[Map] CatScape (v1)

Noxid · Post by **Noxid** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 8:41 am

A surreal, dream-like map. No combat, just exploration. There is no way to win.
Mostly an experiment / screwing around and learning how to use the editor. I don't have the skills or tools I need to be able to finish this the way I want to, so for now it's tentatively "done"

Uses Steelraven7's hotspots, so you'll need to have those installed to be able to play this map properly...

When loading you may get an error about a missing texture. This is expected, and you should be able to hit OK and it'll use the default texture.
I had some weird issues with decals being all stretched out when I loaded the map after saving but I can't figure out what the issue was.

zip with map and shadow textures
http://noxid.ca/files/cat_map.zip

just the map's xml file
http://noxid.ca/files/cat_map.xml

Comments / suggestions are appreciated. Enjoy(?)

Constance · Post by **Constance** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 5:55 pm

I played the map and this is all I could think of:

...what the fucking fuck.

Endoperez · Post by **Endoperez** » Thu Nov 01, 2012 1:08 am

Just that one screenshot and the thread's title made me think of Salvador Dali. Before I read any of the explaining text. So, good job!

Noxid · Post by **Noxid** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 2:01 pm

Endoperez wrote:Just that one screenshot and the thread's title made me think of Salvador Dali. Before I read any of the explaining text. So, good job!

Thanks! I'm a fan of Dali's work, and while I wasn't explicitly trying to emulate that here, it definitely was in my mind.

Timbles wrote:I played the map and this is all I could think of:

...what the fucking fuck.

I can think of no more appropriate reaction

Macrauchenia · Post by **Macrauchenia** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 2:41 pm

Awesome level! The eyes of the cats are extremely creepy, and the level as a whole is wonderfully surreal. I tried that last jump several times before I read your post entirely.

Nice job!

Constance · Post by **Constance** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 3:14 pm

So what about the jump? I couldn't understand why I wasn't able to get over it.

Noxid · Post by **Noxid** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 4:42 pm

Timbles wrote:So what about the jump? I couldn't understand why I wasn't able to get over it.

spoilered because Wall O' Text rambling about the design and some hypothetical future-spoilers

[+] spoiler: Well, the original idea was to make it so you had to perform some task to be able to reach "the light", but I had/have no idea how to make something appear conditionally for an extra platform or another booster or some other means of reaching the higher platform. And I also wasn't entirely sure of what would even happen when you got up there, since I wanted to have the cat say something before he attacked you but just using text hotspots there would be bad.
The second idea was to make it so that the light was, in fact, unreachable. The player would be enticed to trying to make the leap, but they fall and the world gives way around them, causing them to plummet into the abyss, or at least warp to somewhere strange. In this the light would be suggested as representing an escape from the unnatural world you find yourself in, or perhaps more simply a source of power and enlightenment ("will the light hold answers about what is going on?").
Either way, the pursuit of the unreachable goal causes you to overreach your abilities, fail, and be cast further away than when you began. Only through struggling to overcome this setback can you gain what you need to achieve your goal.

Anyway, I liked this idea a lot better but still didn't have the right stuff to implement it correctly, so I just raised the platform out of reach and left it there as kind of half-representing the idea.

tl;dr it's a metaphor that got swapped for a cardboard cutout of the original idea due to limitations.

Macrauchenia wrote:Awesome level! The eyes of the cats are extremely creepy, and the level as a whole is wonderfully surreal. I tried that last jump several times before I read your post entirely.

Nice job!

I'm glad you like it :]
The eyes are one of my favourite parts so far, second maybe to the corridor of magenta cats holding hands in the sky.

Constance · Post by **Constance** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 5:09 pm

are you sure you just decided to make some weird meaning behind it all so it could increase the level of surreal-ness? I tried to make the jump mostly because I was curious on what the fuck was over there. I guess humans would do lots just to satisfy curiosity.

Noxid · Post by **Noxid** » Fri Nov 02, 2012 5:32 pm

The weird meaning behind it is personally amusing to me and it's fun to come up with stuff like that.
And yeah, I suppose curiosity is a pretty strong (and totally legitimate) driving force. I don't honestly expect people just playing the mod to think of it in terms like I described above. It's just a thing I do sometimes.

t0bYmSm · Post by **t0bYmSm** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 1:35 pm

Hi
I get an error when opening this Map via the load function in main menu.

Sorry I'm a noob, am i doing s.th. wrong?

Noxid · Post by **Noxid** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 3:18 pm

Hmm.. I'm not sure what could be causing that. It looks like you have the menumod so dependencies probably isn't the issue, and everything else looks okay. Maybe there was just an error in downloading, the xml file should be 128KB (131,806 bytes). I just tested it myself and re-saved the map then re-uploaded it, so maybe try downloading again.

Anton · Post by **Anton** » Sun Nov 04, 2012 12:00 pm

I can't get past the error about the missing texture. Do you know what it is? I've added this to the menu mod, and would like to make sure it works for everyone.

Noxid · Post by **Noxid** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:51 am

Anton wrote:I can't get past the error about the missing texture. Do you know what it is? I've added this to the menu mod, and would like to make sure it works for everyone.

An item in the O2 tab (I think it's called cat suit?) is missing the associated texture it seems so for me it just showed the default texture over a cat model and I thought that looked good enough so I kept it. But, if it's preventing people from playing, I'll change it. The files have been updated to use a different model in its place.

SteelRaven7 · Post by **SteelRaven7** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 9:24 am

Haha, this map is dope! Awesome, keep it up!

Glabbit · Post by **Glabbit** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 12:36 pm

Noxid wrote:The weird meaning behind it is personally amusing to me and it's fun to come up with stuff like that.

This is the most legitimate reason I've heard for maps such as these - and by that I mean to imply:

Glun-approved.
MaikMoar™.

I hope there's going to be conditional object-moving in the future. It would, with work, grant one the ability to recreate Obsidian's surreal amazingness in Overgrowth, which would make me a very happy bunny indeed.
I wonder if by that time I'd be confident enough in my editing skills to make it myself...
I mean, such things.

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