Underground Uprising

It's just the flow of things

2009-08-19T18:45:00.003-05:00

Alright, so I haven't really been keeping up much around here, I apologize. :( Again, we haven't been TOTALLY dead, just.... Doing other things. For me it's a huge relief to finally get End Of The Line out the door and into your hands, and the feedback I've seen so far is encouraging. :) Thanks!

But the focus of this blog isn't End Of The Line, its Underground Uprising! Sorry to say, but the EoTL warehouse will not play much of a part in UU (although talks are in progress to maybe fit it into another project...) because as much as we would like it to it just doesn't fit the theme I have in mind for this campaign. :) So besides future updates to EoTL, I promise the blog here will be more UU-oriented! As for frequency of updates... That leaves to be told.

So what's in store for the campaign? Well, my goal is to have as much customizability as possible. I want to do everything I can with it so that we're satisfied with the end result. Of course we'll need outside help along the way! Pretty soon I think we're gonna have to start hiring some playtesters via some public event... But that's too early to tell. :)

One of the many things I want to mirror with Valve's campaigns is the ever elusive intro and outro fly-ins. I don't want to do it with simple path_track entities, it's distracting I think. No, I want to go all out for this and... Well, take a look.

(View on YouTube)

I think this is going to be an exciting trip!

As always, you can email me at: grabbinpills [at] hotmail [dot] com

The End Of The Line - Release Day!

2009-08-01T00:00:00.007-05:00

That's right folks, the time has come to release this puppy into the wild.

If you're looking at this page you might have been linked from the VPK file ingame - Hello! Feel free to bookmark and take a look at the rest of the blog too, we're going to be busy creating new content for you to enjoy. :)

Leave a comment here if you want, or within many of the other release threads around the various forums I've posted this to. :) Feedback on the map is appreciated and will help us as we continue to support the map with future updates. Now, on to the map!

Download Links

Ready To Survive?

2009-07-30T04:43:00.000-05:00

Coming Soon!

2009-06-04T10:27:00.009-05:00

Left 4 Dead - End Of The Line
A custom stand-alone survival mode map by SlowMotion and Tyr

Back before survival mode was released in the DLC for L4D, I made the prediction that the new mode would be the easiest to map for and anyone trying their hand at the SDK will most likely produce a map for this new mode first. For the most part I was right. Although personally what I REALLY want to see from the community are solid maps that the authors take their time in making - maps that shine and are blazingly obvious that they've put a lot of work into them.

With a little over three months in production, End Of The Line is the product of that desire. Busting out every trick we knew about mapping, and picking up new tricks along the way, Tyr and myself have produced a map that we're definitely proud of and we're hoping that you'll enjoy it just as much as we do!

The map is now in its beta stages and is currently being playtested in private to ensure a quality public release. More media including a video will be coming up before the map's release - so stay tuned for that! :)

Now that we've given you a taste of whats to come, we can incorporate this level of polish to Underground Uprising and maybe future campaigns or maps as well!

Blog readers will get an exclusive addition pretty soon, so if you're reading this, check back within the next couple of days to see what it is!

PS: Again, my apologies for not posting - and again, work was being done behind the scenes and I've ultimately decided to post when I needed to. Campaign development will be further involved however, and I can make the more steady blog posts I had envisioned. This is not gonna die!

End of the line for you, sir

2009-03-17T13:01:00.006-05:00

Okay, I'll admit, I'm being a bad kid and not keeping up with my monthly media updates OR the promised blog post every three days or so (something I made to myself), but that doesn't mean I haven't been working...

With Survival Mode and the Left 4 Dead DLC just around the corner, I thought I'd mess around with a map idea I had for a now-abandoned HL2 mod project who's concept was more or less the same as Survival Mode. One month later I had roughed out a fully textured version of what's going to become the first of my many Survival maps - End Of The Line.

The setting is an abandoned factory way out in the middle of the woods. You got there thinking it would be safe, what with all the radio broadcasts saying it was and everything, but when you got there the camp was already overrun. Pick up what you can to defend yourself, and stay alive until you hope it lets up...

