New D2 Level Notification Thread

A forum just for you old time Descent and Descent2 players.
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Diedel
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New D2 Level Notification Thread

Post by Diedel »

Hello fellow D2 level designers,

Feel free to use this thread for presentation of new D2 levels you make. :)

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D2 Level: Fire And Steel

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Fire And Steel is a larger level with both space for dogfighting and tunnels for ratting.
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Download here.
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D2 Level: TombZ of DeZtruKtion

Post by Diedel »

I've built a new D2 anarchy level. It's rather large, well suited for 4 and more players.
Image
Download here.

Feedback welcome.

(C'mon ppl, there's more than Neptune, Vamped, Minerva and Keg Party ... ;))
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D2 Level: miKro TombZ

Post by Diedel »

I've been tinkering with my level editor again, and this is the result (basically, it's TombZ Of DeZtruKtion pruned to a small level suited for 2 - 5 players. It has only one "floor", that should make for fast gameplay.):
Image
Download here.
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D2 Level: With Flying Colors (CTF)

Post by Diedel »

I have revamped my recently built CTF level "With Flying Colors" for D2: It has new flag rooms and some minor improvements and fixes.

The level is symmetrical, big enough for 8 players and has numerous accesses to the flag rooms. There are only two choke points though, so while there are enough ways to sneak into the enemy's flag room, there is still a good chance to stop the thief. ;)

It's a bit heavy on the architectural side, but that should be none of a problem with today's hardware and one of the D2X program versions.
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D2 Level: Circus Maximus

Post by Diedel »

Circus Maximus built for up to 8 players. Lasers, Plasmas, Fusions, Mercury, Flash, Concussion Missiles, 1 Prox Bomb (the red one).

It's meant for ratting, stalking, camping, so it has a lot of pillars and tunnels, but a big dogfighting area to duke it out isn't missing either. Custom textures by Midgard.

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D2 Level: Dogfight!

Post by Diedel »

The level mainly consists of two large halls with pillars giving a lot of space for maneuvering. They are connected with pretty wide tunnels. It's spacious enough for 8 players.

The weapon loadout is Super Lasers, Plasmas, Fusions, 2 Gauss, 2 Phoenix, Mercury, Flash, Concussion Missiles, 1 Smart Mine (the golden ones), 1 Cloaking device (for hanging out in that dark corner :wink: ), 1 Mega, 1 Earth Shaker (the last two locked away and somewhat hard to access).

Unreal and Midgard custom textures.
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Post by Sirius »

Is Midgard still making textures... or do they just come off a public gallery of sorts?
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New Entropy level

Post by Diedel »

When looking for a quick way to get a playable Entropy level, I found that my recently released CTF level With Flying Colors should lend itself pretty well to that game mode. So I have slightly reworked it and created an Entropy version named "Bio Hazard". Download it here.

D2X-W32 1.3.2 or above required, as this level contains more than 900 segments.
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D2-Level: Glass House

Post by Diedel »

Glass House is a medium sized anarchy level featuring advanced D2X-W32 properties. As the name already suggests, Glass House is an attempt to build a very "transparent" level: Many rooms are simply separated by colored windows, so you will always see where the action is. It is another story to get there though: Lots of interconnections are by teleports with multiple destinations, and you will never know where they will get you: Into safety, or in the middle of a firefight ... You will need some maneuvering skills in those lit corridors though. ;)

I think it looks really cool, but see for yourselves (more images on my Descent Site):

Unreal and Descent 1 textures.

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Download here.
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Post by Jeff250 »

Wow. Really shows off D2x.
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Post by Diedel »

I have revised the level, adding a lot more D2X-W32 features, like speed boost areas, camera views, repair centers and true color textures.
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Post by Top Gun »

Wow, Diedel; D2X-W32 is starting to look almost as good as D3. :D
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Post by Diedel »

This image shows colored windows, camera views and 32 bit TGA textures (floor and ceiling taken from D3, heh):

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Post by Sirius »

Nice! Reminds me a lot of the first Unreal game...
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Post by Diedel »

I always loved the Unreal texturing ... they have extremely good texture artists and level authors. Actually, I cannot think of any game excelling as much in these areas as Unreal.
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Post by Diedel »

Here's another one: Speed!

I made it after some game play experience with Glass House, where I found that the only two areas of the level that really got used where the big energy tube and the large hall that is crossed by two hallways.

So speed is attempt to put teleports and speed bosts to such a use that every corner of the level is a good place to be.

The level uses almost (:P @ Sirius) exclusively D3 textures, which makes for a pretty big file size (255 KB zipped). Look neat though. ;)

I would love to receive some feedback and improvement ideas for this level.

Download here.

Image
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Post by Sirius »

Well, except for the secret exit thing.

After exams... I will have to have a look at this... have to... :)
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Post by Duper »

Diedel wrote:Here's another one: Speed!

Dude.. you imported D3 textures? :oops: Cool
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Post by Jeff250 »

Very nice!
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Post by jehu »

Diedel wrote:Here's another one: Speed!
You are violating the implied understanding of "Old Skool" - this is seriously heady stuff for us ol' D1/D2 geezers - more eyecandy than is legal, what with all the D3 textures, colorized transparent walls, camera views - my pacemaker needs a new battery!

