This map was created for my final level design specialization project at The NAD Centre in Montreal.




The idea was to create a side story that would tie in directly with the HL2 universe. Though it is an EP-1 map, the actual story takes place a bit earlier. A river town has been taken over by the combine for a few weeks and you have been hiding out in a cave above town, but must now make your way back through the town, grab a vehicle and escape. The townspeople are no longer friendly, or normal.

The escape takes you blasting down the beach in the buggy, dodging striders and running over soldiers, and then up onto a cliff road where you have the final showdown...

The map is not 100% polished (say 80%), still needing some lighting tweaks and bug hunting, but is still fun to play (in my unbiased opinion).

For zipped map files and my complete portfolio/resume go to http://www.notarodesign.com

On a side note: I am also now looking for work. Whether you represent a company, or just have a mod you need help with, let me know and who knows what could happen...

Dude, nice! Very fun

Judging by the first comment, maybe I missed something, because the first map had several bugs in it. I started out with nothing, not even the suit (is it suppoused to be like that?) I found the grav-gun, but it was only usefull for picking up stuff and destroying crates. I also found the car and an empty battery. I understood you were suppoused to charge it, somehow. I never figured it out though... so I went back to see if I missed something.

I destroyed the wooden barricade using the grav-gun and then I saw this big and wide open area. Pretty nice actually. I realized I shouldn't go that way without the car, so I went back. (I should mention that there is a loading point, right after the fences which you can crawl under).

When I came back to where the car was... the car was gone... and the battery too. So, I couldn't do anything. I went back one more time and then I walked outside. It didn't took long before I was attacked by soldiers, and killed. Then I gave up and quit the game.

One thing that confused me, was that small elevator. I think you've placed a PLAYER CLIP there, because I couldn't crawl inside it. I placed the battery in there and pressed the button and the elevator went up, but nothing more happened.
Also the cave wasn't sealed completely, so I could see the skybox in several places. And everytime I went inside that small room, the framerate dropped for some odd reason.

Sorry, but this wasn't fun at all...

I had slightly optimistic hopes when I first saw the cave, it was interesting and beyond it I could see potential, but once I stepped outside I felt the outdoor lighting just killed it.

Good concept, average gameplay, but visually it just wasn't executed well enough for my liking. I stopped playing once I reached that garage bit where the strider comes.

First of all, thanks for playing it. I had no idea so many people would play it so quickly...

Second of all...yikes. I knew there were still some issues, but obviously I have farther to go than I thought to get to a finished map. I apologize if you played it and were disappointed.

Regarding the problems

Lack of car on the beach part: You aren't supposed to be able to get through the gate without the car. Obviously I need to look at the checkboxes on the gate.

Outdoor Lighting: You say that the outdoor lighting is horrible...can you be more specific? Too bright? Wrong color? Fog problem? One problem I had was finding a skybox with the correct level of light. The current one is too bright for the level of light on the land, but I was unable to find one better. I may have to make one.

Starting with no suit: I've never seen that happen before...have to look into it. You started with the correct map?

Framerate problem in small room: Which room specifically?

Well I had already planned on going back and polishing it further (though I guess it needs more than I thought!), so I'll let you know when I have addressed the problems.

Thanks again for playing!

Yeah, there were some bugs, but looking past some of the leaks and things it was pretty good for a first time. Besides, SP is pretty sparse.

Well thanks thefifthelement, that makes me feel a bit better. I'm really glad I posted it on here though, because having that fresh critique (good harsh honest critique) has motivated me to get back to working on it.

I'm not sure if you're the same way, but I find that the polishing is the most monotonous part. Fixing all those light leaks in the displacements (which I find are often impossible to sew), making the map unbreakable, and tracking down bugs takes FOREVER! . Especially when you're working for free and only have one mediocre computer to compile and work with. I actually hadn't planned on posting it at this point either. It was really just intended for me to be able to make a nice demo trailer from it. I'm going to get back to it now though!

Thanks again.