(View on YouTube as well)

As you can see the functionality is all there, but I will not be doing any more work on it until I can test it properly in Survival mode - I'm not even sure how to name the map! But for now it just functions as a stand-alone Finale map, and that works out I guess... I get a lot of zombies at the push of a button.

And now comes the time to tell myself how easy this was to make a blog post, and rest assured I'll be pushing myself more and more to make posts more often. :p

As always, you can email me at: grabbinpills [at] hotmail [dot] com

Piece by piece

2009-02-07T13:52:00.006-06:00

With the foundation for Ch.1 - Ascent nearing completion and things coming together quickly for Ch.2 - Caves, I thought what better way to celebrate than to show everyone my progress? So with that I present to you my second major media release, along with some excellent information!

My biggest concern throughout development so far has been the inclusion of Tanks and Witches. If I couldn't build around the way they are supposed to be presented, I couldn't provide a genuine Tank/Witch busting experience.
One of the first things I tried was manually spawning them in. This worked for a while, I had all the binds set up to do it properly, but I just felt that it was missing something... Or there was something that wasn't being done. To this day I still don't know what that something is, but that's fine by me. Perhaps I was just ruining the suspense for myself.
A big breakthrough came when I learned about nav mesh marking, the THREAT mark in particular. This mark allowed Tanks and Witches to spawn in and around the area of the THREAT mark. That alone wasn't enough as I'd found out later on when I'd done more research. Looking at custom maps was an excellent resource and learning experience for me, and eventually I'd put two and two together and finally realize that renaming the map so it's a Versus Mode map allowed for the automatic spawn of Tanks and Witches, provided there were THREAT markers of course! However, this method had one major flaw - its a Versus Mode map now, I had Tanks and Witches but I didn't have the other three bosses. While this might be enough for some, it definitely wasn't enough for me. :) But I as dry out of ideas, it was either Tanks/Witches and no Hunters/Smokers/Boomers, or Hunters/Smokers/Boomers and no Tanks/Witches. I figured it was a long wait until the SDK at this point.
Then just a couple days ago out of nowhere, Felios over at l4dmaps.net posted just the thing I was looking for - a pre-SDK solution to one of my biggest worries. I set to work right away and implemented one of the biggest breakthroughs in the campaign development, fully automated Tank and Witch spawning! A big thanks to Felios, as he's helped me streamline development a whole lot. I no longer have to worry about manually doing anything while enjoying the fight with all five boss infected.

So! While all that was going on, work on Caves has been continuing at an ever steady pace. While its brushwork is still very much rough around the edges at this point, I have mostly decided on a direction to follow with the look and feel of this one as well. Of course, it can't go without some kind of proof right? :) Here's a select three concept art pictures from various parts around Chapter 2 - Caves.

While I'm at it, I'm also throwing in a new video for you! Major milestones are showcased within the vid, and I could make an entire post longer than this one to list them all (but I wont ;>). Most importantly as you'll see from the Tank battle! Oh and don't worry too much about the short panic events, it will all become more difficult as I start adding props and other decorative obstacles.

(View on Youtube as well)

Recognize the Tank music, anyone? :)

On the playtesting front, I've officialy brought on a guy who's going to manage everything on that side of things for me (he's also doing my videos for media releases) - easily a good thing for me which means I can concentrate more on the campaign while getting feedback from a wide range of players. :) But that wont be for a while, you don't have to worry too much until you hear it here first!

This is about the point where I'd start working on the next chapter in the campaign, and my next media release will definitely show off a lot of stuff from there! So stay sharp, and be on the lookout around here for Chapter 3 - Labs.

As always, you can email me at: grabbinpills [at] hotmail [dot] com

Coming this spring...

2009-02-05T12:37:00.003-06:00

http://www.left4dead411.com/news/2009/02/new-game-mode/

With this press release comes great anticipation from mappers like me! A new game mode yeah, new campaigns yeah, but most importantly the official SDK! This has got me more pumped up about seeing the campaign through to the end, and my goal now becomes getting ALL the base work done for all five of my maps before I can start texturing, adding proper models, and most importantly playtesting and packing it up for a proper, stable release.