No LAN buddies to whoop on at the moment, but even a solo tour of all the teleport stations, uni-directional speed tunnels, and energy/repair bi-directional speed tunnels, was surprisingly disorienting.

Nice balance of weapons for the level size, with emphasis on precision (gauss, mercury) and surprise (flash), rather than spray (no megas or homers).

A big cavern (connected via teleport, or energy/repair tunnels) would be great for pyro's like me = happiest when moving in all 6-axis! As it is, corkscrewing 'round the outside of the energy/repair tunnels is the only place for skilled use of banking/sliding - and they're on the short side for much of that ... just a personal preference from this cave bat ...

A very good looking level, with the full range of technology - far beyond what would be expected of the legacy D2 engine - well done!

As a side note, since it isn't clear to me if it is level specific, level editor / transparent wall "feature", or d2x engine glitch, but I was able to snuggle up against the transparent walls with quad lasers firing, and at some specific angles, able to get a single canon firing _through_ the wall! _That_ would certainly surprise those on the other side!
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Post by Diedel »

jehu,

thanks for the feedback. I will check the laser-through-wall issue.

Ways were kept intentionally short in this level - you should be able to reach every spot of it in a short time to make for intense action.

The weapon loadout in this level is my usual one, with the addition of phoenix cannons, which I have gotten to appreciate recently: They're pretty powerful, yet to be handled with care, so imo a weapon for a precise rather than a frantic use.

If you're seriously into 6dof maneuvering, take look at my levels "Fire and Steel" and "Dogfight!" (see my Descent site, multiplayer section). You might also like "TombZ of DeZtruKtion". ;)

Diedel

Edit: The "shoot through wall" problem is a general one. I have worked around it in my levels Speed! and Glass House.
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Post by Diedel »

Speed! is now enhanced CTF enabled.
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Post by Jeff250 »

I will agree that the transporters are probably being used in excess. ;)
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Post by Diedel »

Jeff,

if you fly around in the level a while and learn where the teleporters lead to, you will probably start to think differently. All routes are well thought out, and I wonder how this level plays in enhanced CTF.
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Post by Stryker »

...wow. This looks better than half the D3 levels played today. I don't normally come around here... but if this keeps up I'm seriously going to consider pulling out D2 again.
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Post by Brambo »

Kewl, I like Pillars you know.
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Post by Diedel »

Brambo,

if you like pillars, take a look at my level TombZ of DeZtruKtion. ;)
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Post by DCrazy »

Wow, it looks like D3. :P
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Post by Sirius »

I wish the difference was more obvious... people don't HAVE to waste the time they spend in D3Edit on hack jobs.
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Post by Diedel »

Sirius,

what do you mean with that?
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Post by Aus-RED-5 »

Diedel.
Today I d/l the SPEED lvl you made. Started up a lan game with a friend of mine. We found 2 things needing to be fixed in this version.

1) The portal in the green glass tunel. The texture is not right.
Image
2) These 2 portals make you respawn in the same room, facing down.
Image
Great lvl BTW!! :D
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Post by Diedel »

Fixed and online. Thx for the hints.
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Post by Sirius »

What I mean is that, good as these levels might be, they are D2 levels, and Descent 2 has fundamental engine handicaps that Descent 3 overcame.

But nearly no-one takes advantage of that. I don't need to name names, everyone knows what the garbage levels are... :)
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Post by Diedel »

What engine handicaps? What do you miss in D2, compared to D3? Overpowered weapons like the MD? Or the Napalm missile? Bloody homing weapons in almost every level? Extremely high speed, forcing the levels and structures therein to be unrealistically large compared to the ships (everytime I see a D3 Pyro against a wall, I feel a strange urge to reach for my fly swat ... :P)

Well, whatever, I am building D2 levels, and all I want is them to look good and play good. Imo D2 gameplay > D3 gameplay. D3 somehow sucks.
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Post by jehu »

D3 automap is _unusable_! They should have just stuck w/wire frame.
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Post by Sirius »

I'm referring to the geometry engine, and only the geometry engine.

If they're given polygons, why do they make cubes?
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Post by Top Gun »

jehu wrote:D3 automap is _unusable_! They should have just stuck w/wire frame.
Are you joking? I despised that wireframe map! :P D3's is infinitely more natural, considering the fact that you're actually able to fly through the level as you would normally. I still prefer D3 to D2 personally; I find D2 to be too sluggish, and I can never pick out the ships amongst the massive amounts of weapon fire. That's not to say that the D2 Revivals aren't a blast, though. :)
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Post by Diedel »

Sirius wrote:I'm referring to the geometry engine, and only the geometry engine.

If they're given polygons, why do they make cubes?
Does that matter gameplay wise? Imo it doesn't. Cubes are just a way to easily determine adjacent polys, walls, etc.

This thread has gone way OT though. :(
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Post by Riot »

Circus Maximus is cool, thanks Diedel. I've been looking for a good anarchy map to play.

... anyone want to play?

edit: Glass house crashes my machine.

Invalid station type in fuelcen 12

Same error for speed.
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