"Entities" { "entity" { "classname" "point_commentary_node" "targetname" "Onboard Radar" "origin" "-888.145996 -8844.104492 -285.968750" "angles" "0 -135 0" "precommands" "" "postcommands" "" "commentaryfile" "#commentary\ep2-comment236.wav" "printname" "Onboard Radar" "viewtarget" "" "viewposition" "" "prevent_movement" 0 "speakers" "Jon Huisingh" "synopsis" "We wanted players to use the car as much as possible, both to move around the valley quickly and to run over hunters as a quick and satisfying way of killing them. To encourage this, and to help with orientation problems, we added a radar to the car which indicated the location of enemies. This made the car a more valuable tool in the battle and solved the navigation problem once and for all." "parser_id" "236" } "entity" { "classname" "point_commentary_node" "targetname" "Where'd I Park My Car" "origin" "-888.145996 -8638.487305 -285.968750" "angles" "0 180 0" "precommands" "" "postcommands" "" "commentaryfile" "#commentary\ep2-comment235.wav" "printname" "Where'd I Park My Car" "viewtarget" "" "viewposition" "" "prevent_movement" 0 "speakers" "Ido Magal" "synopsis" "One problem we faced in this map was that players would abandon their car in the heat of battle and not be able to find it later. Given the time pressure and large scale of the map, some of these players couldn’t succeed in protecting the base on foot. To address this we started by adding flashing hazard lights to the car, which helped when the car was in view, but we still saw players lose the car among the trees or behind hills. Eventually we added a vehicle locator to the player’s HEV suit, so players could find the car wherever it was. " "parser_id" "235" } "entity" { "classname" "point_commentary_node" "targetname" "temporary pumpkins" "origin" "979.691284 -3028.031250 0.367912" "angles" "0 25.294212 0" "precommands" "" "postcommands" "" "commentaryfile" "#commentary\ep2-comment225.wav" "printname" "Temporary Pumpkins" "viewtarget" "" "viewposition" "" "prevent_movement" 0 "speakers" "Phil Co" "synopsis" "[Show pumpkin/Magnusson-Device models] Before we create any final art, we use placeholders to see if the gameplay is working and to figure out the proper dimensions and shapes for the model. In this level, we used an old pumpkin model as the placeholder for the Magnusson Device. After we decided that the gameplay was fun and the pumpkin worked well, a proper model was created using the pumpkin as a template." "parser_id" "225" } "entity" { "classname" "point_commentary_node" "targetname" "Player choice creates balance issues" "origin" "-341.615143 -1003.245911 113.547729 " "angles" "0 86.014435 0" "precommands" "" "postcommands" "" "commentaryfile" "#commentary\ep2-comment230.wav" "printname" "Balancing for Free Will" "viewtarget" "" "viewposition" "" "prevent_movement" 0 "speakers" "John Guthrie" "synopsis" "The massive strider battle was in production longer than any other map in the episode. Tuning it required many, many months of testing and iteration to address playtest feedback, and this was complicated by the fact that every time we playtested, we saw individuals adopt completely different approaches to defeating the striders. Some threw logs at hunters; others relied on their rebel companions to kill them. Some players never sprinted, while others never used the car. We tried to keep supporting all the different strategies that occured to players, so that their experiments with tactics would be rewarding rather than frustrating. Meanwhile, we had to make sure the strider and hunter behaviors were consistent, and balance the experience so that it would be great for all different play styles at every skill level." "parser_id" "230" } "entity" { "classname" "point_commentary_node" "targetname" "not missing the destruction events" "origin" "-2852.843018 2226.720947 141.981308" "angles" "0 125.048241 0" "precommands" "" "postcommands" "" "commentaryfile" "#commentary\ep2-comment221.wav" "printname" "Seeing Destruction" "viewtarget" "" "viewposition" "" "prevent_movement" 0 "speakers" "Chris Chin" "synopsis" "A great deal of work went into making sure players will see the buildings get destroyed as they travel around the valley in the final battle. While we cannot (and do not wish to) force the player to see these events, we tried to increase the odds that the player would end up in the best possible position for the show. Measures ranged from simply hiding a strider behind rocks, to setting up complex logic conditions that must be met in order for the destruction to occur." "parser_id" "221" } "entity" { "classname" "point_commentary_node" "targetname" "supply rack design and positioning" "origin" "3074.922363 240.682907 130.048096" "angles" "0 -91.165352 0" "precommands" "" "postcommands" "" "commentaryfile" "#commentary\ep2-comment219.wav" "printname" "Resupply" "viewtarget" "" "viewposition" "" "prevent_movement" 0 "speakers" "Joe Han" "synopsis" "Players under pressure can overlook basic tasks, so we try to make the important ones foolproof. On this map, players often forget to check their health level, but rarely forget to seek out Magnusson devices. We narrowed doorways and set health supply racks right by the entries, so that players rushing in to get explosives would find themselves automatically picking up vital supplies." "parser_id" "219" } "entity" { "classname" "point_commentary_node" "targetname" "Hunters make use of the environment" "origin" "5108.255371 1109.711426 113.066315" "angles" "0 38.4799995422 0" "precommands" "" "postcommands" "" "commentaryfile" "#commentary\ep2-comment223.wav" "printname" "Hunter