[WIP] Alien Swarm Single Player Map - Bridge

[MatteSilk]

-Bridge-

Bridge- Bridge is a single player standalone map for Alien Swarm. As of right now I'm deciding on whether I will make it for the "single player mod" for Alien Swarm, it's one of those things I'll have to look up on!

Design- This map will be based around the concept of a single player map, which is something new for alien swarm, and something that should hopefully challenge me as far as mapping goes. In addition, there will be some extra areas to explore, as well as semi non-linear paths to objectives, all whilst contained within a linear set of objectives. I want to give the player some freedom without overwhelming them.

Goals- My goals for this map are three fold

1. Release a completed map
2. Use custom textures correctly in a map
3. Create custom particle systems

Story- The IAF has detected the ID signature of an outlawed military class android on the planet. The android had cutting edge weapons technology installed and was destined for use on the mining asteroid C5-89B6. However, the Traxus industry freighter carrying the cargo ceased communications 12 hours before rendezvousing with the base on the asteroid. Speculators blamed the attack on the Swarm, or the up-and-coming Dread Pirate Roberts, who'd become increasingly active after the disarray that the swarm attacks had caused. Traxus industries strangely silent on the incident, stating "Traxus is grieved at the hard working employees lost today," and that "they were investigating every possibility." With tensions rising in the civilian population due to the swarm outbreak, the last thing Admiral Hannib Plinne need is for Trust Media to catch wind of an android on the loose. The droid's ID was pinpointed on Helio Centauri, at a Traxus Industry shipping port and dam super-complex. the IAF cruiser hailing the facility received no reply, and Swarm activity is suspected. They've sent in Spc. Matt Doorman to recover the weapons technology and destroy the android if necessary.

So that was fun! I'm quite excited about this map, Alex's recent posts have been really inspiring in helping me to get motivated to actually release a finished map (which I haven't been able to do yet! I've done a lot more pre-production work on this map than I have on any other project before, so that will be really helpful! As of right now I'm about 90% done with pre-prodcution, so let me know what you all think.

Also, there's a lot of stuff that I'm going to try and keep under wraps until the full release of the level, but once that happens I'd like to release my all of my pre-production notes and .vmf files to help out anyone who wants to learn from my maps, and if you have any questions about how I did anything (although I'm not the best level designer) don't hesitate to either ask in this thread or send me a PM!

This is most of the top down sketch, I tried to be as specific as I could so I wouldn't be asking myself "well what goes here?"

2D Sketch
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6...43bdb2c7ce.jpg

3D initial Whitebox
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7008/6...d57357cb03.jpg

Update as of 12/13/11
Further Whiteboxing!
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7011/6...abc42ce5c7.jpg

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6...dc70eca957.jpg

Quick Video Update (12/14/11)
This video show you some of the gameplay obstacles you'll face in Bridge! And yes, I realize that there is no sound, I'm working to fix the problem!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKA7K...ature=youtu.be[/video]

Update (12/20/11)

Download (WhiteboxAlpha V1.2)

Download the Bridge Here!

Download the .vmf files Here!

[Vimescarrot]

Dread Pirate Roberts

pfffahahahaha

Singleplayer maps might be a good future for this game, what with it being abandoned and multiplayer games (presumably) difficult to find. How will this map play out with multiple players? Will it be over-easy or will the automatic difficulty scaling make it reasonable?

Looking forward to this.

[MatteSilk]

I'm glad someone got the reference

As of right now, this map isn't being designed with multiplayer in mind, mostly because it makes the objectives semi-trivial to accomplish, and the pacing is laid out completely for single-player. We'll see what the future holds and what play-testers discover! Thanks for the interest Vimescarrot!

[MatteSilk]

Howdy all!

I've finally gotten the update done! ( a little past my deadline, but oh well!)

LOTS of changes to this version:

1. fixed all text so it displays correctly
2. got random spawns to work for weapons
3. reworked generator area
4. reworked alien goo area
5. added two new gameplay mechanics in goo area
6. reworked all alien spawn points
7. minor tweaks to buttons to get them to display information better
8. added an activateable turret to the panic event
9. reworked finale
10. changed lighting throughout the level
11. small amount of detailing to help with the flow of the level

I'm really looking forward to all of your feedback! Also, I changed from using mediafire to megaupload due to complications I was having with mediafire, I hope this doesn't screw anyone up, the down load link can be found in the original post, or right here:

Download WhiteboxAlpha (V1.1)
http://www.megaupload.com/?f=MNJIQNS7

[Silvian_Bruno]

Hi, thanks for this map, I just got through playing it and had some good times. It's always nice to see more support for the Swarm SDK.