I've also come across a good looking method to get tanks and witches to spawn into the map pre-sdk - more on this if I manage to get it working. This would mean I and many others out there can properly develop their maps as they were meant to be - pure chaos.

Hopefully they're right on time with this one, all valve time considered. :)

As always, you can email me at: grabbinpills [at] hotmail [dot] com

Building blocks

2009-01-17T22:15:00.005-06:00

With development on the second and soon third chapter going at a steady pace, I thought I'd step back a bit and show you what's in store for the first chapter (and quite honestly, I need to post something here before the masses think I've gone and croaked), and also go over a bit of what I know about level design.

First up I have three concept art pictures for various areas around the first chapter, Ascent.

Developing a level in a structured manner involves more than laying down brushes here and there. It is a process that begins with planning, ends with planning, and involves planning somewhere inbetween..... Yea, there sure is a lot of planning.

For the beginning you need a layout. How is the level going to work? Where are players able to go? Where are players NOT able to go? What kind of obstacles are there along the way? Those questions and more need to be regarded in order for a solid concept to be roughed out, but there's also the game-specific aspect of it all that you must consider before all else. In this case it's Left 4 Dead. Where could I hide from the survivors where I can surprise them when they least expect it? Where could I hide from the zombies where I can be as safe from them as possible? What's the fastest, safest route from point A to B?

In the middle is where all the fun stuff is. Building the map according to plan, adding new and interesting paths and stuff along the way that you wouldn't have thought of on paper, compiling and testing every step, adjusting, readjusting, adding, testing, moving, removing, shortening, lengthening, it should.... It should never be overwhelming so long as you have a plan, and as long as you continually plan while you work. Things that looked good or sounded good on paper may not work so well in-game, and vice-versa. Try everything, it's a sandbox at this point.

After all the hard work of building, planning, testing, compiling, the map is ready for release! But do not under any circumstance think you're finished, no way! Even if you think you've filled every gap, playerclipped every unreachable area off, sealed every open room, people will find a way around it. People are CLEVER, they love to break stuff and see how it works. Offer threads on several different forums where people can report bugs in your maps, if something doesn't look right or if something's broken or amiss, and follow the progress on every single one. This way you have a comprehensive documentation on everything that doesn't work and can plan around how to go about resolving the issue.

I suppose one of the final things I should mention about map design in general is to never get discouraged or take the lazy way out, always look for new ways to do things and don't be afraid to throw a little variety in your work. Look at tutorials over and over and build on what you learn and already know. Learn the "wrong" way to do things and avoid those methods wherever you can. After all that though I believe the most important thing to do though, is to just simply have fun. :)

Stay steady! I'm not the only one waiting for the SDK before I can really kick into high gear.
As always, you can email me at: grabbinpills [at] hotmail [dot] com

Because you never know...

2009-01-08T00:30:00.001-06:00

Running through the first map on expert has become difficult, even without Tanks and Witches. Considering that, I've learned to think like a zombie before I throw down or adjust any brush or item that may aid the survivors. Tanks hate fire, witches don't want your love, and zombies just want you out of their territory (kinda odd they don't want to eat)! Then there's the Boomers, Hunters, and Smokers.

Boomers hold the biggest surprise element in the game. They love corners and extreme high or low places. Out of sight, unexpected. A real close-combat kinda dude, ready to get in your way and sometimes right when you don't want him to.

Hunters are kind of a lone-wolf traveler, able to get out of situations fast if they haven't already gotten meleed to death - however they're at their peak battle effectiveness right after a Boomer blast or a Smoker pull. A great distraction as well if you can organize a series of Hunters doing nothing but bouncing off walls while a Boomer can get in close for a barf.

Smokers are a strange mix of the two. They need distance, corners to peek around, stealth, and plenty of horde to assist in dealing massive damage to their captured prey. This also means that they're the most dependent on their other underling companions. In the midst of a Boomer blast they can pull the team apart while they're blind. After a Hunter pounce they can throw a would-be rescuer off guard.

Man I love Versus Mode.