Landscaping" "viewtarget" "" "viewposition" "" "prevent_movement" 0 "speakers" "Tom Leonard" "synopsis" "The Hunter's escort behavior includes specific formations and flanking strategies. This environment was designed specifically to enhance those behaviors by providing cover and visually interesting paths. In this way the environment reinforces the design of the Hunter as stealthy, aggressive, and intelligent." "parser_id" "223" } "entity" { "classname" "point_commentary_node" "targetname" "Valley of Confusion" "origin" "133.319046 5242.967773 151.211945" "angles" "0 108 0" "precommands" "" "postcommands" "" "commentaryfile" "#commentary\ep2-comment234.wav" "printname" "Valley of Confusion" "viewtarget" "" "viewposition" "" "prevent_movement" 0 "speakers" "David Speyrer" "synopsis" "Many players had a hard time orienting themselves in the valley. Before the fight, we send players to the sawmill without telling them how to get there. This was a way of familiarizing them with the map without any time pressure. Still, the size and nonlinearity of the map was confusing for first-time players once the battle began. The loudspeaker announcements that direct players to incoming striders initially referred to compass directions, which most players couldn't follow because they couldn't remember which way was north. We added White Forest Peak as a global landmark and distinctive local landmarks, like the cranes and the water tower, and referred to those landmarks in the announcements instead of compass directions. This helped, but some players still had a hard time knowing which way to go at any given moment. Our ultimate solution was the car’s radar, which along with the landmarks, helps players go where the action is." "parser_id" "234" } "entity" { "classname" "point_commentary_node" "targetname" "Challenge of a large non-linear timed scenario" "origin" "-851.852661 5115.157227 133.972961" "angles" "0 115.017281 0" "precommands" "" "postcommands" "" "commentaryfile" "#commentary\ep2-comment229.wav" "printname" "The Challenges of a Non-Linear Timed Scenario" "viewtarget" "" "viewposition" "" "prevent_movement" 0 "speakers" "Dario Casali" "synopsis" "Episode Two's rocket defense battle was the largest and most nonlinear combat experience we had built. It was also the first combat we'd created that required the use of a vehicle to move from battle to battle. Our design goal was to give players a broad directive -- 'protect the rocket from incoming striders' -- and let them decide how to accomplish that. Playtesting revealed a number of challenges that we had to overcome, as the freeform nature of the map led to huge variations in success for different players. Small differences in skill or tactics radically changed the difficulty of the experience for players. In response, we had to continually tune all aspects of the experience to support the wide variety of tactics and skill levels demonstrated in playtests." "parser_id" "229" } "entity" { "classname" "point_commentary_node" "targetname" "Custom Autosaves" "origin" "-765.049683 -3779.607666 -39.795334" "angles" "0 57.829628 0" "precommands" "" "postcommands" "" "commentaryfile" "#commentary\ep2-comment237.wav" "printname" "Custom Autosaves" "viewtarget" "" "viewposition" "" "prevent_movement" 0 "speakers" "Steve Bond" "synopsis" "We made some small changes to our autosave system as a result of tuning the final strider battle. Autosaves are the periodic checkpoints where we can restart the player’s game after death, so that they don’t have to worry about replaying more of the game than necessary. In playtests, we observed that most players depended on our autosaves to restart after dying, rather than using their own quick-saves. But because the fight allowed players so much freedom, some players ended up with an autosave that left them in a no-win situation. Low on health and pinned down by hunters, or too far from the base to defend the rocket in time, some players failed thirty or more times before finally giving up. To address the no-win situation, we extended our autosave system to monitor health over time, and to only perform the autosave if the player was deemed safe for a reasonable period of time. We also prohibited autosaves when striders were within a certain distance of the base; this ensured there was always enough time to defeat them." "parser_id" "237" } "entity" { "classname" "point_commentary_node" "targetname" "climactic finish to level" "origin" "-418.329071 -4274.167969 -151.174210" "angles" "0 90 0" "precommands" "" "postcommands" "" "commentaryfile" "#commentary\ep2-comment228.wav" "printname" "Climactic Finish" "viewtarget" "" "viewposition" "" "prevent_movement" 0 "speakers" "Dario Casali" "synopsis" "To create a climactic finish to this level, we ramped up strider density and citizen presence, and then systematically destroyed outer installations in order to move the action as uncomfortably close to the base as possible. It was important to us that everyone be able to play to the end of the episode, but we also wanted them to feel that defeating the striders required a heroic effort. A balance had to be achieved between the feeling of being overwhelmed and the possibility of completing the level. We made many tradeoffs to keep the experience enjoyable while keeping the intensity high, and sometimes this required removing enemies. For example, Elite combine soldiers originally took part in this invasion, running in and around the striders and hunters; but this additional level of enemy fire proved frustrating for players, and so they were removed." "parser_id" "228" } }