For this new year I'd like to write even more than I did last year. My last year's resolution was to write more and I think I did an okay job at doing that. I'd also like to do more mapping projects, I want this to be my most productive year yet, I think I'll start out by doing a Shipment remake for Half-Life 1. Also maybe also enter more LD contest, they're super fun to do.
I'd also like to try and focus more on modeling a bit. I did spend more time with Blender like I said in last years post but I DO need to keep up with working in it. I made some okay models and learned most of the basic stuff. I can make a simple model, uv it, and get it compiled in Source pretty reliably.
Lately I've also been wanting to spend more time with programming and website design stuff. I think it'd be fun to learn.
For Halloween this year I started watching through the Hellraiser movies. I got to 5 before I took a break, so this will only go over the first 5 movies. I'll make a newer post later when I finish the entire franchise.
Anyway from worst to best here are my rankings.
5. Hellraiser III Hell on Earth
This one was just too weird for me, it felt way more silly than the other movies and also had some of the weirdest acting, line delivery's in this felt really flat. It did have some of the more fun cenobite designs though.
I think this is the worst movie in terms of Pinhead's characterization. The scene below is a great example of what I mean, he's spouting off weird one liners and acting like a typical 80's slasher. It's fun but I don't think it fits his character well.
4. Hellraiser Bloodline
Bloodline was interesting. I liked how the story took place over different time periods, which everything being told as a story by a distant relative of the puzzle box's creator in the far future. At first I was getting 'Pinhead in SPACE' vibes but it never really devolved into that too much. The Victorian era sorcery stuff was really cool to see too.
I think this movie's major issue was that it was underdeveloped, from what I understand there were issues during the production which greatly effected it. Really a shame because it seems like it could have been really great.
Also has possibly one of the lamest kills out of the first 5.
3. Hellraiser Inferno
This movie does NOT deserve a 20% on Rotten Tomato's, It's probably the best movie out of the first five after the original. It's only issue is that it's not a good Hellraiser movie. The movie itself has little to do with Hellraiser besides someone opening a puzzle box at the beginning and an appearance by Pinhead at the end.
Unlike some of the other movies the horror is a lot more psychological, with the main character experiencing delusions and the movie being in an almost dream like state. It actually got me a bit creeped out at times. It's also a kickass detective / noir type of story which I REALLY enjoy in media, it gives off a hard Condemned: Criminal Origins mixed with Jacob's Ladder vibe.
I think having Pinhead being a more background type character suits him way better. I enjoy him better being a impartial judge rather and a weird 80's slasher like in 3.
VERY underrated movie.
2. Hellbound: Hellraiser II
Decent sequel to the first movie, works well as a continuation of the first one. It's weird, I like the setting with the Asylum and the evil doctor tuned cenobite, but it's probably the least memorable out of all the movies, really blends into the first one. This one WOULD be in third place but it's here because it's more Hellraiser than Inferno is.
Again though, the asylum the movie take place in is awesome, I remember taking screenshots of some parts of the movie as reference pictures for level stuff. Also we get some really cool scenes towards the end of Hell and even of Leviathan.
The feeling towards the end is actually a bit whimsical rather than just horror. Of course there are still spooky parts in it, and I think it may be a bit scarier than the first film. Also it has the first time we actually see someone getting converted into a cenobite from human, it's a cool scene but I think it kind of retracts a bit from the other wordily beings that the cenobites in the first film have, which I guess it also a bit of a critique of the other movies.
There also the fight towards the end that further humanizes them witch is ehhh.
1. Hellraiser
The original, the OG, the objectively BEST Hellraiser movie. The first one is simply the best. Everything is paced well, the acting is great, and everything regarding the cenobites and the puzzle box feels fittingly mysterious, nothing is overly explained.
I really like how in this movie Pinhead and the cenobites aren't necessarily evil, they're just doing what they do. Has the creepiest puzzle box opening scene as well.
Only issue I have with the movie is the ending felt a little weak. The house crashing in and her running out with her bf felt rushed almost. Also the stuff at the very end with the hobo also feels weirdly random. I don't remember if he was explained in the movies at all but I do remember him eating the bugs.
Also has one the the BEST scenes out of all the fist 5. This shit is AWSOME.
Diggles is a classic game from my childhood. Sadly for the longest time it was near impossible to play on modern hardware and with each fix there was some trade off. Some fixes would make the game run but you'd lose audio, others would fix the audio but you'd have to play in German, there really was no way to get it perfectly stable.
My copy in all it's jewel case glory.
To my surprise it seems like a team has gone back and patched the old game to run perfectly on Windows 10, and it does run perfectly. Have been playing for a solid 3 hours as of typing this and have had 0 issues what so ever. It's really great. It even supports 4k resolutions!
Has the actual game aged well though? I've been having with it. Despite the game being old the graphics feel stylized in a way that makes them super charming, the art direction on this was on point.
The only issue I have with the gameplay is that it can feel a bit slow paced. When all your little dwarfs are working there not a whole lot to do during average downtime besides watch your guys work. There is a speedup time option but your camera is locked in place while using it. It's a bit similar to Oxygen Not Included but more story focused.
If you're partial to slower paced rts type games you'd probably LOVE this game.
