Prologue

[Moderator]

08:48, 13th Sep 2008
Septimus: I kinda busy right now, so I would write a short review.

1) Camera movement is bad, it often running through destructible/doodad or just blink all the sudden.
2) The triggering leak and the whole cinematic doesn't look impressive at all.

As for the rest, just like shaun have said.

Edit : No update after a period of time, sources reject.

 

[shaun]

Since experience tells me that not much ppl will download this map nor post a comment i'll do the job

the biggest problem for me with such maps is that i dont wanna run you down, cos you sure put some thoughts into it; but overall it's just not good;

if you are creating a singleplayer RPG you should definitly use the campaign-mode
but lets go thru the main points;

typos; some minor typing errors like "fimilliar" in the loadingscreen

terrain; the terrain is dull and boring, no heightlevels, no clifflevels, trees placed with the biggest brush and a use of around 6 different types of doodads - thats basicly nothing; if u'd leave the map plain and empty (no doodads at all) i'd still rate it the same
1/5

cinematic;
cameras; not a real variety of cameras, some littl blink spots like the view from her perspective but basicly nothing

story; there is a story, and it appears to be interesting but it's just not absorbingly told (quest/text messages... c'mon)

custom spells; there are no custom spells or custom character design, it's just jaina and kael with strangely mixed standard abilities

triggers/execution; well... it simply uses very basic triggers and either you dont care if it looks odd (and are lazy), or you dont know how to do it better;
for example:
the servant dudes (6 of them) "surround" her; your understanding of a surroud is, 6 units move 3metres so that they r awkwardly positioning themselves around her in standard group formation... they dont even look at her... nothing.. they just move there "ha we got you" and that's rather cheap...

you have a promising Gameplay advertisement in your discription above - but i doubt that you will be able to hold it since the prologue already is below average (and i don't think you have to explain what a prologue is; everybody should know)


ps: and please chose bigger mapsizes - thx


no official rating by me but it would tend to 1/5

 

[Avator]

Thank you for your comment and suggestions. However there are a few things you missed I think.


First of all, it is a campaign, but I thought with only 1 map released so far, it would just be a waste of file size. When the 2nd map is released, I will update this with this map, the 2nd map and the campaign.

Typo's: I thought I had none, but apparently I've missed that. Will be fixed (Thanks for pointing that out )

Terrain: I can understand you are far from impressed by the terrain, it was not really my main point of attention, but there will be looked into.

Cinematic:
-Camera's: I personally think I've put just pretty much camera's, creating effects (like the fainting camera's after killing the hero)

Story: I can't change opinions on that
If you have suggestions on how I could improve the storyline in the game, I'd gladly like to hear it.

Custom spells: That is absolutely right. This might be changed in the future, but for now the main goal is to complete the campaign and release it in total.

Triggers/executions: In my opinion I've put in triggers as special effects as I thought was necessary to form a decent view on the game. But if you think the triggers lack, then I believe you know what you are talking about.
However on the 'servants' part, you say they don't even look at Elefthia. That's not true. They definitely do face her, which you can dubble check in the Trigger Editor.

Gameplay: The gameplay itself is not shown at all in the prologue. The next map is already being created and will show a big part of the gameplay described above.

Finally, the map size in the details (blue text) is incorrect. That was already mentioned in the 'Extra info' I added manually.


Still, I thank you for your time and effort to test and comment my map. This will definitely be used to improve the game.

 

[Crusad3r91]

Hello! I've downloaded your map, played it and read the comments, here are my suggestions:

-Typos: you wrote women (plural) instead of woman
-Terrain: since this is an alpha and, anyway, a cinematic prologue, it does its job decently (for now ); one improvement could be adding some terrain on the left side of the church since it seems that, some metres away, the world just ends :O... and, add a sky... the black background is quite boring =D
-Camera: it's not bad in my opinion; however, you should use it more in the ending... something like a castle view with the king and the queen when you talk about the daughter (Alexandra) and then a little village view for the son (Orphe) with a fade out in the end ("This is the story about Alexandra & Orphe... This is:..."); perhaps a little overview at the very beginning (before the... "road view") may add more atmosphere.
-Gameplay: since it's a prologue I don't think this is very important... however, you should use level 10 heroes since I ran out of mana after 2 spells and then started using a boring standard attack
-Audio/Music: use some different music at the beginning, something like Doom, DarkVictory, Tension and Tragic confrontation.
-Other: these may not be very important, but they might add some more atmosphere to your cinematic: the demon is, at the beginning, a "voice in the woods", then he suddently appears on the right road :O... you might add a trigger that make him appear from the trees with fire and so; the demon doesn't seem so "demon"... I'd use something like Archimonde or Kil'Jaeden for a demon general; change the priest model to a Human chaplain one or at least use the Elf one in the Reign of Chaos version; use a night set, maybe with rain... it might fit better with the current actions.

That's it! In my opinion it deserves a 3/5 (afterall it is an alpha...); make some imrpovements (overall terraining) and it will be absolutely ok !

 

[Kwah]

Well, I see that I'm in the credits. I'll take a look.

Well here are some tips:

Add more tile variation, on your paths.

The initial bloodmage fight is too hard, due to his mana drain.

Use a better tree model.

Try to make the initial Darkhunter fight more visually pleasing. The flame strike effect is good, but make her use perhaps a chain lightning as well on the first one.

Things done well:

The "sleep" camera was a nice touch.
The plot seems as if its going to develp well.

Things I want to see:

Custom Spells
More use of animations.

 

[ModelTester]

It was alright to me o.o

 

[Avator]

Thank you for your comments on this map.

Most complains are about the bad terrain, and with good reason. So I've asked for someone to make great terrains for my maps in the Project Recruitment section. Also I've posted that I'm looking for a modeller, so that should solve at least 2 of the main lacks in this map. All your suggestions are looked at and I'll try to edit that as soon as possible.

Thanks again for your time and effort to test this map and post all good and bad thinks you encountered.

 

[Lestat(br)]

This cinematic isn't good at all, the camera should be always moving, and a bit smoother. Also, the minions don't fight, they simply die, also, some mistakes were made, and the end is very boring. In addition, the fight should take less time, and the mana should regenate waaay much faster, so the battle would be more dynamic. Magic attack should be given to the blood mage, so when he casts banish he can attack.

1/5 =(