Well, so far for chapter 3, I have patrolling security systems, a secret room, one boss battle, and a new device which utilizes your new weapon and the ability to cloak. I think I've fit in 2 vitality augments and 1 weapons stabilizer into the level, as long with a stat point which will be awarded to you if you defeat the boss (maybe within a certain time limit?) Right now, however, I'm worried about the enemy content of the level. I want to introduce new enemies, but it's going to be difficult to find the right strength for them.

well it depends, if you want to introduce new enemies you'd have to balance them correctly.
since were doing this with no vit augments
if its a ranged attacker, the monster must be able to be defeated with enough hp left to do whatever else you need, so you'd actaully have to test this.
if its a melee attacker, i recommend a unit thats slower than the marine, but will 1 hit it, in a small enclosed room.
that way, its pure micro skill

Updated first post with new enemy types.

are you going to try the uber strong boss in a enclosed room idea?
could be a boss-fight, he'll kill you if he hits you, so you must use your superior mobility to fight it. however, just because the "voice" is such a @#$!@% it puts you in a enclosed room.
so it'll be a really micro-heavy fight.
the room should be just big enough for the marine to shoot once before having to run, and if you make a mistake you get owned by the boss.

I'll have to see where the plot takes me for that one. I can't say for sure but you seem to be forgetting that marine isn't the only weapon you play as during this game.

oh yea!
totally forgot about that

well hopefully there'll be something like a sniper, 1 hit 1 kill but really slow firing rate.

well maybe a ability that is 1 hit kill if not the rifle.
maybe it spawns a queen and you use spawn broodling.
could be that you've found a friend within the place and he/she/it decides to help you
or something..

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Aug 24 2009, 2:12 am by darksnow.

It'd be very inefficient for me to point out the mistakes whereas it takes me maybe 5 minutes to fix them all with something like SCMDraft's string editor.
Thing is, proofreading doesn't make a lot of sense when all the text isn't in yet, so let me know when you're almost done and I'll help.

Alrighty, it's appreciated.

Yeah, the red switch fucked me over.
I read the "DON'T PRESS THE R-D S--T-H" thing, and realized as my marine was firing that it wasn't such a hot idea.
I got pissed, but I completed the demo--barely. the fucking hydras are waay to hard to micro/kill effectively.

Did you use vitality augments or no?

Yes, both of them that are present in these chapters.

like i said, when there are ranged, units, you cant micro.
the hydras are ridiculously overpowered, so if not lowering their attack, lower their health, since you cant lower their range.

Or up marine's range

Hydras aren't that bad lol. The two in Chapter 2 you gotta use the height advantage you can kill them and only take 3-5 dmg.

I got to I believe mid chapter two and ALMOST PUNCHED IN MY COMPUTER SCREEN!1!!

Oh man this is one tough RPG D:!

I saw a few minor things that can be fixed.. Like placing the start location where you center view at the beginning of the game, so you don't get that glimpse of the gateway. Also there is a grammatical error in act 1 when Marcus is talking about how he can't believe he's taking orders from demented beings such as these.. And every now and then my spell would stop working, the shrapnel. Then once the "systems restore" message appears, my shrapnel will auto fire once.

I also thought you could use the Marine's in game voice message of "When do I get out of this chicken !@$?% outfit!?".. Marcus could say that at some point maybe.. Haha =p

Overall, I think you need to do something to minimize the amount of times I have to reload my save. I died probably 15 times getting to the vitality augment, and luckily I guessed to combination on my first try! I suggest making the beginning of the game a LOT easier, until you build up a couple skills, so that you can allow the player to use spell combinations and strategies to defeat enemies, rather than just simple marine micro. Due to the extreme difficulty near the beginning, the ONLY thing you can do is micro, and it quickly becomes repetitive when you have to load your save over and over and over.. So again, make the beginning easier, and step up the difficulty later in the game, because later in the game you can allow the player to defeat enemies with a wide variety of tactics and strategies, rather than the same monotonous marine micro.. Which you can't even do against Hydralisks very well D:

Try to cut back on the amount of times people will have to reload their save, and I think you'll have a pretty fun map! Remember, the goal of the map is to be fun, not to be difficult.

Things I liked: Cooldown system, Antagonist that I can hate (computer voice), unless the computer voice turns out to be some sort of ally later on.. Hidden upgrades, etc.

I think you should also really stress the storyline heavily throughout this map, I actually want to find out what will happen next, but I'm too frustrated from DIEING to go and find out, lol

Good luck on the map, when you get out another version, or if you get out another version, I'll be sure to try it out as well.

[Edit] On more of a random note, this map really reminds me a lot of Mega Man X.. Lol

with the height advantage, its a 70% chance of getting hit. you cant make the map based off that 70%, since its possible to get lucky and have the hydra miss everything, and be unlucky and have the hydra hit every time.
its not cool to have a rpg based totally on luck

I think the point Norm was trying to make was that you CAN micro the hydralisks, by standing on cliffs.. And he is right, you can do that. It just isn't fun, in my opinion.

you have to make the hydra chase you to the thing, which guarantees the hydra 2 hits, then you have to be able to kill it, then the next hydra.
i did it, with 2 hp left.
not very forgiving of mistakes.
its nice to make it hard, but try to keep it to the point where even if you never played before and/or less skilled you can still beat it.

i actually saved very often... doing this i finished quite quickly