On the first map, I had no idea what I was doing. I fell off the cliff because the first drop down looked too far to fall without taking damage, so I tried to backtrack, only to get shoved off by the wooden blank and then killed after I hit the ground and had 45 hitpoints. I didn't see the ladder inside the garage for nearly five minutes because it was behind the door I used to enter, and I didn't quite understand the point of the window above the garbage dumpster because I jumped on the roof and went into the backyard and came in from there. The wooden door/secret compartment annoyed me because I thought I was supposed to shoot at it; only to feel like an idiot and somewhat displeased later on when I found out I was suppose to open it. Also, the window on the above the office is unbreakable, which seemed out of place to me seeing as how all the other windows that looked similar to it were breakable.

The garage battle, with the Combine soldiers poring in while the battery charged was rather annoying because the space was very cramped, and then stuffed with physics objects that I kept getting stuck on. When I charged the buggy, I found the sewer to be very clunky and difficult to drive through, despite how short it was. The gate magically detached itself from its frame when I drove near it, forcing me to make two attempts to ram through it. The beach level was very dimly lit for the skybox chosen, it felt like it was night, but the sky didn't match. When the level loaded, I chose to go straight through the natural archway, and tried to turbo past the strider, only to run straight into the ocean which had a very shallow bottom. The third and final level I believe had no cubemaps, or else just had very poorly placed cubemaps. When I killed the zombine near the headcrab cannister and pile of cars it was way too shiny/white.

The last battle, I didn't really know what to do. I killed the guards near the guardhouse/bunker, and started getting shot at as soon as a I grabbed the rocket launcher by a dropship. The placement of the SMG/Grenades at the end didn't make much sense either, because they had no use. I didn't go right when the last level loaded, because of the suggestive combine wall (or what appeared to be a combine wall at first glance) and instead went straight uphill. So maybe I missed something. After I destroyed the gunship, I went towards the binoculars, to be rudely surprised by a combine sniper all of 20 meters away. I promtly shot a rocket into his window, destroying the steeple, but the cross at the top kept floating in mid-air. The tunnel didn't really have an end, just a giant hole into the skybox... and the credits began to roll.

I know you said it's only 80% finished, so odds are most of the things I've pointed out won't be in the final version. I'll be sending you a PM with various screenshots of things that struck me as odd (mostly leaks). All in all, I'd say it's enjoyable for one or two playthroughs, but still needs some polishing, I can tell there has been some good effort put in though.

Well, I thought it was a good start, but there are some improvements to be made.

1.I also started out with no suit, but give item_suit fixed that.
2.The framerate drops in the small room next to the buggy.
3.The ladder going up to the garage didnt work, so I noclipped up there.
4.The broken bridge was a good idea, but i got stuck on the rocks on the side near the cliff.

I also liked the Antichrist Achievement thing, that was a neat idea.

Again, thank you very much for taking the time to both play the map and write down the problems you encountered. At least I know I don't have to ask for people to be honest

Ok, I've finally had time to polish the level up, fix any problems I could find and put the updated files on my website.

To download the updated, new and improved, better tasting, longer lasting level, go to:

http://www.notarodesign.com/Portfolio.html and download "Delivery"

I look forward to hearing your comments!

Downloading now...
Also, whatever server you're using for hosting seems a little slow. I'm peaking at about 50kbps, as opposed to most other servers, where I can hit 200kbps. Oh well, this gives me time to make some coffee

I was stuck in that garage for a while. I eventually noclipped into the basement (sorry for cheating, =/ ), and then realized where the ladder led to/from. A lambda symbol near the floor-hole-entrance thing would have been nice.

The only real big thing I found were the displacements that didn't line up: there were a number of holes in various places throughout the map, but fortunately none of them hindered gameplay at all, they were merely cosmetic.
Also, there's something wrong with the areaportals... I've attached annotated screenshots.

Very fun! This was a blast to play... is there going to be any more?

Two more.

First of all, thanks for playing Dissonance. I fully realize that there are plenty of great games out there right now, so taking the time to play my level is much appreciated.

As for the issues:

Man....that is some bizarre shit! I've never seen those area portals do that before. As for the other leaks and stuff...I wonder if my webpage didn't update correctly or something, because I know all of those leaks and cosmetic issues and I've already fixed them! Very strange...

Good idea on the lambda symbol...I've actually been wrestling with how to make that trapdoor more visible and I am now beating my head against the wall for not thinking of the most obvious frigging solution!

Well, looks like I'm not done yet! Sisyphus returns to his hill and grudgingly eyes the stone...