Quote: --- Original message by: greg079
i'm not trying to rage at CMT, i love them and what they're doing. however i'm also very passionate about suppressed and tactical gear. i'm trying to offer them a way to make their guns more realistic, AND even have them balanced against the unsuppressed variants. also at whoever said "hurr durr its duh future they no haz realism" sure, maybe they don't use gunpowder, BECAUSE ITS THE GUNPOWDER AND THE SONIC BOOM THAT CAUSES THE NOISE, something that suppressed rounds virtually eliminate. c'mon masters, for the love of halo, it's worth it.
p.s. i'm not upset, the all caps is for emphasis.

Quote: --- Original message by: greg079
also at whoever said "hurr durr its duh future they no haz realism" sure, maybe they don't use gunpowder, BECAUSE ITS THE GUNPOWDER AND THE SONIC BOOM THAT CAUSES THE NOISE, something that suppressed rounds virtually eliminate.

Quote: --- Original message by: Dumb AI

What has this world gone to?

It's a game! If we are so obsessed over realism, we should stop playing video games all together and just go play the game of life.

Quote: --- Original message by: Echo77

I'm a fan of... I guess you could call it "common-sense" realism. I don't like seeing square pegs in round holes (metaphorically speaking) just because future. But I do understand that there are game-balancing elements involved, and that hyper-realism is a bit much to ask of Halo. As long as things make a reasonable amount of sense, I think it'll be alright.

Quote: --- Original message by: MatthewDratt

What https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih8szhiyFtY
Edited by MatthewDratt on Jul 5, 2013 at 08:19 PM

Quote: It's Friday! And so I'm here to give an overview of another area in the TSC:E map: the Security Station Pit. This environment was designed to promote widely varied combat according to the player's preferences, and it's one of our favorites in the mission so far. As with the original level, you'll need to fight your way in here to deactivate the island's security system in order to enter the main Cartographer facility. However, this area is quite different from its counterpart in Halo 1...


(Note: Being much more complex and having gone through many more iterations, there's still a good bit of visual work left to bring this area up to the same quality as displayed in Monday's pool video; jazzing up the main structure and cleaning up + adding more terrain features, for example. So don't worry if you spot some errant UVs or smoothing or that the structures look bland - we're already working on polishing it all up.)

Part I: Introduction

The Security Pit was born out of necessity: other changes to the level prevented us from placing the entrance on a high cliff overlooking the Pelican crash site as in the original Silent Cartographer. (Rather than at the the cliffs' edge, it is now located deep inside the island.) However, we wanted to use these changes as an opportunity to make the security station one of the most defining and memorable parts of the map. The crux of the new plan was to invert the original situation the player was presented with: the structure was to be below ground, not above, and the player's decision to jump down immediately or patiently descend was to occur when entering, not exiting.

From our initial idea, we developed layout and encounter concepts, drawing inspiration primarily from snippets of Assault on the Control Room, ODST's Crater firefight map, and the waterfall-sniper section of Delta Halo. We used then created a 3d mockup of the area, which was gradually refined until we had something that we were happy with. Siliconmaster then used the mockup as a reference piece for creating the area's actual geometry, while BobtheGreatII put together structure pieces. After over a month of hard work, everything finally came together.






We've still got a lot of work to do here - we've been doing the level in iterative cycles of design and polish, and so as noted this area is not yet up to the standards we're holding the final product to (those unseemly giant boulders are placeholders for eventual BSP upgrades, I swear!). Even so, we are all very proud of how it has come out.

II: Encounter Path 1: Frontal Assault

After clearing the preceding area, the player reaches a clearing and is presented with two main paths: one leads back to the island's interior, directly to the Pit; the other leads further out into the open, taking the player behind the rock wall that runs down the middle of the area. Depending on which path the player takes, they have four different approaches with which they can assault the Covenant camp guarding the security station. The latter path also forks out to lead the player to a separate area (which the player can also choose to assault if they choose) - however, that is being saved for another time...



If the player is still in good shape, they can charge directly towards the Pit. This path will place them in the sights of a Covenant squad patrolling the entrance to the Pit's rim.




Unless the player is well-equipped, this frontal assault will quickly prove dangerous: as they advance, they will begin to draw fire from defense forces patrolling the lower layers of the chasm, which become alerted to the player's presence and move into defensive positions. Gradually, the player will be able to move down the area - optionally taking any number of jump-shortcuts down the chasm (at the expense of having enemy forces shooting down at them and the potential for taking fall-damage). Once the player makes it to the bridge, a well-placed grenade can take out a group of jackals and the Shade turret; if a player can do that they will be able to proceed down the chasm walls much more easily.



