KarlosTKG now on GitHub

[grond]

Might be worth looking into why using all 16 texture slots makes the engine unstable. The most likely.reason would be some memory handling problem such as too small temporary buffers for some up-front processing of the textures. But I guess this is much easier said than done.

[abu_the_monkey]

the "brown wall with pipes" was over used and why brown? but if used responsibly (and wasn't brown) could give an ALIENS-esque look.

the "hullmetal tritile" has to go for sure

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by abu_the_monkey

the "brown wall with pipes" was over used and why brown? but if used responsibly (and wasn't brown) could give an ALIENS-esque look.

the "hullmetal tritile" has to go for sure

The brown wall with pipes wouldn't look out of place in a utility corridor underground in a base somewhere but like the tritile it was everywhere. I don't mind the basic hullmetal (with the chevron on it) as it's quite versatile.

For a space craft though, revamped panels similar to the computer textures (without the dithering) with hints of technology folded away would be good. I have some ideas in mind there.

[Karlos]

Weird. At some point in the distant past I must have messed with either the game palette or the palette file used by the converter tools. Everything I convert comes out much darker in game. I decided to reconvert the original computer panels texture without modification and it too came out much darker than the version in the mod. That's going to make retexturing the game a bit fiddly. I'm going to have to look in the source release and see if I can track down the originals.

[Karlos]

Mystery solved. I backed up the old 256PAL file and apparently made another. It's just that I did it in the last millennium and forgot.

[Karlos]

Slowly working on a replacement for those brown pipe walls...

https://github.com/0xABADCAFE/karlos.../BrownMech.png

I was planning to go for a similar olive green to the AB3D originals but there's not a good enough set of matches. For no obvious reason at all, the game has many more brown shades to play with than green.

[abu_the_monkey]

looking good
can't wait to see how it looks in game

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by abu_the_monkey

looking good
can't wait to see how it looks in game

Terrible! Though that's largely due to the way the original was used

See for yourself: [ Show youtube player ]

[Karlos]

Sneak preview of the the reworked (and unfinished) Level A. Don't watch if you are planning to play it at some point.

[ Show youtube player ]

[abu_the_monkey]

this is fantastic!
amazing work, I have played through several times now (I still turn the wrong way when leaving the bridge, the original level still burned into my brain).
every time it has been a different outcome anywhere between scraping through to almost a walk in the park and sometimes I get my ass handed to me.

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by abu_the_monkey

this is fantastic!
amazing work, I have played through several times now (I still turn the wrong way when leaving the bridge, the original level still burned into my brain).
every time it has been a different outcome anywhere between scraping through to almost a walk in the park and sometimes I get my ass handed to me.

I still turn right there too. It was a conscious effort to change it. If I wasn't so close to the zone limit I was going to add some more areas of the command deck to explore.

[abu_the_monkey]

ha, not just me then.
I think this is just the right balance for an introduction to the game.
top job

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by abu_the_monkey

ha, not just me then.
I think this is just the right balance for an introduction to the game.
top job

Balancing the difficulty is always tricky. I did think about putting someone behind the exit blast door but that seemed like a bit of a dirty trick for a first level. Shame there's not a difficulty setting for which such things could be used.

I wanted to introduce teleports early as it allows levels to be broken apart more, especially where there are differing visual styles and is good for creating the perception of sale. I have Level C in my sights once I'm finished messing with F. I always disliked C because it was so jarring, as if no real thought had gone into the narrative. A brown pipes maze here, a rock cavern there with a red hot room at the back that's somehow a safe place to store explosives. A disco behind the blue door.

[Karlos]

Forgot to say, the level is now merged back into the main repo if anyone wants to play it.

[Karlos]

Final version (sans any retexturing or other superficial changes)

[ Show youtube player ]

[abu_the_monkey]

Awsomeness!

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by abu_the_monkey

Awsomeness!

The shotgun robot kicked my arse this time because I took too long returning from the bridge, giving him time to be somewhere other than were I'd expect.

[abu_the_monkey]

Originally Posted by Karlos

The shotgun robot kicked my arse this time because I took too long returning from the bridge, giving him time to be somewhere other than were I'd expect.

that is one of the many pluses! not all the enemies are just waiting behind a door to jump you when you open it, especially like you say, the shotgun robot. he can be anywhere after you get through the bridge section

[Karlos]

Originally Posted by abu_the_monkey

that is one of the many pluses! not all the enemies are just waiting behind a door to jump you when you open it, especially like you say, the shotgun robot. he can be anywhere after you get through the bridge section

So this is in part due to the fact I intentionally didn't put any control points on the new teleports. There's no way for the aliens to travel between the bridge and the rest unless they fumble over a teleport by accident if one is between you on a line of sight. Collecting the exit door key releases the last guys but as there's no mapped way for them to get to you, they start roaming at random around the paths they can follow. So you teleport back into a situation that gets more unpredictable the longer you're gone.

[abu_the_monkey]

that little bit of unpredictability is what makes it so good! I'd score it a 10 as an opener to the game.