The Chronicles Of Sketch

Announcing my latest map idea.

Current BETA Testers:

Grey Shirt Ninja
Dogbert
Pisketch
Edwards
---

Chronicles_of_Sketch.zip (40.14K)
Number of downloads: 14

Now that I've finally finished The Cathedral Of Chaos, I'm going to begin work on my next project, which will be multiple maps. I'm going to focus on doing each of the areas from the game as separate files to avoid framerate slowdown, and wrap them all up in one download, The Chronicles Of Sketch. Because The Cathedral Of Chaos was mostly indoors, I had a big limitation on my choice of walls, cutting down on the detail I could add. Now however, I'll be able to give as much time as I want to detail, and not have to worry to much about the drop in framerate. I don't expect this project to be finished for a few months.

This post has been edited by Silverwind : 25 March 2007 - 07:14 AM

Maaannn... You people just have to keep giving us thing to wait impatiantly for, don't you?

That said, sounds cool. Of course, i still want to play Cathedral Of Chaos...

Actually, a few months was probably way too high an estimate. It might take that long for all the files to be finished, but seeing as how I'm already half way done with the Volcano, I think I can start releasing the first few maps allot sooner. I'll wait until I have three or so, and then post them up in a folder named Chronicles Of Sketch, and whenever I finish a new map I'll post that up for people to drag into the folder.

These maps will be allot more free roaming, rather like the multi player levels, and a good size too. I think I'll start with the Volcano, the Factory and the Forest, although that's not definite. Either way, I'll have (i)all(i/) the areas covered in the finished project.

This post has been edited by Silverwind : 16 March 2007 - 05:59 PM

1. Can I beta test?
2. Could you please do something besides the ultra cliche "Volcano", "Factory", "Wasteland", "Forest", "Ice Caves", and "Final Zone" maps? Please?
3. ????
4. PROFIT

1. Yes, and thank you for volunteering so quickly. I'll be looking for a BETA tester for each levels, so you'll get first pick of the level you want to BETA. (the Volcano's almost finished, I haven't even started on the others)

2. I'm definitely going to try a new theme for my next project, but before I go any further with map making I want to be able to match the absolutely fantastic levels by Lars, seeing as how I favor the Solo Mode style over all others, with a counter part of my own. (or at least get them to be pretty good when compared to Lars' levels, as matching them is out of the question)

3 and 4. I haven't the slightest idea what you mean.

If you need someone else to test i can probably help you as well. Although i'm already testing gsn's level, but i can brobably do both.

This post has been edited by Dogbert : 16 March 2007 - 08:55 PM

I'd beta as well, if you need another.

Quote

...I had a big limitation on my choice of walls, cutting down on the detail I could add...

If CoC was undetalied, i can't WAIT to see this.

And the 3 and 4 thing is kinda a running joke. I don't know what it's from or what it means, so just take it in stride.

Well, if you have room for another tester, I'm available- it sounds like you'll have some great maps here.

Edwards

I believe it comes from South Park. Google "Underwear Gnomes" if you're curious.

My, my, my! :laugh: Alright, well it looks like I've got nearly all the BETA's needed, thanks very much guys. If anyone has a specific zone they'd like to test please say so, otherwise it'll be in any old order.

I've one zone left without a BETA tester, so if anyone wants the job their free to have it.

I'd be happy to test it.

Thanks. Any thoughts on which area you'd like to test?

I've finished the Volcano and I'm just waiting for the BETA tester changes. I've begun work on the Forest and the Factory, so whenever the next map is finished I'll release the two, if I haven't already released the Volcano by then. I'm still trying to decide which area to make after those, the Ice Caves or the Wasteland?

This post has been edited by Silverwind : 20 March 2007 - 12:28 PM

The next levels are taking longer to make than I thought they would, so I'm releasing the Volcano to help the wait. Please let me know if I'm anywhere near getting it to feel like the actual game levels.

This post has been edited by Silverwind : 25 March 2007 - 07:04 AM

Silver, you are awful. You do know that you start with 0 shields and instantly die, right? However, having changed that, i plan to explore. I'll get back to you.

This post has been edited by PiSketch : 24 March 2007 - 06:09 PM

lol! Whoops... I can't believe I made such a mistake! I had edited the level earlier today to make it easier for my friend who was playing it, so I gave him max shields and all weapons and stuff. However when I changed it back to normal after words I must have set it at 0 rather then 100. Sorry about that guys, I'll post a fixed file in a sec... hehe...

Laugh

OK, that makes sense.

Having won it, i really like it. I would suggest a few more volcano walls at the beginning, and perhaps a more original boss then the

Spoiler

King Crab

.

@silverwind, on Mar 24 2007, 02:36 PM, said in The Chronicles Of Sketch:

Please let me know if I'm anywhere near getting it to feel like the actual game levels.

Difficulty-wise, I think it's about right (i.e. trivially easy). Map layout-wise, I think you missed, but it's a pretty good labyrinth. Enemy layout-wise, it also misses- the built-on levels tend to have clusters of similar enemies (such as large and small flickers, or Lava Blobs) with no other types of enemies involved, while you tend to have homogeneous mixtures of all types.

However, it's quite a nice level on its own terms, and is probably a good introduction to custom maps for new players due to the low difficulty level.

(And yes, I agree that having something a bit more interesting than the Boss you used would be nice. It's probably just that I've had too much practice on that thing in MP, but it seemed even easier than the mini boss.)

Edwards

This post has been edited by Edwards : 24 March 2007 - 08:49 PM

Ah, I'm glad to hear these reviews.

On the Layout:
I think I missed it a bit as Pi said by simply not having enough Volcano walls in the middle section of the map, and also by making it more of a "labyrinth" than the actual Volcano is as Edwards pointed out. Although, I was trying to get it more like the Multi Player map than the Solo mode map, as I wanted it very free roaming, so the "labyrinth" style layout might not be too far wrong.

On the Difficulty
I'm glad I got that 'round about right. I know some corridors are more stuffed with fliers than others, but then so are the ones in Multi Player. I want it fairly easy so that new players can play it and get a challenge out of the layout, and more experienced players can still get a challenge by trying to get the best time after they've beaten it the first time. Oh by the way, what were your times guys? If it was around ten minutes or so I can feel accomplished. My best time is 4:24, but my average is seven minutes. (although that's because I have to keep stopping to admire the scenery ^_^ )

On the Enemies
Yeah, looking at it now in the editor I can see some nasties that definitely don't belong here. The Spinning Turrets for example, they should be almost excluded to the Factory. Would it be better if I got rid of Spinning Turrets, Bugs of all kind, Factory Crusher Things and Explosive Clusters?

On the Boss
Meh, I like the Boss. lol! Ok, so I need a better explanation: I was planning on having the real Bosses used in each level, as I'm kinda fed up with creating my own all the time and not many other levels use them. Plus, it would help maintain the feel of the levels if they contained some authentic features. However, I can change the Mini Boss if people would like to see something new, and I can still try to maintain the Volcano element to make it fit right into the level.

Thanks for playing the level guys, and thanks for giving me your thoughts. I'll wait a little while for a few more people to comment, and then I'll post up an updated version.