Ditched the sifi outer space look for a more fantastical floating rock thing, I think it looks way nicer. Still need to finish up some of the islands rock things. Also I'm thinking of adding a trim around the edges of the islands, have it on the smaller one but I'm not 100% sold on how it looks yet.
New Core project I'm working on. Layout is very WIP at the moment. I think it might be a bit under scaled right now. Also it's currently too similar to Longest Yard for my liking, I'm going to try and morph it into something a bit more original.
Another Core level contest, It's still pretty early going on so I'm thinking of entering this one as well. Haven't done any actual work in editor yet but I have gotten my layout drafted. Have a really clear idea in my head of what I want this to be.
I'm thinking I'm going to have an easier time with this project after I learned the editor from the last one. I'll post updates on here from time to time, mostly depending on how much work I get done.
The contest ended yesterday, just now getting to writing up a post about the least little updates to it. The only stuff I was focusing on during the last day was detail. I spent a good while adding trims and beams to all the interiors, was brainless work but it makes everything look a ton better.
I also did some very last minute stuff with the outside, mainly the buildings walls. They looked kind of plain throughout the whole project so I decided the best way to try and fix it was more beams. Beams are a pretty easy way to make a wall slightly more visually appealing. After doing all that was mostly just doing small little detailing.
Anyway here are a few screenshots of the FINAL version.
Haven't posted an update in awhile, reason being that on those days I didn't think I had enough to post about then I got a bit lazy. I have made a lot of progress since the last post though. The level is now nearly completely artpassed. There's still a bit I need to do involving sound and minor visuals, but this is a near complete version.
Here are a few screenshots of the current version.
Going to set up the itch page tomorrow, last minute upload ftw.
Didn't get around to making a post yesterday. Work the past two days has been spent texturing and building the stair props. I'm going to spend the next couple days detailing the outside areas then I'll finish it off the interiors. Depending on how much I do I should have a day or two to finish up whatever needs finishing before the deadline.
Here are a few screenshots of the current version.
Texturing in this so far has been an extremely time consuming process. Rather than just click a face I want a texture to apply too I have to fiddle around with triplanner blend's if I want something to
Today was spent on detailing and balancing weapons. Making these roofs was very annoying. It may just be that I'm not used to the workflow of more modern level tools, but these roofs would have taken way less time to make in something like Source. I also worked on the bridge a bit, tried making a bit less square looking and I think I've done a good job at that so far.
Day 4 comes with a whole new back area. I thought this up the other night while going to sleep. Here are a few screens of the new backyard.
I think with the addition of this the layout is now near complete. The only thing's I can think of area few tweaks to cover objects. My next step is balancing the weapons so that there are no clear upgrades. I want every weapon including the starting gun to be viable in some way.
After I finish balancing the weapons I think I'll start going all in on artpassing. I think I'm going to have to rip up all the buildings and remake them during this step because of the way materials work.
Today I did a few small changes to one of the interior rooms and a few new cover objects outside. The major change between this version and the last one is lighting changes, skybox and lighting were changed to be night.
I also managed to fix a huge issue with the weapon pickup system, tomorrow I'm going to finish implementing it and seeing if I can find a way to add health and ammo pickups.
Here are a few screenshots of the current version.
The only major layout changes I can really think of atm is more development of the interiors. I also think that maybe adding a way for player's to climb up to the windows in the back area would be pretty cool. Though I'll have to try and figure out a way to do it without doing annoying prop climbing.
I'm thinking that I'll begin really artpassing here in the next couple of days. If I keep my current pace of updates I'll probably be finished well before the deadline.
Day 2 I widened the entire level and focused mostly on developing mid and the lower areas of the level. I also spent some time adding terrain and doing a bit of minor artpassing. Tomorrow I'm going to have to focus on developing the interiors more, they're starting to feel a bit lacking compared to the new mid.
Here area couple of screenshots of the changed areas.
Here are my current thought's on it based on a bit of play testing I did.
1. The terrain isn't developed yet but I feel it adds a whole lot to the layout. The layout today felt alot better today than it did yesterday.
2. I changed the way the spawns work in that they now spawn the player as far a possible from other players. They still need work though, during play testing I spawned in the same place twice.
3. I raised the middle platform and I'm glad to see that it alleviated some of the issues I've had with sightlines. It feels a lot better to play in the outside areas.
Today I designed a layout using Dungeon Scrawl, (great LD tool btw). After a bit of iteration I managed came up with this layout.
From here I blocked out the level in Core editor. Here are a few screenshots of the level so far.
Here are my current thought's on it based on a bit of play testing I did.
1. Currently the level feels a bit too small. I am aiming for it to comfortable fit 6 players at once. In it's current state it feels more suitable for 2. May be slightly under scaled right now.
2. The outside areas and middle are death traps right now. I'm thinking that adding some variable height for the ground and some objects for cover will alleviate this issue a bit.
3. Indoor fighting isn't bad but I think the rooms may need more pillars. Tip: Pillars are very fun to fight around a very easy to incorporate into a level.
4. Looking at it now I think adding an underground section to mid may be a cool way to increase the playspace with minimal without making everything too large.
If you want to check out my level in it's current state you can find it here.
