LostInTheText.com » Game Level Design

GTA V set to be announced

Ryan Bishop — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:22:47 +0000

Rockstar games announced that the official first trailer for GTA V will be released at 12pm eastern time on wednesday. GTA V (Grand Theft Auto 5), the latest in a long line of massive open urban worlds represented by the Grand Theft Auto series, has big shoes to fill. Starting with GTA III, the series has been a massive hit with every entry in the franchise being the latest and greatest of its generation. Other than a few vague spoilers, and the logo, little is known about the upcoming game.

A list of hopes (and quiet predictions) for GTA V:

1. Airplanes. Seriously, there’s only so far you can go flying helicopters. Both more RC planes and traditional

2. Less Driving. Ok – we get it, it’s mostly filler to make what would otherwise be a medium length game longer, but driving 4-5 minutes for a one-minute mission is not a great return on investment. At least offer a skip feature?

3. Ethical Gameplay or choice-based outcomes. We had a little glimpse of this in some of the previous franchises, but it never really made much of an impact in the story lines it was associated with, and it didn’t seem to adversely impact it at that. Why not show that, if you lead a life of crime and debauchery, it usually doesn’t end up as glamorously as scarface?

4. A lighter environment. Let’s face it – GTA IV was fun but a little depressing. Showcasing some of the more downtrodden aspects of immigrant life may add a sense of realism to the game, but jesus it’s depressing.

Video: Mp5 Rocket launcher in GTA IV

Ryan Bishop — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 01:50:11 +0000

GTA IV cheat – make your MP5 shoot rockets

Ryan Bishop — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 10:20:45 +0000

Here’s a great tutorial to transform your traditional MP5 from an already-above-average submachine gun to a wild animal that breathes fire and rockets. Do a drive-by with rockets, or just easily clear out your path with a solid wall of rockets. Hint: you can shoot from a motorcycle. The rockets also fire much more quickly than the traditional rocket launcher.

1. Find the file “Weaponsinfo.xml” in your GTA IV directory.
2. make a backup.
3. open the file weaponsinfo.xml with a text or code editor.
4. replace the .. portion of the file with the code below:

GUN
CAN_AIM
CAN_FREE_AIM
CREATE_VISIBLE_ORDNANCE
KEEP_CAMERA_BEHIND

The long-awaited Sandbox 3 Editor Released – An Initial Review

Ryan Bishop — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 06:24:24 +0000

Since several months before Crysis 2′s eagerly-awaited release, Well, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the release of the Sandbox 3 editor. Although It could be said Crysis 2 wasn’t exactly the splash hit the team at crytek had imagined and hoped for, the release is definitely a beautiful work of graphics blood sweat and tears. So when I heard that the sandbox 3 editor was going to be released in the summer, it was as if a team of admittedly-geeky angels sung their harp-laden song in the video gaming world of my mind. The best news yet, however, came when they announced that they were going to actually feature single-player editing.

So that brings us to July 11, 2011. Sandbox 3 was quietly released for download on CryMod.com . This is crytek’s official outreach to the crysis 2 modding community, and is the central go-to point for these pioneer days of modding crysis 2. While the leaked version of the editor has been around for quite some time apparently, those that loathe the act of piracy can finally have their day!

I’m not going to lie, it’s a big file. At 416mb compressed, it can be a slow download. Still, at around 15-20 minutes, it wasn’t bad. The installation took a while, extracting to around 2gigs. On opening the installation program, the user is faced with a traditional overlaying title screen, very reminiscent of the previous Sandbox releases.

The next screen is where the full visage of the program really takes hold. On load, the user is thrust into the crysis 2 universe much like sandbox for the original crysis. You can choose to go into game mode at any time, like the far cry 2 editor, and toggle AI/physics as needed. You definitely take a graphics load working with the editor, with a decent GTX 465 dragging down to 15-20fps at points. However, when the viewer remains stationary, you can top out at 99-120+ FPS easily even overlooking dense city scenes.

For beginners, the make it ridiculously easy to learn by reverse-engineering. All of the maps from crysis 2, and the wars, are included for editing. I suggest taking your favorite level and saving it as a new map, then adding and re-arranging. The directional controls are pretty straightforward – select entity, move using the traditional easy-to-recognize main buttons in the top center-ish. A quick tip is that you can duplicate items by clicking, then pressing control+c.

All in all, i’d say it’s a great first impression of an editor that has a lot of potential to eat up a large chunk in people months, and that’s a great review!

Crysis 2 Single Player map list

Ryan Bishop — Sun, 01 May 2011 15:50:54 +0000

Since it was curiously absent from the rest of the web (or at least not immediately locatable), here’s a list of the crysis 2 single player map names so you can jump to levels using the console. Since the save game system on the PC version doesn’t allow you to go back to any level without losing that progress, this gives you an easier option. to bring the console down, click ‘~’. Then, type in “map ”. for instance, to load the intro scene, type ‘map intro’.

Crysis 2 Single Player map names (in alphabetical order not by level – most should be obvious frankly)

AlienVessel
batterypark
bryantpark
centralstation
cityhall
convoy
downtown
FDR
floodedstreets
hive
intro
madisonsquare
prism
roosevelt
spear
terminal
timessquare
warehouse
centralpark (haven’t played in the storyline yet, but i’m guessing)

“New” Half-Life 2 Singleplayer Maps Posted!

Ryan Bishop — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:07:38 +0000

Or, As I’d like to call it, removing the clutter. I hand-picked these maps from the hundredsof HalfLife 2 Maps i’ve created over the years, and I present them for historical reference. These are all singleplayer maps, and they need to be saved to your HalfLife 2 Maps Directory (Directory path may vary). If you can’t find it, just search your HD for *.bsp (the map extension).

Check all the maps out at the HalfLife 2 Downloads Page