I will be reviewing a bunch of the most popular maps and campaigns created by the community on this site. My reviewing critera may upset a few mappers out there but I believe they are valid. In my opinion a good map is not the best looking or the most complex. A good map is a map that the player has fun playing. Fun can be destroyed in so many ways.... heres my main list of sins that I'll be looking out for.
1. Lack of direction to the player
The Lara Croft Sin
The player is forced to wander around the map desperately trying the most stupid actions in order to progress through the game simply because the mapper didnt make it clear what the player was supposed to be doing.
2. The Pinball Wizard
The player is continually backing up into props and junk in the main play area because the map is too dark and too cluttered. For gods sake people, keep the play area clear of obstructions!
3. No Rest For The Wicked
No break areas are provided. Swarm continue to harass the player regardless of where-ever they are in the map. Think of them like the safe rooms in Left 4 Dead. Theyre essential to good game play and allow the team to regroup.
4. It's All Too Much!
The mapper is a hardcore player of AS and designs his maps to his own difficulty level. Maps should be challenging but not onslaught crazy! Getting this balance right is essential for fun to bloom!
5: Go Back Young Man!
A dead end forces the player to backtrack through the same area of the map. Bad news and boring for players. You might get away with it if the play is changed dramatically but it very rarely works. Always provide a different exit.
6: Looks...
Yes its only number six on the list.. deal with it!
I want to feel lost in the environment. Doesnt matter if its an ugly environment. If its good enough that it doesnt distract from gameplay then its good enough for me.
7. Sound
Sound adds another dimension to the world. If you couldnt be arsed to add ambient sounds your going to lose points.
8: Tell me a Story!
In order to be drawn into a map Im going to need a decent story. Additional points if the story is progressed during the map itself through datapads, voiceovers, screentext etc...
Busy life at the moment so will take me a little while to get reviews out the door. In the mean time if any readers want to comment on AS:SP playing experiences with certain custom maps, send me your thoughts and I'll post them up here!
4 comments:
Got a problem with the game kicking me out of the game and back to the Steam client after completing one mission and selecting the next. The "NON-STEAM MOD OR SHORTCUT" message is lit up in red, if that's relevant.
Any clue as to why this is happening?
Hmmm... sounds like a Steam issue there was a Steam update yesterday.
Delete the mod folder from the SourceMods folder.
Close Steam down completely. Extract mod back into SourceMods folder..
Start up Steam...
If that doesn't do it then it may be due to the update they applied on the 15th April.
I haven't rebuilt the mod since then.
Will give it a test and let you know. Give my Steam solution a go first.
It didn't work; still getting the kick-out issue.
I was wondering — what benefits does this mod offer over merely using the "+asw_show_all_singleplayer_maps 1" switch?
The font is so DARK on this blog that it is nearly unreadable.
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