[edit]Yes it's funny, but you also know the rules[/edit]

If you get something like lucas, make him look just like that....

Language warning, anyone?

I know it's a family forum, but come on.. at least it's funny.

Quoted for truth.

Quite a bit of progress today, here's some screenies:





It's not clear, but the first shot is of some flights of stairs. To be honest, I hate putting lifts in JO/JA (they take so bloody long), and going by the crude nature of this base, it'll be mostly stairs being used to navigate floors.

In the second screen, Vader is looking out the window. Obvious reference to a famous ESB scene.

I'm only making empty rooms at the moment with basic architecure/texturing/lighting. I'll tart them up later on with detail. Good idea to get the layout and flow of the level first. It also allows me to start with story elements like cutscenes a bit earlier.

To be honest though, architecture is not something I particuarly care for, it's atmosphere that counts. I spent too much time making "Party Crasher" look nice, ended up taking a lot longer than I thought, and it also killed the framerate. Main reason I'm going for a claustrophobic setting this time around.

Go AK! You da man! You da man!...

I'm sorry, but that pipe-bg texture just kills the first shot (on this page). Get rid of it (or at least set up some supports in front of it and bumpmap it or remake it out of patch meshes. something! anything)

Apart from that, its got some real potential. I look forward to seeing more.

Yeah I know, the architecture is still very rough. All that stuff will be smoothed out in time.

Maybe have narration by Obi-Wan...you know, like a whole "where did I go wrong" sort of thing. Narration by the Emperor would detract, I think, because after watching the Star Wars movies the Empero isn't like our buddy who can suddenly start talking to us about stuff. IMO, it'd feel really wierd and wrong.

Also, please don't screw with the walking speed...I always found it frusterating when games forced you to walk around at a snail's pace (even though Vader never really runs anywhere...).



Maybe you could make some kind of special documentary explaining how the new level better suits your original vision despite the fact that it pisses off all the die-hard Vader's Journey fans.

Actually screw that, those are good ideas; I'll make my own damn level!

No I won't.

I suck.

Awesome as usual! Can't wait for this one. =)

I'd also like to help out with anything I can. Voice acting or not.
Plus, I won't be procrastinating like last time. I have a new sound card, Windows 2000 is working for me now, and recording anything on my computer is much easier than it was, before.

Hmm. Don't forget patch meshes altogether. My maps are hardly any showpieces of their usage, so I might not be the right person to speak these words, but it's still wise to use them every now and then to some extent, and right from the beginning. If you start to fill your rooms just with brushes, you might suddenly realise there isn't anymore any room for patches, and the map architecture will ultimately suffer.

"Good evening my homies, this is your humble Emperor, YHE. And boy do I have a story to tell you..."



Don't worry, he still runs. Just slightly slower than the default player.



Woo!



Yep, made extensive use of them already.

Another view of that window room:

<3

Is that a good thing?

Yes. Yes it is.

<3 AKPiggot.

What's it supposed to mean? Smaller than three? What's that all about then?

I care very little for "l33t" and "txt" speak. Speak proper, you imbeciles you.

yeah. I forget that they never pulled this fancy <3 s*** over at tacc....


is the window shot part of a cutscene, or are you looking at vader from sdomeone else's pov?

Unrelated but...

How do you get a custom title/rank? I been posting here (on and off, I admit) for nigh on six years (longer than most of you young scallywags), surely I qualify for one.

Although I admit, my profile says slightly different. It only accounts for the last five years (and one month) due to a forum changeover.

Aah, nostalgia... http://massassi.jedinights.com (I seem to remember it being http://www.jedinights.com/massassi/ before that, but I could be wrong.)



It's not a cutscene, that's the player, I merely tweaked the third person camera settings through the console (same goes for the other shots with Vader in).

It's a heart.

That last shot is just classic 8)

Very good work so far; it very well gets across the "emotion" of the dark lord. However, I might suggest changing the saber he uses (you are probably going o do that anyway). As for the default sabers that RS provides, the "Praetorian" seems very similar to Vader's blade.

Also, I presume that you do not plan on using any of the textures that include pipes; you are simply using them to remind yourself to add detail to that wall, yes? As for the shot of Vader looking out the window, My only suggestion is to perhaps put more on the ceiling (mabye a few pipes/conduits, and some more lights, perhaps loolking more like the bridge of the Executor). Also, I might suggest adding somthing below the raised platform; the side looks too flat, Otherwise, your work is absolutely great,

Meethinks you need to post quite a bit in the Discussion Forum, and have one of the Admin take serious note. None of us have chosen our titles; they were all chosen by them. So good luck on getting an acceptable one...

Looks more like an ice cream cone. Or a woman's swimsuit.



Thanks for the compliments. That window room will be some sort of communications/control room, filled with consoles and such. The ceiling will probably have all sorts of cabling hanging from it.



Ahh... right, cheers. I think most of the admins are long-termers, so they probably remember me from before. Hopefully favourably.

James/Stormie here. You may remember me.

I have no doubt that the level will be superb. A bit too early to release screenies if you ask me though.. only you could get away with releasing box rooms. :p

Awesomeness.

Keep working on it, it's looking promising...!

This looks fabulous.

A player modification you might consider making is slowing down Vader's steps. I don't think he is ever seen running in any of the films.

this is off-topic, but what ever happened to party crasher, anyway? Why was it cancelled?

Main reason being that the framerate was absolutely awful on most of my beta testers' computers. I'd made the architecture too complicated to fix it, the only thing I could've done was start the whole thing again, which I did for JA a few months later, but it didn't go for very long until I got bored of it.

Atleast give him a super-fast walk
It always seemed like he could keep pace with Luke even though he was always walking... :P, I wish I was Darth Vader sometimes...

Good to see you back. The screenshots look promising.

Maybe you should consider using an alternate Vader model. The one you have right now isn't all that great for really menacing moments.

Try this one. It looks awesome in cutscenes and as an enemy, but it does have a flaw that's easily noticable when you're using it as a player model: The secondary cape thing hanging from the belt is glued to his feet.

Switching between the two may be the best option. One for cinematics and the other for actual play.

Or you could always wait until HapSlash finishes his model, making a 3rd choice.

You got a link to screenshots of HapSlash's one?

Here's the project page for HapSlash's Darth Vader model.

You could ask him about it yourself, perhaps your clout as a level designer might get you an advance beta of the model as with Mace Windu last time. But don't hold your breath, he's working on a lot of stuff already.

Anyway, I've noticed something: In all three movies, Vader at one point says something to the effect of "Leave it to me". You've just gotta include him saying something like that in this mission. It just wouldn't be characteristic without it, especially considering the fact that Vader's even in a rebel base to begin with.

I'm definitely looking forward to this one. I enjoyed all the levels you made AKPiggot. The mercenary series were the best along with that hilarious behind the scenes.

Whatever you do don't play as the vader model by Kartoon, when you play you can see holes through the elbows and hands because of tags

That would certainly remove from the atmosphere, wouldn't it?

HapSlash's model looks great.

That model's superb.

It's bound to come out before the level, so I'll stick with Cheshire and Arco's for now, and stick HapSlash's in when it comes out.

Looks all round good, so long as you add detail later....

More shots of the window room, although it's still a way off from being finished:

OMG great level so far, keep it up. I cant wait to play!