It interested me to see how much the game's dynamic changes in single-player mode. You end up weighing your options on which character is most useful alone,which took me a few tries, since it was my third life before I managed to find the gun/equipment. By that point I'd decided on Vegas for his health and melee bonuses, even though the mission didn't need a tech.

Speaking of which, I wonder if you're planning to implement map/design choices that would involve less searching, since there's no real option to fan out or split up. For example, I like the 3 capacitor part, staving off swarm in between each button press, but wonder if the effect might be better with three separate machines you're seeking out, since the main challenge for me right now was finding the terminal in the first place. (You'll notice most of my critical feedback involves getting lost, which may have more to do with me being a poor gamer than any actual problems with the map).

Anyway, if you're still working on things here and there, than I'm sure you've got a couple ideas left anyway, so feel free to disregard any of that if you've already thought of the same thing. Thanks again, I had fun.

[MatteSilk]

Hey Silvian Bruno! Thank you so much for your support (via playtesting!) and feedback, I love it!

That's actually one of the reasons I didn't require a tech for this mission, since it is single player, I didn't want to give one specific class an advantage, and therefore force every player to play as a tech. I definitely didn't intend for there to be too much searching in this map, however there are several areas which aren't implemented yet that will have story information, these include the docking yard north of the "parking lot" where the player starts, as well as the building above the machinery and next to the bridge. Also, the building in the "panic event" area will have story elements added to it as well. Hopefully this will be made clearer as further aspects are added to the level! That was a big problem I noticed in my first playtest, and while this map is significantly improved over the first iteration, there is still a long way to go!

If you have any specific ideas of areas that were difficult to figure out, or frustrating I would love to hear about them. And I definitely think there is significant room for improvement in the capacitor area! Also what did you think about the bomb planting area? I really want there to be a "finale" esque feel to it and it's just not quite there yet, I don't think that it's challenging enough, or perhaps I'm a bit biased? Either way this map is far from done, and needs help to get it there!

Once again thanks for the feedback and expect more information and updates soon!

[MatteSilk]

Well, work is coming along well for Bridge, I've just gotten finished with another large batch of changes and am planning on releasing a new version some time tonight! In the meantime I thought I would share with you all a video of some of the gameplay from Bridge as well as some screen shots!

Enjoy!

Alien Swarm - Bridge Panic Event Sample

Landing Pads

Forklifts

Window View

Drone

MatteSilk

[MatteSilk]

Howdy fellow Swarmers! I humbly introduce to you all Bridge Version 1.2! I seem to have picked up the pace on updating this map, and hopefully should be done with gameplay and layout after this version! I really hope you all enjoy as this has significantly improved game-play and I am really working hard to get everything perfect!

Bug Fixes:

1. Random Weapons would sometimes spawn two different weapons instead of 1
2. Jaegar was able to spawn with all his weapons
3. Env_Fog_Controller issues and Fog_Volume issues
4. Cut Complicated Ranger feature that refused to be fixed

Change-Log

1. Reworked lighting in parking lot to better lead player to objectives
2. added difficulty scaling with scripted drones in parking lot
3. Replaced (some) models that had bad lighting
4. Increased flamer ammo from 5 to 10
5. Adjusted positioning of Greenhouse
6. Completely redesigned Capacitor area (Work In Progress)
7. Completely redesigned Panic Event (Work In Progress)
8. Changed position of turret in panic event (kind of goes with the one above this)
9. Harvesters now begin spawning immediately when you enter the finale area
10. Player must now acquire the bomb from 1 of 3 random locations before they can destroy the ship
11. increased total harvesters from 3 to 7
12. added new area to finale section
13. Cool Engine FX on crashed ship

Known Issues:

1. "Plant Bomb Here" Dialogue shows up before bomb has been acquired
2. Docking yards and capacitor areas occupy the same space O_O (quick fix implemented)

Bridge Whitebox Alpha V 1.2
Download Here!

[Silvian_Bruno]

looks very promising! I'm away from a desktop for the holidays, but once back I'll be sure to check out this update.

[BloodNGore]

cool

lol i see you [WIP] guys on then TO forums a ton

[Pilzquadrat]

Thanks to the United States of America, I can't download your obviously 100% legal custom map upload from megaupload
Can you up it somewhere else?

Land of the free