DF-21 Forums

[Llyren]

Hey everybody, here are a couple things I'd like to yak about. I've been able to get back on track since the school production of Les Miserables finished and I'd like to address some of the things that've been discussed on the boards while I was temporarily at a higher calling. (If you don't know much about Les Mis, you have not seen the light. Go see the show twenty times, memorize the music, make a shrine to the play's amazing brilliance in your room, and then go get involved in a production or two. It's an unbelieveably incredible show.)

First of all, remember that custom components are not allowed! Those of us without fast internet connections don't like transferring big files. But just because we can't add custom components to the GOB yet doesn't mean we won't have them when the architecture and INF and object placing are finished, so if you've got a sign or table or 3DO or anything you want added, go ahead and make 'em! The time will arrive. A note on that, though: I don't remember which one, but there was one custom level where almost every enemy was a custom WAX, and it was horrible. Powerful as commercially availavble computers are these days, few of us can create graphics as good as those professionally designed by LA, so pleeeaaase don't expect we'll have more than just a couple custom WAXs!

Also, remember Guideline #3: "If your turn arrives, you are to post on the forums, or email me, within 48 hours of the upload, a confirmation that you have downloaded the file to work on. If no such confirmation is received, your turn will be skipped." Most of the slowdowns we've had recently haven't been anybody's fault, but just a reminder - we've all got to know that you've got the project, so we don't waste a week when nobody's working on it at all.

Going on that: we've had a surprising number of cancellations (and thus lost time) because of people's computers crashing. If your computer is unstable, try to do something about it before making any major changes to the project! Remember you don't have to keep it for a week at a time when it's your turn, so if you really want to edit but have doubts about your computer's integrity, do minimal work for now and finish up later.

The website's been updated in various little aspects. If you ever need to check the queue or download any version of the project, but you don't want to slog crindally through the forums, don't forget that all that stuff is on the official website!

Who uploaded the 08-22-03 version? I should know, but I couldn't find it anywhere, and the name slot in the file listing is blank.

There are a couple holes in the OPEN.TXT file (one of them is mine, one is Taylor Carr's, and there may be some others). If you forgot to put in your entry, post it here or email it to me; I'll be cleaning up the text file on my turn.

A request for the filenames and text file dates: The dates for the entries are confusing. Here's how it should go: The date on your entry should be the date you uploaded the finished version on, unless you can't upload it on the due date, in which case you should record the due date. So if my turn was from April 18th to April 25th, but my computer was acting funny and I couldn't upload until the 26th, I'd put down April 26th in both the text file and the filename. This way the dates in both the filename and the text file will match the date for which the next person planned to get the file on, and everybody won't be so confused.

Now, about level organization: It's high time we started thinking about how to get this level to fit its own plot, 'cause it'll have to be a lot bigger before it's finished. Remember that we have unlimited space, so we can expand all we like! ALso keep in mind that not every single room has to have a distinct purpose or special characteristic all to its own; remember all the rooms in levels like TESTBASE or even in custom levels that are just there because they need to be. We've been building a good deal of areas that are part of the plot, but we don't have the sectors that need to be between them in order for the level to take more than ten minutes to play. Don't be ashamed if your entry consists mostly of "transition" areas - right now that's more important than building plot areas. (If you think about it, it takes about two minutes to get to the central core, and it should take about 20.)

And don't forget to nitpick things other than the architecture. If you see any INF, texturing, VUEs, etc. you think are awkward, ask whoever made them if they can be modified! And keep an eye out for HOMs - we have some bad ones here and there.

Okay, I'm done. Go see Les Mis now.

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[Jackson]