Custom Map #1430: Redemption. By: Hubs

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This topic is for discussion of map #1430: Redemption


Author: Hubs
Size: 150x115

Desc:
It appears that the humans have a new weapon at their disposal. Help the creeper fight back and regain this world! #PlayAsCreeper #CRPL

[stdout]

Nice map. Welcome to the elite group of PlayAsCreeper authors.  Your card will be in the mail.

[Hubs]

Thanks stdout. I played yours and a few others and couldn't get enough! The crpl took a bit to sort out but it makes sense. Only thing I had issues with is the first kill code during the snapshot. I had to change it to be on a timer so that when the map starts everything captures for abraxis. 

[teknotiss]

good job dude, nice challenge throughout, i may be able to improve my time by a bit but prob not too much.  ;)

also i'll be stealing your edit of the code if it works better, so what do you mean when you say
"Only thing I had issues with is the first kill code during the snapshot. I had to change it to be on a timer so that when the map starts everything captures for abraxis."?
something to do with the pressing "g" bit before finalising? if so what have you done and is it easier or better than before?
or is it something else?
anyway nice work dude, thanks and make more maps! 8)

[Loren Pechtel]

It's very hard to get the first PZ and just as hard for the second.  At that point the computer will be slowly eroded away.

[Linden]

Great map, Hub, thanks very much for the hard work. :) I know I can improve my (ridiculously slow) time too, but in fairness to myself I did leave it unpaused when I took a phone call. :D

Again, thank you. :)

[stdout]

I did notice that Abraxis never did attempt to build any nullifiers. I suspect this was an issue with the finalizing of the map, it happens and is aggravating when that part gets left out. I usually solve that by giving a collector or something right next to a live emitter, and marking that particular unit as the "kill and activate abraxis" unit with "G".

[teknotiss]

I did notice that Abraxis never did attempt to build any nullifiers. I suspect this was an issue with the finalizing of the map, it happens and is aggravating when that part gets left out. I usually solve that by giving a collector or something right next to a live emitter, and marking that particular unit as the "kill and activate abraxis" unit with "G".

seconded, it's a pain, but tying it to a collector or blaster does the trick. 8)

[Hubs]

also i'll be stealing your edit of the code if it works better, so what do you mean when you say
"Only thing I had issues with is the first kill code during the snapshot. I had to change it to be on a timer so that when the map starts everything captures for abraxis."?
something to do with the pressing "g" bit before finalising? if so what have you done and is it easier or better than before?
or is it something else?
anyway nice work dude, thanks and make more maps! 8)

So my understanding of the code from the inline documentation and what I assumed needed to be done is to have a "fresh" Abraxis core in the edit.  I'd make changes, save, then run the map.  Whenever I tried to do the snapshot for Abraxis using "G" I couldn't get it to enabled Abraxis.  It was driving me nuts until I decided it really didn't need to be done this way.  The only real use for the firstkill seemed to be for the dialog, which i didn't care to do for my first map - I really just wanted to create another PAC map.  So, I tweaked the code so that Temp.crpl runs the snapshot after the first frame, then GameFlow.crpl activates Abraxis after 30 frames (I wanted a bit of a delay so that Abraxis could cycle through all the units - this may not have been necessary tho).  So, now I can edit, save the map with Temp.crpl still present, then play and everything seemed to work pretty easily after that. 

Ultimately I think Temp.crpl and Abraxis.crpl could be combined and set to automatically refresh and do the snapshot at the start of the game.  This would simplify the code a lot and make it a lot easier for other authors to pump out some more PAC maps.  I'm going to go through it all again soon and see if I can streamline the whole thing.  I'm not sure who originally wrote all the code for this - they did a great job - I just want to make the map making experience a little better so we get a lot more PAC maps  :)

I did notice that Abraxis never did attempt to build any nullifiers. I suspect this was an issue with the finalizing of the map, it happens and is aggravating when that part gets left out. I usually solve that by giving a collector or something right next to a live emitter, and marking that particular unit as the "kill and activate abraxis" unit with "G".

I actually didn't try to add in nullifiers.  I saw the code for it - "H" or "J" I think to add them, but being my first PAC map I didn't want to do too much with it.  I didn't think it really needed it on this map either since it would have only altered the gameplay on the first few PZs, but it seemed challenging enough as it was.  Also, with what I mentioned above to simplify the map making process, it may be necessary to hard code the nullifier coordinates if the snapshot will take place at the start of the game instead of doing the snapshot, then saving and releasing the map.

Great map, Hub, thanks very much for the hard work. :) I know I can improve my (ridiculously slow) time too, but in fairness to myself I did leave it unpaused when I took a phone call. :D

Again, thank you. :)

Thanks Linden!  It really was a lot of work like the other PAC map makers said.  Totally worth it tho!  They're super fun to make and I hope to get another one out soon.

