Occupation (Version 2)
The Massassi Temple » Levels/Mods » Jedi Outcast Single-Player Level » Occupation (Version 2)
Description
Following on from Prison_Escape, Kyle is sent to infiltrate Galtech's HQ to discover more about their link with the Remnant. Kyle's investigation will lead him to a distant planet on the Outer Rim with an archaic culture and powerful overlords. This map features numerous cutscenes, over 10MB of voice acting, altered NPC characteristics, a custom skin for Kyle, custom textures, 4 difficulty settings, and various non-essential things to discover, including the identity of the traitor among the townspeople.
Editor's Note: Please read the included readme for a full list of credits, release notes, etc. It is highly recommended that you do so before playing the map.
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I give the author bags of credit for creating the first level (that I've played at least) with cutscenes, story and voice acting and for not making simply another rubbish ladder level.
The level was quite well laid out, the layout does make for a convincing town but architecture let it down. Indoor achitecure was pretty good but outside it was mostly very very bland. I was quite pleased with the lighting however, which helped a lot with the indoor area. Only tip I would offer here is make the light around the fire torches flicker.
Enemy placement was a bit annoying as they were mostly grouped together in large, powerful bunches. The player did have lightsaber and force powers which helped somewhat, but force jump wasn't included which really would've helped in some places, even if it were just at level one.
The cutscenes were there which I give credit for, but there were a few problems. Especially with camera work and cutscene direction. Most of the angles were very far and there were very few camera changes. Close-ups on the actors when they spoke for instance, would make a huge impact on the cutscenes. The moving cameras in some areas were a nice touch though and worked well. Another complaint I have about the cutscenes is that the quality of the voices was often very crackly and difficult to make out. Subtitles would've also been a bonus, but not an absolute necessity.
From what I can see here this author does have what it takes. If he adapts some of his techniques, we can expect great things from him. I look forward to his next level. 6/10
(P.S. I'm not really sure why, but I was mentioned in the credits. Whatever advice or help it was that I gave, I'm glad to have been of assistance.)
Having looked at the level again recently I did feel the level was a bit poor architecturally from outside, during the cutscene where the camera pans across the town it just looked a bit mediocre, when some of the city scapes I've seen were awesome.
Enemy placement was a bit predictable, not as interesting as I had originally planned. I wanted to have patrols wandering about, and avoidance tactics to play a part, but I just couldn't get the hang of the scripting for that so I decided to simplify it a lot.
You don't have any force jump to allow me to control the route of the player and NPC spawning, otherwise they could jump over walls anywhere they liked. This would have been more realistic but I just didn't have the skill to do it practically. I missed force jump when I played it, all those moves you can do and evasive jumping are really useful and fun.
I have to admit one reason for the distant camera angles is that getting the voice animation working is something I found really hard, so I found it easier to have it so you couldn't really see their faces too much! I think I've got the hang of voice animation now so hopefully more close ups for the next map, I know what you mean, they add to the feeling of involvement more. I guess the camerawork left the player feeling a little distant.
You are in the credits for two reasons (nice to know someone read the readme BTW, I was starting to wonder :)). Firstly, that post you did ages ago about how SP levels should be plot driven, with voice acting and cutscenes, was a big eye opener for me, and from then on I've been experimenting with cutscenes and such. Secondly, you worked out how to have a level loaded as a new game, I used this thread to get that working so I felt you deserved credit for that too. Thanks a lot for your comments :)
Do you mean you couldn't get the facial animation to work for the voices with the characters?
Oh yeah. Submit your level to http://www.commandchamber.net. The staff there will do a good review of it which will offer further tips for you in future.
Already done, I sent it to them right after I sent it here :) It's a really great site, I've been looking through all the old reviews, interviews and articles, it's a wealth of knowledge for mapping!
The Cutscenes were nice, but the voice acting needed some higher quality.
Outdoor archi was plain, and enemy placement needs some work. But for the most part I am assuming this level is mostly a prototype for future levels, testing coding, scripts, and cutscenes to try and perfect what we know about JO...
So I give it a seven. Nice Job.
The mapping was awful. The voices were super lame except for one. THe story was bland and pointless. And, it wasn't laid out very well at all. Put more time into it before you release it, and you might come out with something worth playing. I deleted this as soon as I played it. Prison Escape was fun I liked that.
I gave it a 7.
Other than these, it was a pretty good map, certainly more of a single player experience than a ladder map. The story was, well, not too good but not too bad. It especially impresses me that you were able to put together those cutscenes. Those are the things that give value to this level. All in all, 8/10