flashpoint 1.96, no ecp, benchmark 5050
this has all the hallmarks of a cracker of a mission; i've been playing for less than a year, designing for only a couple of months, but i know quality when it shimmies onto the monitor.
scanning the posts above, i agree with a few of the points, but i'll try not to repeat them.
overviewthis picture is very well composed (the hanging idea.... mmmmgenius) but could afford to be a bit bigger. the text is a little awkward and says little about the role the player will have. may i humbly suggest something along the lines of -
"Winter is almost upon us.
The war on Malden is seemingly over, but with their respective governments denying all knowledge of the war, those remaining on both sides have come to a grudging truce in order to survive. With the loss of support from their military superiors however, discipline has broken down. Civilians are now caught in the middle of a desparate struggle for food and fuel to see out the harsh Winter months.
As Alexi Forgotsurnameov, you must somehow save your family from starvation."how that'll fit pagewise i'm not sure, but with a bigger image it may space out okay.
intromusic fits perfectly. you could afford to get closer in some shots, in particular the shot panning between the forces arranged in that wee valley - there's a LOT of ground to cover, filled with trees and bushes, and on either side, bush-sized tanks.
excellent use of character animation, as seen throughout in the cutscenes too - eg. where tatyana briefly turns to the bed and says "what d'you think they keep me here for?" - that is subtle and poignant. great work.
ditto the comment on shaky cam - i recently received a tip from sui suggesting settargetting the character's positional array instead of the character themself; that way as the character moves, the camera remains stationary on them.
the hanging - how on earth did you get them to swing so slowly?! superb.
briefingi liked the fact that you had a voiceover reading the sections, a most pleasant surprise.
the voice acting - i would leave it, unless you're prepared to do all that work again with more actors, greater variety of voices and more empathy. it would indeed contribute more to the overall atmosphere, but as it stands it's fine.
repeating the intro text in the background notes is a reasonable idea to cater for those of us with short attention spans, just in case looking at the purdy camera shots distracted from the text in the intro. however, if you use "leftover" in the briefing, don't use "left over" in the intro. that, annoyingly enough, was the only flaw i saw in the text. i'll catch you out sometime
ha HA! in the background section, third paragraph "...each controlling a part of the island one led by..." - between 'island' and 'one' you could do with a semicolon, just to break the sentence a bit. but
honestly, drat you folks who can spell, spoilin my fun... tsk
one minor point about the map, and i'm not sure how this would look - you've indicated the ends of the island being controlled by the respective sides (using colour, thumbs up) so perhaps a coloured dotted line to demarkate? a semi-transparent elipse? would this give too much of an idea where to expect enemy troops?
missionas an aside... while playing many missions i get the impression that the designer has placed an enemy squad simply because they know the player is likely to pass that way. i've done it myself. but i got the impression about ten minutes into this, that's not going to happen here. this is less of a mission, more of an experience.
but just to balance that compliment, i feel i must slap the back of your hand sir. taking a function of the game away from the player is a cardinal sin in my opinion. by all means use 'reality' to constrain the player (availability of weapons, fuel, medics, etc.) but when it comes to the way the software works, leave well enough alone. as a player i don't see any benefit of removing the accelerated time function, quite the contrary.
bedges says, furiously tapping the = button. which works, btw, so either disable it utterly, or reinstate it completely.
don't add nvgoggles at the start. you're on the right track with the navigation thing. start em nice n slow
that mission in flashpoint where the player had to navigate using the stars... beautiful. now if only i could speed up climbing that hill....
vigny works; i've tested all (?) scenarios, including blowing tatyana up. perhaps slow down time as she gets shot, make it a wee bit more dramatic. loaded up the jeep with all the goodies i could find, and away i went to the mountain shack.
got shot the first time around for not stopping quickly enough...
cutscenes are all fine. the radio... it is something which a player might miss, even though it's right next to the weapon crate, and judging by the scale of this mission (and reading over your notes) it's just one of many sub-missions. however, you could develop the radio a little more to include reception of enemy transmissions too. perhaps that comes later on.....
along with 2, i've collected the first group of civilians to the east, and have returned to the shack to find all in order - phew - and that's where i've saved thus far. more anon.
overall comment so far...atmospheric, detailed, thorough. i can see this being most enjoyable
Topic: (Review Completed) [SP] Abandoned Armies (Read 261730 times)