[chwooly]

Great Map, Thank you so much for making a Creeper map that even those of us with no skills can play, enjoy and win. What I really liked was how forgiving it was. I could try different strategies and not have to restart the map. The only time I had to pause was when I wanted to sync up my spores so they arrived at the same time when I was trying to overwhelm a beam.

Again Thanks and great job.  ;D

[stdout]

The original code was written by stewbasic and released as the map "Creeper Come Back". I credited him in several of my first PAC maps.

I like the direction you're taking this Hubs and I think your work will have a big improvement on everyone's ability to make these maps. I've been working on one for a while and I think I may just wait a bit before your work is finished.

As for the nullifiers, I feel they are important to give a sense of stress to the player. Losing emitters (or at least the risk of losing them) is important to the feeling of the games that I like to make.

I love the idea of not using the "G" key to prepare the map, but rather letting the map do it all by itself after 30 frames. Really great idea.

[wobblycogs]

Fantastic map, I shudder to think about how much work must have go into getting the balance right. What I like about the PAC maps is they seem to present more of a challenge almost right to the end. I'm guessing most people that complete this map will take the base at the bottom right last and even having all the other PZ's that was quite tough.

Brilliant work though, hope you make some more PAC maps.

[teknotiss]

The original code was written by stewbasic and released as the map "Creeper Come Back". I credited him in several of my first PAC maps.

I like the direction you're taking this Hubs and I think your work will have a big improvement on everyone's ability to make these maps. I've been working on one for a while and I think I may just wait a bit before your work is finished.

As for the nullifiers, I feel they are important to give a sense of stress to the player. Losing emitters (or at least the risk of losing them) is important to the feeling of the games that I like to make.

I love the idea of not using the "G" key to prepare the map, but rather letting the map do it all by itself after 30 frames. Really great idea.

yeah if it could be that you just run some frames (less than the time it takes a charged nullifier to discharge) and have the script delete and store the null locations it'd be excellent.
still it's not too bad as is.
glad to have another fellow PAC mapper in play too! nice one dude  8)

[Hubs]

I'm curious what people thought about the mass convert AOO.  I was trying to add another element of complexity for the player to deal with.  Also, what do you think about the increasing frequency of them?  Starts out firing every 60 seconds and reduces the time till next shot by 1 second.  I also had it delay until the 2 minute mark so not to make the start too difficult.

The original code was written by stewbasic and released as the map "Creeper Come Back". I credited him in several of my first PAC maps.

I like the direction you're taking this Hubs and I think your work will have a big improvement on everyone's ability to make these maps. I've been working on one for a while and I think I may just wait a bit before your work is finished.

As for the nullifiers, I feel they are important to give a sense of stress to the player. Losing emitters (or at least the risk of losing them) is important to the feeling of the games that I like to make.

I love the idea of not using the "G" key to prepare the map, but rather letting the map do it all by itself after 30 frames. Really great idea.

Well, thanks stew basic for revolutionizing CW3!!  His work on the original code is awesome.  Must have taken a very long time.  The field flow stuff is particularly impressive as it takes a lot of trigonometry to make all that work.  The Abraxis AI is also really nice.  Makes the game more challenging than just destroying stuff once.

And I totally agree with you on the nullifiers.  It completes the experience.  My next map (which I hope to release today or tomorrow) will definitely use them. 

Fantastic map, I shudder to think about how much work must have go into getting the balance right. What I like about the PAC maps is they seem to present more of a challenge almost right to the end. I'm guessing most people that complete this map will take the base at the bottom right last and even having all the other PZ's that was quite tough.

Brilliant work though, hope you make some more PAC maps.

I definitely have more coming!  I've got a few ideas that should be interesting to implement in a PAC map.  Honestly the balancing part of making PAC maps is the most time consuming because you have to play the map multiple times through and take notes on what to add/remove to control the difficulty.  Getting the AOO Mass Convert right too a lot of tweaking to add another challenge but not turn it into a long drawn out battle.

[Hubs]

yeah if it could be that you just run some frames (less than the time it takes a charged nullifier to discharge) and have the script delete and store the null locations it'd be excellent.
still it's not too bad as is.
glad to have another fellow PAC mapper in play too! nice one dude  8)

What I'd like to do if I have time is create a template map that's basically ready to go.  All you would need to do it create the terrain, add all the units, add a starting emitter, and play the map.  Possibly even a single core in it that creates the other needed cores and sets them up as needed so that the player doesn't need to worry about any of the CRPL other than some dialog of gameplay scripting.