Shale Guard II

[Hale]

Hello again! After a small vacation, I'm back to a bit of mapping. I have been working with Zam for a couple weeks, and we have a couple maps we'd like to share with the SPF community. First of these, is Shale Guard II…



This is a remake of my first ever Overgrowth map, Shale Guard, (which you can download here). This time around I went for a completely different approach. Using all of my experience from Foothold to Riverhurst, I think I was fairly successful in making a fort that had playability, and aesthetics. It has a total of 2871 objects, which will slow up some computers but should be much more playable than my other maps which reached up to 12,178 objects. I actually made this map rather quickly, mainly because I've been multitasking on other maps as well.

Unlike my previous maps, it has little insides because I was thinking more of gameplay this go around. In fact, if one was to actually play through the map, they would find it has a rather linear gameplay, instead of Lugaru's open style. I added in a bit of platforming in the beginning, it's nothing special but I thought it intensified it's story. And yes, I plan to use this map as the first level in a four map campaign. While I understand it may not be immediately possible at the moment, I hope that it will serve as a nice test for the Devs to fool around with in regards to actually making a playable campaign. Unlike my false promises I made in Riverhurst, I do plan on actually finishing the campaign.

Instructions

In the links provided below to Anton's site, you will have 1 zipped folder to download. In it, you will have...

1. ShaleGuard2.xml (File goes inside Data>Levels)
2. Text (Folder goes inside Data>Textures)
3. TextXML (Folder goes inside Date>Objects)

4. In Anton's Skybox's folder, download Blue4.tga.zip. (Image goes inside Data>Textures>Skies)

A special thank you to…
Zamzx: He's awesome, we've been collaborating more than ever. Hz Designs, anyone?
Anton: Also awesome, he's helped me a lot with uploading, pre-testing, etc.
Nimai: A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, this guy made a map. Admittedly, I may have surpassed him in the end but he's why I started this stuff.
Wolfire: Do I need to explain?

Enjoy the map!

Oh yeah, here's that long awaited…

DOWNLOAD

Enjoy?

[Endoperez]

This is GREAT! It's probably TOO HOT for my computer to handle.

P.S. I'm only posting this to boost Hale's oversized ego.

[adwuga]

P.S. I'm only posting this to boost Hale's oversized ego.

It is unarguably deserved.

[SuXoR]

Still, always nice to be modest, especially when even the most experienced mappers are still learning what this system can do.

The well matched and balanced color schemes are what really make these screens come together. Nothing that was too wildly diverse to detract from the realism. It was a nice job melding the building models with the terrain without getting blocky or too symmetrical.

[Surfer Dude]

Just played through the map a couple of times and I must say that Shale Guard II is absolutely the best custom map I have ever tried. Amazing attention to detail (love the banners and siege equipment), parkour and fighting set pieces. I would have maybe liked to have been a bit more challenged with the combat, either with multiple/more opponents higher up the fort, but besides that MAKE IT LONGER BECAUSE I LOVE IT !

[Hale]

Hey, considering that not everyone here has a super computer, I made a simplified version of Shale Guard II. It went from 2,800 objects down to 1,300 or so. So, it should run twice as fast. I also deleted one of the AI, I'll update the original post in a little bit. Enjoy!

DOWNLOAD
-Simplified Version-
-Good for slow computers-

[HairballPaul]

Thought I would just quickly correct the link for the simplified version (you had one too many h's)

Download

[Anton]

Thought I would just quickly correct the link for the simplified version (you had one too many h's)

Download

Thanks for the catch! I updated it in the original post as well.