On the mapping front, I've reached a point in development where things are going to get a bit quieter around here - I won't be making as many posts while I develop the rest of the maps before I get my hands on the SDK, I'm getting just a bit burned out on looking at a single map all the time. So no worries! It's not like things have stopped around here - I'll definitely be putting new media up for grabs when I'm convinced it's good enough for public consumption. :)

As always, you can contact me at: grabbinpills [at] hotmail [dot] com

The boss, and HIS boss

2009-01-07T02:26:00.007-06:00

One of the sucky things about mapping in L4D without the official SDK is that Tanks and Witches don't make an appearance automatically, they must be manually injected into the gameplay. While if you're fast enough to turn cheats on, spawn the boss, and then turn cheats off again before anyone can turn themselves invincible, the bosses will be expected thus ruining the suspense and surprise of the event while everyone has their molotovs and auto-shotties out.

Mapping around these events however, even when automated, provides some unique challenges.

The Tank is one mother of a destructive force. He needs a lot of room to maneuver around in, a lot of space to chase the survivors down, and especially a lot of physics objects to throw around.

Setting the stage for the Tank also might require large areas where you can climb to higher ground in, something I'm trying so hard to implement properly. Just hope you don't run into him down a long hallway.

The Witch on the other hand doesn't require as much of a special setup as her underling. All you really need is enough space to avoid her, or enough objects in the way between you and her so that you can sneak in to attempt a single-hitter.

I always absolutely hate it though when she's always right down the path I need to take - I'll make sure there's a lot of that in these maps.

It tickles the ears

2009-01-06T00:11:00.002-06:00

One of the cool things I love to do with my maps is include custom sounds. Anything from ambient sounds like rain or even the humming of electrical lighting, to voice acting. I think that the sounds in a map must be implemented with such care that any new player shouldn't be questioning a single sound's origin, volume levels, or even wondering if it even fits in the environment at all.

So, for Underground Uprising of course I'm going to want to do something for it right!? Right! I figure since this is an underground facility, I should include some sounds you would find in such a place. But I had to think deeply about this one, since I've never visited any such place personally. So, I broke it down into pieces. It's still an underground facility sure, but it's made up of sections. Train track areas, offices, hangars, caves, unfurnished areas, outside areas, flourescent lighting, television sets, recreation halls, barracks, all kinds of things as long as..... As long as it fit with the theme of an underground military facility.
And the voice acting.... Well, I'll leave that for a future post.

One of the things I had to do was learn how soundscapes worked. How they were implemented and how their parts worked together. By the end of this venture I hope to have done everything I needed to to have created something where people aren't going to wonder if something's out of place. I'll hear about it though if I did something wrong or if something's amiss, right? :)

Chapter 1 - Ascent

2009-01-05T00:30:00.000-06:00

(View on YouTube as well)

An early development shot of Underground Uprising. Planned are more areas where zombies can come from (just one or two) as well as heavily modifying the nav mesh, definitely! Still forging out a linear path through my design at this point, and will keep this blog up to date on that.

What you're seeing here is a little less than half of the first chapter, called Ascent. Your journey in this chapter takes you through the facility's transportation grid located at the lowest levels. As you move through the area you eventually get into the next areas above it, which is called Caves.... Not the most original name I know, but it's the best I could come up with! :)

As always, you can shoot me an email if you like: grabbinpills [at] hotmail [dot] com

Underground Uprising.- Movie Poster

2009-01-04T01:55:00.001-06:00

So for our first media stuff, we have the movie poster that the campaign will use!

...Okay, so it's not really that good you say? Well, it wouldn't be since I'm no photoshop artist. If you can come up with a much better one then by all means go ahead. :D I don't have a degree in arts or anything (not that you need one) and this is honestly the best I can come up with. The background will come in the form of an actual screenshot from the map most likely, I just pulled a random image off google I thought was suitable for the time being and I think it works!

Shoot me an email: grabbinpills [at] hotmail [dot] com

Welcome!

2009-01-03T01:59:00.002-06:00

Heya people, welcome to the official blog spot for Underground Uprising. This will be the main place to go to for progress updates and downloads on the campaign, as well as information on how the thing is going. Definitely going to be a wild ride, so hang tough, and let's all develop this together!