III: Encounter Path 2: Skirting the Rim

An alternate means of attack is to stay to the left. Not only will this more cautious approach give the player the element of surprise against the rim guards, it will give them a vantage point with plenty of cover to thin out the other enemies on the Pit's upper levels before proceeding further down. Additionally, it will give them a clear jump down to a path looping around the Pit's entire left side, allowing them to continue to stay above the fray while still approaching the station.



IV: Encounter Path 3: Coming from Behind

Both of these approaches require the player to be prepared for combat - either with the stamina to survive a frontal assault or the equipment to pick off enemies from the distance. If the player doesn't want to dive into an intense firefight, it will be more advantageous to take long way around. Going to the right and following the rock wall, the player will find only minimal resistance (assuming they do not alert the enemies in the adjacent area), and will be able to replenish their supplies before returning to battle.



Following the wall all the way to the end, they will end up at the rear of the rim guards' camp, removing their range advantage and allowing the player to manage them more easily without ranged weapons. They can then continue in a mirror-image of the "Skirting the Rim" approach, staying to the right until they can jump directly onto the structure; or they can once again gradually move down the chasm.




V: Encounter Path 4 - Going Down...

Halfway down the rock wall, the player will encounter a door - it leads to an elevator that will take them to the Pit's bottom level, allowing them to bypass the entire rim guard. However, they will have to proceed cautiously; even a well-equipped player will become overwhelmed by enemies above them if they are unprepared to make a quick break through the units guarding the entrance. If you choose to take this shortcut, it may be to your advantage to soften up some of the guards from another angle before charging through. Fortunately, the elevator can also facilitate a quick retreat to safety, allowing the player to rethink their strategy without having to start over.

(Opposite the elevator's upper-level entrance is another path to the adjacent area. A player can seamlessly weave between the two encounters as they please.)




VII: The End

That's it. We'll have a new gameplay video for you guys this coming Monday - stay tuned!

Quote: --- Original message by: waffles
Thy patience hath rewarded all.

Quote: --- Original message by: P3
Are you guys going to make it so that the grass and the rock/cliff textures blend?

Quote: --- Original message by: Dumb AI
So, does that orange beam kill things?

Quote: --- Original message by: teh lag



We're trying our utmost - in some areas it's a bit of a challenge to get working right but it is definitely one of our goals for the final product.

Quote: --- Original message by: Killer5000
will new marines be in b30 evolved or odsts???????

Quote: --- Original message by: master noob

you can use a scenery object that is a bent plane with a transparent moss/grass texture, placing it against corners and edges to emulate grass/vines/moss growing up the cliff faces.

Quote: --- Original message by: jabberwockxeno

Just a suggestion for those of you who work on CMT:

I specifically posted this in regards to the plasma pistol, and how the casing on the side in the halo 4 model is glowing, which is something I'd really like to see in CMT. But there are other designs here that you may wish to incorporate.

http://s.cghub.com/files/Image/364001-365000/364561/513_max.jpg
http://s.cghub.com/files/Image/364001-365000/364569/277_max.jpg
http://s.cghub.com/files/Image/364001-365000/364555/791_max.jpg
http://s.cghub.com/files/Image/364001-365000/364551/547_max.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JOf1zwF7NVQ/US_naNk33nI/AAAAAAAAAsY/4J0GIoio2u4/s1600/carbine-callout-sheet-revised-001_FINAL.jpg
Edited by jabberwockxeno on Jul 6, 2013 at 11:32 AM

Quote: --- Original message by: Masters1337
The PR is still a work in progress, it wasn't suppose to be shown in the video. It's newer textures and shaders are going to be unveiled soon as part of the updates this month.

Quote: --- Original message by: master noob
the plasma rifle concept is decent, but the model and texture work is horrid. stop treating the covie metal like paint that scratches off; it's its own metal, therefore when scratched it doesn't just turn light grey around the edges. also, the normals are warped on the top blue part; the cubemap is not rotating properly along the surface, and the surrounding bits ruin the cubemap by having the same masking value. the new contrail is kinda blegh, as a single trail of plasma looked better than 2 thin trails. the blue light directly under the top blue piece feels unfitting and, for something that is supposed to be glowing, is rather dark, and appears to be clipping/flickering into the mesh underneath it. the fins are also debilitated, as they no longer sport the filter-esque look from 2, 3, and reach. the pure blue of the prongs at the front also need some attention.

Quote: --- Original message by: TauSigmaNova
Those Shotgun animations/origins still look like crap to me.

Quote: --- Original message by: Spartan314

Didn't have that punch I think a Halo shotgun should have.