Wishlist to make a tutorial map super effective.

perfect, I agree.

 

That was very good actually. I don't mind "butt" really, but you could try face or some such instead, if rear/ass doesn't work.

It's a little bit tongue-tied at the "Captain Patton of the Brenodi Sixth Infantry Division", so perhaps you could change it to something a little different. I understand you want the full clan title up there, but perhaps you could move it around and have "sixth infantry division" first and then something like "serving in the glorious Brenodi Empire" or... well something. Sorry if that's not helpful, it's just probably easier for you to do, since you can say it and see if it's too many syllables tumbling over each other.

Besides that, I liked it...and it flowed well

 

Thanks Ikalx, honestly I did feel weird just saying B-S-I-D, it didn't hold much fanfare for me either however I say it so much I wasn't sure whether maybe that was just me over analyzing it. I could definitely use glorious, "the queens sixth infantry" could also work, something like that. I really don't care if it's the full proper BSID or not, it just provides me back story and a title to pull from that's all. Great suggestions Ikalx, keep them coming. Also with the BSID there, I know I did fall out of my accent there, but again, it was a draft so I didn't redo it, whatever we finally decide on will be much better quality.

Also, this is all fine and good, but any more words threaten the timing of the video for anyone who bothers tryign to get through the tutorial fairly fast. Hehehe Smith, we might need to slow down the elevator again .

 

As far as the explosion goes, I'll try again to get it to blow up on it's own. I had a problem with some of the entities not applying damage or force in game.

I have no problem using the wall as something you need to build a wall to get over. Not sure if I did it in this tutorial vid or not, but one of them I deconned, then used a wall to jump over it, then finished deconning it.

I could remove the ammo crate and force them to spawn their own if they run out. That might be too much to get them throw the simple tutorial though. Map placed entities like map placed vf's and such can be used to trigger map events. I don't know of a way to do such with entities placed real time. Might be possible with some lua scripting, will talk to mootant.

One question: is there a software mouse in HL2? and can you use it and have the mouse appear on the screen? If that were possible, it would be good for making the tutorial video.

 

you dont need to make the explosion an actual explosion, just make a particle spewer that uses the HE explosion particles and use the trigger_once to kill the bridge, no real dmg nessessary. Plus I dont want noobs to be able to run to it and actually kill themselves.

 

Well, I know instructions can appear on the screen. As they approach each section of the tutorial (like where they place the ammo box), you can trigger another voice over file where I tell them in a few words how to drop it. Same for the other events. Don't forget that we can always have instructions appear on screen, like they do with PORTAL for instance.

Things even as simple as ("Use WASD to move") could appear until they move out of their exact starting position (again an easy trigger box which could also start this voice over I posted).

 

There is no way to get there soon enough, it triggers too fast

 

Temporary cheap-ass method: Use r_screenoverlay to display a 4 (or 16:9) overlay over the current hud.

Example command: r_screenoverlay effects/blood.vmt

Make a 1600x1200 texture with DXT-5 compression and reference it like that, and you should be able to get your transmission box.

 

I listened to the recording, and at risk of getting my post edited to say I have a tiny dick, I cringed a little as well.

Here's why: I find the Full Metal Jacket approach all wrong. I don't think it is appropriate to make BE so decidedly American. That's part of Empires charm, that it not only changes gameplay for an FPS, but also stays away from overused videogame cliches. The voice also clashes with the in game samples we have from the BE characters. I would rather hear the voice over (which I still find grossly unnecessary) in the typical "Hollywood" accent, which is still American, but less laughable as a genre. That said, the southern thing could work if it was dialed back a bit, and made to sound less forced. It's a good first effort, but you really need to get the words well and truly "in your body" as an actor would say. This is the same as just memorizing the hell out of them, which is not necessary for this project, but helpful in maintaining natural flow.

 

Thanks Deadpool, I agree completely.

My edit, as stated in the response I made after that post I edited, was because he made a reply without even listening to the recording at all. Which made his lazy thoughtless opinion worthless to me.

