entire lower level is considered "nonexistent" if the path is blocked, and nothing will spawn there either.
• Fixed more flow issues
• Fixed the gym infinite panic event spawning infinite zombies
• Adjusted the amount of zombies on the map at a time in an infinite panic event
• Fixed bots trying to go trough the broken wall when it was closed. They will still try to go trough it for some time, but they will eventually pick the other path and will not teleport.
• Fixed survivors refusing to go trough the final door even when it was open
• Fixed survivors not taking the alternate paths in the final event
• Re-generated some areas for better infected navigation
• Fixed bots not jumping over some low obstacles
• Added some details, cables and graffitis to the generator room

So this is great and all, but there are still some major issues that need to be taken care of. Apart from that, the first map is nearing completion and it will be there, once i fix the remaining issues.

Map is playable!

Ever since I started developing the first map of the campaign after deciding to make a full fledged 5-map campaign with random pathing, more elements from L4D2 and some of my own elements, the fact that I actually had to make a NAV for this and if it is not compatible with the elements I used I'd have to call off the entire thing has been floating over my head like a stormcloud.

Every time i entered my map to test things, enjoyed the looks of my map, or the fact that one of the elements finally work as i had imagined, the storm cloud always hit me, my map is great and works, but it is empty. There are no zombies.

Regardless, I pushed forward and made an entire maze(not really, just more complex random pathing in a small area) that is an alternative to the Gym's infinite panic event. It worked out great, but then it hit again: How will the bots navigate trough it? After all, navigating trough different complex paths each time the map starts is not what Left 4 Dead's navigation system was made for.

After the map was done from start to finish, I had to face it: I have to make the nav now.

So, ignoring my worries, I marked some areas walkable and I generated the nav, then analyzed it.

After the map started, surprise surprise, the MAP IS UNPLAYABLE error still popped up.

After this, I started a desperate journey of fixing up the nav just to discover more bugs. I do not wish to take you trough the details, but after that I pretty much lost motivation and I took a huge break. 

Then once it clicked in how I could fix the nav, and i started working on making it compatible with the random pathing and fixing up the flow. 

Of course, this led to a lot of bugs being fixed, but the flow still broken, map still unplayable, zombies still not spawning, survivors still acting stupid, map still empty, nav still not working, it was hard to keep up the motivation, but I was pretty motivated because I learned a lot about navigation files by my own experience. Due to this I was able to keep fixing places where the flow was broken and block down nav areas where the random path was closed at the moment.

After all that, still no results. But to no lack of my motivation, I decided to start fixing flow issues closest to the starting area and then go trough the entire map, until it becomes playable. This is where the aforementioned storm cloud drew near. I knew that this had to work, and if I went from start to finish and fixed all the flow issues and the map was still unplayable, I'd have no idea what else to do to fix it. 

This is how I imagined it:

Fixing the last flow issue and re-analyzing the map, the moment of desperate, hopeless truth.

So, i started to fix the flow issue of going trough the windows into the starting room(I've since moved the starting point outside on the rooftop), and after it flowed nicely, i re-analyzed the map just in case.

And when it restarted the map, something was missing. 

And it wasn't the zombies. It was the MAP IS UNPLAYABLE error! In fact, I checked, and the zombies were there! The director even unleashed a few hordes upon us, but it felt like a refreshing shower! My map was finally working, my map finally has zombies, a working nav, the map is now playable!

The map i feared would never work now had a correct flow! Of course, this did not mean it was fully working, in fact the nav was still buggy as hell, survivors teleporting all over the place mainly, but it was working! This was a huge step forward in the development of the campaign. Now I knew random pathing is in fact possible, and that drew the storm cloud away.

This is what assured me that i can finish this campaign, and this is what made me open this blog.

To celebrate, here are three new screenshots:

The new starting area

The hallway

The big hall