Anyways, yes I realize it was forced. the first goal was to get a draft out there that was *passable*, and if everyone agreed, go forward with it from there. I can't do a passable European English accent. I'd love to have someone come forward to do it, but no one has. I can do the hollywood standard, but as an amateur film director I'd loathe to do so, it is so ridiculously cliche.


I'd like to justify the voice over, and any other sound events, because in a tutorial, it is very different from a game... lets say like minecraft. In minecraft, there is a strong extrinsic narrative that is really a byproduct of the alpha state of the game: being alone, forced in silence to explore and fighting to survive, and then create your own world on your own whims. In portal, the extrinsic narrative could almost stand on it's own. You wake up as a prisoner in some sort of cell, glass walls, watched, observed by cameras, exposed, contained, *seemingly alone*. These games have powerful extrinsic narratives, that is, narratives supported by the environment and the mind of the player, nothing else.

In empires, you are in a military facility, well maintained, going underground, and fighting through a few fortifications, and then hoping in a command vehicle and getting a tank and blowing up some mock enemy emplacements. Are you alone? NO. do you have any idea of what to do or where to go (other than only one real direction to travel in)? NO. What the fuck is going on? Oh there is a wall, wtf do I do here, how do I get over it? Why can't I get over this crate? Man this is boring.

This is what the tutorial is for: to instruct. You are not alone, you are not there to explore. here, as in the first levels of Portal, you are in a very linear, forced situation, and are to be instructed to do things such that it should be very clear how to accomplish the assigned tasks. More so here than in Portal because this is explicitly a tutorial and not a puzzle game. So we need an intrinsic story for atmosphere, while still helping the player. As in Portal, the atmosphere is built and maintained by the voice over while still accomplishing the instructional mechanics required for the situation, which is guiding the player through the basic game mechanics to finish the level.

A voice over is necessary, and maintaining the militaristic and structured atmosphere is crucial (and a great opportunity to really ADD that to the game!). I'm an American, I do the American voices, I'm not going to shame myself and the Empires community with some shitty European accents I can't pull off.

 

I didnt mean that european accents were the only alternative, just that going too far in the cliche 'full metal jacket' direction makes it laughable to me.

I know I'd laugh if I loaded up empires and heard that old cliche

that said, I did try to record my own version of your intro, the way i'd like to see it. I ended up using a bit of southern drawl myself, which was regrettable, but I was patching together different takes of different sentences and I was getting somewhere, buuut then Demolished my only working copy with an effect that I wasnt familiar with and that was irreversible.

Maybe I will try again, and you and I can work out something awesome, hit me up on steam if you want, whenever you get online.

 

Thats why I cut the drill instructor bit deadpool. I was doing a spot on drill seargant, but I decided to go for a captain position because it was annoying and stupid. Also, in a tutorial, hell, why not be cliche, nothing wrong with it assuming it is *done* *right*.

Honestly, the bit I just did is probably the kindest address in an exercise situation that a "new soldier" (private or what have you) can realistically expect from any higher ranking soldier. Just how it goes.

I added you to my friends list. Do me a favor and get a rough copy of your voice up. I really could care less about background noise or what have you, I can filter that later. Just show me what you are talking about.

 

ok man, I added you, I have to go to work soon, but it's a short shift, and I'll be on tonight, I dunno what your hours are like over there in Germany, but I'll hit you up when I have something.

 

anyone still have a contact number for angry? we could ask if his superiors would do the voice acting :D

 

HA... then they would look at him funny.

 

I speak to Angry a fair bit.

 

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/10061381/1/Tutorial map spotlights?h=c13e40

fixed the spot lights keef :D

 

guys give me a few more weeks, school is hitting me hard. I'll get to those voiceovers keef, but if they work in game the placeholders are just fine for now.

 

np. Take your time. Was just teasing him :D

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_I5JU1YVcAM

New video on the progress. I'll fix the audio as soon as it'll let me, but if you want to play the audio at the same time as the video, http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10061381/hl2 2010-11-06 15-29-03-38.mp3

I'll swap out the audio as soon as youtube isn't being a pos. At any rate, that's what it's looking like so far. If anyone wants to replace audio portions of it, all that is needed is for you to make the audio clip and rename / replace it in the "sounds" folder, once you have the map.